Day 11 - Wells Gray

During our visit to the British Columbia Museum in Victoria we visited a house attached to the museum that belonged to a Dr Helmcken. Dr Helmcken studied at Guys Hospital in London before going on to Canada and ultimately Vancouver Island in the mid 1800’s.
Dr Helmcken was clearly one of the major pioneers of his time for here in Wells Gray National Park there is a waterfall called Helmcken Falls.
Before going to the Helmcken Falls we decided to visit an old homestead called Ray Farm. Here a John Ray had set up his homestead at the turn of the last century. How he got there to choose this spot is mystery for he would have had to cross creeks and fast flowing rivers to get there. The homestead lies a good 50km from Clearwater. John Ray and his wife Alice, are buried behind the homestead and the homestead is being allowed to fall to ruins to keep in with the landscape. So what is there? The homestead is situated by mineral springs. They may have thought that the waters contained purities that were good for them. The place is totally isolated and the evidence of Black Bear and Moose in the vicinity. There is no electricity/gas - wood fuel is plentiful.
Our hike took us passed the homestead and onwards through forestation to a Mineral Water Spring. Here calcium carbonated water poured out of a conical shaped from called a Travertine.

Our round trip took us passed Alice Lake where we found woodpeckers, squirrels and we also spotted a Mountain Bluebird
So on to the 450 foot Helmcken Falls, the 4th largest in Canada. They were quite spectacular. Just as spectacular were Dawson Falls and Spahats Falls. We just run out of steam and time to enable us to visit the rest.
The whole park has evolved through time through glaciers and sub-glacier volcanic eruptions and the rocks and mountains and waterfalls are still continually evolving. This was particularly evident when we admired the view from the top of Green Mountain.
Wells Grays has its own climate, the animals depend on the rains that are plentiful as the cool moist air amalgamates with the warm air coming from the south. The day had again been very hot (good for mosquitoes). But we were glad to have reached home when a thunderstorm and torrential rain were experienced. This was our first rain for some time.