Rainbow Falls Adventures

07-22-2010 Thursday 7AM. Gold Panner RV Park, Cherryville, BC.

Frank: This time it wasn’t my fault! There we were once again on a narrow, bumpy, pot-holed, rutted remote and scary dirt road, and this time it wasn’t my fault! Someone, who shall remain nameless, (Cheryl) read about two beautiful waterfalls both of which were on one concise day trip. That person (Cheryl) read the descriptions of the two combined trips and that person (Cheryl) decided that as the roads were described as smooth dirt, and the hiking trails were described as “short, smooth and well maintained” that we should take said roads and trails and see the beautiful waterfalls. The first waterfall was a bust as it was simply the overflow from a not so big man-made dam. The second waterfall was spectacularly beautiful, tall, soaring, roaring, wild wet and misty and we were right next to the edge of all of it. Once again I’ll let the nameless one (Cheryl) write the pretty words.

I was able to find a sidestand and all the bits and pieces needed to install it for the bike and it is being FedEx’d to the campsite even as I write this. With luck I should have it installed by noon. Then nameless one (Cheryl) and I are going to ride to a ferry (the longest free ferry in Canada) across a lake and have lunch at a nice restaurant we’ve been told about.

Nameless One. (Cheryl): The hardy Canadian people evidently don’t require asphalt or wheelchair ramps to visit the stunning majesty of their outback. After choosing the “road less taken” that traveled down a small hill and meandered dangerously close to the banks of Sugar Lake, we finally emerged to a much wider, but still gravel road that led us about 20 miles to a tiny road marker and sign to Rainbow Falls.

When at last the narrow cedar-lined road opened into a wide parking area, we were surprised to find a van camper and a pickup camper with BC plates there ahead of us. The two gray-headed Canadians from the van camper were just entering the trail to the falls with their trusty ski pole walking sticks in hand. They obviously had ten years on us, yet they were blithely taking what had been described in our booklet as an easy 5 to 10 minute walk to the falls armed with backpacks and walking sticks. I think they must have been there before because when Frank finally got to the falls, they were already on the viewing platform and told him about a less apparent higher platform up a rather rugged little root tangled trail. They were off into unmarked territory along the river before Peanut and I arrived to take in the grandly misty mighty rainbow falls.

My mouth hung open in awe, and I agreed, for once, with the description in our booklet, “it’s well worth the trip!” We took lots of pictures and videos so you can hear the falls if you want to someday when we catch you off guard with our computer in hand. And that my dear friends, pretty much sums up yesterday’s unexpected back roads day trip.

We arrived at the trailer to find our electricity out due to some incident just south of the campground. It was off until 9:00 p.m., so we read our novel, and since Frank fell asleep, I attempted to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with walnuts sans a recipe, using Bisquick for the flour and baking powder part. Thank goodness for battery powered lights and propane stove! The cookies turned out great! I just had one for breakfast. It looks overcast today, so don’t know if we’ll get our m/c ride in or not.

Keep tuning in for more exciting episodes of Great Canadian Wilderness Explorers – Love, Frank, The Nameless One, Peanut and Cleo