KISS AND MAKE UP
At Christmas, we went up to Canada to visit my sister and family in Cranbrook BC. They had very little snow this year, the ski hills were not even open yet, and it was very warm. In fact, it was the warmest I can ever remember it being there at this time of year.
So skiing was out of the question, and snow shoeing was out of the question, but I was hoping to do some hiking at least. On the first day (Christmas Eve), I took my wife on a hike to Moyie Falls (or so I hoped). I have been there before in the winter, but my wife has not been there. When I was there before, I was able to cross the river easily on snow bridges. I expected there would be no snow bridges this year because of the warm temperatures, but I still hoped to be able to find a place to cross, perhaps on logs or at a very easy and shallow crossing. But we had no such luck. The river was flowing strong and deep. Any attempted crossing would have resulted in hypothermia and probable death. No thanks. Plan B was to try to get up to the falls on this side of the river. I made a very strong attempt at it. I found a way around the first cliff, and indeed we even found a trail going up high along the river, above the cliffs. I felt good and certain this would work out well. But alas, the trail just went to the top of the falls (and you could not see the waterfall). I found a way back down to the river below the falls, but again got cliffed out. There was absolutely no way to get up to the waterfall on this side. Strike out. Not only that, but I strained my back climbing around in the bushes and snow (what little snow there was there). Terrific. Not.
On Christmas Day, in the afternoon, I was determined to get out and do something, so I decided I would just go to Marysville Falls, which is very easy and which I have been to before, a few times. That is about all my back could handle. My sister then told me about another waterfall in Kimberley, which I had not been to before, and indeed had not even heard of before. It was a bit shocking to learn of this waterfall, because I have researched the area extensively, and did not come across this one. Yet, how could I miss it? The park is called: Cherry Creek Falls Park. Kind of obvious, madman. So anyhow, after seeing Marysville Falls, my mom, sister, bro-in-law, and wife made the short drive up to the park. (none of the kids wanted to come – they would all prefer to stay home and play video games – shocking). It is a very easy and short hike down to Cherry Creek Falls, which is a very lovely 30 ft. slide. I stood as close to the creek as I dared, because it was impossible to tell if I was standing over rushing creek or solid ground, and the ground did seem very unstable. All in all, this little hike and new waterfall was a huge make up for the first day’s debacle at Moyie Falls. I was a happy madman again.