Brandywine Falls

Brandywine Creek runs over a lip of columnar basalt and falls about seventy metres in a single clean drop into a bowl, with the layered lava flows of the canyon wall exposed behind it; the rock records several separate eruptions. A viewing platform sits directly opposite the falls, a ten-minute walk from the car park over the railway and through the forest. Behind it the view opens to Daisy Lake and the Black Tusk, a volcanic spire. The name is usually explained by a wager between two surveyors over the height of the falls, settled with a bottle of brandy and one of wine, though the story is not documented.

What you actually see

• The single drop - seventy metres off a basalt lip into a bowl.
• The lava layers - stacked volcanic flows exposed in the canyon wall.
• The Black Tusk view - a volcanic spire visible beyond the falls.
• The short walk - ten minutes from the car park to the platform.

When to go

May to October; the park closes in winter when the access road is unploughed, though snowshoers walk in. Spring melt gives the fullest flow.

Honest expectations

The viewpoint is a single fenced platform and the visit is short. Parking is charged in summer and fills midday. Going beyond the fence to the lip has caused deaths.

Nearby

Whistler lies north; Garibaldi park trailheads are close.