Time for us to slow down a bit and give our bodies time to recuperate. Tepee Falls Hiking Trail is 6k (3.1 miles) roundtrip. It is a 32k (19 mi.) drive from Tumbler Ridge.
Today is lovely! It is sunny and 73 degrees. It's the first time since we've been in Tumbler Ridge that I wore a T-shirt and no jacket! Very nice.
Here is the Tepee Falls Trail description from the brochure we picked up in the Tumbler Ridge Visitor Centre: "The Tepee Falls trail is an easy hike through spruce and aspen forests to a dramatic waterfall that leaps over a sandstone lip into a boulder-strewn bowl. Views of the Murray River are expansive."
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| Bob playing a bear coming out of the woods. |
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| I think he cracked himself up. |
The first part of the trail, as you can see above, is straight and flat. It does have a few roots for us to kick as we go by. LOL.
Three young ladies were coming back from the falls and Bob asked them if the trail was this nice all the way. They said, "Yes."
We made good time heading to the falls. This trail has been so much easier than most of the other trails we've been on this week. It's rated "easy" and it really is easy, at the beginning. We'll discuss the rest of it later.
Wildflowers are in bloom all over now. I love it.
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| Yellow Sweet-Vetch (Hedysarum sulphurescens). |
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| Alpine Milk-Vetch (Astragalus alpinus). |
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| Prickly rose (Rosa acicularis) |
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| Alpine arnica (Arnica angustifolia). |
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| American Milk-Vetch (Astragalus americanus). |
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| Alpine paintbrush (Castilleja rhexifolia). |
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| Spruce and aspen forest. |
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| Pink wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia) |
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| Star-flowered false Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum stellatum), I think?! |
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| The trail to Tepee Falls... still flat. |
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| I have no idea what this is. Do you? |
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| We went to Tepee Falls and Upper Falls. |
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| A view of the Murray River Valley from the Tepee Falls viewpoint. |
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| Northern Sweet-Vetch (Hedysarum boreale). |
The trail going down to the Tepee Falls viewpoint was SCARY. It had stairs, but they were old, some steps were missing, some of the stairs had a very steep descent, and the dry dirt was slippery under our hiking boots. The stakes that they used to hold the boards in place stuck up an inch or two in some places and they could easily catch your long pants when you step over them. I went down very slowly and used both hiking poles to stabilize myself.
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| Tepee Falls. |
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| Bob took a photo of me at the viewpoint. |
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| Another waterfall below Tepee Falls. |
When it was time to come back up the trail from the viewpoint, I was freaked out. A couple of times, I had Bob hold my hiking poles and I went up the steepest, slipperiest parts on my hands and knees, holding onto the boards that hold the stairs in place.
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| This is the trail down to the Tepee Falls Viewpoint. |
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| The sign at the Tepee Falls viewpoint. |
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| Small waterfall above Tepee Falls. |
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| Bob is on an overhang taking a photo of another waterfall above Tepee Falls. |
We took a side trail along the creek for a little while, but it petered out and there were beaucoup mosquitoes! Mosquitoes are a definite problem in this area.
That was quite an experience if you walked past tape and hit an area that was considered off-limits or dangerous. At least you are safe, except from mosquitos.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we're just getting started with the mosquitoes. From what I hear they're really bad this year in some places. People are saying "millions" of mosquitoes, and then changing it to "billions." Aaack!
Delete~Susan