| Wells Gray Provincial Park |
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Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Wells Gray area was a valued hunting ground to both the Shuswap and Chilcotin aboriginal groups. This resulted in ongoing conflicts over access to caribou herds and geographic names like “Battle Mountain”, “Fight Lake” and “Battle Creek”. Surveyors for the Canadian Pacific Railway then visited during the 1870s in search of a rail route to the Pacific Ocean . Following decades of homesteading, Wells Gray Park was created in 1939 and named for the provincial Minister of Lands, Hon. Arthur Wellesley Gray . The park is popular year-round with skiers and hikers. Its extensive river and lake system also makes it an ideal paddling destination. With 100km of coastline, Wells Gray’s Murtle Lake is the largest paddle-only (motor free) lake in North America. Wells Gray was once highly volcanic and then heavily glaciated during the last ice ages. Those forces combined to create rugged valleys cut by impressive waterfalls. The park is now densely forested with conifers and dotted by alpine meadows. Helmcken Falls is the park’s main tourist draw. The falls are Canada’s forth highest with a vertical drop of 141 metres. In the winter the falls freeze into a giant ice cone. Known as “the Bookmark”, the ice cone stands taller than a twenty-story building. Entry points to Wells Gray Provincial Park are via the towns of Clearwater , Blue River, British Columbia and 100 Mile House . SOURCES Neave, Roland (2004). Exploring Wells Gray Park (5th ed.). Kamloops: Wells Gray Tours Ltd. ISBN 0-9681932-1-8 Zuehlke, Mark (1995). The B.C. Fact Book. Vancouver/Toronto: Whitecap Books. ISBN 1-55110-277-3 EXTERNAL LINKS
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