Today’s Walk(s) – West Kokanee, Dennis Creek and Wilson Falls

I’ve been taking advantage of the fine late summer weather with a couple of outings into the high country.

August 27, 2025:

West Kokanee is a newer trail, situated just west of Kokanee Glacier Park. Unfortunately, my aged and slightly defective ticker decided that we had to turn back before we hit the open alpine area that I’d been looking forward to exploring (nothing serious - just ran out of gas). Nevertheless, it was a lovely (albeit steep) hike through a subalpine forest vibrant with beauty and life.

By now, most of the blooms have come and gone, and they've been replaced by berries and other seed receptacles, although there were a few holdouts like the deep blue Columbian monkshood, as well as a few asters.

Leafy (I think) aster with fritillary butterflies

There are several small streams flowing through this basin, creating sites well-suited to some of our shade-tolerant and moisture-loving flora, many of which are now bearing fruit.

I love the kinky stems holding the berries of clasping twisted stalk, so named for the way the leaves clasp the plant's stalk.

The fruits of baneberry can be either red or white, but both are poisonous.

Spawn of the devil's club.

The trail skirts around a couple of talus rockslides, and I was happy to find them populated with the usual denizens of these habitats: marmots, pikas and ground squirrels.

A pair of hoary marmots enjoying the sunshine. Marmots are, in fact, ground squirrels - the largest in North America. Another fun fact: Whistler, B.C. was (re)named after the marmots' "Whistler" nickname, from the high-pitched alarm whistle they make to warn the colony of intruders.

The marmots' cousin, a golden-mantled ground squirrel

The first pika I've seen this year, surprisingly. Pikas are lagomorphs, more closely related to rabbits than squirrels or other rodents

It was altogether a fine day, despite my disappointment at having to turn back just before I’d reached the open alpine areas – a good workout, a visual feast and handfuls of ripe huckleberries to enjoy as I retraced my steps down the trail.

September 3, 2025:

I’d planned to hike the Alps Altura trail in the Goat Range just east of Slocan Lake but, at around 12 km along the Forest Service Road leading to the trailhead, I encountered a barrier with a “Road Closed” sign. Luckily, this was near the junction with another road leading to a different trail – the Dennis Creek Basin trail, which was also a new hike for me.

Because of the abrupt change of plan, I hadn’t had the opportunity to study any maps or descriptions of this hike, but the trail was well-established and easy to follow so I set out to see what I would find.

As with the West Kokanee hike, the trail climbs fairly steeply through a forest of subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce, with a similar cohort of flora along the way.

The stem of a cow parsnip plant

Black gooseberry

Many of the subalpine fir trees were heavily loaded with pitch-oozing cones.

Before too long, though, the trees began to thin out, replaced by small meadows which (I learned later) earlier in the summer are adorned with colorful alpine flowers, much like on the nearby Idaho Peak.

Western pasqueflower seedhead

The “official” trail ends in a grassy pass with ridgelines leading both north and south. I went to the south, following a rough path that had been created by the boots of hikers over the years. The ridges offer spectacular views of the Goat Range and the Valhallas, but it happened to be quite a smoky day, so many of the views were obscured. I’ve resolved to come back next year when the flowers are in bloom and the skies are clear.

Looking northward at the 'Alps Altura' area in Goat Range

A ridge to the south

A smoky backdrop for a solitary turkey vulture scanning the hills for its next meal.

If it hadn’t been so smoky I might have spent more time on the ridges, but I decided to save that for another day. It turned out to be a relatively short hike (I started walking at 8 am and was back at my vehicle by 1 pm) so I thought that, since I was in the neighbourhood, I’d zip up the road to the Wilson Creek Falls.

It’s been several years since I’ve done the short trek down to the falls, but I remember the shady hemlock and cedar forest and the deep moss along the trail as it nears the creek. The perpetual mist from the falls creates a moist zone where vegetation flourishes.

The shady path to the falls

Oak ferns growing among the mosses

The falls themselves, even at this low-flow time of year, are awesome – arguably the most spectacular waterfall in the West Kootenays. Well worth the climb back to the parking lot.

Here are a couple of links to the West Kootenay Hiking website pages for West Kokanee and Dennis Creek.

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