Egan Chute is a wild waterfall on the York River. It is located in Egan Chutes Provincial Park, about 10 km east of Bancroft on Highway 28. This is a non-operating park with no facilities. There is no real signage for it either. On either side of the bridge carrying Highway 28 over the York River there is a narrow access road into the park. To see Egan Chute, take the road on the west side of the river. You can drive in part of the way, and walk the rest. The falls is about 1km north of the road.

Egan Chute is a long cascade. The river drops 4m in a number of stages. When I saw the falls the river was high, and the falls were roaring. In lower water the falls is quite different looking. At the top of the falls the river is split by an island. Below the falls is a short gorge.

This is a wild waterfall, with no fences, viewing platforms or signs. You can get up close to this falls, but be careful.

I did not have time to explore the road/trail on the east side of the river. From the west side, there did not appear to be any vantage points from which to view the falls on the other side of the river. The gorge is higher and steeper on the east side. Based on aerial photography, the trails on the east side will take you to Farm Chute, a pair of low falls downstream of Egan Chute. On the west side the trail ends at Egan Chute.

The smaller Farm Chute is a kilometre downstream as the crow flies. It is at least twice as far following the river. I believe the trails on the east side of the river will take you there. The impressive, but dammed, High Falls of the York River are 30km upstream in Birds Creek Ontario. The wild High Falls on the north branch of the York River are another 40km beyond that. There are a number of other small falls to the north and east. There are also a number of falls that show up in the atlas, but for which no real information is available.

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Last Modified: Tuesday, 14-Jun-2011 19:44:33 MDT.