Bridal Veil Falls & Trail

This high-volume cataract plunges from the 300-foot cliffs in Keystone Canyon near Valdez in a series of classic-looking cascades, vividly suggesting a bride’s adornment. Only a few hundred yards north of Horsetail Falls, Bridal Veil is one of many snow-fed waterfalls inside the three-mile-long canyon. With your back to the highway, and the river at your foot—and the whoosh of falling water filling your ears—you might feel as though you’re down inside a deep gorge. In winter, these falls freeze into immense ropey curtains that draw ice climbers from all over the world.

Best Viewing Spot

Bridal Veil makes its plunge on the east side of the highway and across the Lowe River, but you can park directly across in a west-side pullout at Mile 13.9. (Watch for traffic when crossing the highway.) The two-mile Valdez Goat Trail begins at at the south end of the Bridal Veil pullout, and is a restored segment of the historic Trans-Alaska Military Packtrain Trail that formed the first ice-free land route from Valdez into the Interior during the Gold Rush era.