Now that I finally have my license (!!!) Napoleon and I headed out on a roadtrip out to Wells Gray Provincial Park. I’ve had this one on my list for a while – 54,000 hectares of parkland in the Cariboo Mountains with over 40 waterfalls. My knees have been sore since Norway, I’ve been going to physio but I’m still not in prime shape for hiking so this was the perfect trip to do with Napoleon, my lazy french bulldog son. We planned to explore some of the easily accessible waterfalls and car camp along the way.
Kentucky-Alleyne Provincial Park
There was quite a bit of traffic getting out of Vancouver so it took about 4 hours to get here. The drive was beautiful, especially through Coquihalla. We arrived late afternoon and I set up camp and made dinner – some nice steelhead trout with rice and bok choy. Overnight I could feel the air quality changing and woke to ash on the tent and smokey skies. I really wanted to paddleboard on the turquoise lake (the whole reason I wanted to visit this park!) but we had to leave quickly to get out of the smoke.
Wells Gray Provincial Park
We finally made it! We first explored Spahats Falls which was 73m tall and absolutely spectacular. “Spahats” is the First Nations word for bear and the waterfall was formed after a series of volcanoes erupted.
After a quick stop at Dawson Falls we checked out Helmcken Falls – 141m tall and the most famous waterfall in the park.
After exploring the falls it was time to set up camp. Dinner was steak with compound butter (shout out to Lindsay for that recipe) with some potatoes and mushrooms.
The next morning we hit the trail early to beat the heat. We hiked Moul Falls which was about 6km, and by hiked I mean I hiked and Napoleon got a lift BOTH ways in the backpack. It was definitely worth it though, you could walk behind the falls which was super cool and I was able to take a quick dip! Really incredible experience, highlight of the trip for sure.
Once we got back to the parking lot I could see some smoke rolling in. Since we’d seen everything I’d wanted in the park and being mindful of the escalating fires and smoke, I decided to cut the second night at Wells Gray out and just head back towards Vancouver. We got to Hope, driving through some bad smoke, and set up camp by the river.
As the evening went on, the wind started to pick up like crazy! I checked the weather and there was a special weather statement of gusts up to 70km/hr overnight. With all the trees around I wasn’t feeling comfortable taking that chance so I packed up camp and found a motel for the evening. The motel was called the Swiss Chalets 🤣 at least the air conditioning was a welcome relief!
After a coffee and breakfast the next morning we made our way back home. The timing worked out well as fires had significantly spread north of Hope, even closing one of the highways. It was a great trip and really special to spend it with my little man. I’d like to go back next spring and explore more of Wells Gray once my knees are back in shape and without Napoleon, there are some epic hikes calling my name!
