Wells Gray Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada
July 18, 2019
After our off-road escapades the night before we slept well. The following morning it was still raining heavily. Breakfast was another basic affair of heating up a couple of tins as quickly as we could in the rain before packing Buddy up and hitting the road again.
The drive continued South. Back through Quesnel and down Highway 97 to a place called 100 mile house. We stopped for a quick cuppa there and then swung East off Highway 97 and on to a much quieter country road and then eventually on to a forest service road to yet another free BC rec site. We didn’t really come across much this day and it was mainly covering a fair distance in the van before finding a site for the night.
We enjoyed this site though. Nothing spectacular in terms of a view. Standard small, very peaceful pretty lake. I don’t mean that to sound unappreciative or arrogant either. These lakes are beautiful little things in their own right and I would love places like this to camp at back home but I guess it’s similar to visiting temples in Asia. We stay at these places pretty much every night and after a few months of it you still appreciate them, you really do but it takes something that bit extra special to stand out as being amazing. The reason we enjoyed this site so much was the group of retired locals that were camped up there next us.
When we arrived they had their various mobile homes and camper vans all arranged together like some old school cowboy caravan and they were sat round in front of their fire having a few drinks. We started sorting Buddy and food out as per usual when one of the ladies came over to chat with us. She was slightly merry to say the least but was claiming that she’d only had one beer all day. “Yeah right love, your wobbling and slurring all over!” She stayed and chatted a fair while explaining who they were and how they all knew each other etc. Finding out about our travels and where we have been and are headed next.
It was quite sweet. She told us they were all older singles who didn’t know each other until a few years back when they all met randomly down in Mexico. Since then they have all became great friends, formed relationships etc. It was really a nice little sweet story.
As she headed back over to the rest of her group we could hear the blokes asking her “So what did you find out then? Who are they? What’s their story?” It was quite comical. This little old dear being sent over to check us out and go back to report in with her findings. They were really canny people. They offered us firewood and then the next morning invited us over to join their group and have a craic on for a couple of hours. It was all good banter and part of what makes traveling fun for us. Meeting new people, sharing stories, having a laugh.
With breakfast sorted and Buddy packed up we said our goodbyes to the old crowd and headed off back down the forest road to the junction to continue East again. We must have only drove about 10 minutes when we stumbled across a local craft and farmers market. It was a really cool place with a great little local atmosphere about it. Some of the craft and art works were amazing and we would have loved to help some of the artists by buying their works but we simply don’t have the space at all to be picking anything up other than maybe a postcard or small bracelet here and there. There were so many cool and interesting things we could have bought to bring back home with us. Unfortunately space really is at a premium when traveling and sadly we had to settle for just looking and having a chat on with the various artists about their work and the food vendors at their stalls. A tasty German sausage sandwich later and we really had to get moving or we were going to cover no ground at this rate.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent driving. East on the country road that links 100 mile house to a small town named Little Fort and then North from Little Fort to Clearwater. It was a beautiful days drive. Nice quiet winding country roads. Mountain views to the left, the usual black bear every now and then and not a care in the world. Several hours of this later and we rolled into Clearwater and took a short break at the tourist centre to get our bearings and check our mobile app as to where we could try and park up for the night.
We checked out a potential spot that turned out to be a radio controlled road. Only realising this once we were about 15 Km up it. It became far too steep and narrow and much to Dani’s delight I performed what resembled a 17 point turn on a narrow cliff edge in order to get us facing back down the track and away from a potential mishap.
On our way back down we spotted a turn off to another service road and without any signs to say if it was radio controlled or not we headed down it anyway to see what we could find. It turned out to be the right move as we came across another rec site that wasn’t listed on any maps or apps that we had checked. The beautifully serene Lolo Lake.
At first we thought it was full. Some huge extended family seemed to have taken over the whole site. But as we trundled down towards the lake edge we were happy to find that the only free spot left was the prime time one right on the lake shore…..it also turned out it was the prime spot for mossies as well but hey beggars can’t be choosers right?
It was a canny night there. We knew there were some decent looking hikes and waterfalls to check out at the nearby Wells Gray Provincial Park and when we got chatting to the local family in the spot next to us they gave us some great tips for what to check out while we were there. Some of the usual suspects that are standard in the tourist leaflets and also a couple of places that aren’t really promoted as much but were their own personal favourites that they recommended we take a look at.
The next morning we were up nice and early and descended back down to Clearwater and North off into the Provincial park. First up was Moul falls as recommended by the family and what a belter of a waterfall it was.
From the car park it was about an hours trek through some lush forest to get there, then a steep descent down some steps to arrive at the base of the falls. Moul falls certainly aren’t the biggest falls you will ever see, but they are powerful and the best bit about it is that you can walk behind the falls, along a rock ledge and then out on to the other side.
The power and spray when we reached the base was incredible. You could feel cold wet air swirling around you and within seconds you were soaked from the spray. As we started to walk towards the falls to go behind them the wind and the spray was almost unbearable. We came back at first as we weren’t sure we would make it, such was the force. Hardly anybody else who was there seemed to be walking behind them but after weighing it up for a while we decided we had to try it now that we were here so we gave it a another go.
The wind generated by the force of the water as you neared it was enough to blow you off your feet. You had to lean into the wind as hard as you could just to stay on your feet. The spray battering your face made it nigh on impossible to see at times, but when you could see what a sight it was. When we were able to keep our eyes open everywhere you looked was a bright and vivid circular rainbow. Right in front of you like a hologram. The rainbows were maybe a couple of meters across and where the light was catching the water spray was literally right in front of you. You could move your hand through the colours. Incredible.
I really wish I had taken the GoPro down with me. I had forgot and left it in the van. The amount of water flying everywhere made it impossible for me to use my camera at this point but it’s something that will live vividly in our minds. We’ve never seen anything like that before and probably wont again.
We eventually made our way all the way round the back of the falls to the other side of the river. Drenched through like sodden rats. I’m so glad we pushed on to get through this, across the slippy harsh rocks and limited visibility. I think we only saw about 3 other people go all the way round from maybe a couple of dozen that were down there when we were. It was well and truly worth the effort.
Soaked to the bone we slowly made our way back to the carpark to sort ourselves out and head off further into the park to the next falls.
Next up was Helmcken Falls measuring in at whopping 141 metres from top to bottom as a single straight drop out of the cliff face to the river below. The valley here on the Murtle river was created by lava from volcanic eruptions 200,000 years ago. Building up layer after layer to create the Murtle plateau. Then when the last ice age came to an end about 10,000 years ago huge floods cut into the lava bed at this point and created the falls. It has the appearance of a huge rock bowl with the falls dropping vertically straight down to the river bed below. It’s a fairly epic sight and up there as one of the best waterfalls we’ve seen. It’s certainly on a grand scale.
We read about the falls and saw pictures of it at the notice board in the car park and in winter it looks beautiful. Most of the water falling down freezes, building a huge ice cone that rises back up from the river below. It must be quite the sight to come here and experience this in the winter. It’s probably quite the experience to try and drive up to these parts in the winter as well so maybe that will be something to check out on another trip.
Further back down the Murtle river towards Clearwater is Dawson Falls which we decided to check out next. Dawson Falls are very pretty as well. Different to Moul and Helmcken Falls as they aren’t that high but they are very wide as the river is much broader at this point. They were canny enough but I think by this point we were starting to feel a bit of waterfall overload and I don’t think anything was going to top the first two we had seen. Instead we headed off up a tiny road to go and check out a view point which let’s you take in the whole surrounding area of the Provincial Park. It was canny enough but not worth hanging around for too long.
By now time was starting to get on a bit and as we wanted to start heading back towards Little Fort we decided to call it a day and go in search of digs for the night.
We found a great little spot at a place called Goose Lake that had a beautiful flower meadow. It was relatively quiet there so we settled in for the night and got our heads down early ready to start the trip back towards 100 Mile House the next morning and then South from there on Highway 97 towards Kamloops and beyond.
