Spahats Creek Falls

Spahats Creek Falls, also called Spahats Falls, is a waterfall on Spahats Creek within Wells Gray Provincial Park of British Columbia, Canada. Common references place the falls at around 60 m (197 ft) tall, but taking into account the second tier, it is closer to 75–80 meters tall. It is a popular stop for tourists and especially motorcoach tours since it is only 10 km (6.2 mi) off the busy Yellowhead Highway. Spahats Creek rises from snowmelt and springs at a pass between Raft Mountain and Trophy Mountain. It flows 15 km west before tumbling over Spahats Falls and entering the Clearwater River. Spahats is the First Nations term for bear and the stream was long known as Bear Creek. When the first accurate topographical map of the Clearwater Valley was published in 1953, it labelled the stream as “Bear Creek” and the falls as “Spahats (Bear) Creek Falls”. By the late 1960s, “Spahats” had become an accepted alternative due to the large number of Bear creeks in British Columbia (currently 20) and was officially adopted. These impressive natural features used to be protected as tiny Spahats Creek Provincial Park, but in 1997 the boundaries of Wells Gray Provincial Park were expanded south along the Clearwater River and included Spahats.