Helmcken Falls - Photographed thousands of times since 1925

Helmcken Falls in 2016 (left) and 2026 (right).  Notice tree growth near the bottom of the image.

When you go to see a waterfall that you have seen before, you usually don't expect to see anything different.  Afterall, the falls don't go anywhere during our short time on the planet, and the basin, bowl, river, and canyon all seem about the same too.

Helmcken Falls was first seen by (non-aboriginals) a Canadian government surveyor in 1913.  Twelve years later, in 1925, the first photos of the falls was taken (click here to see site).  It is an amazing thing that the spectacle has only been recorded for just 100 years.  Since then, there seems to have been little change.  Yet, if you could measure specifics accurately, such as how much erosion has taken place at the lip of the falls, the size of the bowl, and certainly the vegetation around it, you would find significant change.

For my two photos, you can see that the trees at the bottom of the bowl have grown somewhat.  But by all appearances, everything looks pretty much the same.  The reality, though, is that the bowl has been getting larger, the falls are moving backwards, and some of the trees that were there have fallen over the edge.

There is no data on how fast Helmcken Falls is retreating, but Niagara Falls used to move backwards at about 3 to 5 feet per year before water from the river was redirected.  It now moves backwards at about a foot a year.  Niagra Falls also had an enormous change happen to it in 1818 when a large portion of Table Rock fell into the gorge.  Over the next 117 years, more of the rock fell until when, 1n 1935, the rest was blasted away due to its dangerous nature.  

Over time, I expect Helmcken Falls will show significant changes, but I expect none of us will be around when they occur.  The 1.5 km canyon has been forming since the glaciers left the land over 10,000 years ago, and much of that was created by the exiting floodwaters.  If you average it out, that is about 6 inches per year, but my guess the rate of retreat is about half of that.  So, if I see the falls again in another 20 years, it would have moved backwards by 10 feet or so - that's not very much given the distance I am viewing it from.  In a thousand years, however, it would have moved about 500 feet further up the canyon.  That I could probably see.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com