Canyon Ste-Anne Waterfalls

Description:

• Perhaps it's because these falls are tucked into the woods, but they don't get the attention that the Montmorency Falls do, and it's a shame. They're spectacular and kitsch-free, and count as a must-see. Follow the narrow road from Route 138 through the woods to a parking lot, picnic grounds, and a building containing a cafeteria, a gift shop, and the ticket booth. The falls are less than a 10-minute walk from the entrance, but an open-sided shuttle bus is available to drive visitors; it drops off at the top of the falls. Trails go down both sides to the bottom.

  Part of the excitement comes from the approach: You hear the falls before you see them, and you step out of the woods practically beside them. Three (optional) footbridges go directly across the falls. The first crosses the narrow river just before the water starts to drop. The second, and most thrilling, crosses right over the canyon, from the top of the rock walls that drop straight down to the water. Being so close to the thundering, unending force crashing over massive rocks is likely to induce vertigo in even the most stable of nerves. The final suspension bridge starts at the gorge's base, just 9m (30 ft.) above the water where it starts to flatten out again, and ends at an observation platform. The very brave-hearted can also ride a zipline across the canyon directly over the water while harnessed onto a cable wire, for about C$17 (£9).

  Along the trails are eight platforms that jut over the water and well-written information plaques. However, management has wisely avoided commercial intrusions along the trails, letting the powerful natural beauty speak for itself.

  The falls are 74m (243 ft.) high and at their most awe-inspiring in the spring, when melt-off of winter snows bloats the rivers above and sends 100,000 liters (more than 26,000 gallons) of water over per second. (The volume drops to 10,000 liters/2,600 gallons per second in Aug and Sept.) So voluminous is the mist coming from the fall that it creates another wall of mini-waterfalls on the side of the gorge.

  From 1904 to 1965, the river was used to float logs from lumbering operations, and part of the dramatic gorge was created by dynamiting in 1917, to reduce the amount of literal log-jams.

  Those who have difficulty walking can see the falls without going too far from the bus, and anyone with acrophobia can stay on the side trails, strolling amid the hemlock and poplar trees and away from the bridges altogether. A visit takes about 1 1/2 hours.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Very Highly Recommended 2010