Fairmont Hot Springs
Hoodoo you love?
Water you’re waiting for
Shape shifters: Carved by wind, water and time, the hoodoos near Fairmont Hot Springs are a geological wonder. Click to view our gallery.—photo by Tanya Laing
I moved from Alberta’s prairies to the Kootenay Rockies 11 years ago, and instantly declared myself a mountain girl. It’s taken a bit of time to live up to the billing, but I am nothing if not determined in my quest. And I count myself among the most fortunate people in the world to live in an area referred to as the Crown of the Continent by National Geographic. Besides the scenery, which is recognizable around the world, the area is rich in Rocky Mountain wildlife: elk, mule and white-tail deer, bighorn sheep, bald eagles, ospreys, cougar, moose and bear—black and grizzly. The wildlife is naturally what draws people to the area, but the fear of close encounters with something a little higher on the food chain can be daunting for city folk—or even people who grew up just down the road from the edge of the forest.
Fairmont Hot Springs Resort has got your back. Jocelyn MacGregor and Andi Dzilums are naturalists and outdoor adventure guides who are providing visitors to the area with the opportunity to get up close and personal with the natural surroundings. The BC Rockies Adventures program is new to the famous resort—they are just in their second year of operation from their location at the hotel—but public response to the year-round guiding and activities program has been overwhelming. The family-friendly offerings include nearby activities such as mountain-themed crafts for youngsters and would-be artists—hello, my name is Tanya, and I am an art class dropout—tipi talks on being bear aware, astronomy and campfire cooking classes. For those wanting something a bit more active, BC Rockies Adventures provides classes in Nordic pole walking, guided hikes along the famous hoodoos, canoe trips near the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River and more.
And that’s just summer.
My husband Rusty, my 10-year-old son, Ethan, and I were invited to spend two days experiencing some of the highlights of the program. Our first adventure was a lesson in Nordic pole walking, led by Michelle Taylor from Invermere. Taylor is one of those ridiculously in-shape people whom I have always aspired to be but fall short because of my congenital predisposition for couches and fine wine. However, in her years of coaching runners, triathletes and Nordic walkers, she has developed patience and a variable gait.
Rusty works on a trails crew for the United States Forest Service where he builds and maintains over 300 miles of trails in the Idaho Selkirk, Purcell and Cabinet mountains. He hikes—a lot. And while I don’t do nearly as much mountain trekking as my husband, I’ve got a few miles on my hikers as well. So when we signed up for Nordic pole walking, we weren’t sure what to expect. However, as Taylor pointed out, Nordic pole walking burns up to 46 per cent more calories than walking alone but significantly reduces the stress on your knees and joints. In short, it’s like that perfect exercise—where you burn more calories but it feels like much less work. After a 10 minute introductory course on how to use the poles, the four of us set off on an hour-long hike up through the forested hills. There is a noticable difference in how you walk with the poles: more upright, lighter and faster. More than that, though, is the ease with which you can climb hills or rally down. There is greater balance and more sure-footedness. Ethan figured it out almost immediately and his usual complaints about how much longer we had to go were absent almost until the resort came into sight again. And my rustic mountain man is convinced enough of the benefits to want a set of poles to take with him to work.
From there, we met with MacGregor for a chance to capture some of the essence of the Columbia Valley. We did this on mountain rocks or wooden paddles using stencils and acrylic paint. Ethan and I indulged our creative if clumsy sides and painted images onto small paddles, but Rusty showed us both up by depicting a mountain setting that was nearly picture perfect. Besides the step-by-step instruction from MacGregor, the highlight was watching how she interacted with younger children. She’s patient, kind and fun, and her way with them is likely responsible for the popularity of this activity.
From there, we headed for the pools. I’ve written before about Fairmont Hot Springs and the healing waters. They’re every bit as enjoyable in the summer as in the winter. The public pools have a variety of temperatures so they are refreshingly cool when the thermostat is spiking, but perfect for when the nights are cooler and you want a quick dip in geothermically-heated water before heading to bed. In fact, the pools were so inviting that anytime we weren’t eating, sleeping or adventuring, we were swimming, floating and blissing.
After dinner, we wandered over toward the RV park where a tipi is set up for talks, campfires and stargazing. Dzilums spent just under an hour with 20-30 guests of the resort, quizzing us on the difference between grizzly bears and black bears, how to reduce bear activity in a campsite and how to be bear aware when trekking through their territory. The talk is informal but informative, and is easily understood by children and adults—and should be required for anyone who wants to spend time in B.C.’s Rocky Mountains.
The next day, after a morning swim, we were in for one of the true highlights of the trip—a guided canoe trip down the Columbia River. The Columbia is warm, gentle and slow after leaving Lake Windermere—much like the many Albertans who vacation there—and canoeing or kayaking is easy and enjoyable, even for beginners. Leading a group of 11, Dzilums took us along the wetlands of the Columbia where we saw an osprey looking for brunch and several magnificent bald eagles. Numerous other waterfowl and whitetail deer watched us watching them, and for two hours we drifted along with the current. Ethan slept in the canoe. Rusty and I paddled more or less in synchronicity—a metaphor, we are told, for a harmonious marriage.
Our final adventure was a self-guided hike along the hoodoos. The hoodoos are a spectacular sight from the highway but take on even grander proportions when viewed from along the desert-like ridge. Dzilums had explained to us during our canoe trip that the hoodoos were formed when the entirety of the Columbia Valley was a prehistoric inland lake; the sedimentary rock formations accumulated on the bottom of the ancient lake and were shaped further during the ice age by glaciers that carved the valley tens of thousands of years ago. I much prefer the Ktunaxa legend—that a giant fish once struggled down the rivers of the Rocky Mountain Trench, carving out the Columbia Valley. When the fish finally died, birds picked the flesh from its bones and all that remains are the ribs—the hoodoos—near Fairmont Hot Springs and Fort Steele to the south.
Holy mackerel, as my son said.
As for my son, his last adventure was the highlight of the trip for him. A three-hour kids’ adventure camp taught him the basics of using GPS for the increasingly popular pastime, geocaching. He also learned some fundamental survival skills including how to start a matchless fire—a skill I’m hoping he doesn’t practice at home.
After a mouthwatering dinner at the Hoodoo Lounge & Grill, we made our way home and arrived exhausted in the best possible sense. We’ve been invited back for some winter escapades with BC Rockies Adventures that will include skiing at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, snowshoeing, winter tubing and tobogganing as well as hoodoo hikes that show the rock formations in a different light. We’re looking forward to it.
