Baileys Chute! Clearwater River, Wells Grey Provincial Park, BC.
Since my first time on a river, I have been passionate and involved with wild rivers and river conservation. For me, the sight and sound of falling water just makes everything perfect. I am seriously attracted to gradient and flow!
The Pacific Northwest region has no shortage of great rapids and waterfalls, from massive cataracts to trickling drops in a tiny brook. It is a great place to live or visit if you are into eddy lines, cooling sprays, rainbows and fogbows, and the sound of water tumbling on and over rock. There is nothing better than starting or ending your day, early morning glow or deepening twilight, sitting beside, and drinking in the sight, sound and smell of water rushing downstream.
Common Loon! Wells Grey Park.
There are over ninety waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge, another ten in Silver Falls State Park (both in Oregon), and over three-thousand waterfalls (more than any other US state) in Washington. Dropping two-thousand-five-hundred-feet, and over thirteen separate drops, the well-hidden and difficult to hike to Colonial Creek Falls in nearby North Cascades National Park is the tallest waterfall in the continental United States, and the fifteenth tallest waterfall in the world. Waterfalls are always special and worth seeking out.
The Mushbowl! Murtle River, Wells Grey Park.
So, no surprise that some fifteen years ago, soon after my family moved here from the east coast, I looked around for those places where rivers and streams went downhill fast. I found Wells Grey Provincial Park in British Columbia (BC), named as Canada’s waterfall park for its over forty named and many more uncounted and unnamed waterfalls. It was late May, and I loaded up the car and my daughter Danna and headed north. In addition to the falls and the ancient volcanos, we found more than a dozen black bears that weekend grazing the tall grasses of spring. In one campground, we found so many bears that first morning in the park, that my daughter suggested we go look for the “people” campground instead of the bear campground. That first trip was the beginning of my love affair with Wells Grey.
Whitewater Below! Spahats Creek, Wells Grey Park.
Spahats Creek, one of the parks first falls at the southern end, runs off of a pass between Raft and Trophy Mountain, drops over Spahats Falls and flows into the Clearwater River. Spahats is the First Nations term for bear, and the park lies within the traditional lands of the Simpcw and Tsq’esceneemc bands, part of the Shuswap Nation and the Interior Salish People.
Helmcken Falls! Wells Grey Park.
From Bellingham, the park is a relatively short five-hour drive (as opposed to other favorites like Yellowstone, Bella Coola, or Death Valley that are multi-day drives) and over the years I have ventured up there many times. Several early spring and fall trips, a short Thanksgiving weekend in the snow (a remote Thanksgiving dinner of microwave lasagna and apple pie from Costco), and a few trips in the dead of winter to view the frozen ice cones at the base of Helmcken Falls (at over four hundred feet, the fourth highest waterfall in Canada). But I had never visited in summer, so I wasn’t sure exactly what I would find in July?
Canim Falls! Wells Grey Park.
What I found was heat and bugs of course, the signature of inland forests in high summer. But I also found the last of the winter runoff, waterfalls flowing in full beauty and power, and one (and only one) early morning bear.
On this trip, I hit Helmcken and Spahats during the blue hour of early morning, took a fantastic drive over the Fraser Plateau to see Mahood and Canim Falls, then spent my evenings letting the vibes of Third Canyon, Mushroom and Dawson Falls on the Murtle River, and the thundering Bailey’s Chute set the mood for a night of solitude camped along the Clearwater River.
I had wanted to hike into Moul Falls, but it was hitting three-digit temperatures in the afternoons and I opted for quieter times and taking an afternoon nap. A typical photo trip sees me up early and capturing the last light of the day. The plan is to offset that by sleeping in the afternoons when parks are hotter and more crowded. Unfortunately, the naps are far and few between, as I always find something else to perk my interest or decide to drive to a new location.
Mahood Lake Reflection! Wells Grey Park.
Luckily, on this trip I avoided the summer fires that have and continue to ravage all of the western states. The temperature gauge in the Park read one hundred degrees, and I worried about the several dozen fires burning up in northern BC. But as I left, they were mostly far north of where I would be. Just a few days after I returned, that number jumped to one hundred and thirty fires, and, on July 22nd, the largest fire ever in the area destroyed a third to one-half of the town of Jasper. Jasper, on the northern end of the gorgeous Icefields Parkway, is some three-hundred and thirteen miles from Wells Grey (just under two hundred miles), about the same distance as driving from Bellingham. Jasper was and will return as a wonderful destination. Right now, its residents have just been allowed to return after weeks of evacuations. As I write this, Jasper National Park between the Athabasca Glacier area and the Town of Jasper remains closed (Banff National Park to the Icefields Centre remains open). My prayers and thoughts for everyone in that area.
Wildflowers! Wells Grey Park.
Endnotes:
· As I write this, there are some four-hundred and thirty fires burning in BC (fifty seven per cent of which are believed to have been human-caused). In the western US, there are more than two-hundred and fifty fires burning, including seventy-two in Oregon, twenty-three in Washington, and thirty in Idaho. To understand the full impact of fires here at home and worldwide, go to https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/
· Wildfires are an essential part of forest health, but the growing number and intensity of fires have already started to change the ecosystems that humans and other species depend on. Since 2000, the US has experienced an average of 70,600 wildfires annually. That number changes things! One of my favorite drives is the two-hundred- and eighty-mile Chilcotin Highway to Bella Coola (Highway 20 and part of the Discovery Coast Circle Tour). It remains a favorite destination, but now the forests are mostly gone and you are driving through a blackened, stick forest in so many areas. And while our western communities focus on recovery, community resilience, and climate change, wildfires also impact wildlife, air and water quality, the increase of pervasive species, and often full ecosystem transformation – fire is increasingly acting as a catalyst for abrupt change in ecosystem structure and composition in forests of the western U.S.
Comments