June 27 – Waterfalls in Strathcona Provincial Park

It was a long day today. We went to four different waterfalls accessible via the north entrance to Strathcona Provincial Park. The only way we could do four was that the hike to each of them was very short, usually around 1 km.

The drive in along Highway 28 is very twisty as you can see from the map. As we got towards the middle of the island the mountains started showing up, Some snow capped, some not. We took this picture on one of the few straight sections.

We wiggled our way along the shore of Upper Campbell Lake

First up was Lady Falls. The info board said we only go 0.9 km and climb 60 feet. The GPS said it was even less at only 1/2 km.

 

You could only look at the falls from a viewing platform on the opposite cliff.

There was a lot of mist being sprayed up. We couldn’t stay out there very long and had to keep cleaning the camera lens.

I did a kind of choppy photosphere from the edge of the deck.

Lady Falls Photosphere

Jennie likes the closeups. The top of the falls.

The rapids at the bottom.

On the way to Lupin Falls we drove along side long, thin Buttle Lake. It has high mountains on each side that come right down to the shore.

An interesting little island.

It was somewhat hazy but the mountain views were still pretty good.

The short 1 km loop trail to Lupin Falls was as good as the falls, as far as beautiful scenery goes.

Little sun spotlights.

The falls themselves were a narrow ribbon falling into a pool and then a small cascade into another pool. They were really hard to photograph. Most of it was in dark shadow but the top of each section was being blasted with bright sunlight.

The park had also installed this nice fence right in front so that you couldn’t get a wider view without part of the falls being blocks by the fence.

 

Onward around the loop below the falls.

Moving on down Buttle Lake.

There was actually a car ahead of us for a while and when they quickly pulled over I saw this out of the corner of my eye.

It was a up a bit in what looked like an old gravel pit. It was only there a minute before it wandered off up the hill.

We stopped at a viewpoint for another look. This moth was blocking our path.

Up the lake.

Down

And across.

And a photosphere.

Buttle Lake Photosphere

The Karst Creek Trailhead had a small picnic area but we just went out and found a log on the stony shoreline for lunch.

The water is really clear, shallow and warm.

Another short loop trail up Karst Creek.  I don’t think this trail is used as much because it was narrow and quite overgrown in spots.

There was a sign saying that a bridge was out and that fording the creek might not be possible if the water was high. This was the spot. We managed to find enough non moving rocks to make it across.

The creek is quite steep and is really just one long cascade over the rocks and trees.

The actual falls were very pretty to the eye but tough on the camera. They were brilliantly lit but everything in front was in deep shadow.

This was the best I could do. You’ll just have to go and see it for yourself.

Rock hopping around the creek to try different vantage points.

The rest of the loop was supposed to take us to a creek that appeared out of a hole in the ground and then downhill a ways, it disappeared down a sinkhole. Both spots were so overgrown that you couldn’t see anything. We should have just gone back down the creek.

On the way to Lower Myra Falls there was a viewpoint where you could see it from across the lake.

Going around the bottom of the lake we got this view.

The trail to the falls goes steeply downhill. We stopped at the upper falls viewpoint.

Then down out onto the rocks in the middle section. We can only see just a little of the upper section now.

I scrambled down a few more steps.

Looking back up.

And then down towards the lake.

Climbing back up to look down on the log that was jammed in the slot that all the water had to go through.

And a couple of photospheres

Lower Myra Falls Photosphere 1

Lower Myra Falls Photosphere 2

We probably would have stayed much longer but by now we were pretty tired especially sitting in the bright sun. Reluctantly we headed home but what a day.

I guess this part of the park doesn’t ever get busy. All of the parking lots were quite small and we almost never saw a car on the highway. We only saw 6 people at Lady Falls, 1 biker at Lupin Falls, 2 girls at Karst Creek and about 8 at Lower Myra Falls.