Waterfalls Map: 16 Maps of Hidden Falls, Ice Routes and Lists

People who map waterfalls rarely stop at the famous ones. They write down the height of every drop, the parking spot, the sheriff to call and whether a GPS is needed; one blogger has added a report for each fall he has stood at since May 2009, another rates Japan’s hidden falls by how dangerous they are to reach. Their maps also keep the falls that are gone: drowned under reservoirs in Brazil, eliminated by a dam in Wisconsin, or no longer freezing in the Caucasus.

1. World Waterfalls Map: 1,683 Falls in 67 Countries

   Each layer of this map carries its own count in its name: “Europe - 395”, “258 - Cachoeiras - BRASIL”, “267 - Oceania”, “46 - Africa and the Middle-East”. Together they hold 1,683 falls in 67 countries, from Sipi and Bujagali Falls in Uganda and a string of falls in northern Zambia to Kaieteur in Guyana and falls in Vanuatu, Iran and Madagascar. Most points link to a write-up on world-of-waterfalls.com, and the makers are candid about what they do not know: 26 positions, from India’s Meghalaya to Peru and Patagonia, are marked “Note: This location is a WAG”, a guess. Victoria Falls gets “The Smoke That Thunders”, Iguazu the words “our favorite waterfall!”.

   

   Objects

   1,6831,683 points

   Countries

   United StatesBrazilAustraliaand 64 more

   Made with

   Google My Maps

2. Wisconsin Waterfalls Map: 286 Falls, Visited or Not

   205 of the 286 falls and rapids link to the author’s own post about them; the other 81 are the interesting part. Lambs Creek Falls “No longer exists - eliminated by dam in the river”. Devil’s Mixing Bowl was “Found 5/11/20 while browsing satellite views on Google Maps. Looks fairly large and exciting!” Several falls lie on the Menominee Reservation and are marked private, Bellile Falls is “Kayak access only”, Black Bear Falls is “Only visible in spring after heavy rains” in “Bear and rattlesnake territory?”, and Signe Falls “Needs boots on the ground”. A second layer outlines Wisconsin’s counties, so the gaps on the checklist show by region.

   

   Objects

   359287 points, 72 areas

   Countries

   United States

   Made with

   Google My Maps

3. Japan Hidden Waterfalls Map: Rated for Access and Danger

   A Japanese waterfall blogger sorts 383 falls into layers: 101 of Japan’s officially listed 100 famous falls, 62 hidden falls (秘瀑), 90 still to visit, six frozen falls, a few climbed up the stream bed, and some abroad. Every hidden fall gets three star ratings, for access, for danger and for the view. Kairagi Falls (梅花皮滝), a 160 m stepped fall, gets six stars for danger and six for the view; Niten Falls (二天の滝) gets five danger stars “熊込み”, bears included. The notes also record what changed: at the hot-spring waterfall of Kamuiwakka, where the plunge pool is a bath, a rockfall in 2006 closed everything above the first fall.

   

   Objects

   383383 points

   Countries

   JapanIcelandUnited Statesand 11 more

   Made with

   Google My Maps

4. Waterfall Record Map: 1,133 Falls Visited Since 2009

   The first report is dated 29 May 2009, Potato Patch Falls in Michigan; the latest on the map, Cullasaja Falls in North Carolina, is from July 2026. In between, one person has linked 967 falls to a dated write-up on waterfallrecord.com, with 166 more visited and waiting for theirs, among them a run of Norwegian falls such as Langfoss and Stalheimsfossen. Each entry is filed by world subregion, country and state, which shows where the record grew: 854 falls in the United States, 87 of them in Michigan, then 66 in Canada and 55 in Iceland, with Grenada, Morocco and Japan in single figures.

   

   Objects

   1,1331,133 points

   Countries

   United StatesCanadaIcelandand 18 more

   Made with

   Google My Maps

5. Kitsap Peninsula Waterfalls Map: A Survey of 144 Falls

   Mystery Falls is a 10 foot fall over glacial till, and “it shows on Google Earth so I do not believe it is seasonal”. This survey of one Washington peninsula tells its 144 existing falls from the seasonal, suspected and human-made ones, and judges them plainly: Misery Falls is a “15’ plunge over till. Not very impressive and probably seasonal”, Reservoir Falls a “Ten foot man made fall most likely created when dam was built”. At Rhododendron Falls the author has been three times and found it shaped differently each time by flood damage. Under the falls lie the survey’s working layers: 414 creeks, 48 gates, private property outlines, watersheds and a patch of non-glacial bedrock.

   

   Objects

   724204 points, 422 lines, 98 areas

   Countries

   United States

   Made with

   Google My Maps

6. Frozen Waterfalls Map: 188 Ice Climbs of the Caucasus

   “Phantom”, WI 5 and about 250 m long, got its name because local climbers say the cascade forms only once every few years, and then as thin, unreliable ice. This Russian map of 188 frozen waterfalls runs in ten layers from Lago-Naki and Arkhyz to Digoria, Dagestan and Chechnya, each route with its grade, length and approach, often with a warning that the approach is avalanche-prone. A climbing party named “Black Dog” after a shaggy dog that followed them from a sheep pen to the end of the route and found the way around the icicle. Another route was a first ascent of the Galauz waterfall on 8 March, and Zhelobnaya carries a short note: “in recent years it does not freeze”.

   

   Objects

   188187 points, 1 line

   Countries

   Russian FederationAzerbaijanGeorgia

   Made with

   Google My Maps

7. Arkansas Waterfalls Map: GPS Rating and Sheriff Numbers

   Every one of these 189 Ozark falls ends with an emergency contact, usually the Newton County Sheriff, with the phone number. Before that come the height, the round-trip miles, the difficulty and a GPS rating from “not needed” through “helpful” and “recommended” to “required”, which only eight falls get, among them Cathedral Falls at 7.3 miles and Woodsman Pouroff. Each entry also names its topographic quadrangle and the page in Tim Ernst’s book Arkansas Waterfalls. Hemmed-In Hollow Falls, the tallest at 209 feet, is a difficult 5 miles but needs no GPS.

   

   Objects

   189189 points

   Countries

   United States

   Made with

   Google My Maps

8. Waterfall Photography Map: Eric and Leandra's 651 Falls

   “You’ll have to hike down the steep slope to get a good shot of the falls (Eric did, I passed).” Eric and Leandra photographed 651 waterfalls between 2002 and 2022, 414 of them in the US, then the UK, Canada, Iceland and 28 in Chile, plus single falls in Oman, Namibia and Israel. Each comes with driving directions, the photo date and an honest note. At Bridal Veil Falls in North Carolina “you used to be able to drive under it, but in 2003 a rock ledge fell”; at Snoqualmie Falls the gift shop, espresso bar and power generators put them off the longer hike, and in the Adirondacks “it was outrageously buggy here in mid-June, so bring your DEET”.

   

   Objects

   651651 points

   Countries

   United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaand 18 more

   Made with

   Google My Maps

9. Washington Waterfalls Map: 899 Falls Up to 2,600 Feet

   Aaron’s Waterfall World begins with 15 foot Judd Cove Falls on Orcas Island and climbs into the North Cascades, where the heights get unreal: Colonial Creek Falls at 2,600 feet, Johannesburg Falls at 2,400, Roush Creek Falls at 2,000, twenty falls over 1,000 feet in all. Most of the 899 falls in Washington and Oregon carries its height and a link, and the links trace the site’s history, from old tripod.com pages through Google Sites to aaronswaterfallworld.net.

   

   Objects

   899899 points

   Countries

   United States

   Made with

   Google My Maps

10. Norway Waterfalls Map: 465 Falls Rated in Stars

    One of 465 Norwegian falls gets five stars: Låtefossen. Behind it come 51 with four, such as Langfoss and Månafossen, then 211 with three and 183 with two, down to 45 with a single star; some fall between two ratings, Kvåsfossen is “/*”. Many falls carry all their spellings, Tjornadalsfossen, Tjørnadalsfossen and Tjødnadalsfossen in one name, and each links to europeanwaterfalls.com. A small layer of Dutch driving directions leads from Kristiansand to Kvåsfossen. The same rater keeps maps of Iceland, Austria, Switzerland and more of Europe, and in Iceland no fall gets five stars.

    

    Objects

    468467 points, 1 line

    Countries

    NorwaySweden

    Made with

    Google My Maps

11. Waterfall Photographer's Map: 87 Falls Across the USA

    Havasu Falls is, its photographer writes, “the single most important image I have taken to date because it made me want to be a landscape photographer”. The 87 falls run state by state across the United States, and the notes are stories from the shoots: a guided expedition into Tumbling Rock Cave in Alabama for the underground Topless Dome, a mountain lion 20 feet away on the solo hike to the Subway in Zion, a 17 minute exposure of Palouse Falls on “one of the coldest nights of my life”. North Dakota is represented by Mineral Waterfall, “the only waterfall in North Dakota”.

    

    Objects

    8787 points

    Countries

    United States

    Made with

    Google My Maps

12. Auvergne Waterfalls Map: Falls Made by Lava

    The Cascade de Saillant near Saint-Nectaire drops 7 metres where the Couze Chambon crosses a lava flow, and in the cold wave of 2012 it was almost entirely caught in ice. In the old volcanic country of central France, this map’s 142 French notes keep returning to geology: the Cascade du Trador was also created by a lava flow, the Saliens is three falls where a stream forces its way past the Olby flow. The writer of eauvergnat.fr argues for the overlooked, such as the Cascade de Veyreras, missing from most regional guides, opens the Allier with “Who said Allier was an ultra-flat département?”, and admits that none of the four or five falls at the Château de la Bâtisse is natural.

    

    Objects

    142138 points, 4 lines

    Countries

    France

    Made with

    Google My Maps

13. New York Waterfalls Map: 762 Falls and 581 Parking Spots

    For most of its 762 falls, this map of New York State adds a second point: where to park. Each fall has its GPS written out in the note, and 146 list their other names, so Dugway Falls is also “Sulphur Springs Falls, Brimstone Falls, Ravine Falls” and Glens Falls goes back to “Chepontuc”. The mapper takes nothing for unnamed: there is “Little Schoharie Creek (unknown falls on)”, “Unknown Falls Sharon Springs” and “Tributary to Panther Creek (falls on)”, which comes with a second parking spot.

    

    Objects

    1,3431,343 points

    Countries

    United StatesCanada

    Made with

    Google My Maps

14. Kyushu Waterfalls Map: A Diary of Falls Since 2001

    Chinda Falls (沈堕の滝) looked artificial in the photos online, so the author expected little and was moved in person; the top had been tidied up for an old hydropower plant, whose ruins add to the mood. This Japanese map of 126 falls in Kyushu and beyond keeps an older layer that reads like a diary, dated from 2001 to 2010: at Shiraito Falls in Fukuoka children play in the small plunge pool in summer, at Goryū Falls (五竜の滝) in Jakuchikyo the stairs are tiring but the spring water at the bottom is a relief, and at Nakayamakei the author learns the name is read “Chūzankei” and adds a sheepish (^^;;.

    

    Objects

    126126 points

    Countries

    Japan

    Made with

    Google My Maps

15. Brazil Waterfalls Map: 1,468 Cachoeiras on OpenStreetMap

    1,468 cachoeiras, saltos and rapids from Roraima to Rio Grande do Sul fill this open uMap by LucFreitas, which asks visitors to add the falls it lacks. Some of them are gone: Cachoeira Comprida, Cachoeira das Galinhas and Cachoeira dos Cães are marked “Inundada pela Represa”, flooded by the reservoir, one of them where the Três Marias dam now stands. Others are warnings, such as Cachoeira do Rio Vermelho: dangerous, reached by a trail through private land “com bois bravos”, with angry bulls and no mobile signal.

    

    Objects

    1,4681,433 points, 32 lines, 3 areas

    Countries

    BrazilArgentinaColombiaand 1 more

    Made with

    OpenStreetMap uMap

16. Galicia Waterfalls Map: 147 Fervenza Hikes in Northern Spain

    In Galicia a waterfall is a fervenza, and 102 of these 147 hikes are named after one; eight more lead to seimeiras. Every route has the same Spanish card, with summary, loop or out-and-back, distance, ascent, duration and difficulty, plus a GPS track and an Instagram photo: the Fervenzas do San Paio are a 7 km loop with 300 m of climbing in three hours, the longest, to the Cascada de Vieiros and the glacial lake of Lucenza, runs 17 km with 800 m in seven. Between the falls the summaries pass watermills, chestnut groves and the hill forts called castros.

    

    Objects

    147147 points

    Countries

    SpainPortugal

    Made with

    Google My Maps