Skeleton Falls is located on the Skeleton River, along Highway 141. Despite being only a hundred meters from the road, you will not see it unless you get out of your car. The Skeleton River has cut out a deep gorge, and the road skirts the south side of the gorge far above the falls. There is no official trail or parking area to the falls, and no signs. It is not a big waterfall, but its wild and pristine nature make it worth a visit.

The falls are located a short distance east of Neil Bethune Road, a dirt road on the south side of Highway 141. I did not see any safe place to park along the highway, so parked on the dirt road instead. You could descend into the gorge from any point on the north side of the road, but there is a rough trail that leads right to the brink of the falls. This is located past the guard rails roughly where Highway 141 starts curving to the south. There is a drainage ditch here. The "trail" is just beyond the drainage ditch. You can hear the falls and other rapids from the road once you are out of your car.

There were a lot of mosquitos in the Skeleton River gorge. I mean a lot of mosquitos. I think the Skeleton River was so named because skeletons are all the mosquitos leave behind.

I do not have the exact GPS coordinates for the falls, but here is the approximate location, courtesy of Google Maps.

These falls are also known as Minnehaha Falls.

The Muskoka region is full of waterfalls, although unlike Skeleton Falls, many of them have been compromised by dams. Upstream of Skeleton Falls you can find the larger, but equally wild and much easier to visit Hatchery Falls. The Upper and Lower Rosseau Falls are about 8km to the west on 141. The many falls in Bracebridge are about 12 km to the east.

Photo Gallery

Trail down to falls

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Last Modified: Monday, 28-Nov-2011 18:18:04 MST.