Exhilaration on the Prow of the Titanic - Saturday, July 16, 2022

Trepidation, fear, and excitement were the emotions I felt today before we set out on the Shipyard-Titanic Hiking Trails near Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. I had fear because I knew the trail went to very high places on rock formations and I don't like heights!

The drive to get there was crazy. It's good that we have a big pick-up truck. As soon as we turned off paved highway BC 52, we knew the road would be a factor in our day.

It had rained quite a bit overnight so the dirt road we turned onto had deep, wet, slippery, and rutted mud. Bob washed all the grime off his truck yesterday in Dawson Creek at a car/truck wash. Today, we put it on again and then some. His running board and undercarriage were a mess when we got to the trailhead. 

We saw smaller foreign cars at the trailhead that didn't have much dirt on them. We wondered if they found a different way to get there.

Two trails begin here (FYI: There is an outhouse--bring your own T.P.): 

1. The Tarn and Towers Trail, 0.31 mi. round-trip to view tarns (small mountain lakes or pools) and the towers of Armada Ridge, and 
2. Shipyard-Titanic Hiking Trails, 2 mi. round-trip, give or take, to view some of the best rock scenery in the region. The rock formations have maritime-themed names. If you use your imagination, the bizarre rock formations look like ships and shipwrecks.

 A view of an old coal mine which 
took down the flank of the mountain.

Bob and I started out with the short Tarn and Towers Trail to figuratively get our feet wet. The trail is narrow with lots of roots. The ponds (tarns) are small but pretty.

The prettiest tarn on this trail.

Here's a sample of the trail.

Pink mountain heather
(Phyllodoce empetriformis).

Rockfall is everywhere at the end of the marked trail. Cairns (stacked rocks) show you where good viewpoints and photo ops are. Turn around when you're done photographing, and oohing and aahing about The Armada formation above you.

From where we took the photo, this
looked like a father and a teen-aged son.

The same people, but not
zoomed in. That looks 
precarious!

Zoomed in, this looks even more 
dangerous! Yikes.

The Armada Formation.

The Armada Formation.

The Tarn and Towers Trail.

A boardwalk on 
The Tarn and Towers Trail.

Marsh marigold (Caltha
leptosepala).

A very short walk had us at the entrance to the Shipyard-Titanic Hiking Trails. If you do this walk, "trails" refers to multiple choices for where you can go: Chockstone Ridge, The Bismarck, The Titanic, The Prow, The Waterline, and the end of the meadow valley (for a spectacular viewpoint).

Off we go. I have a new
accessory: binoculars.

The trail starts out climbing up through a forest of spruce and fir. The uphill can be steep at times. There are roots and rocks in the path so care must be taken. Normally, I walk tough trails with two hiking sticks. However, knowing that this trail has lots of big rocks, I decided to take one hiking stick so that I will have one hand free to grab onto rocks if needed. 

The binoculars are to look for mountain goats on the rock formations. There is a herd of 50 of them in this area.

Wildflowers are in bloom and views of rock formations, peaks, and the Rocky Mountains in the distance are worth your climb. 

The trail.

Views for miles and miles.

This may be a type of subalpine fir
tree. (The consensus from Googler
friends is that this is a Korean fir.)

Fringed grass of Parnassus
(Parnassia fimbriata).

Where is the trail? We lost it.
It is on that large pile of rocks over
there! How do we get there?

Our walking brochure provided by the Tumbler Ridge Global GeoPark and copyrighted in 2019 by Wolverine Nordic and Mountain Society states:

"A valley of enormous boulders is crossed, thanks to the arduous work of Thomas Clark, who converted the jumble of rock into a trail surface with his pry-bar, and the help of a short bridge over a crevice."

First, we head this way. 

Then, we make a right turn here and
pick our way through the flattest rocks.

I made my way through!

Here's the short bridge
over the crevice. I'm happy
we didn't have to jump the crevice!

Arctic willow (Salix arctica).

A look back at the jumble of rocks
and a small bridge we just crossed.

Steep rocky trail with 
switchbacks.

We are now level with The Armada
rock formation. (Photo by Bob.)

Mountain bluebells (Mertensia
ciliata).

These rocks are amazing

Rocks here are striated and
geologically interesting.

I'm amazed by these rocks.

Jumbled masses of rocks that have
fallen off of the surrounding large
formations.

Now we have ascended above
The Armada formation.

Mountain identification sign.

We kept going up with the promise of a more level trail from here on. Of course, a level trail was not going to get us up onto the Titanic and Bismarck rock formations! But we took level while we could get it.

Mountain buttercup
(Ranunculus eschscholtzii).

White Mountain-Avens
(Dryas octopetala).

We are so impressed!

Boulders here, there, and
everywhere!

Yes, we hiked through all those 
boulders and then the trail got flat 
for a while.

An incredible mess of rocks!

We headed for Shipyard & Titanic.

The trail now drops down into a wildflower-filled meadow before a steep climb up to Titanic. We passed by the trail to the top of Chockstone Ridge and will make a decision on going there on our way back. (Note: We didn't go there.)

A view through rocks down 
to the wildflower meadow.

Bob takes time to enjoy the
spectacular view of Titanic.

Looking toward Titanic on the right
and the Rocky Mountains straight
ahead.

The yellow flowers are Early buttercup/
Sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus
glaberrimus). The white flowers are
Wild strawberries (Fragaria
virginia).

The pollinators love White
Mountain-Avens.

Bob took a photo of me in the
FLAT wildflower meadow.

Sitka valerian (Valeriana
sitchensis).

We're still headed for Titanic. We may
do The Bismarck on the way back.

We are looking up at the Titanic
formation.

Here's where we leave the meadow 
and climb a steep section with the 
help of ropes.

What was amazing to Bob and I was how fast people got from Titanic to The Bismarck. Even we traversed the distance really quickly!

Here is a beautiful view of 
the Rocky Mountains.

Looking back toward The Armada and
The Bismarck from Titanic.

Bob on the Titanic formation looking
out at the amazing views.

I zoomed in on people over on The
Bismarck Formation.

Here you can see the wildflower
meadow, The Bismarck Formation,
and The Armada.

We are now headed up to The Prow
of the Titanic! Scary drop-offs, but
exhilarating views!

To get up on The Prow of the Titanic, there is a trail sign. However, when we looked at it from the main trail, it didn't look very easy to get up. We took a different route. Bob had to pull me up the last big step. Once we were on top, the rock was plenty wide to walk on. I'm so glad I overcame my fear and made it up there. That is one life experience I will remember forever. The views are dramatic and hard to beat. 

Bob is at The Prow of
The Titanic Formation.

I'm heading up to join Bob.

I

Bob is taking photos and a video of
the view from the top.

I, too, am taking photos.

Here's the photo Bob took of
me on The Prow of the Titanic.

After spending 20 minutes admiring nature's grandeur, we headed down the trail where the sign that we saw on the way up was. Looking down at it from the top, it made sense to go down that way, not the improvised way we went up.

Looking across the meadow to 
The Bismarck Formation on the right.

Going down the trail from Titanic, using the ropes in the steep section before the meadow, was a lot easier!

I think this is Edible Valerian,
though not positive.

Western meadowrue (Thalictrum
occidentale). These are the male 
flowers with dangling anthers.

Western meadowrue (Thalictrum
occidentale). These are the female 
flowers with small, star-shaped 
clusters of achenes.

Arctic willow.

Meadow forget-me-not 
(Hackelia micrantha).

Looking back at Titanic.

Here's where the trail starts to go to
the top of The Bismarck Formation.

The view from Bismarck to
The Armada.

I was standing at the top of The Bismarck and I kept hearing water. I used my binoculars to see where it was coming from. Across the valley, water was seeping out of the rocks and making little freshets down the face of the rock.

Water falling down the rock face.

Creeping juniper or Ground juniper.

Large boulders on The Bismarck.

Bob is at the front of The Bismarck.

Bob exploring the top of 
The Bismarck.

The top of The Bismarck Formation.

We used the binoculars to look for the
herd of 50 mountain goats. No luck.

Me searching for mountain goats. 
(Photo by Bob.)

It's now time to hightail it down the mountain and make our way to Babcock Falls, our next, and last, destination today. We decided to skip the Boulder Gardens Trail.

Lupine.

One last look at The Armada.

Babcock Falls was down a short side road on our way home. It was a 2k round trip hike and didn't really have any distinguishing features except for lots of mud holes to try to avoid.

 

Bob at the start of the trail.

The most interesting parts about the Babcock Falls Trail were all the signs along the way and the waterfall itself.

The trail would have been easy
except for mud puddles!

Does anyone know what flowers these are?

Babcock Falls, Tumbler Ridge
area, British Columbia.

I'm thrilled to have my mosquito net
to keep those buggers off my face!

And that, folks, is the end of our hiking day. We will now return to the RV park for some rest and relaxation. Happy hour, anyone?

When we pulled into the RV park, Tom, Karen, Anita, Carol, and their nine-month-old puppy Archie were having a Happy Hour. When we got out of the truck, we were invited to join in. After we changed our shoes and collected our cold drinks, we headed next door.

These are people who will be on the caravan with us. We had fun getting to know each of them and chatted for two hours. More of our caravan members will be coming in on Monday. Our campground host said there are 21 rigs coming in on Monday. That would include both the caravan that is finishing their current trip and those starting out Thursday. It looks like our Happy Hours will get big in the next couple of days!

Happy trails to you!