About Swiftcurrent Falls
Swiftcurrent Falls was a waterfall that we didn’t realize was a major waterfall in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. In fact, we had initially lumped it in with the other waterfalls on our Many Glacier Waterfalls page until we re-evaluated the literature and realized that it was indeed a legitimate waterfall that ought to have its own page. Heck, we were probably lucky that we even spotted let alone recognized this waterfall as there were no signs indicating its presence, and some scrambling was necessary to even get the views you see pictured at the top of this page. Nonetheless, I knew deep down that my mixed feelings about lumping it into that general page was not a fluke, because I sensed that something wasn’t right. The falls was simply too significant to be counted as a run-of-the-mill no-name waterfall.
Besides its impressively high flow and multi-tiered cascade, we thought it was this waterfall’s scenic backdrop that was what made it stand out. That was because it was backed by the triangular peak of Mt Grinnell, which was one of the signature mountains in the Many Glacier area as it was kind of reminiscent of how Mitre Peak towered over the Milford Sound in New Zealand. Thus, it made for an excellent photo subject and I’d bet there would be numerous professional photographers who have utilized this waterfall for their own money shots.
The way we got close to Swiftcurrent Falls was twofold. On the one hand, we were able to park at a pullout (see directions below), then follow some of the scrambling trails closer to the Swiftcurrent Creek. Another way we did it (and perhaps the more sanctioned way given how much wider the trails were) was to come in from the spur road leading to the Many Glacier Hotel. There was a wide trail to the left of a private residence that briefly meandered through a small grove of trees before emerging in a more open area where we had the option of standing on a rock outcrop to look back towards the falls or scramble down to a ledge below for a closer and more intimate view of the falls. Either way, the walk should take no more than 15 minutes round trip.
Finally, as you can see from the photos on this page, if the weather is sunny, the best time of day to photograph this east-facing waterfall was in the morning. By the afternoon, the sun would be against you. There were also some upper tiers of Swiftcurrent Falls, but to get in front of those, you’d have to cross the bridge over Swiftcurrent Creek (at the mouth of Swiftcurrent Lake) and scramble along some rock outcrops along the northern banks of Swiftcurrent Creek.
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