Kicking Horse River
Kicking Horse River
Kicking Horse River at the foot of Chancellor Peak
Pedestrian bridge over the Kicking Horse River in Golden
The Kicking Horse River is a right tributary of the Columbia River in the Canadian Rockies in southeastern British Columbia.
The river has the status of a Canadian Heritage River.
The river received its name in 1858, when James Hector, participants of the Palliser Expedition, was kicked in the chest by his horse to the river. Hector survived and named the river and the mountain pass after this event. The Kicking Horse Pass, which connects the valley of the river with the Bow River, was the mountain route, which was later selected by the Canadian Pacific Railway when it was built in the 1880s. The so-called Big Hill of the railroad and the subsequent spiral tunnels are located in the Kicking Horse Valley. They were necessary because of the steep descent of the river valley.
River
The Kicking Horse River has its origin in Wapta Lake, from where it flows in a southwesterly direction. He takes the Yoho River to above Field. The river continues to flow in a south-westerly direction until it reaches the Wapta Falls, where it changes its flow direction abruptly and turns in a northwesterly direction until it empties into the Columbia River near Golden.
Waterfalls
The river has three waterfalls along its flow path. The first is the Kicking Horse Cascade, a long talus waterfall, which is located on the first highway crossing below the Wapta Lake. The second waterfall is the Natural Bridge Falls in Field. The last and largest waterfall is about 30 m (100 ft) high and 150 m (500 ft) wide Wapta Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in Canada in terms of volume and width.
Inflows
- Sherbrooke Creek
- Yoho River
- Emerald River
- Amiskwi River
- Otter Head River
- Ottertail River
- Porcupine Creek
- Beaverfoot River
- Glenogle Creek