Crescent Falls is a series of two

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s located on the

Bighorn River The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its ban ...

in the Bighorn River Canyon in west-

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...

, Canada. They were originally called the Bighorn Falls, after the river they are located on. The current name is a reference to the crescent cliff over which they drop. The falls are located a few kilometres upstream of the river's

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

with the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

. A gravel road leads north from

David Thompson Highway #redirectAlberta Highway 11 David Thompson Highway #redirectAlberta Highway 11 Alberta Provincial Highway No. 11, commonly referred to as Highway 11 and officially named the David Thompson Highway, is a provincial highway in central A ...

(between

Abraham Lake Abraham Lake, also known as Lake Abraham, is an artificial lake and Alberta's largest reservoir. It is located in the " Kootenay Plains area of the Canadian Rockies' front range", on the North Saskatchewan River in western Alberta, Canada. Descr ...

and

Nordegg Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is located in the North Saskatchewan River valley in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, just east of the intersection of the David Thompson Highway and the Hig ...

) to the falls. The Crescent Falls Provincial Recreation Area is immediately up-river from the falls. The waterfall is two-tiered and has a height of . Visitors are allowed at the waterfalls year-round. The rock ledges around the top of the falls are slippery and fatal drops have occurred. Additionally, people have died by being swept under the waterfall after swimming at the bottom of the falls.

Arthur Philemon Coleman Arthur Philemon Coleman (April 4, 1852 – February 26, 1939) was a Canadian geologist and academic. Biography Born in Lachute, Quebec, the son of Rev. Francis Coleman and Emmeline Maria Adams, he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1876 and Maste ...

, a professor of geology at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, made the first mention of the falls in 1892 and described them as having a "far better scenery than we had been used to in the foot-hills". A sitting bench next to the falls is dedicated to James Hammond and placed there by his family after his death. Hammond was an avid outdoorsman and was especially fond of this location.

Campground

Located to the north-west of Crescent Falls, is an un-serviced

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

run by Westward Bound Campgrounds. It currently has 31 available sites to camp on, and is open from May 1 to October 14. The site has access to water; however, due to potential contamination from

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

s in ground water, the owners recommend that visitors bring their own drinking water. The time it takes to travel to Crescent Falls and back is about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Access to the area below the first waterfall of Crescent Falls has been restricted, mostly due to unsafe travel conditions and thin ice.

References

External links

* {{Alberta rivers and lakes Waterfalls of Alberta Clearwater County, Alberta