Wells Gray Provincial Park loop.
8/8. Monday. On the way to Clearwater via Coquihalla Hwy.
Left home at 12:30pm. Hwy 1 east is uneventful, until
Bridal Falls Provincial Park at exit 135. 1:20 hrs. From here to Hope, 40 km east, Hwy 1 goes along Fraser River, fairly big and slow moving. Green hills, green valley, and behind them, higher ranges hidden in clouds.
Coquihalla highway runs along Coldwater River, its southern half is more scenic, especially near the
pass, ~45 km north of Hope. However, heavy construction prevents us from parking. Stopped briefly at Coquihalla Lakes (
B, exit 228). Another possible stop would be at exit 195, Caroline Mines (abandoned).
Took a long detour at exit 256 to
Mount Thynne just past the tiny town Brookmere. After 10 km of gravel on Thynne Mountain Road (with mileage posts), I continued on to Andy's Lake. Should have turned left, and drove another 6 km of worse gravel for trailhead (can continue 5 km further to summit). Encountered some brown cows on the road. Plenty fireweed blooming.
Another detour is at exit 336 to
Lac Le Jeune provincial park. Pleasant but nothing special, with picnic tables, camp sites, and boat launch.
On the way out, mistook a local road towards Kamloops, passing a small lake completely white, smelling sulfur.
Arrived at Clearwater after sun down. Overnight next to Dutch Lake.
8/9 - 10 (Tuesday, Wednesday). Wells Gray provincial park. C
Wells Gray is known for its waterfalls. Even though most of the park cannot be reached by cars, many waterfalls can be found along the road going into the park. All mileage post are measured from the Visitor Center in Clearwater (however, two maps from the park give different numbers!)
From the south,
Spahats Falls is the first at 10.3 km. A viewing platform is set on the edge of a canyon, with walls going straight down. 75m high, narrow.
At 11.4 km,
Trophy Mountain turnoff.
13 km (sign says 15) well labeled but rough gravel road. Its meadow is almost reaching its peak. Only 2 km one way and 300 m gain. 1 km further would take you to a hut and 2 little ponds. Seemingly endless meadow, covered with flowers. The view of surrounding mountains is also lovely.
At km 16, the 3rd Canyon has roadside pullouts for a little creek cascading in a narrow canyon.
At km 21,
Moul Falls is an easy 2.9 km walk one way along Grouse Creek.
The last 5 minutes goes down on steep ladder to reach the plunge pool. I didn't find the route to go behind the falls as Wikipedia suggests. There is a foot bridge across the creek, but it was labeled as "private road".
At 27 km, Philip Creek Road for Battle Mountain / Philip Lakes, Table Mountain Access. Backcountry hiking and camping. Didn't check this one out.
At 30 km, Flatiron / Whitehorse Bluffs trailhead. Skipped this. A good
trail map of this area and Green Mountain area can be found at the park website.
At 37 km, original park entrance. A park information board. A good
map can be found at the park website.
At 37.7 km, Green mountain.
A 3.6 km curving road to a viewing tower for 360° panorama and comfortable sitting area. Not very high, but still nice view. Saw a grouse on the way up. A 0.7 km trail from the top leads to Foot Lake: small, mosquitoes.
At 42 km,
Dawson Falls.
Closer to the bus parking area. Two view points, one right at the brink of the falls, one further downstream with an overview of Murtle River. Wide and short, loud.
At 43 km, a bridge crossing Murtle River. Small parking area to see the rushing water over big boulders. Named Mushbowl here.
At 44 km, Helmcken Falls road turnoff.
3 km to
Helmcken Falls viewing platform and picnic tables. Wheelchair accessible, safety fence. At 141 m, it claims to be the 4th highest in Canada. Narrow and straight, reddish canyon walls. Quite a sight.
Returned to hotel at km 34.
The next day, continued north past the turn to Helmcken Falls. Good wide gravel road.
At 51 km, stopped at Redspring Picnic area, no spring, nothing red either.
At 56 km, hiked Alice Lake, Ray Farm 1 hour loop.
. An abandoned homestead of John and Alice Ray. Some mineral spring on the property. The lake has plenty mosquitoes.
At 59 km, Bailey's Chute. A 20 minutes walk to a small viewing platform, commemorating the bridge engineer Jim Bailey whose canoe capsized that caused his life. In early autumn, salmons can be seen jumping over then less water.
At 63 km, Shadow Lake has a small boat launch with promise of great fishing and view.
At 66 km, Norman's Eddy
At 68 km, the road officially ends. A good
map pf this area can be found at the park website. A campground, store, cafe, and a tour office is located here. 3 km further are two boat launch areas, one for commercial, one of private vehicles.
Abandoned the hike to Easter Bluffs due to mud and impending storm.
Picked a shorter and steeper trail to Osprey Falls lookout/Dragon's Tongue. Total R/T 1.2 hours, a very nice hike. 20 minutes into the hike, left fork goes up to a table on top of a small clearing, good view to Clearwater River valley.
Right fork goes down to Stica Falls, very narrow, can follow the cascade for a few drops. Got a few rain drops and all the way accompanied by thunders.
Lazied around the cafe at the southern end of the Clearwater Lake (doesn't look any different from the river all along). Walked to the short Osprey Falls, read, drank, while waiting for the 5:30 Voyageur canoe tour offered by
Clearwater Lake Tours.
Stupid me didn't see the commercial boat launch, waited at the wrong dock. The canoe and 9 German tourists (2 groups) left without us. Finally we found them, using the whistle on the life jacket to call them back, and kindly they did. The dragon boat glides quite fast under the power of 10.5 paddlers. We passed Caribou Beach campground (the first of many backcountry camping areas around the lake), and turned back after seeing Azure Mountain (2495m). The weather cleared up. All the way, the northern peaks were clear in view (Garnet at 2860m, Mt Huntley at 2429m). It was fun, got to exercise the arms.
8/11. Leaving Wells Gray for Lillooet, passing along a string of lakes.
The drive from Clearwater to Little Fort is very scenic: green valley along North Thompson River.
North Thompson provincial park is just south of Clearwater. Picnic tables, camping sites. Pleasant, but nothing interesting.
Turned east on
Hwy 24 at Little Fort.
Self claimed to be a fishing highway. Not as scenic as I hoped. Quite some little lakes hidden behind trees.
Lac des Roches rest area is arguably the best looking. Various resorts dot this lake and later Bridge Lake, Sheridan Lake to the west.
Bridge Lake provincial park is somewhat a disappointment. It's a small parcel of land at the south end of the lake amidst many private resort and homes. A small campground with 3 picnic tables, limited view, obscured signs easy to miss.
Green Lake provincial park D is clearly advertised.
Turn south on Watch Lake road. Stopped at Emerald Bay campground (nice view, a playground, a beach with shelter and picnic tables. The drinking water pump doesn't work here. Black Bear site overlooks 2 little islands, within swimming distance, water is especially green here. Arrowhead campground has a nice beach, boat launch, working drinking water pump, but no shade. Didn't go to the park's major site on the other side of the lake: Sunset View Inset.
After joining Hwy 97, took a clearly signed detour to
Chasm provincial park E.
A bighorn sheep jumped over the fence of the parking lot as high as her horn after seeing me. Deep narrow canyon. Reddish straight walls.
At Clinton, turned east to
Downing provincial park at the shore of Kelly Lake.
F.
Clearly signed. A shelter, boat launch, camping.
Continue along the western shore of Kelly Lake. Took the Pavilion Mountain Road (gravel) zigzag up over the pass and down to
Pavilion.
Very green and narrow road on the north size, and dry and wide open ranch land on the south side.
Before heading to Lillooet, turn east on Hwy 99 for
Marble Canyon provincial park at the eastern edge of Pavilion Lake, in the V shape reddish canyon. Nice camping sites.
G
Arrived at
Lillooet ~6pm. Mile 0 of the old
Caribou Wagon road. Self claimed jade capital of the world.
H
8/12. Return from Lillooet through Bridge River Valley.
Walked around downtown, checking out big jade blocks on almost every street corner.
Tourists loitering outside of Lillooet's CN train station waiting for the 10:30 departure.
However, the station wasn't even open until ~10:50, when the 2 wagons from Seton Portage arrived. ~16 passengers board the crawling
Kaoham Shuttle. The track was ~100 years old, laid most of the time between cliff and water. View of the Seton Lake and mountains beyond is quite lovely. Whenever there's space, yellow Toadflax bloomed. The 2 carriages are only 9 years old, but everything rattles. 20 Km took 1:15 hrs. In the middle, the drive hopped off the train to check the wheel temperature.
Drove Hwy 40 towards Gold Bridge via
Bridge River.
Wide half paved Hwy 40 runs along yellow dry land of Bridge River to ever greener Carpenter Lake, up to the beautifully set town of
Gold Bridge I against the backdrop of the snowy Mt Sloan. ~110km was covered in less than 2 hours. Took me 2 U-turns to find the tiny visitor center, which has no local maps. Followed by the recommendation of the girl there, drove ~10 minutes for
Lajoie Lake and
Gun Lake . Not as pretty as the large Downton Reservoir next to town (formed by
Lajoie Dam).
Took Hurley Pass road to
Pemberton Meadows.
Quite bad gravel. 56 km of gravel took me 1:45 hours. The view gets better in the south half. 33 km south looks like the trail head for
Semaphore Lakes (have to come back another day). The last 10 km is much better. The gravel road crosses a bridge over Upper Lillooet River and joins paved road towards Pemberton Meadows.
A calm farming community with flat fields set against towering mountains.
J
Straight shot home from Pemberton, 2.5 hours. Arrived ~9:30pm, tanned, ~20 mosquito bites.
Arrived at the tail head ~11:30am. Overflowing cars were parked along the road. At least 150 cars in 3 lots. Paid $10/pp camping fee. Started the gradual but nonstop zigzag to 6km mark. Took the right fork towards 2 small lakes and then went down the last half km towards Garibaldi Lake. The trail passes a bridge over the draining creek, then along the waterfront. Waterproof boots and hiking poles are useful. A real traffic jam here. Most camping sites were taken by ~3pm. Settled at #19 partly in the melting snow, within eye shots of 2 other sites. There were people everywhere, in the water, along the shore, in and outside of food shelter. Felt like stepped into a crowded city park, just an absolutely beautiful park: deep turquoise water, Sphinx glacier hanging low across the lake. Managed to find a more secluded cove to swim for just 2 minutes, after hesitating in the cold water for 10x longer. As the sun went down, the day trippers departed, campers prepared dinner admiring the ever redder mountains. 3 rubber boats rowed into the lake with fishing gears. Mosquitoes became noticeable.
Got up by 7am to take a sunrise photo. Packed and headed towards Panorama Ridge ~8am. Back traced ~0.5km, going up in the forest for ~30 min. Dumped the backpacks at the first junction with the Black Tusk trail in a heather/huckleberry meadow (not much flowers, no berries yet). 0.5km later, took the right fork, going east through some flowering slopes. Trail is flat, exposed, tiny falling waterfalls to the left, two small lakes to the right. 
~1 hour later, reached the junction to Helm Creek. Took the right fork along a ridge, going south, up and up. Part snow, part rock. Grand 360° view: to the north Helm Creek and more snowy peaks in the distance, to the west Tantalus Range, Black Tusk in between. Reached the very top by 11am. The lake below is absolutely stunning, rendering everyone speechless. Only two more people within miles. Wandered along the top ridge. Had some snack among little flowers and plants clinging to the rocky ridge. 
