Gairloch Mountain Falls

Beautiful waterfall. The hike in is not for the faint of heart! There are ropes to hang onto for the hike down because it is very steep. Other hikers have kindly marked the overgrown path so you can stay on course. I’m almost 50 and was fine but if you’re looking for a relaxing stroll to a nice waterfall, this might not be it. If you like the challenge, it’s well worth it!

You can drive into the trailhead Google Maps notes if you have a 4x4 truck/SUV, but if you drive a sedan you'll need to hike an additional ~2 km on Gairloch Mountain Road to reach the trailhead. If you're using the Waterfalls of NS book, note that his GPS coordinates for the waterfall are correct, but those for the trailhead are WRONG.

The descent is reasonably challenging but not overly so. There are many ropes to aid your way down, and a number of trees that can be used as well. The waterfall is beautiful, bigger than I expected with 3 tiers, and the gorge is amazing. Enjoy!

We had a wonderful time_ with
comfortable hiking most
of the way. Being in winter was challenge and going down the steep slope into the
gorge was aided with ropes.

made it down with my slides 😎

Private property

Drove my Honda Civic almost all the way to the trailhead, all but 600m. Well marked trail with flagging tape. Walked in sandals and had no issues. A little overgrown in areas but the trail was easy to follow. Took about 30 min to get in and the same to get out.
Highly recommend visiting these falls, picturesque and odds are you'll be the only one there.

Great trail, ropes provide challenge.
Suggest driving to the gps marker, you may not want to do this in a sedan though.
The bridge is solid, I drove my truck over it

Tricky to find

Be careful if you are trying to get here from Egypt Falls. Google maps will send you onto some ATV/Snowmobile trails and to a road doesn't even exist (Gairloch Mountain Rd.) I tried going up and down past the pin point just to make sure, and it's all bush there without even any trailheads.

Anyways, I thought I'd save some time but I actually ended up off-roading for about 3 hours trying to get out of that trail system (without even seeing the waterfall.)

Instead, found a bunch of hunters/forestry workers roaming around. I also came across what looked to be some kind of a sacrificing ritual spot while trying to get out (photo isn't suitable for Google maps...)

This area is extremely remote and dangerous, definitely not for the friendly hiker type. Cell reception wasn't reliable and there are some questionable people roaming around in there. No eye contact, and no hellos.

The drive is definitely not for regular automobiles.