Today's Hike: Spectacular Whitewater Canyon

It was a great way to beat the heat: hiking in the cooler mountain air of the spectacular Whitewater Canyon. The trail is a bit challenging, especially for an aging body such as mine, so I’m thankful that I was still able to trudge up the steep route and experience once more this exquisite pocket of wonder nestled in the Goat Range. Bonus: a view of Bear and Fish Lakes, with the New Denver Glacier in the backdrop, from the access road.

The trail starts around elevation 1540 metres, and for the first two kilometres it wends its way through a mature forest of cedar, spruce and hemlock, with enough light penetrating here and there to allow for a wide variety of wildflowers, including foamflower, mountain arnica, Sitka valerian, lupine and many others.

The bumblebees were very busy, foraging on the lupines in particular. I think they are arctic lupines, with a lovely pink-purple hue accenting the blue.

The trail transects numerous small streams that create habitat for moisture-loving species. I always find the tiny flowers of clasping twisted stalk irresistible (photographically, at least). Something very appealing there for me (weirdly, perhaps).

Fringecup is another species that enjoys a damp, shady home.

This first section of the trail is relatively gently sloped, but then it starts to rise steeply as it rounds the corner into the Whitewater Creek canyon proper. This is a composite of three separate images, so it's a bit distorted at the edges.

Recurring avalanches on the east side of the valley have created a mix of herbaceous meadows and groves of alder – prime habitat for grizzly bears. Numerous streams cascade down the steep slopes in long, braided ribbons.

Speaking of bears, I lucked out and caught sight of this grizzly across the valley from me, as it was hunting what I assume to be ground squirrels. It was digging in one spot, then seemed to see or hear something and charged down the slope in pursuit of its prey, which must have scurried under a big boulder. The bear dug again for a while, but without apparent success, and then wandered off into the woods, where I lost sight of it. I was pretty stoked, though, to have been able to catch this little glimpse of grizzly bear hunting behavior. It was quite far away, so the photos aren’t the greatest, unfortunately.

I started to hit a few snow patches at around 1900 metres elevation, but then the trail switched to a more southerly aspect, and I was able to continue snow-free.

At this elevation, there is a clear view to the southeast, across Kootenay Lake, to Mount Loki in the Purcell Range.

The cliffs on the west side of the canyon are tinted yellow and orange with what I assume are different types of lichen. Kind of striking.

By around elevation 2000m, the flowers in bloom were subalpine buttercup, western pasqueflower and glacier lilies, among others.

This big, perched boulder is as far as I made it this time, around 4.5 kilometres from the trailhead and at about elevation 2070m. A bit of a stretch for me, but I felt surprisingly good afterwards, and even the following day.

From here, there is a view of a few peaks to the north, including Whitewater Mountain.

Looking back to the south there’s a fine view down the valley, right across to Mount Loki in the far distance.

As I made my (slow, careful) way back down the trail I reflected on how fortunate I am to live in such a wonderful place and to have the capacity to enjoy these spectacular areas. But I’m also sad and disappointed that the proposal to turn this entire area into a giant ski resort is slowly making its way through the approval process, despite opposition by so many of the local residents.  I’ve included a few links below, for anyone interested in knowing more about this controversial proposal.

This link will take you to the Mountain Resorts Branch (Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport) information site for the Zincton resort proposal.

This link will take you to the environmental organization Wildsight's information site for The Zincton proposal.

This link will take you to a news article about the Ktunaxa First Nation's assessment of the proposal.

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