2018/07 Arctic Part 3 - Wells Gray |
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We found that the park is now called the Wells Gray Corridor, encompassing the access road and all those little places where you might have been able to camp for free. So the first priority was to secure a site at the Pyramid campground inside the park.
Wells Gray has all the ingredients for spectacular waterfalls: cross-bedded lava flows, extensive glaciation, and rock that erodes into vertical cliffs. Our first was Helmcken Falls, where the Murtle River arcs out from the cliff and plunges 450 feet into a chaos of spray and more waterfalls. Photos don’t capture the scale of what you are seeing. You need to feel the vibrations.
The viewpoints are all from the opposing cliffs, about a thousand feet high and, like most cliffs in the park, absolutely sheer. Sandie likes the waterfalls but not the associated cliffs.
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Helmcken Falls (1.54) |
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We went to take a look at Dawson Falls, a couple of miles upstream. There’s a viewpoint right on the road, but parking is difficult and the view is limited, so we were intrigued to find that there is now a trail to the other side of the falls. There wasn’t much to see on the way except ferns but the viewpoint was right at the edge of the falls, with plenty of opportunities to walk along the top. If you did then you might survive the tumble down these falls but not Helmcken Falls just downstream.
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Dawson Falls (0.37) |
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We opted for the “loop” trail as it took us along the river, but we’d underestimated the length of the loop. It also involved more leaping and clambering that we’d have liked. Eventually, it left the river and came out just a few feet from our campsite; convenient except that our truck was at the other end of the trail. Sandie fed the bugs while I went to fetch it.
Thursday July 19th 
The park is only about four hours of driving from Hope so we had plenty of time to take a look at a few waterfalls.
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Lorquins (0.13) |
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We took the trail through the woods to Maul Falls.
I wanted to show Sandie the Indian pipes, weird white parasitic plants I’d seen on the trail back in 2012, but there was no sign of them; perhaps we were a week or two too early. We did find some coral root orchids. This time the trail down to the foot of the falls had been repaired but it was still not knee-friendly, so I went down on my own. Maul Falls are on a more modest scale but are quite pretty. 
It was nice to see some kids on the trails. At most of the places we’d been, we shared the trails with gnarly retirees and the young; families don’t have the time to reach such places. We had lunch at Third Canyon, with yet another waterfall concealed in its depths.
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Moul Falls (1.22) |
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Spahats Falls looks to be saying “Wow, did I do all this?”. It didn’t: a glacier cut the cliff and started the process. Spahats Creek cut its own slot in the cliff though. 
This is a drive-to waterfall with a fast food marquee in the parking lot, unusual for a provincial park, and our ice creams went down well.
Further along the cliffs is this view of the Clearwater River valley.