Rain and Volcanoes

It is end of September and it seems as if the rainy season already started here in Whistler BC. According to the weather people, November is the wettest month. Our shoes and socks say different.

We are enjoying an almost permanent rain fall since Tuesday, that makes this the 5th day with rain. Not a rain shower, it is the one that starts and is either heavy or not so. On a positive note, we polished the Jeep with one of these 'Ceramic Car Waxes', and it works. We had to actually pay special attention to the doors, they got a fair share of scratches during our off road excursions here in the area. But that's a story for another time.

Lets talk about the rain first. With rain comes water and it has to go somewhere. Here in Whistler, it will flow north or south. Yes, Whistler is some sort of water shed. The short version, Green Lake flows north to Pemberton and eventually joins the Fraser River and then the Pacific Ocean.

Nita Lake and Alpha Lake flow south into the Cheakamus River that joins with the Callaghan Creek and flows into the Daisy Lake Reservoir. The water feeds the Power Generating station and continues as Squamish River into the Howe Sound in Squamish. The picture was taken yesterday on the way down to Squamish, after the Daisy Lake. Therefore it is the Squamish River.
When you arrive in Whistler from Pemberton, it looks as if the river flows up-hill. After all, Pemberton is up the valley from Whistler. In fact, Pemberton is about 400 meter lower than Whistler. So is Squamish, it is at sea level and therefore 670 meters lower than Whistler. To explain our confusion of the up-hill flowing river, you have to know about the volcanoes that created the Coastal Mountains. And that also explains the title, Rain and Volcanoes. We'll get into the Volcanoes later.

Cheakamus River
When we returned from the Train Wreck, we hiked back along the Cheakamus River. There are many places where you can go up-close and watch the water rush through the narrow rock passages. An amazing view.
The Cheakamus River begins in the Garibaldi Provincial Park then flows into the Cheakamus Lake and continues to Daisy Lake. A trail leads to the Cheakamus Lake and is considered an easy hiking trail. You have the option to take the bike, it is one of the few trails in the Garibaldi Provincial Park that is multi-purpose. We visited the lake a few years ago and like so many other places in the Whistler area, an amazing destination to have a picnic.

Alexander Falls
We visited the Callaghan Lake Provincial Park a few times for off road trips and the Alexander Falls are less than 350 meters south from them. The falls is the Callaghan Creek that drops over 40 meters. We never met many people at the park. There is a viewing platform and picnic tables.
Keep in mind that the pictures are after 3 days of rain. The falls look less impressive during the dry summer months. Nevertheless, well worth a visit.

Brandywine Falls
The Brandywine Falls Provincial Park is along Hwy 99. The waters from the Cheakamus River and the Callaghan Creek drop 70 meters and flow after about 1km into the Daisy Lake. The Brandywine Falls Provincial Park is immediately off the Sea To Sky highway and gets a lot of visitor attention. You get a good view of the basaltic lava flows that surrounds the basin of the falls.

The Rain
The forest shines in a bright green, even more so when it's drizzly and overcast. The pictures pay tribute to the intensity of the wet, dripping trees and soggy mosses.
The trees grow to amazing heights, full with moss and lichen. We always take time to look at the smaller plants. There is a completely different world once you knee down and take time to find the different species.
Click the images below to get a better look into the small world.

The amazing world of the mosses, lichens and plants. They grow on trees and rocks with no obvious signs of nutrients. The lichen can grow on rocks, some of them actually eat the rocks. The mosses are like the lichen, they grow on rocks and use them for their nutrients as well. They create a thick, wet, green carpet on the bare rocks.
What is the difference between mosses and lichens? A moss is a plant with basic roots, leaves and stems. A lichen is a fungus and alga in a symbiotic relationship.
The hairy strings, or Old Man’s Beard that grow in many parts of the BC forest are lichens (click on image to view).

The Volcanoes
The mountains in the Garibaldi region don't belong to the Rocky Mountains, they formed when tectonic plates collided. The Garibaldi mountains are volcanic mountains and belong to the Coast Mountains. That's the short version, actually, the really short version.
But when you are in Whistler, the short version is what you see, volcanoes. The Black Tusk is likely the most obvious sign. We hiked up to the base of the Black Tusk last year. I can still feel the pain from the that hike.

More signs of the volcanic activity are dominant around our base camp, the Whistler RV Campground and the Brandywine Falls. The two places are only 1 km apart.
The Lava Lake Trail is accessible from the Brandywine parking lot just past the bridge. Turn left and after a short and steep climb, you will walk on lava rocks. The cracked rocks show a regular pattern, actually, they are called cleavage. If these patterns are not convincing enough, you have to see the Basalt Columns along the Sea to Sky Trail. We accidentally 'found' them a few years ago during a bike ride from Whistler to the RV Park.

Basalt Columns

The Sea to Sky Trail runs from Squamish to D'Aracy. This is a multi-use trail and passes by the Brandywine Falls, Whistler and Pemberton. The trail is 180km and mostly away from the highway. These are the coordinates to the Basalt Columns: 50.071096, -123.092358, you can't miss them from the trail. The other basalt features are just a few steps further south.

We noticed this cave along the trail. Makes you think how this was created. The basalt columns and the surrounding mountains were likely formed over one million years ago. Glaciers, rain and rivers eroded the mountains and we actually see what was once inside the volcanoes. Fascinating structures!

We will be back to explore other areas. Maybe we'll do some gold panning. Some areas are known to have gold deposits. We may find a gold nugget for our collection. If we do find one, you can read all about it in our travel journal.