Today’s Walk – Gander Wetlands and Beyond

August 5, 2025

A complex of subalpine wetlands in the stream's headwaters serves to recharge the aquifer that ultimately feeds Gander Creek, which is the water source for our small community system. This was only my second visit  to this area, even though it is practically in my back yard.

The access to the basin is an old washed out and overgrown logging road that is still used occasionally by ATVs and snowmobilers. Today, however, I had the whole area to myself.

After a half-hour hike up the old road, I reached the pond that marks the beginning of the wetland area. Yellow waterlilies were still in flower at this elevation, and the marshy areas were dotted with cotton grass and swaths of Canby’s lovage.

Cotton grass

Lovage

Bullrushes

The bigger ponds are habitat for Columbia spotted frogs, and I was seeing both adults and tadpoles in the shallow waters.

Carrying on to the rocky slopes above the basin meant finding a route through the immature forest that was quite thick in spots, but I managed to make my way into the more open areas without too much difficulty. Along the way I became a distraction for a curious flock of about a dozen mountain chickadees, accompanied by a red-breasted nuthatch, who spent a few minutes checking me out before carrying on with their business.

Another little clan of dickie birds, this time ruby-crowned kinglets, also gave me a photography challenge as they flitted about among the branches of the subalpine fir trees.

The huckleberries were plentiful, fat, sweet and juicy, and they continually impeded my progress as I couldn’t resist stopping to snack for a while whenever I encountered a laden bush.

I don’t know much about the geology of this area, but it's interesting - big slabs of bare rock interspersed with crevices or gullies that contain enough soil to support vegetation. In this photo, the smoke from the Mt. Mackie fire west of Castlegar is visible in the upper left.

Yarrow, western St. John’s wort and lance-leaved stonecrop were among the flowers blooming in the meadows here today.

A fritillary butterfly on a lance-leaved stonecrop flower

After a bit of a scramble, I made it to  the ridge, where there were some great vistas, including the wetlands below and the Columbia River valley.

Looking southward over the Gander wetlands to the Bonnington Range, across the Kootenay River valley

A glimpse of the Columbia River and South Castlegar

The birds were also feeding on the berries, including flocks of robins and a little family of Franklin’s grouse. I disturbed a hen and two almost-grown chicks at their foraging as I was descending the hill through a bushy area, but they didn’t seem too concerned about my presence and posed nicely for some photos.

Crossing a tiny stream trickling through shady draw, I was struck by the shimmering colours emanating from a couple of bubbles floating on the dark waters of a quiet pool. When I zoomed in, I realized the colours were from a miniature of the sky and sun and trees reflecting from the curved surface of the bubble. So cool!

Except for a few mosquitos and some leg cramps on my way home, it was a perfect day. I feel immense gratitude for whatever forces of fate or good fortune carried me to this little corner of paradise, giving me the opportunity to spend a whole day alone, wandering through a magical setting filled with life and colour and light. I am a lucky fellow.

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