It’s obvious most people take to the highways and byways by means of cars, trucks, 4x4s, motorcycles, and so forth, while a very few get off the beaten track by taking to trails and paths, or even by striking out through the forest, along creeks, through swamps, around marshes, over mountain slopes and around woodland lakes and ponds. There are lots of choices, when on foot, to get off the beaten tarmac.
One sunny afternoon, I was out with a small party on the south side of a knoll above the highway between Fruitvale and Wanita. From up there, we were able to look down on the busy highway that snaked downward over a long grade between those two communities. Seated, I observed the beautiful landscape by the Columbia River and around me which was a verdant, spring green. Many years ago, this opportunity wouldn’t have been possible as the slopes had been devoid of plant life by toxic chemicals belching out of the Trail smelter stack.
While watching vehicles coursing up and down the grade, I wondered where they were all going. There were likely 100 cars per hour, perhaps 200. With at least one person per car, that would be 100 people per hour. While, on that slope, on foot, were four in one hour. In two hours, that’s 200 people and still only four on the mountain. So, it is quite obvious that a lot more people use wheels, than take to the out doors on foot, by bike, canoe or by some other way, barring the fact that some do the tarmac route not by choice.
The alternatives for doing an out there jaunt are many, a lot more than 20 years ago. Of course, one does not have to traverse a mountain ridge or slope to have a valued time. It can be just a “walk in the park” or, for some, perhaps “a walk in the dark”.
There are a number of local trails located between the Creston Valley and Crawford Bay. The Lockhart Creek Trail is the most northern, significant trail and in the Creston area, the Balancing Rock Trail seems to be one of the most popular. Starting with the Balancing Rock Trail, I will speak on some of the trail highlights.
The Balancing Rock Trail complex consists of Balancing Rock, Fern Forest Trail, and the Creston Mountain Trail. The highlight of Balancing Rock is this monstrous boulder comprised mostly of granite. Since granite is not too plentiful in the Creston area, it is assumed the boulder was carried to its present location by glacial movement from the north. This type of action characterizes a glacial erratic. This living room-sized rock is one of the largest in the area. A larger one sits on top of a rounded ridge in the Lakeview area.
Balancing Rock Trail ends up crossing a swamp on a decaying board walk. Use at your own risk. From the board walk, the Creston Mountain Trail ascends the slope passing through several stands of predominately deciduous forest where Fairybells and Western Trillium (wildflowers) are frequent along a little brook. When nearing the end of the trail a short trail branches off leading to “Holly Falls”, named after a fern that grows in the area. At the end of trail, hikers can be seated for lunch while enjoying an expansive view of, from the Selkirk Mt. slopes, the Kootenay River. Thompson Mountain, and the Purcells beyond.
One of the trail features I like the most are remnant patches of what reminds me of rainforest and wet belt ecozones on the Pacific Coast and lower mainland. Kootenay Lake and Columbia River drainages have been identified as Interior Wetbelt, better exemplified 50 plus years ago when the extensive forest floor was blanketed by four inches of moss and related plant-life. Today, one can see only small areas of this on the Lockhart Creek Trail and the Trans Canada Trail along Summit Creek in West Creston. Remnants of that era are also visible on the north and north-east aspects of our wooded mountain slopes.
Other trails, like the Pack Trail and Mt. Thompson Rim Trail, leading to the Bonnie Lake Trail, have their own special points of interest, both present and historical.
