September is lovely, but with it always comes a twinge of longing for the bygone days of summer. Which is why my boyfriend and I went away for the Labour Day long weekend, anticipating that it was probably going to be our last chance to get out of town before the cold and the rain returns. Wells Gray conveniently popped up in a google search of parks that weren’t likely to be crawling with people (Whistler, Banff, the island and the Sunshine Coast were all immediately struck from the list for that reason). We wanted to go somewhere more secluded, and Wells Gray fit the bill. Knowing absolutely nothing about the park, we hopped in the car early on Saturday morning and drove inland, hoping for the best.
Wells Gray is over 5,000 square kilometres, but most of it is inaccessible without a boat or a sturdy pair of boots and grit. The only road from nearby Clearwater is about 70 km, and it terminates at the boat launch at the southern end of Clearwater Lake. Everything else is off the beaten path. Now, there are plenty of things to see and do just off this main road, but keep in mind that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Moul Falls
Branching off on either side of the road winding into the park are short walks and scenic stops. Wells Gray is the land of waterfalls with over 40 to boast. Shortly after arriving on Saturday afternoon it started to drizzle. We pulled on our waterproof gear and walked 4 km to Moul Falls. Moul is beautiful in early autumn when the colours are just starting to show. The trees had the first twinges of umber last weekend. But what makes it really special is the cave behind the cascade where you can feel the mist from the thundering falls.
Helmcken Falls
The crown jewel of the park though, is Helmcken Falls. Three times the height of Niagara, the water rushes nearly 500 feet into the canyon below. It’s supposed to be a spectacular sight in winter, too. Icy spray forms an impressive snow crater around the base of the falls. Most people coming to the park are on a mission to view Helmcken (and we were no exception). Because it’s so popular, there’s a convenient lookout platform on the side of the canyon only a short distance from a parking lot.
By the end of our first day in Wells Gray, I was learning a lot about the lay of the land. I had envisioned us bathing in the lake, and even bought biodegradable soap and paraben-free sunscreen specifically for it. What I didn’t know before we arrived at our campsite that first night was that the lake empties rapidly into the river in a series of pitched waterfalls. Oh, and it’s cold. Icy cold.
Now if you think we were ill-prepared for our weekend away, you don’t know the half of it. The sun was just starting to set when we pulled into our campsite near Osprey Falls and started to assemble our tent. It was only then that we discovered we’d left the tarp in Vancouver. There was only mesh between us and the stars that first night, and the forecast was calling for overnight showers. Oops. Luckily, the sky cleared on Saturday evening and remained cloudless for the rest of the weekend.
Trophy Mountain Meadows
On Sunday morning we hopped back in the car and headed down the forest service road in search of more waterfalls. 10 km from the main highway the road splits in two. One fork goes to Spahats Falls (also well worth a visit), but we veered off in the other direction toward Trophy Mountain, which has the most easily accessible sub-alpine meadows in British Columbia.
We had unfortunately just missed the last of the summer blooms. In June, the meadow is flush with gold, and in late July and early August, it’s like a painter’s pallet with yellow mountain heather, glacier lilies, marigolds, paint brushes and lupins. It’s a six hour trek to the summit, but really, the meadows are the best part. A little further down the same road is Silvertip Falls, which required a fair amount of bushwhacking to reach.
Still feeling like something was amiss, and that there must be a way to access the water, we stopped for ice cream at Ray’s Farm on our way back toward the lake. Ray was the first settler in the area in the early twentieth century, although fur trappers for the Hudson’s Bay Company, land surveyors and indigenous tribes following the caribou herds came through even earlier. His farm is a lovely circuit for horseback riding. It was also a nice spot to pull over and chat to some locals and other weekend campers over a nice cold treat. The operator of the ice cream stand told us about the canoe shed at the lake. We thanked her and sped back to our campsite, reaching the rental shop for Clearwater Lake Tours just as it was closing.
Canoeing on Clearwater Lake
Even though we had a long drive back to Vancouver on Monday, we weren’t about to miss our opportunity to check out the lake. So at 9:00 on the dot we were waiting outside the shed for it to open, and on the water less than an hour later.
Folks, this is a public service announcement that Clearwater Lake is quite possibly the most beautiful lake I’ve ever been on. It really is crystal clear as you’ll see in the shallows around diver’s bluff in the photo below, except for when it’s so glassy it’s a mirror image of the sky above.
We told ourselves we’d enjoy two blissful hours on the lake, and then we really had to turn around if we hoped to get home by nightfall. If you’ve ever read Jon Krakaur’s Into Thin Air or seen the movie Everest, you’ll know all about the importance of strict turnaround times. Well, we would make terrible Everest climbers. It was 2:00 pm by the time we begrudgingly returned our canoe.
This trip was marvellous because everything about it was spontaneous. But a little bit of planning would have made it even better. We only learned at the end of the weekend that Clearwater Lake Tours makes daily trips to Rainbow Falls on Azure Lake. And the map they provided indicated that there were campsites at most of the beachheads on Clearwater and Azure. By the time we got out to diver’s bluff, where we beached our boat in favour of a swim and a picnic lunch, we were starting to encounter groups of people returning from multi-day trips back from Rainbow Falls. The lake was stunningly beautiful, and I so badly want to come back to Wells Gray next summer and attempt the 4-day trip by water.
