Skagway Waterfall Bonanza

Wow. That’s one beautiful waterfall. This is International Falls if you were wondering.

People love waterfalls. When water cascades over a mountain precipice and crashes to the earth below in one steady stream, you can’t help but stare at it and take some pictures. Skagway lies in a cozy mountain valley that happens to be part of a temperature rain forest. When mountains and rain mix together, BOOM, you get waterfalls. That’s how nature works. Today’s blog is a Skagway waterfall tour because we are going to review every single one in our vicinity. Are you excited?

Let’s talk about some waterfall facts

You probably didn’t know that there are numerous types of waterfalls. For example, a ledge waterfall descends vertically over a vertical cliff-face made out of bedrock, but a cascade waterfall descends a series of rock steps. There are also waterfalls varieties called plunge, horsetail, tiered, segmented, frozen, cataract, and moulins. Man, that seems really complicated. Let’s just forget all that mumbo jumbo and enjoy some waterfalls.

Rating each Skagway waterfall

We will talk about each local Skagway waterfall and then provide an overall rating so that you can choose which waterfalls you want to see. The best way to see each waterfall will also be included. Each waterfall will receive a score of up to 100 based on beauty, power, and “wow factor.”

Lower Reid Falls – This is the most well known Skagway waterfall. It is located just above the Gold Rush Cemetery and can be accessed by anyone who likes waterfalls. The whole scene is very impressive, especially during spring or after heavy rainfall. You can see Reid Falls on some of the City and Summit tours, private tours, or go and see it on your own. Rating: 95.3

Upper Reid Falls – This waterfall is a big joke. The old trail to this “waterfall” ran along a pipe and ended at the top of the falls, where a bunch of crap blocked the view. How silly is that? About three years ago, they changed the trail and now it doesn’t even go to a waterfall. That’s highly misleading. Skip this one if you enjoy falling water. Rating: 0.0

Pitchfork Falls – This waterfall is located a few miles up the Klondike Highway and can be seen on all of the Summit and Yukon tours. It was named after the pitchfork wielded by the infamous Devil Man that lived in a hut beneath the falls during the Klondike Gold Rush. This used to be a beautiful 3,000-foot high waterfall but someone built a giant pipe right next to it, which kind of spoils the natural beauty. What’s with Skagway and pipes near waterfalls? If you have bad eyesight or squint when you look at it, the pipe isn’t too noticeable. Rating: 41.7

Bridal Veil Falls – Half of the waterfalls in America are named Bridal Veil Falls, which can be confusing if you didn’t know that. Keep in mind that this is not the same waterfall you saw in Yosemite National Park. Bridal Veil Falls looks like a 100-foot high waterfall from the Klondike Highway, but when you’re on the train you can see that it’s 3,200 feet high. Crazy. Obviously, you want to see it both ways, and there’s a tour where you can do just that. Rating: 98.2

International Falls – This waterfall is seen from the Klondike Highway and is located right on the Canada, United States border. It’s quite the sight. You can hike out to the falls, which is really neat because there are actually multiple waterfalls to see. Fun Fact: Pitbull wrote his song “International Love” about a picnic date he enjoyed at this very location in 2003. Rating: 88.5

High Falls – This waterfall is located about 8 miles south of Skagway and can be seen on the Ocean Raft Wildlife Tour. It’s really big, although nobody has ever measured it because they don’t make tape measures that big. I’ve heard people call it Tall Falls and some other dumb names but that’s just wrong. I really like this waterfall a lot. Rating: 91.3

Dang. That’s a lot of waterfalls

Lower Reid Falls. Way better than stupid Upper Reid Falls.

If it rains hard enough, waterfalls can show up just about anywhere. That’s because Alaska is just crazy sometimes. Waterfalls are cool because we enjoy looking at them, so Skagway is pretty lucky in that department. We hope you enjoy looking at waterfalls while you’re in Skagway.