I recalled the hiking was about 1.6km each way (or 3.2km [2 miles] round trip). It took Julie and I two hours to hike to the falls, enjoy it, and hike back to the car park.

The hike was mostly flat (or with a slight uphill) for at least the first kilometer as we were flanked by pretty Autumn colors on the foliage of low-lying bush and trees. The trail was mostly quiet until we got closer to the Kicking Horse River when we could start to hear the rush of water.

Eventually, the trail quickly descended along a fenced area with a view above and over the falls. Even though we were able to see Wapta Falls somewhat from this spot, there were better views to be had further down the trail. Julie stayed behind at this point due to the trail's steepness.

So a short distance further down the trail, there was a fork where the path on the left descended steeply in a narrow but well-worn path. The path straight ahead seemed to be the official trail, but I opted to take the narrow path on the left. And after a few minutes of doing so (there was some minor dropoff exposure), I reached another fenced overlook. But this time, the view was more of an angled profile perspective and I thought was much better than the one above (see the photo at the top of this page).

Beyond this vantage point, the trail continued to descend where there was even an open outcrop where I was able to appreciate the width of the falls as well as the colorful pools left behind in its mist. I noticed from here that there was a hill blocking most of the mist from the falls, and I could only imagine just how much wetter and mistier (and perhaps inaccessible) the base of the falls would've been had that hill not been there.

Continuing further downhill, I eventually made it to the bottom where a faint path continued on the left side towards a very misty opening on the hill opposite the falls where it was practically impossible to take a photo from there. Meanwhile, with some minor stream scrambling, I was also able to scramble to the far side of the waterfall sheltered by the hill where there was another path scrambling up that side of the hill for another misty in-your-face view of Wapta Falls. At least the mist wasn't as bad as the little opening on the left side of the hill.

I was never able to get that all encompassing frontal view of the falls thanks to the hill. However, I can only imagine how the situation would change completely if that hill were to be gone for some reason.

In any case, I went back up the way I came to rejoin Julie and complete the hike. However, I did notice other people who reached the basin area further downstream. I believe this was where that path I didn't take ultimately would've gone. That path was probably the more official path given its width and gentle grade. The one I took almost felt like a scramble and I figured it would probably be more prone to closure due to exposure to dropoffs, tree roots, and erosion.

Even though this waterfall was pretty straightforward to see, Julie and I almost missed experiencing the falls the way we described in this write-up. It turned out that the reason why was because the signposted turnoff leading to the car park was not visible going west on Hwy 1, but it was definitely visible heading east on Hwy 1.

Initially, we ended up getting off at the unsealed Beaverfoot Road (another 5.7km west of the official turnoff for Wapta Falls), which seemed remote. Ultimately, we ended up with a real distant and partial view of the falls after driving 10km on the unsealed road with its share of potholes.