How the canyon formed
Sunwapta is a Stoney word usually translated as "turbulent river," which is a fair description of what happens here: the river hits a wall of resistant rock and is forced almost 90 degrees off its original course, dropping into a narrow canyon it has carved along that new path since the last ice age retreated.
A five-minute stop, or a longer one
Most people only do the main viewpoint: a few minutes from the parking lot on a paved path, with a bridge crossing the gorge right there so you see both sides of the drop without walking any further. It's under five minutes round trip, which makes it one of the easiest stops on the corridor to fit in even on a rushed day. If you have more time, the Lower Falls trail continues along the canyon rim for about 1.4 km one-way to a second, quieter set of falls in a narrower gorge with a large carved-out cave — almost everyone who stops here skips it, which makes it one of the least crowded short hikes on the whole route. Either way, stay behind the fencing: the rock stays wet with spray and gets genuinely slippery, worse than it looks, and especially bad in winter.
There's a lodge right here, not just a pullout
Sunwapta Falls Rocky Mountain Lodge sits at the turnoff from the highway, about 500 m before the falls parking lot — a real option for a meal or a coffee, not just a name on the map, if you want a proper break rather than a five-minute stop.