Water!

May 31, 2026 – Wells Gray Provincial Park

One of my Canadian friends, Peter, told me that I had to go see Helmcken Falls if I was going to be in this area of northern BC.  He also told me I should spend more time in Prince Rupert since his son had taught there for a couple of years.

I am so glad that I took his advice – on both accounts.  Prince Rupert was worth spending more time as we found out (read past blogs).

And Helmcken Falls lived up to the hype. 

It is a massive falls – 150 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty (including her pedestal).  Or for those from Washington, it is almost double the height of Snoqualmie Falls and almost three times the volume of water.  Or from Oregon, it is 80 feet shorter than the first tier of Multnomah falls, but 25 times the volume of water.  It is also in this idylic setting of lava rocks carved by glaciers creating an amazing backdrop.  We all know that pictures never fully give justice to the natural world, so I hope you add 2 or 3 times the level of awe to the following pictures. 🙂

Today was our first no travelling day, so we also walked the 5 miles roundtrip to the opposite side of these falls from this viewpoint.  The pictures don’t do it justice, so believe me when I tell you that the ground literally shook when we stood right next to this massive fall.

We caught up with a Belgium visitor who thought this was more impressive than Niagra Falls.  Not sure if we agree, but we appreciate his sentiment. 

Tomorrow we start heading back to the border with a full day in Squamish to explore and do more hikes.  And then by the middle of the week we will be back at home.  I’m sure our daughter will appreciate the relief of dog duties and our dog will appeciate a few long walks upon our return.

We realize this adventure is slowly coming to a close, always hard to believe when we thought that at the beginning that five days with grizzlies was a lot…and then found out we could have spent a month … and now it is coming to the end. 

Thanks for coming along.

Oh, and on the way out of the park we saw another black bear on the side of the road, of course.