On a recent hike to BC’s Flathead Valley a group of teens and I saw the raw power of nature in action. Our trip was part of Wildsight’s Go Wild! Program, which aims to connect teens to wilderness areas and to get them to understand conservation issues. The MEC/ACMG Adventure Access Program helps makes this program possible. – Story by Jenny Meens
With no prints other than moose tracks in the melting snow, it was obvious we were the first humans on the trail to Wall Lake in Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park this season. I’ve hiked up here almost every June since 2006 as part of Wildsight’s Go Wild! Program, but something was different this time.
The air was thick with the sharp, sweet scent of broken, cracked, timber, and somehow there was more wall visible through the trees around the lake ahead. As we crossed the bridge over the lake outlet, we saw the devastation. What had been an ancient forest of towering spruce and twisted whitebark pines was now a smashed and broken game of giant pick-up sticks. Only an occasional tree remained standing.
“What happened here?” asked Mike, one of the students, voicing the awe and wonder we were all feeling.
“Whatever it was very, very powerful,” I replied.
Photo: Jenn Meens
We looked out at the lake and its towering, namesake wall, and tried to imagine what could leave such devastation. After an animated and imaginative teenaged discussion, we first thought the destruction must have been caused by a huge avalanche … but there was no debris pile. Plus it seemed impossible that snow could have come down off the 700m wall and across the 600m flats of the frozen lake with enough force to cause such destruction. Instead, we hypothesized that the whole cornice on the ridge must have fallen into the lake with such force that it sent a powerful wind blast to flatten the centuries-old forest on the far side.
What power! And we were the first to see it. This trip is often an eye opener for students, but it’s rare to see nature’s raw power in such a defined way. We picked our way through the debris where the trail once was, at times suspended on logs three metres in the air, and stepped back to get a better look at the flattened forest. Nature’s always a great teacher, but it’s hard to find such a great example of the mystery and power of nature than on that day at Wall Lake. Trips like these teach young hikers critical lessons about responsibility, respect, caring for yourself and others, and our undeniable, but easy-to-forget connections to nature.
Photo: Jenn Meens
The Adventure Access Program allowed us to hire local, qualified ACMG hiking guides to come with us. These experienced leaders not only made the trip safer and more enjoyable, they also shared a wealth of stories, and facilitated wilderness lessons for the students, such as how to pick a good campsite, more advanced No-Trace wilderness travel techniques, route-finding and trip planning, risk management, and natural history.
Photo: Jenn Meens
Having these ACMG mentors along not only made our trip possible, but it also helped turn a wonderful hike through a special wilderness area into an unforgettable, life-changing experience that helps create the wilderness advocates of the future.
The trail is now fully restored, so it can once again allow easy access to one of BC’s most beautiful mountain lakes. But the landscape around Wall Lake is forever changed, as are the hearts and minds of those who made the effort to visit its lonely, shadowed nest deep in BC’s Flathead Valley.
Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park is a tiny protected area in southeastern BC, and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s part of the Flathead Valley, which has been proposed as a national park for Canada for more than a century.
Featured Story photo: Dave Quinn