Wells Gray Online

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ver since the internet got off the ground in the mid 1990s, the Clearwater Valley, usually in its avatar form as Wells Gray Provincial Park, has had an online presence.

Over the years that presence has mostly simmered quietly away in the background, though on two occasions it has, for a little while at least, spiked, gone viral.

ice cave behind Helmcken Falls by Chance Breckenridge 2021
©2021 Chance Breckenridge

The first of these online spikes was generated and sustained by a small team of extreme adventurists who, on several successive winters between 2013 and about 2022, repeatedly scaled the precipitous walls of Helmcken Canyon, with the Helmcken Falls ice cone, rising like a small blue volcano, as backdrop.

The second spike occurred in 2017, with the quite unexpected discovery of Wells Gray’s third highest waterfall at about 120 m and, especially, the vast football-field-sized “pit” into which it plummets.

Though the waterfall itself remains unnamed, its accommodating pit was for a time called Sarlacc’s pit – a name that caught and briefly held the imaginations of Star Wars aficionados worldwide.

This web page is dedicated to compiling and, over time, archiving key online links concerning Wells Gray Park.

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING LINKS WERE ASSEMBLED IN 2017 IN SUPPORT OF A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE PROPOSAL ADVANCED BY CATHIE HICKSON AND TREVOR GOWARD. I WOULD BE GRATEFUL TO HEAR FROM VOLUNTEERS WILLING TO UPDATE IT. PLEASE CONTACT ME, TREVOR GOWARD, EITHER AT MY E-MAIL ADDRESS OR ELSE BY LINKING HERE.

  1. Andrews, W.J. 2017. Species at Risk Act, S.C. 2002, c. 29 Application to The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to Governor in Council for an Emergency Order under section 80 to Protect Matrix Range Critical Habitat of the Wells Gray-Thompson Local Population Unit of the Woodland Caribou, Southern Mountain Caribou population (Rangifer tarandus caribou) Against Timber Harvesting and Related Road-building on Provincial Crown Land. 68 pages + appendices.
  2. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, BC Parks Division. 1999. Management Direction Statement for Clearwater River Corridor (Addition to Wells Gray Park). B.C. Parks, Victoria. 8 pages. http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/wellsgray/clear_corr.pdf (Accessed January 2017.)
  3. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Integrated Land Management Bureau Division. 2007. Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan (Map).
  4. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Environmental Protection & Sustainability Division. 2017. Southern Mountain Caribou government documentation. http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/wildlife/wildlife-conservation/caribou/southern-mountain-caribou (Accessed January 2017.)
  5. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. 2018. Woodland Caribou Plan: Wells Gray North Subpopulation: Quesnel Highlands Local Population Unit.
  6. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Natural Resource Stewardship. 2017. Canim Lake Indian Band (Tsq’escen’).
  7. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Natural Resource Stewardship. 2017. Simpcw First Nation (North Thompson River).
  8. British Columbia Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing, Parks & Outdoor Recreation Division. 1986. Wells Gray Provincial Park Master Plan. B.C. Parks, Victoria. 55 pages. http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/wellsgray/wells_gray_mp.pdf (Accessed January 2017.)
  9. British Columbia Ministry of Parks, Southern Interior Region. 1991. Wells Gray Recreation Area Interim Management Statement. B. C. Parks, Victoria. 48 pages. http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/wellsgray/wells_gray_ims.pdf (Accessed January 2017.)
  10. The Daily Mail. 2013. D-icing with death: Terrifying photographs show daredevils hanging upside down as they climb a 450ft frozen waterfall. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/01/10-best-worlds-natural-wonders-us-canada-new-zealand (Published February 9, 2013. Accessed January 2017.)
  11. The Globe and Mail (Smith, K.). 2014. Who needs Banff? This is where you should take your canoe.
  12. The Guardian (Coldwell, W.). 2015. Ten of the world’s best natural wonders… that you’ve probably never heard of.
  13. Hello, BC. 2013. Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/01/10-best-worlds-natural-wonders-us-canada-new-zealand (Published July 17, 2013. Accessed January 2017.)
  14. Kayak Session. 2015. The Kettle Rapids, Clearwater BC – GoPro.
  15. Planet Mountain. 2016. Tim Emmett and Klemen Premrl breakthrough with Interstellar Spice at Helmcken Falls.
  16. Redbull. 2014. Watch this 200m climb on overhanging rock and ice.
  17. Redbull Media House. 2015. Frozen Titans: the story of Arc’teryx athlete Will Gadd’s monumental mixed climbing epic at Helmcken Falls. Produced by Reel Water Productions, Sponsored by Arc’teryx.
  18. Simpcw First Nation. 2017. Our Land.
  19. The Toronto Sun. 2016. Canada’s most stunning waterfalls. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/01/10-best-worlds-natural-wonders-us-canada-new-zealand (Published August 8, 2016. Accessed January 2017.)
  20. World of Waterfalls (Cheng, J.T.). 2017. Helmcken Falls, Wells Gray Provincial Park, Thompson Nicola Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/01/10-best-worlds-natural-wonders-us-canada-new-zealand (Accessed January 2017.)