A Day in Wells Gray Provincial Park — Waterfalls & the Gaitlin Gorge Trail
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A little more sleep and feeling noticeably better meant I was finally ready to get out and explore. Another blue-sky day, warming up nicely, which always helps — and after the last couple of days, we were overdue some good luck.
Spahats Creek Resort
Spahats Creek Resort sits right on the edge of Wells Gray Provincial Park, directly across the road from Spahats Falls and about 5 minutes’ drive from the main park entrance. The campground itself is excellent — a good range of sites and cabins, clean facilities, decent showers, a laundry, a large games hall for kids, and even a pond. The owners are clearly working through an ongoing upgrade of the place; it looks like it’s had a few past lives, and there’s what appears to be a sauna going in next to the pond.
Helmcken Falls
Clearwater Valley Road runs 70km from Clearwater up to Clearwater Lake, turning to gravel after 40km at Helmcken Falls. We decided to go as far as Helmcken and find a trail from there. Carpark resurfacing work made parking a bit of a lottery, and even outside peak season there were a solid number of people around.
Helmcken Falls itself is a magnificent sight, and barely a walk from the carpark. Canada’s 4th-highest waterfall, it drops 140m into the Murtle River, and unsurprisingly draws a crowd all trying to get the best angle.
Gatling Gorge Trail
We’d planned on a different trail further back down the road, but a sign for the Gatling Gorge Trail — an 8km return — changed our minds. We grabbed the packs and set off.
About 100m in, the fencing ends and the warning signs for steep cliffs begin. The crowds vanished instantly, and we had the track along the edge of the gorge almost entirely to ourselves. It’s well formed and gently descending, with views over the Murtle River and then the confluence of the Murtle and Clearwater Rivers that are hard to do justice to in words — the scale out here keeps catching us off guard.
The final section gets rougher and steeper on the approach to Gatling Gorge itself, where we stopped on the rocks for lunch in the sun. It’s an out-and-back trail, so we retraced our steps to Helmcken Falls, taking in the same views again on the way back. Final distance: 7.2km — just about enough for the day, all things considered.
Dawson Falls and The Shaden
On the way back to camp we stopped at a few more waterfalls. Dawson Falls is a short walk from its carpark and a different style entirely — low and wide, around 90m across, rather than tall and narrow. There are plenty more falls along this road, but we decided The Shaden and Spahats would be our last stops for the day.
The Shaden is a large cave carved into the hillside by water erosion, visible from the short trail to Spahats Creek Falls. The falls themselves are back to the tall, narrow style, dropping around 80m into the Clearwater River.
Back to Camp
We headed back for a shower and dinner, appetite properly returned at last, and had a decent feed before an early night.
The Numbers
No spend to report today — we’d brought everything we needed with us.
Other Resources
- Departure Day — Auckland to Vancouver, and Our First Night in the Campervan
- A Day in Whistler — Gondolas, Marmots, and a Very Small Van
- Whistler to Clearwater — Lake Heffley, Bear Spray & A Rough Patch
- Elaine’s description of Whistler to Lake Heffley
- Elaine’s description of Lake Heffley to Clearwater
