Olesen Creek Cascades – unnamed falls along the trail to Stawamus Chief

Summary: A small but powerful cascade along Olesen Creek, which has smoothed an enormous tree root, The waterfall is along the Stawamus Chief trail.

How to get there: Walking trail from Sea to Sky Gondola car park
Walking distance to waterfall: 1.4km (return)
Duration: <1 hour
Grade: Easy
Type of waterfall: Cascade
Waterfall Rating: 2/5
Height of falls: 5m
Bushwalking trail: Stawamus Chief (South Peak)

The trail to the three Stawamus Chief Summit crosses Olesen Creek a couple of times, as it follows the creek up the valley. There are few (unnamed) waterfalls along this lower section of the creek. One of these cascades is impressive not so much because of the height of the drop or volume of water, but how it has sculpted and smoothed an enormous tree root which lies in the middle of the stream.

dsc00758 lr Olesen Creek Cascades - unnamed falls along the trail to Stawamus Chief

There are more cascades and lichen-covered rocks upstream of the bridge.

dsc00754 lr Olesen Creek Cascades - unnamed falls along the trail to Stawamus Chief

dsc00746 lr Olesen Creek Cascades - unnamed falls along the trail to Stawamus Chief

Getting to Olesen Creek Cascades

This small waterfall is about 0.7km from the Sea to Summit carpark at Squamish (or 1.5km from the Shannon Falls carpark) along the trail to the Stawamus Chief summits.