Mountain Realities : Climbing to Gray Creek Pass and Descending to Crawford Bay

When we woke up this morning, high up in the mountains amid a glistening world of frost and dew.  The leaves on the trees around us were lush with the morning’s moisture, there was a stunning fog all around our campsite, and the rising sun was beginning to brighten the clear skies above.    The only sound in the clean, fresh air was the rushing and roaring of the river below us.  When we left the tent the sun had yet to rise and the hillsides were turning yellow as the dawn’s light slowly began the new day. 

All of which sounds very romantic and idyllic when described as well as a pleasant way to begin the day, but the reality was also that it was 0 degrees out and that the evening’s damp which had transformed the world unto a magical place had also completely soaked everything.  As such this morning it was raining inside the tent.  Not just a few scattered drops, but enough to create sizable puddles on the floor!  Our thick down fall season sleeping bags were completely drenched and everything inside the tent was soaked!

Such is the way of living in the wild on the side of the Trans Canada Trail – to be outdoors amid the stunning experiences of nature and Canadian experience there is bound to be a cost.  The charge today for this stunning moment was to spend a few hours cold and soaking wet.  Given the wonders around us it was a bill that we were more than willing to accept.

When we stepped out of the tent we discovered that the ground, the shrubs, the trees, and everything else was just as wet.  It felt like we were standing in a cloud, yet there was no visible moisture in the air, which was still extremely cold.  With the low temperatures we were slow to pack up our sodden gear, taking our time and watching as the sun came up over the mountains opposite and began to dispel the dampness and bring some warmth to the chilly mountainside.

We were still several kilometres short of the summit, and as we got underway we had a pretty steep and steady climb.  The views out over the surrounding mountains were gorgeous, and as the sun began to warm things up the birds came alive.  The happy chatter of Mountain Chickadees filled the air, and we could see them foraging busily in the tops of the young conifers that lined the road.  They were joined by small groups of Dark-eyed Juncos, and several White-crowned Sparrows.

We gained elevation quickly, shedding our gloves and sweaters as we huffed and puffed up the steep slope.  By the time we reached the Sphinx Mountain Trailhead we stopped to catch our breath and to admire the small flock of inquisitive Stellar's Jay gliding among the conifers.  We've often spotted these colourful birds at the feeder in my parent's front yard, but we'd never seen them gliding among the tall trees, as they do out on the open mountainsides.  Not to be outdone, a Red-shafted Northern Flicker also made an appearance, flashing its bright orange wings as it swooped past us.

As we continued climbing, now at an elevation of just over 1,750 m, we began to notice a change in the mountain tops around us. Although they were still treed, their tops were very craggy and rocky, and several had large bowls or pockets that were filled with snow.

The mountains rose up high around us, but below us the river valley was equally beautiful!  The meandering waterway made its way through open meadows dotted with tall conifers.  The dew soaked grasses and shrubs sparkled in the morning sun, and plumes of delicate white mist rose up from the river, turned silver in the morning light.  Even though we were high above the valley, the fresh, earthy smell of fall filled the air.  It was absolutely magical!

As we climbed we found ourselves surrounded by the colours of autumn which lined the edge of the roadway.  Dark green conifers bordered the road in tall spires, set among previously logged areas that were covered in bright red, orange, yellow, and pink plants.  Under a bright blue sky, with the grey stone mountains behind, it was an amazingly colourful landscape!

Just before we came to the summit, we saw the first vehicle of the day.  The white pickup truck was wending its way slowly and carefully down the steep, rutted road.  When it stopped beside us we realized it was a BC government truck.  The man driving it was Indian-Canadian, and he was very friendly.  He asked how our night had gone, suggested that the road would get smoother and 'less bony' on the other side of the pass and wished us luck.  We thanked him, and continued on for the final push.

We had seen that the road made two switchbacks just before the summit, and we had guessed this bit would be extremely steep.  Happily, we were already at around 1900 m  elevation when we headed into the final switch backs, with only just over 100 m left to climb.  In the end, this final stretch wasn't too bad, and we made it better by taking a break during which a group of curious Canada Jays came to check us out as we snacked on our mid morning snacks.

As we approached the summit it looked like we were heading straight into a huge, rocky wall.  The top of a mountain rose up directly in front of us, partially hidden by haze, but giving us a close-up view of a very impressive rock slide nonetheless.

When we finally rounded the last switchback and arrived at the top it felt a little anti-climactic.  There was no sign saying we had reached the summit, or any other indication that we had reached the top apart from the fact that the road began to descend.  We climbed a small footpath that led up off the road into the forest to the highest point, but the view from there was partially obscured by trees. Sometimes the destination is not as rewarding as the journey. 

To add to our feelings of consternation, as we rounded the next bend and began the descent we got a panoramic view of mountainous peaks marching off as far as we could see into the distance.  Crossing the Gray Creek Pass, which is purported to be the highest point on the TCT in British Columbia, had felt like getting over a hurdle.  Even though we still have five more mountain ranges to traverse, it felt like we'd achieved something, at least until we saw just some of the rest of the mountains that lie between us the Pacific.  I can't imagine how early explorers must have felt, especially since they had to make the arduous journey without benefit of established roads or trails!

As we began the descent and made our way towards the Oliver Lake Recreation Site, which we had hoped to reach last night, two cyclists passed us, stopping briefly to ask where we'd hiked from.  They pulled into the campground just ahead us, and all of us proceeded to lay everything out in the hot sun to dry.   When we unrolled the tent water literally poured out of the bag!

The Oliver Lake Rec Site consists of several campsites on either side of the road, each with a picnic table and fire pit. There is space for several tents at each, and an RV in one of them.  There is also a pit toilet.  While we let everything dry we explored the short trail which led down to Oliver Lake itself.  This small, shallow, crystal clear lake, tucked in at the base of a rocky mountain top was absolutely stunning!  There were Clark's Nutcrackers and Mountain Chickadees in the conifers around its grassy shores, hundreds of tadpoles swimming along its banks, and we spotted an elk munching on the shrubs on the far side!  It was such a peaceful and beautiful spot we almost decided to stop there for the night.

As it was, we spent two hours drying our things off, exploring, and enjoying the scenery.  While we were extremely happy to be able to dry everything out, we had noticed a change almost immediately when we crossed the summit.  The weather is much hotter on this side!  It seems that temperatures between 25 to -35 °C are common across BC's interior right now, which is about 10 -15 degrees higher than what we've enjoyed up until now.

While we had ascended to the Gray Creek Pass over 37 km, the descent to Kootenay Lake at the west side of it occurred over just 17 km.  In many places the road was rocky, uneven, and rutted from trucks struggling up the 14% grades, and we saw plenty of car parts that had been shaken loose or melted on the steep slopes.

It took us nearly four hours to walk down the extremely steep slope.  The loose gravel made for somewhat slow going, and the constant descent made for very sore legs and backsides by the end of it.  Unlike the ascent, where the climbs were interspersed with flat stretches and some descents, this was one constant, brutally steep descent without a break for 17 km. 

Only one person that we know of, Sarah Rose Jackson, has walked the TCT in its entirety from west to east, and we have often felt that she had a better deal when it comes to climbing. For the first time today, we were so incredibly grateful to be walking westward.  I don't think we would have been able to make the entire ascent in one go - even going down was brutal!

As we descended it felt like we were walking among the folds of the earth.  Steep forested slopes rose up all around, seeming to overlap, and to go in every direction.  We threaded our way down through them, sometimes walking between the shrubs of recently logged areas, sometimes trekking between stands of regenerating conifers, and very occasionally making our way among stands of tall, old, mature trees.

About half-way down we met our second vehicle of the day.  A pickup truck with Alberta license plates was threading its way painstakingly down the road behind us.  The driver stopped and offered us a ride to the bottom of the pass, apologizing profusely that he and his wife didn't have space for both of us and our packs, but offering to take both packs and one of us.  We thanked them for the kind offer, as always being very impressed with the kindness of Albertans, but politely refused.  By the end of the day we were second-guessing that decision!

For the first part of the descent there were very few pull-offs or places to stop, and there were no water sources.  As we approached the half-way marker we began to cross and re-cross beautiful mountain creeks and streams.  Some were small creeks that came bubbling and rushing straight down the mountainside in rocky beds nestled between mossy banks.  Others were larger streams that we crossed on flat concrete bridges, often stopping at the grassy pull-offs beside them to take a break.

Since leaving St. Mary's Lake we hadn't had any cell service.  When it resumed, about 5 km outside of Gray Creek, our clocks jumped back an hour.  We had crossed out of the Mountain Time Zone and into the Pacific Time Zone, the last of seven time zones we've crossed since leaving Newfoundland.

Although we had expected that this final time change would occur at the Alberta-British Columbia border, this wasn't the case.  The best explanation I can find is that over a century ago the Canadian Pacific Railway decided that the Regional District of East Kootenay (which includes Elkford, Sparwood, Fernie, Cranbrook, and Kimberley among other places) should be kept on Mountain Time.  If you drive west from Edmonton on Highway 16, the time zone change is in fact at the Alberta - British Columbia border.  If you drive west out of Calgary on the Trans Canada Highway (Hwy 1), the time change occurs at the eastern boundary of Glacier National Park, between Golden and Revelstoke.  For us it occurred somewhere near Meachern, an unidentified point on a Forest Service Road a day beforehand. 

For us this time change is an indicator of our progress westward and yet another reminder that winter is soon to come.  The days are becoming lighter later in the morning, darker sooner in the afternoons and much cooler in the evenings.  With an estimated arrival dates of early November into the Greater Vancouver Area and of Nov. 17^th in Victoria BC the added potential challenges of the changing seasons which are on the horizon for us in the coming 30-40 days are central to our thoughts.

When we looked at the shape of the trail on the map, we had assumed that we would descend down a series of steep switch backs and then the road might level out a little into a more gentle descent as it followed along beside the creek.  This was not the case – instead we had an incredibly steep descent all the way to Gray Creek, even through the residential area at the edge of town.  By the time we reached the lower slopes, where the trail was bordered by stands of huge, old cedars and very tall mature conifers, our legs were really starting to hurt and our calves were constantly cramping!

Finally we made our way very steeply down through the tiny community of Gray Pass to the highway, arriving just a few minutes before the Gray Pass Store closed for the evening.  This historic general store, which was started in 1913 by the current owner's father, is Kootenay Lake's oldest general store.  We were surprised to see a sign with the Trans Canada Trail logo on it attached to the building, and a sign indicating that you could register for the Selkirk Loop of the TCT inside.

As we sat on the porch, gratefully drinking a cold coffee and trying to decide whether to stay at the campground that was half a kilometre east of the store or to continue on to Crawford Bay, several people stopped to chat.  It was immediately obvious that everyone knew everyone else there, and they were all eager to help backpackers passing through.  The unprompted advice of the store owner, and several others who stopped by, was that if we were looking for campsites we should continue on towards Crawford Bay.  Local wisdom suggested we would find gorgeous campsites, warm showers, and laundry options at several spots there, or we could simply random camp on the beach and no one would mind, as long as we practised no trace principles. 

Although our legs were pretty sore from the descent by this point, given the overwhelming advice, we decided to continue on.  As we walked out of Gray Creek we passed a sign for the community, which said 'Home of the Gold Boulder.'  The sign refers to a legend about an enormous solid gold rock that reportedly lies at the bottom of the Kootenay Lake, resting at an unknown location of unknown depth.

There are two versions of the legend to explain its presence there.  In the less sensational one, which was recounted in the April 23rd edition of The Nelson Tribune in 1894, the rock was accidentally discovered by Randal Kemp, who was out in a boat searching the mountains for his cattle with a friend and his two brothers.  They pulled in to shore for a break, and discovered a solid gold rock, which they estimated weighed about 48,000 ounces, and would have a value equivalent to $67 million today. When they tried to retrieve the enormous boulder, lowering it down the steep slope to their boat using ropes and pulleys, the rope broke and the rock tumbled down the mountain, smashing their boat and rolling far down into the lake.  Since then, many people have visited Gray Creek and searched Kootenay Lake for the golden boulder and their own fortunes, but so far, none have been successful.

We walked out of Gray Creek on a narrow, two lane, paved road with no shoulder that wound along beside the shore of Kootenay Lake. This waterbody is long, narrow, and fjord-like, and at 104 km long and 3-5 km wide it is one of the largest lakes in British Columbia.  It is part of the Kootenay River, formed naturally through erosion and glaciation, and over the years it's water levels have been raised by the construction of several dams.  The mountains around it rise steeply up to about 2,700 m.

As we made our way along the shoreline towards Crawford Bay, we passed rocky, driftwood strewn beaches, accessed by steep footpaths leading down the forested slope to the water.  The steep shoreline to our left was punctuated with small homes and cottages, many with unique designs and artistic touches.  On the other side of us the forested slope of the mountain rose up, also occasionally dotted with homes tucked in among the trees.  In one of the yards we spotted a small black bear posing as a lawn ornament.  As we approached he turned and ran down to the rocky beach, his glossy coat shining in the evening sun.

There was a lot of traffic, so when we came to the trailhead for the 'Off-Highway Segment of the East Shore Trans Canada' we were pretty excited.  Despite our exhaustion, we climbed up the steep, mossy, rocky, conifer covered hillside away from the road.  At the trailhead a few meters in we found a sign explaining the creation story of the Ktunaxa Peoples, which we've seen throughout the East Kootenay District, and a visitor logbook.  To our delight, we found a trail journal which included an entry from Mel and Malo, who passed this way 27 days ago, on August 31st!   We are always excited to find evidence of those few intrepid individuals such as Dana Meise, Dianne Whelan and Mel with Malo that have thru trekked the TCT.  This discovery gave us the energy boost to push on as the sun began to set.

The trail led us up through lush conifer forests, threading along above the highway below.  We had gorgeous views out over the still lake and the folds and ridges of the Purcell Mountains on one side the Selkirk Mountains on the other.  We could see the boats parked at a small marina across the bay, and as the sun continued to set, the yellow and pink clouds streaking across the sky were reflected in the still waters at the end of the bay.

Twilight was beginning to settle in as made our way through the mossy, rocky forest.  Eventually the trail climbed up and began following a treed hydro corridor, which led into town.  One of the unique things about this trail section that we enjoyed were the TCT signs, which were done in the style of a Canadian flag ! 

Around 6:30 pm, just as the night’s darkness began, we arrived at the Kokanee Chalets, RV Park, and Campground, which was our destination for the night.  A long line of A-frame chalets with moss covered roofs were tucked under a canopy of enormous cedars.  

The wood shingled Red's Bakery was at the front of the campground, but sadly it was already closed for the day.  Although the campground office was also closed for the day, the incredibly friendly and accommodating owner had made last minute arrangements for a late check-in, allowing us to bring another very long, beautiful day on the trail to a wonderful end with a hot shower, the possibility of laundry tomorrow, and a safe, warm, and hopefully dry place to sleep.  We were certainly ready for the rest!

See you on the trail!

Remember to follow our entire adventure here : www.comewalkwithus.online