Wells Gray Provincial Park in Clearwater

We drove 280 miles from Whistler to Clearwater, British Columbia for 2 and a half days surrounded by waterfalls. Along the way we watch the landscape transform from snowy, sharp peaks to arid, almost desert like rolling mountains. Stopped briefly at Duffey Lake which had mirror like reflections and enjoyed the massive waterfalls falling into the canyon we were driving along. Amazing scenery along every mile. We were pleasantly surprised at the amazing restaurant right on the lake of our campground and relaxed with the pups the rest of the evening.

Our first full day we explored Wells Gray provincial park just outside our campground. It has 41 waterfalls, several along a single road in and out. On the drive in we were surprised by a young black bear romping across the road in front of us. Our 6th black bear sighting in Canada so far!

We started at Helmken falls, one of the tallest in Canada. There’s an easy path to the overlook and then on the other side of the canyon is a 5 mile trail to see it from another view. We applied bug spray and planned on hiking until a swarm of mosquitos immediately attacked us and were relentless. We quickly decided the trail was not enjoyable with the sheer amount of bloodsuckers and turned back to the truck.

Next we went to Dawson falls. A little over a mile hike from the parking lot, it’s shorter but wider than the other falls and is sometimes compared to a smaller Niagara Falls. At times you can walk down to the shore to get closer to the falls but this was not possible due to the high river flow that day. It was still impressive to see the power of the water up close and we enjoyed the rainbow from the fence line.

Then we drove to Moul falls. This was a 3.5 mile hike down to the falls which was beautiful. Reminded us of looking glass falls in NC but a little more effort to get there. On drier days you can walk behind the falls but again this was unsafe this day due to high water flow. The rainbow was a nice bonus as well.

Our second full day we headed back to Wells Gray provincial park! Our time here was during their annual heat wave (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit our entire stay) so we cut the days short to spend the hottest part with the pups. Even though we have a temperature monitoring system we don’t like to rely on it too much.

First we headed to Spahat falls. It’s almost 200 ft tall and carves its way through the canyon before plunging along the sheer cliffs around it. A very short hike takes you to the convenient viewpoint.

Next we headed off the paved road to Silvertip falls. It’s over 550 ft tall and cascades down the side of Trophy Mountain. As Dave called it, it feels like a quintessential British Columbian waterfall. The steep trail through the forest takes you right to the base of it and definitely was one of our favorites.

We saw a sign along the unpaved road for “flower meadows” and there were some park employees in the silver tip parking lot so we asked what the sign was about. Good thing we did since they told us the flowers were in peak bloom along Trophy Meadows. Luckily we had left our hiking packs from yesterday in the truck so we could spontaneously do this 6 mile, 1400 ft of elevation gain hike in the brutal heat (started around 11am). We were stuffing snow under our hats to keep cool towards the end of the elevation gain. The meadows though were just *chefs kiss* amazing. Neither one of us have witnessed that many wildflowers in bloom and the trail was mostly empty. Absolutely gorgeous.

Once back at the campground and refueled we hopped in the lake for a bit. I swam to the other side and back and it was so nice to have very clear, clean water without any danger to worry about. No motorized boats, no dangerous animals, no algae. Just peaceful water surrounded by mountains. Will definitely be one of my favorite swims I’ve done. Dave relaxed in the water as well and we both wish we had more time to enjoy that part of the trip.Read more