Wells Gray Waterfalls

I just spent three days in Well Gray Provincial Park, about 100 miles north of Kamloops in central BC. I have seen this huge park...bigger than Holland...on maps for many years and was always curious about it. Now that I'm retired, I tend to go check out these kinds of spots. Turns out Wells Gray is a vast area of pristine wilderness specializing in waterfalls. This is Spahats Falls. It has cut deeply through a weak seam of basalt since the land was freed from glacial ice about ten thousand years ago. Compare this pic with those of Palouse Falls...two posts back...to see a comparison of erosion solely from a rather small stream versus the effects of the humongous Missoula Floods!

Dawson Falls, on the Murtle River, roars over a slab of basalt instead of down through a seam. This cascade is about 60 feet high, and on its south side...nearest the camera...it drops over several steps. I'd be surprised if some expert kayakers haven't run it!

But...any kayaker who makes it over Dawson Falls can't make it all the way to the Clearwater River. Because...Helmcken Falls is in the way! This cascade drops 450 feet. It has a tall main falls, then a little stream run, then a smaller, wider lower falls...similar to Multnomah Falls in the Columbia Gorge.

Helmcken Falls also drops over a thick layer of basalt, layed down over millions of years during many eruptions, just likein much of Oregon and Washington. Just downstream from Helmcken, the layers from different eruptions are especially distinct.