Valley of the Thousand Waterfalls

August 8, 2018

Today was supposed to be a long day. Life and the land decided to have different plans, so we chose to live the moment instead and have another relaxation day. The day started innocently enough... we all got up early, before 05:00 and did the ususal morning camp routines. The day was crisp but clear, with ice on the tents and the lake being completely frozen across. By 07:00 we were on our way, and then made a fairly significant navigation error. Immediately after climbing up out of Olivier basin, we spied a huge gully to the north-west of our position, descending down to the west. We picked our way through the boulders and spent the next hour walking towards this feature. Passing a couple small lakes did not cause me to clue-in to the false direction, until we arrived at the lip of the most beautiful gorge, complete with a cascading waterfall, rainbow spray, a thousand feet of air below us, and no easy way to get down. I called this the Valley of the Elves and half expected to see Rivendell attached to the side of one of the towering cliffs. Some study of the map had me confused, as this did not correspond to what I was expecting. It was not until Paul pointed out where he thought we were and I unfolded the map some more that everything finally clicked. We were about two kilometers off course, and were supposed to be on the other side of a massive ridge to the south of us. We enjoyed the view for a little while longer and despite losing nearly 90 minutes to this detour, it was not a disappointment as had we stayed the correct course, we would not have seen such a beautiful sight. We back tracked and then climbed loose talus slopes for 300 meters or so, the last portion of the ascent having a large snowfield which made for easy walking. We reached the top and look down into the correct west descending gully, with a view all the way down to the Palmer river. The descent off of the ridgeline to the base of the gully was fairly steep, loose tallus, so picking our way alonge here was fairly slow going. Once at the bottom though, green alpine meadow interspersed with granite slabs made for easy hiking and with the flowing stream cascading over many small ledges and small canyon like cuts, it made for a very pretty walk indeed. Small pools were enticing for a swim, and once I even stopped and asked if we wanted to pause for a dip. The consensus was "No, we have a long way to go today, we are behind schedule, let's push on". We continued. Not too much further we came across a perfect spot for a camp, beside no less than five small waterfalls, a swimming hole, and a great view of Palmer river valley. I put down my pack and stated the reality of the situation. We really are not in any hurry and can actually delay a day with no harm done, and maybe we should just live this moment in this special place of the world. There was no argument from the others, so camp was quickly struck in time for lunch. Another lazy day followed, which included swimming in the cold waterfalls, relaxing in the tents to escape the bugs (no relief from them even here), and even getting some laundry done, taking advantage of the hot sun to dry things off.

A cool morning on Olivier Lake.

Valley of the Elves.

Despite being off course, our route was pretty.

Snow to the sky.

Looking down the Valley of the Thousand Waterfalls.

Endless cascades.

A perfect spot to camp.

Fairy nymph in the pool.

Kitchen with a view.

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