WATERFALLS OF NOVA SCOTIA

ECONOMY FALLS
Economy River Wilderness Area, Colchester County
46N26.872  63W55.166
20T E428099 N5032949

RIVER: Economy River
CLASS: plunge
SIZE: 65'
RATING: excellent (****)

TRAIL: improved trails
DISTANCE: 1km
HIKING TIME: 30 minutes
CONDITIONS: easy/moderate

Geocache: GCXWJ7

NS Atlas Page: 38/V2
NS topo map: 011E05 (Bass River)

photo Sylvia Fisher (2011)

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: from Truro, travel north on HWY102 to the intersection with HWY104. Take the exit west towards New Brunswick. Drive up the Transcanada Highway 16.4 km and take the exit before the Cobequid Pass, signed for Glenholme. Turn right onto HWY4 and travel south 1.6km then turn right again onto HWY2 (signed for Parrsboro) Drive west 6.5 km and turn left in Great Village to stay on HWY2. Continue 27.1km to the village of Economy and turn right onto River Phillip Road. Drive north 7.5 km to the Kenomee Canyon Trails parking lot on your right.

photo: Kris Matthews (2014)

the stairs down to the base of the falls

TRAIL DESCRIPTION: continue down the road and turn left at the sign for Economy Falls onto the trail. Follow this improved path to the top of a 186-step staircase to the base of the falls. The climb back UP these stairs is a lung burner.

Once a much larger fall, as evidenced in the above image from the Nova Scotia Museum of Economy Falls in 1871. The sketch of the falls by Thos. C Atkinson appeared in the October 1871 edition of Canadian Illustrated News. The partial collapse happened in 1997 and dramatically altered the falls.

(Economy Falls before the 1997 partial collapse)

from the Government of Nova Scotia website

photo jbtech

Part of the Kenomee Canyon trail, one of Nova Scotia's finest hiking experiences, that features other falls on Chain Lakes Stream Brook and Murphys Brook, an 18km loop trail with camping spots for a hike in-camp-hike out experience thru the protected Economy River Wilderness Area. The camping areas are at Chain Lake, Murphys Brook and Newton Lake.

photo Sylvia Fisher (2011)

Check out the official homepage for Kenomee Canyon Trails at http://www.colchester.ca/kenomee-trail-system or contact the Kenomee Trail Society at (902) 647-2271 for more information on the trails.

Economy Falls in low water

photo Kris Griffon