Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Stubb's Falls, Arrowhead Provincial Park

A few miles from where we were staying is Arrowhead Provincial Park, the favoured destination for cross-country skiing, with a range of excellent, track-set trails.  I couldn't ski, but I could snowshoe.  So two of us took the trail to Stubb's Falls, which I had never seen before.

 The trails at Arrowhead are very well organized, with both to totally separate snowshoe and ski trails and different levels of difficulty for skiers.

We were there on a Tuesday, and had the trails to ourselves, but obviously it got a lot of use on weekends.  The trail was like a snowshoe highway, wide enough to walk four abreast!

It was some distance down the trail to the falls, then down some stairs and across a footbridge just upstream.  From here you could see the water starting to plunge over the rocky ledge of the falls.

We worked our way around and down to get as close as was safe.  Much of the actual falls seemed to be frozen over, and we may have been standing on a large ice platform, so we're probably only seeing a small portion of the water.

Looking downstream there was a lot more falling water, but no safe way down, so we stuck to the view from the top.  This is a place to return in one of the other seasons!

Looking back upstream you get a sense of the volume of water headed for the falls, and you can see the footbridge across the creek that we had to take.  Enjoyed the hike to the falls a lot, and headed back on the other side of the creek to meet the others at the car.


13 comments:

  1. A wonderful and beautiful place. Love when the sun shines on a cold winters day. : )

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  2. Glad you were able to get out! Love all the snowy scenes.

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  3. In all the years that my parents lived in that area, I never got into Arrowhead. Beautiful shots!

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  4. Oh how I love seeing all of the snow ---and water ---and waterfall.... I enjoy hiking more in Winter than in Summer ---but still am not able to do it yet (from my knee surgery). I am getting better and can walk SOME --but don't want to try the trails until I am even better.

    GREAT photos... Bet you enjoyed the snow boarding.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  5. lovely photos, very very cold but still lovely

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  6. lovely, your words transport me across the ocean to your snowy fields, and frozen waterfalls, I am there in spirit, wishing I was in reality walking alongside.

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  7. I love the shadows on the snow, and the beautiful creek. Thank you for sharing this lovely spot with me. :-)

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  8. ohhhh can i please lose myself here, pretty please. gorgeous images!!!

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  9. That trail looks really nice and wide with lots of room for skiers and snowshoers or just walking as they are well groomed. The falls looks really fast for mid-winter and would be a great spot to visit in another season, as you said. I hope you can return some day.

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  10. Beautiful photos ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  11. I love the shadows across the snow, the frozen "lumps" and crystals around the flowing water, the stunning blue skies, the memory of my own x-country skiing (mostly in the Laurentians of Quebec) evoked through those beautifully set trails.. as always, lots to nourish the spirit here. Thanks :)

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  12. Great outing. And so good that there are separate trails.

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  13. Beautiful winter photos! I love listening to running water.

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