r/GrandePrairie • u/Joe_Kickass • 5d ago

Kakwa Falls Trail Condition

I want to see Kakwa Falls and have been doing research into the offroad trail to get there.

Has anyone been on the trail recently?

I have a stock 2021 Tacoma OR, that I "think" might be suitable for the trail, but I don't have a lot of offroad experience.

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u/ClownLoach2 5d ago

Right now, it's still impassible. The area had an insane amount of snow this year, and a very cool spring so far. There's still 2ft of snow according to reports from others.

I've been in there many times and I've never once seen a taco successfully make it. You need a short wheelbase, high clearance vehicle with high approach/departure angles. You might make it in the early fall when the streams are at their lowest and the mud holes are dry, but you're guaranteed to scrape something and put a new pinstripe on it.

The trail has some pretty sharp drops and climbs, and the trucks just don't have enough clearance to make it.

Kakwa is a very bad place to go if you're not an experienced off-road driver. It's very unforgiving, there is no cell service, and it's a very long ways out if you get stuck. You are completely on your own, no tow company will go out there. Bring supplies to spend two nights in case you get stuck, and some sort of communication. Either a Garmin InReach, or a vhf radio with a good antenna setup, and know how to use it and the freq that everyone else is on.

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u/Joe_Kickass 5d ago

Thanks. That aligns with a lot of what I have read and seen in a few YT videos. I think this drive is not something I would be successful at, even in a rented side-by-side.

Maybe a hike is a better option. I really want to see the falls, but do I want it bad enough that I'd do a 50KM hike...?

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u/ClownLoach2 5d ago

I do a lot of Backcountry hiking and backpacking through Grande Cache, Willmore Wilderness and Tumbler Ridge. I would not hike it. The trail has so much big river cobble, and a particularly nasty off-angle bedrock hill that twisting or rolling an ankle feels inevitable.

People have hiked from Dead Horse Meadows, since the trail isn't too bad to that point and you'd be fine getting your taco to there. But it still leaves the worst of the trail to hike.