Crooked Falls: The Squamish Valley Waterfall Almost Nobody Drives Out To

Crooked Falls is what Shannon Falls would be if you removed the highway, the parking lot, the railings, the boardwalk and roughly ninety-nine percent of the people. Six kilometres return, 395 metres of gain, three and a half hours for most people, and on a weekday you may well have it entirely to yourself.

The exchange is that you have to drive up the Squamish Valley to get there, the trail is steep in a way the numbers understate, and there is nothing at the top stopping you from walking off a cliff.

Getting there: Squamish Valley Road and Ashlu Road

From Highway 99 just north of Squamish, turn onto Squamish Valley Road and follow it up the valley. The first stretch is paved and pleasant, running past farmland with the Tantalus Range building on your left. The pavement ends and the road continues as well-maintained gravel.

You are looking for the Ashlu Bridge, which is a single-lane crossing. Wait your turn, cross, and turn onto Ashlu Road. From there the trailhead is just past the 2 km marker, on the left, where the road bends right. The marker is an electrical pole and a gap in the trees. There is no sign. Set your odometer at the bridge, because it is easy to overshoot and then spend twenty minutes doubting yourself.

On road condition: as of mid-2026 the gravel sections are well maintained and a normal two-wheel-drive car makes the trip without drama. That is a statement about a logging road, though, and logging roads change. After a hard winter or during active hauling the surface can be washboarded, potholed, or freshly bladed with loose material. Clearance is rarely the issue; nerve on gravel usually is.

Two things that are not optional. First, this is an active forestry road, so loaded trucks have right of way and you should assume one is around every blind corner. Second, there is no cell coverage for most of the valley. Tell someone your plan before you leave pavement.

The trail, and how steep it actually is

395 metres over 3 km each way sounds moderate. It does not feel moderate, because the gain is not distributed evenly.

The opening section is gentle, climbing through second-growth forest on a decent path. Then it tips up. The middle and upper thirds are a sustained, rooty, occasionally hand-on-tree climb that gains most of the elevation, and in places the trail is essentially a staircase of exposed cedar roots. Wet, those roots are treacherous, and they are wet more often than not - this is a west-coast valley trail under a closed canopy that rarely fully dries out.

The trail is well used enough to be obvious and poorly maintained enough to feel wild. There is no boardwalk, no staircase, no gravel. You will get muddy. Boots with real tread are the correct footwear and trail runners are a decision you will reconsider on the descent.

Coming down is harder than going up, which is worth saying plainly because the elevation profile does not show it. Steep wet roots on tired legs is how people hurt themselves on this trail. Poles are genuinely useful here in a way they are not on most 6 km hikes.

The upper viewpoint, and why I am going to be blunt about it

The trail brings you out at a viewpoint looking across at the falls, and it is a big, satisfying piece of water with the Tantalus Range behind it on a clear day. It is a much better composition than Shannon Falls precisely because there is a mountain skyline in it rather than a wall of trees.

Some people continue above the main viewpoint toward the upper falls. That ground is steeper, looser and more exposed again, and it is not a maintained trail in any meaningful sense. If you are not comfortable with genuine consequence on wet rock, the main viewpoint is the end of your day and it is a good end.

Do not bring young children here. The trail is fine for them and the viewpoint is not.

Dogs, seasons and who this trail is for

Dogs are permitted and the trail suits a fit dog well - it is forest, roots and dirt the whole way. Pack out waste. The same viewpoint warning applies to dogs, and more so, because a dog does not read exposure. Keep them leashed at the top even if they have been off-leash all the way up.

The season runs roughly April to November. April and early May give you high water but the upper trail is a mudslide and the road may still be rough after winter. Late May and June are the best combination of good driving, big water, and green forest. October brings low cloud that catches in the Tantalus and gives you the most atmospheric conditions of the year, at the cost of volume. Outside that window the road is not maintained for winter conditions and the trail is a poor idea.

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Trail notes from the field

One email a month: what is melting out, what is snowed in, and where the light is good right now. Written after the hike, not before it.

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