My goals for the day were simple: visit Jasper National Park, and hike some trails. I visited the Canadian Rockies with my dad in 2018, after a memorable concert, and I figured it would be nice to try to visit spots that I didn’t remember visiting back then. 😉
It was Victoria Day. Canada’s May Long Weekend was drawing to a close, and so too was my exploration of Wells Gray Provincial Park.
Every road into Wells Gray dead ends somewhere, so it was my opportunity to continue reversing my path, southwards from the Pyramid Campground towards the town of Clearwater. Along my route, I’d visit a few scenic spots and waterfalls that I passed up on my drive into town. And, I’d find lighting conditions far more friendly to good waterfall pictures than I had for most of the previous day.
After that, I planned to embark upon one more detour on my way to Haida Gwaii. In Wells Gray Provincial Park, I was looking at the Cariboo Mountains, a subrange of the Columbia Mountains. I was not amongst the more scenic and famous Canadian Rockies, but they were so close by that I couldn’t help but head towards them as well.
So, I was taking my time, enjoying myself, and doing roughly four hours of driving around my stops.
My final destination for the day: the Lucerne Campground at Mt. Robson Provincial Park.
After a lousy, loud night’s sleep, I was glad to pack up my tent and leave the campground behind. Some of my neighbors were only then starting to sleep.
A glimpse of the Cariboo Mountains on my way from the Mahood Lake area to Clearwater, B.C. -- shot through my filthy windshieldopen_in_fullinfo
I was even gladder when the dirt roads turned to pavement once more and I spied a much needed gas station in the town of Clearwater, B.C.
From there, I would head into the main, popular section of Wells Gray Provincial Park, home to many waterfalls, some of them among Canada’s most iconic.
And from that moment onwards, my day became increasingly magical. Increasingly full of peace and solitude, geological marvels and marvelous frogs. I would soak up solitude, and I would love almost every minute of it.
I drove past lake cottages, down narrow, woodsy roads until I found myself in the Mahood Lake section of Wells Gray Provincial Park. This area of the park featured its own campground and some lakes, as well as a few waterfalls that were accessible enough.
It was afternoon on the Saturday of Victoria Day Weekend, which meant that I was unable to make any campground reservations for the night, owing to British Columbia regulations that only permit a reservation for the whole duration of any weekend. I figured it would be a good idea to stop first at the Mahood Lake Campground and set up my tent at a first-come first-serve site if any were still available.
A brief perusal showed that a few of these sites were left, most of them “joint sites.” I shied away from those, as I didn’t really want to potentially directly abut a stranger. So, I took the final single site, which happened to be near some partiers who were already quite loud and wasted.
I pitched my tent, took a breather, and then left to check out three of Wells Gray Park’s more easily accessed, but less commonly visited waterfalls: Canim Falls, Mahood Falls, and Deception Falls.
You’re planning a long trip to Canada, opening with some days spent exploring parks and driving, and some days spent working. You’re going to traverse a lot of mountain ranges, and there are a number of places for longer, overnight or multi-day hikes.
Your hopes are in vain; your plans, naive. Not long before your travel, every trail report, every scrap of information indicates that you’re at least a month too early. Some of the roads to trailheads, even, are snowed in and inaccessible. (This is Canada in May after all.)
You’re fine sticking to lowland, non-snowy trails, but you also were originally thinking of trying to do one of the longer hikes between Kamloops and Prince George. You have no set reservations between the two cities, since B.C. Provincial Parks prohibit campsite reservations for individual nights during holiday weekends, and Victoria Day happens to be in the middle.
Searching for longer, backpacking friendly hiking areas mainly leads you to results to the south of Kamloops – the wrong direction.
Then, somewhere deep in a discussion thread in some untraceable corner of some social media platform or another, someone replies to a request for early season hiking suggestions nearish Prince George with a mention of “Flourmill Volcanoes.”
Intriguing, eh?
It’s in a corner of Wells Gray Provincial Park that is nearly inaccessible, down forest roads whose conditions are rumored to be impassable to most vehicles.
The day's first destination -- Chasm Ecological Reserve!open_in_fullinfo
But laying in a course there means stopping by a scenic canyon overlook, visiting a lake with a Turkish-looking name, and maybe having an excuse to visit the Mahood Lake section of Wells Gray Provincial Park with its less-visited Deception, Canim, and Mahood Falls.
Would you try it?
Obviously, I did, or I wouldn’t have anything to write about…
My second day in Kamloops was another workday. I stayed in bed for a fair few hours, punching away at my laptop. Then, I emerged to make myself coffee.
I figured I could use the caffeine as I looked forward to the day ahead. I was going to get some good eats, hit up some local sights downtown, visit a nature preserve and do some hiking, make up my mind about my plans for the upcoming weekend and my first few days off, and pick up the supplies I’d need for my next few days camping.
