Leon Turnbull Photography

Our whole family was sick before we went to Canada. Tara and Jadon had the flu, Nekoda and I had colds. My wife claims our colds turned into bronchitis or RSV or something. I don’t know but I had a horrendous lingering cough. We were getting over it and not contagious anymore by the time we started the trip but we still had those horrible coughs.

My energy was non-existent as well. I did not do much hiking up in Canada as I had wanted to. I took Journey out on some easy hikes in the snow. She needs exercise every day. I did not do anything difficult. The only waterfall I went to was Marysville Falls which I go to every time I am up there. It is a very easy hike. We continued on down to the river which also is an easy hike but coming back up the hill was a monstrosity for me because of my lack of energy and sickness. It did me in for the rest of the day. Journey had no such troubles coming back up the hill. She was not sick, thankfully.

Marysville Falls was almost completely frozen. It is always interesting to see what it will be like in the winter. How frozen will you be this time, my dear Mary? I think they have had a fairly warm winter up there so far. Only in the week or so before we got there did it get cold and they got some snow. I guess it was enough to freeze over the waterfall. I was surprised. It was a nice easy hike to dear Marysville Falls.

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I think Journey had quite a bit of fun up in Canada. We went on a few hikes in the snow (she loves the snow), and she had loads of fun playing with her cousins Siri and Ebbi, especially Siri. They would chase each other around the yard for an endless amount of time. It was funny because Journey is so much faster than Siri this year. Siri had no chance at all getting the ball when they played fetch. Ha ha. But they both had fun.

On the last day Journey, Nekoda, and I went to Cherry Creek Falls (again). Whenever I have been there in the past the road has always been plowed right to the trailhead. This year it was not plowed. There was just a tad too much snow on the ground to drive it but it was only 1 kilometer so it was no big deal for us to hike in to the waterfall. Journey in particular was happy about the additional hiking in the snow.

As expected the last section down to the bottom was very icy. We did not want Journey going down so we took turns. I went down first to take my photos, then Nekoda went down. I told her in no uncertain terms not to go out on the dangerous ice at the bottom. So what does she do? Goes out on the ice. Ugh. Teenagers.

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It was not very cold this year in Canada. There was a bit more snow than last year (not too much though). We did not have very many days up there so I did not have any hiking plans, however I always have to go visit Marysville Falls. It is very easy to get to and very close to my sister’s house. I have probably been to it more times than my sister has. Ha ha! It is also very interesting to see how much snow and ice is covering the waterfall. This year it was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be like: decent flow in the creek and a little snow and ice but not too much. It was perfect.

After photographing the waterfall I took Journey down to the bottom where the creek meets the river. From there the trail continues on the other side of the creek but there was too much water in the creek to cross it without getting wet and I did not want Journey (or myself) to get the shivers from the ice cold water so we continued along the river on this side of the creek. The trail only went a short distance before the snow became too deep. We scared up a couple deer and they decided to escape from us by swimming across the river. It was fun to watch them cross. Journey was certainly interested in them. I saw some unexpected wildlife on this trip. A lot of deer. Only one elk this year (usually I see a lot of elk and a herd of them often come straight through my sister’s yard). I also saw a fox and a moose, both of which are quite unusual to see. It was a lovely short trip to British Columbia.

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My sister has two dogs (Ebbi, Siri) and one very cute little kitten (Boh). Ebbi is a barker, as is Journey. She did not appreciate the intruder to her house. Her primary goal was to get Journey to bark louder than her. She succeeded. It was a loud house at times. Siri on the other hand was a perfect gentleman. He and Journey got along incredibly well and were best friends by the end of our visit. Boh thought he was a puppy. He followed us around when we walked the dogs on the property. Then the dogs would chase him up a tree. It was quite hilarious.

The plan was to go skiing at Fernie at least one day. Also there were a couple waterfalls in the Fernie area that I had not seen yet and I wanted to try to get to at least one of them. However, Nekoda was still quite sick and did not feel like skiing. She also did not want to drive out to Fernie to hike. (it is a fairly long drive). She thought it would be much better to do some short hikes in the Kimberley area and then everyone could go (my wife and son and dog as well). I thought this was a good idea. We returned to Cherry Creek Falls and also Marysville Falls.

It is a short hike to Cherry Creek Falls, a very cool 30 ft. slide. I was surprised there was so much ice at the falls. (Marysville Falls as well). I was not expecting there to be so much considering the warm winter thus far but I guess Kimberley is at a little higher elevation and has been a bit colder. I got out on the ice as far as I dared to get a photo from right in front of the waterfall. Nekoda asked for permission to go right out in the middle of the ice. Do you want to die, girl? I said. She shrugged.

After this we visited Marysville Falls and then went into Cranbrook for our annual favorite Mozza burgers at A&W.

The trip back home to California was nightmarish. Nekoda got more sick and went to Urgent Care. She tested positive for strep throat. Poor girl. No one else got it, thankfully. It snowed on Saturday but Sunday was supposed to be clear. I figured the roads would be fine by then. Nope. Oregon was a mess with very icy roads. Much of the time I was going less than 50 mph. Oregon always has the worst roads in winter of any state I have been to. We made it home safely. Nekoda is better now. We had a very nice trip up to Canada to visit my family.

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From the Klahoose Resort website: The Klahoose First Nation peoples have lived here on the central west coast of British Columbia since time immemorial. Klahoose First Nation territories span from Cortes Island, opposite Quadra Island near Campbell River to Toba Inlet.

There is a trail from the resort going straight up the mountain alongside a creek. Supposedly there is an old growth forest up there somewhere. I wanted to hike up and find it. The security guy at the resort was a bit over the top paranoid. He wanted to know exactly where everyone was going and for how long. I can understand that but he also wanted us all to carry bear spray as well whenever we go out. There are no grizzly bears in this area, only black bears. Bear spray is not necessary for black bears. Here is the problem: most people going out have no idea or experience on how to use bear spray and they literally only received a one minute instruction on it. It is inevitable that someone is going to encounter a black bear on the trail and freak out and spray it when the bear is only minding his own business. I did not want to take the bear spray but took it anyway so I would not get in trouble from him. Then I promptly forgot it in our room and did not realize it until I was 30 minutes up the mountain. (maybe I subconsciously forgot it on purpose?)

It was an incredibly beautiful hike through the forest and a bit eerie. I did not see any wildlife whatsoever on the hike. There were not even any birds or squirrels. Only a banana slug. Also it was straight up. I climbed up the mountain for over an hour, I guess about 1200 ft. in elevation, and then the trail ended when it came close to the creek. I still did not see any old growth forest. The trail became exponentially more difficult now, it was more of a mad scramble. How much further was this old growth forest anyway? I climbed up just a little bit and lo and behold I see a waterfall! This was a complete surprise. I had figured there must be a waterfall on this creek somewhere if I climbed high enough but did not think I would easily be able to find anything. It was too cliffy and not possible to get down to the creek side, but I scrambled through the bushes and found a good viewpoint of it. The creek has no name so I will call it Klahoose Falls. A beautiful 71 ft. high bonus waterfall! I was so happy! I retreated back down the mountain and got back down just in time for lunch (and just in time before the paranoid security guy sent out a search party).

In the afternoon Roger took us to Refuge Cove and Teakerne Arm Provincial Park (which I mentioned on my last post). There is only a very small dock here so he had to drop us all off and then go back out and wait in the harbor. He gave us an hour. I really thought we had this timed out perfectly. My calculations said the waterfall would be in the shade at 4PM. However, it was still in full sun when we arrived. I waited and waited and waited but it was still in sun at 5PM. I had no choice but to take my photo. I was a bit bummed about it. Nekoda was with me and we ran back to the dock as fast as we could. We were five minutes late. They had already left without us! Well, he did come back and get us. (he could not wait at the dock for even five minutes because it is so small and it is a very busy place). My wife gave me the stink eye when we got back on the boat. Gee whiz, darling, I was only five minutes late! Ha ha! It was yet another beautiful day in Desolation Sound.

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