Della Falls

Della Falls

Della Falls, series of three cascades from Della Lake to the valley of Drinkwater Creek on Vancouver Island, B.C., Can. They are located approximately 37 miles (60 km) northwest of the mill town of Port Alberni and about the same distance southwest of the town of Courtenay.

With a nearly vertical drop of 1,445 feet (440 m), Della Falls constitute the highest waterfalls in Canada. Named for the wife of Joe Drinkwater, a trapper and prospector who first visited the falls in 1899, Della Falls are formed by the glacier-fed lake. At an elevation of about 3,545 feet (1,080 m), Della Lake lies deep within the mountainous Strathcona Provincial Park. The falls are surrounded by Big Interior Mountain (6,103 feet [1,860 m]), Mount Rosseau (6,437 feet [1,962 m]), Mount Septimus (6,398 feet [1,950 m]), and Nine Peaks (6,044 feet [1,842 m])—four of the highest peaks on the island.