2004/08 Yukon trip - The road home - |
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The shortest route to Kamloops, the Coquihalla Highway, was closed, probably because of an accident, so we 
took the familiar route through the Fraser and Thompson canyons. The sun came out for lunch at Goldpan provincial park. We were watching an armada of Hyak rafts going down the river. River rafting is a much bigger business today than it was when I first took Karen on a rafting trip with the Kumsheen company back in ’86.
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Thompson Canyon and Wells Gray and Mount Robson |
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We took a scenic detour and revisited the beautiful Nicola valley where we went last year with Karen and Stewart 
on our unsuccessful attempt to hike up Stoyoma Mountain. We also stopped off at Lac Le Jeune provincial park, a good spot to make tea but not much more than a local swimming hole. The weather had changed again, cold and showery. North of Kamloops we got to the North Thompson valley but found that there was a rodeo going on at Barriere, with the local campgrounds probably full, so we went all the way to Clearwater on the edge of Wells Gray park. We hunted around until we found the main logging road and then we camped by a bridge on one of the logging tracks, a nice spot with the stream rushing downhill beside us.
Sunday 5th September
We had a wet, drizzly night and we woke up to fresh snow on the mountains. We were going to spend the day in Wells Gray park, an enormous wilderness area that stretches across the centre of BC. We headed past beautiful Dutch Lake where we camped with John and Edna on their last trip.
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Wells Gray waterfalls (5.43) |
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Wells Gray is famous for its waterfalls, which are caused by some geologic faults and glacial action on its volcanic
rock. Spahats Creek has a big canyon and a high slender waterfall. Third Canyon Falls tumbles down a cliff and under the road. Dawson Falls is a big noisy step in the Murtle, a wide powerful river. From there the Murtle runs a mile or two further and then plummets nearly 500 feet in a great 
thundering arc over Helmcken Falls. The falls have carved a huge amphitheatre, full of spray and mist. It’s difficult for your eyes to grasp the scale of what you are seeing, but the vibration through the rock leaves your feet in no doubt.
We had showers as we drove deeper into the park along the Clearwater River. The route was a bumpy gravel road and our graunching noise was getting much noisier and rather annoying, but there didn’t seem to be any obvious cause. The road ended at Clearwater Lake, a large and long green lake, a good kayaking/camping spot for a future trip. We hiked up to Osprey Lookout to get a look at the falls where the lake empties into the Clearwater River. The falls are shaped in a huge horseshoe, like Niagara, but only about six feet high.
We drove back to the town of Clearwater as the sun set, and headed back to the same campsite, this time in the dark.