Leon Turnbull Photography

The first day after Christmas we went up on the ski hill. Red Mountain is the best ski hill anywhere. Am I biased? Maybe. My children do not ski much, because it is so expensive down in California. Shame on me, I do not like to ski is much as I used to. I have skied at all the Lake Tahoe resorts, and they are good hills there, but it is so expensive and such a long drive to Tahoe. Frankly, nowadays I prefer to hike and not ski. It is much cheaper, and more fulfilling also. However, when I am back in my hometown I do ski (since my mom pays for it). So although my kids are not expert skiers, they do really well when they do go. My daughter and son both got up on the top of Red Mountain for the first time, and there are no easy runs from the top of that lift. They did great. We did have one funny incident when we went to the very top (Granite Mtn), with my daughter Nekoda and niece Hannah. As we were about to get off the lift, Hannah’s board got caught and she did a faceplant. Right in front of me. I could see this whole thing unfolding in slow motion. I could not get off or I would have sliced her head open stepping on her, so I waited for her to get out of my way, then I realized there was no more ramp for me to get off on, and the lift was turning to go back downhill, so I just jumped. It was about 10 ft, and I slammed into a pole, but fortunately the snow was soft. The ski patrol guy came over. He first asked me if I was ok (so nice of him to be so concerned for me), then he harangued me about how I should be getting off the lift properly, as if I was a stupid beginner who does not know how to get off a chair lift. Yeah ok, Mr. Expert, in case you did not notice, I would have killed my niece if I had tried to get off. Thank you very much. At least my sister was thankful I did not severely injure her daughter. I’m sure Hannah was grateful also.

On the second day, the day that Carrie Fisher died, he went to see Rogue One in the theater. I still remember clearly the day in 1977 my family took us to see Star Wars. I was nine. Now 39 years later, I take my family back to the very same theater to see this movie. It seemed rather appropriate.

On the third day, we were supposed to go skiing again however some members of our family, not to name any names, did not want to go up. So I grabbed my things and headed down the hill to Beaver Falls.

It is an interesting hike in the winter along the railroad tracks. And fun. There was about 2 feet of snow on the ground, and they do not clear the tracks in the winter, so the snow shoes were a definite necessity.

In the beginning, you go past some houses. One raging dog maniac was barking his head off at me, and wagging his tail at the same time. Trying to get at me if he could (to lick me to death?). His two dog companions, however, were howling ridiculously. It sounded as if they were both being slowly eaten alive by some sort of large animal. I’m not kidding. It was pathetic.

Along the way, I saw some tracks that must’ve been coyote. It looked like the coyote was jumping down the trail because the tracks were huge, almost like a bear. Then I came across fresh deer tracks and I followed the deer trail all the way to the falls and right down to the bottom. It was not hard getting to the bottom, but once down things got downright dangerous. The water level was very high for this time of year, and I could not follow along the creek bed as I normally would.

I had to ditch the snowshoes, then climb up a cliff and along the cliff before I could get back down to creek level. Once down, I had to work my way out on the ice towards the creek edge in order to see the waterfall around the corner. The raging creek was flowing right under my feet as I stood on the shaky ice. It was a bit freaky and I did not, I could not go any further up towards the falls, and I certainly did not want to get out any closer to the edge of the creek for fear of dropping through the ice. If my wife is reading this, then I will say I was perfectly safe where I was standing to take this shot, and I made sure the ice was very secure under my feet. Ok, honey? Anyway, it was incredibly beautiful down there. My first snowshoe hike of the season.

I managed to get most of the gang up at 5AM to go to this waterfall. My daughter, my mother, my brother-in-law Lynal, and even my niece Hannah. I was surprised they all wanted to come.

This is a very easy waterfall to get to, right beside the road. It is a bit surprising that they had not been here before since they live so close to it. If I lived here, I would be going to this one and all the others in the area at least once a year. But my family? Why have they not been to any of these great waterfalls so close to them? I have failed them. Sigh.

Along the way, we saw a bear and an elk. Elk are as common in Cranbrook as deer are in most other places.  The bear was cool. I find it interesting that my daughter saw zero bears in Alaska, but did see one in Canada. Canada wins! Canada also wins in hockey. Just saying.

Bull River is dam controlled, but I knew that they were currently releasing water from the dam. However, the website said the current flow was 1200 ft.³ per second and this is definitely not 1200. It seems more like about half that amount, or less. The rest of it must be going into the powerhouse. Oh well. At least it is flowing decently well.

The waterfall is right under the bridge pretty much, so that makes it a bit difficult to see. You can get right to the cliff edge, but no you can’t. It is very treacherous here, and although I inched my way out to the edge of the cliff, as close as I possibly dared to go, I still cannot see the bottom of the waterfall. From the bridge, however, I climbed up on the railing, and I was able to see the entire waterfall and take a photo of it. From this extreme angle, it makes the waterfall seem much smaller than it really is. It is actually 44 ft. high. That is your guaranteed measurement, and if you are in the area, why not come to see it? Don’t wait for 10 years to see it, like my family did. Sigh.

We got up super early in the morning (3AM) to drive to Cranbrook to visit my sister. On the way of course, we stopped for a waterfall. I can’t believe I talked my mom into getting up that early. Nekoda is like, whatever, she’ll just sleep in the car anyway. She pretty  much slept the entire trip from California to Canada.

Priest River Falls is a very gorgeous waterfall (Priest River / Morning Worship – get it? ha ha) way out in the middle of nowhere. I’m not exaggerating about the nowhere part. It is not to be confused with the Priest River Falls in Idaho. Actually, that one is called Upper Priest River Falls even though it’s downstream from this one. Makes perfect sense, right? The two falls are quite close together but you cannot hike from one to the other because you would be crossing the border. I really think there should be a cross border trail between the two waterfalls. That would be super cool. Ah well.

Anyhow, we drove as far as we could and then could drive no further as we came to a river crossing. We had to walk from here, and that meant wading across the river. Nekoda and I went first quickly. I did not have much time to get to the falls before the sun was on it. I really did not think my mother was going to wade across that very cold river so we just left her there. I did leave arrows for her in case she did decide to come.

We arrived at the overlook to the waterfall. It was very nice, but partially obscured. There was a very very steep trail going down to the bottom. I got out my rope, and Nekoda and I started to descend. However, it got too steep and dangerous, and much too slippery because the ground was wet from rain and the tree roots were slick as ice. It was too crazy even for me so I just took photos from the overlook. Nearby, Nekoda discovered the spot where the local cougar likes to eat his breakfast, along with all the leftover bones. She was very confused why they were there until I explained. The explanation did not give her any comfort.

Meanwhile, my mother showed up at the overlook to see the waterfall. She did make it after all, and she did not even notice the lovely arrows I left for her on the ground.  Nonetheless she found the falls, though her feet were cold for the rest of the morning from wading across that river. But it was all worth it. It is a very beautiful 58 foot high waterfall, and very rarely seen since it is so far out from civilization.

Well we just got back from our summer vacation to Canada. No waterfalls seen up there, though not for lack of trying.

It was just me and the kids visiting my family up there, as my wife had to stay home this year, unfortunately. On one day, we decided to go up to the top of magnificent Old Glory, myself, my sister Tania, brother in law Lynal, son Jadon (13), and niece Hannah (13). It is the highest and most prominent peak in the Rossland Range area, 7800 ft. high. The hike is about 6.5 miles one way up, with a gain of 3200 ft. (actually 3700 ft. total elevation was hiked due to one annoying downward stretch). Jadon thought it was a lot more difficult than our recent Eastern Sierra hike, though I did not think so (but it is too difficult to compare the two hikes because they are not similar). Hannah, meanwhile, essentially ran up and down the mountain once she got going (she did not want to go at first). There were quite a few wildflowers still out on the mountain, though definitely past peak. It would be awesome when the flowers are in full bloom up there. I had a tiny bit of cloud cover so I managed to get this photo (handheld, no tripod – shame on me). Once at the top, we all enjoyed the glorious views around us: the ski hill on one side, Nancy Greene Lake on another, the city of Trail on another, and a huge cliff on the last side. Both Jadon and Hannah ran down the mountain together getting way ahead of the rest of us, which was highly disturbing to us, especially since they went the wrong way down. We were going to take a short cut, but they did not wait for us at the junction, and ended up going down the very long way. But we had no idea which way they went, so while Tania and Lynal went down the short way, I went the long way, running down the trail to catch up to them. I eventually caught up to them. I was not pleased, I had not wanted to hike 13 miles that day. Did they not know this was grizzly bear and cougar territory? Ah, teenagers. What can you do?

On the way down, I saw one old timer hiking up the mountain. He was not going the long, easy way around to the top (which is along the ridge on the south side). Instead he was going straight up the east face (the one seen in this photo). It looked crazy and far too cliffy to me when I examined it but he insisted there was a good route up that way. Yeah, right. Ok good luck with that old man. I think I might try it some day, though. Ha!

Old Glory was initially named (likely) by Americans back in the Gold Rush days in the late 1800s. In those days, Americans thought British Columbia was going to become part of the Union. It did not, of course. Nonetheless, I have always loved the name of this mountain. It seems so appropriately named, being the most prominent and magnificent peak in the region. It looks so old and majestic and alone. From 1944-68 it was the site of the highest weather station in the world. These incredible men lived up on top of the mountain year round. You can see some remains of the house, but not very much is left. I just cannot imagine being up there in the cold deep winter, or during a summer lightning storm. It is pure nuts. I am currently reading a book called (strangely enough) Old Glory, written by one of these men, Ron Walker. It is a fascinating and humorous history of the mountain, and highly recommended, especially if you are an old Rosslander, like myself.

Once we all safely (and without being eaten by a grizzly) got back down to the car, we were all very happy to go to the Colander in Trail for dinner. Simply put: the best spaghetti on Earth. Yumm!

We got back at it a couple days after Bear Creek, and next up was Beaver Falls, another one I really like going to. Tara came with me again. This was surprising, especially since I almost did her in at Bear Creek. She’s amazing.

Beaver Falls is a very easy hike. One mike along the rail road tracks. Very flat. No problem. Right? Not so much when there is snow on the ground. It was deep enough to make that easy mike hike quite difficult. We should’ve had snow shoes. We did not. Tara was cursing me once again.

The bears seemed to like the snow, however. We saw a few of their prints, including some from cubs that seemed to be playing along the railroad tracks. Aren’t they supposed to be sleeping in January? It is just so darn warm out, even the bears don’t know what to do. Did you hear about the one that was on the Lake Tahoe ski hill recently with all the skiers? Crazy.

Once at the top of the waterfall it is a steep and potentially deadly descent to the bottom. Tara wisely chose to stay at the top and wait. Actually, it is not that difficult. Even the bears went down to the bottom. Only the very last part down to creek level is particularly steep and there is not much in the way of hand holds, but I slid my way down safely.

Beaver Falls was rockin with snow melt. It is odd that Bear Creek was at a lower flow and Beaver Falls was at such a high flow. At this time of year, Beaver Falls should be low and iced over, but the warm weather has caused the snow to melt early, and Beaver Falls was going off crazy! This also made it especially difficult, actually impossible, to get right up close to the waterfall. The creek bed was coming right up to the side, and the snow cover over it was extremely sketchy. If you sink through that snow into the creek, you are in big doo-doo. But with the cliff blocking the view, you cannot otherwise even see the waterfall without getting into the middle of the creek. That is a big dilemma. I managed to make my way out onto a slippery rock and pluck my tripod as far out into the creek as I could reach it to take this photo. I got my boots slightly wet, but they are waterproof, so no damage done.

While I was down at the bottom, a train came by on the railroad tracks. The railroad goes right over the waterfall, and you can see the bridge from the bottom. I took video of it passing by overhead. Stay tuned for that Waterfall Madman adventure (I am SOOOO behind in my videos). Then on the hike back to the car, the same train came back and we had to boogie over to the side and wait for it to pass us. The conductor waved at us as he went by. In all the times I have been there before, I have never seen a train. In fact, I thought the tracks were out of commission, as I think I heard that from someone. Obviously not.