Rolley Lake Provincial Park is a gorgeous recreation area (and campground) between Maple Ridge and Mission in BC, Canada. You can hike a loop around Rolley Lake, then finish the walk by wandering down to a couple of waterfalls known an Rolley Falls. The Lower Rolley Falls is one of those waterfalls that doesn’t look as amazing as it should from photos! The most impressive section of the falls plunges for around 20-30m but it is partially hidden by foliage, so you really need to visit to hear the waters thunder past to get an idea about how grand it all is. This makes this walk less good for instagram-lovers, but great for people that like to experience lush forests and peek at gushing waters through the foliage.

Map to Rolley falls and Rolley Lake

I hiked around the lake and to the falls (map here) so it was a bit less than the 2 full loops.

Rolley Lake & Rolley Falls – The basics

Distance: 5km (less then 2km if you just visit the falls)
Elevation loss: 100m to the falls, 161m if you do the loop.
Time: 1-1.5 hours
What to bring: Nothing special. The 10 Essentials.
Facilities: Loos at the reservoir trail parking lot.
Dogs: Dogs are allowed if leashed. They are not allowed on the beach area of Rolley Lake.
How hard is it? Rolley Lake is easy. The trail to Rolley Falls is pretty steep, but still not hard.

Rolley Lake loop

Start with an easy walk around Rolley Lake. There is plenty of space to park in the Rolley Lake Provincial Park day use area, at the end of Matheson Road.

You can see I visited on a bit of a gloomy day. It turned out to be a pretty, atmospheric walk through lush, fern-filled forest. The trail around Rolley Lake is pretty flat, and is a mix of boardwalk and muddy trails through the trees.

Trail to Rolley Falls

Once you make it to the northeastern side of the lake, follow the signs towards the waterfall that starts from the campground area.

I loved the patchwork of moss and lichen along the sides of the trail.

Upper Rolley Falls

The pathway goes downhill to a bridge over the first waterfall. You can get up close to the falls and it’s nice considering how easy the path down to here is!

Main Rolley Falls

After you have crossed the bridge, the trail heads downhill more steeply. You don’t have to go far (just a few hundred meters) but tread carefully as it is steep and slippery. There are a couple of viewing platforms where you can look over to the big plunge through the foliage.

You can continue downhill to the forest service road, and hike up on the opposite side of the cliff. Or, if you feel lazy, you can retrace your steps back up to Rolley Lake like I did.

Rolley Lake Provincial Park looks like a pleasant place to go camping, so hopefully I can return to stay the night here. But it is also a great spot for a mini hike to (sort of) see the impressive plunge of Rolley Falls. If you fancy a longer, more challenging hike, you can pair this hike with Rolley Peak, or one of the other gorgeous waterfalls near Mission.

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