Bear Creek Hike, Inglis, Manitoba
Today was supposed to be a paddle in a nearby river, but the unseasonably warm weather took a turn to colder. Today was hovering around 0 degrees C and a chilly, strong wind was really blowing. We decided for a hike instead and I'm glad we did.
More than a half dozen river crossings, with several knee deep spots, a couple of which were running fast and strong despite the relatively low water levels. The winter had very little snowfall and the snowpack was mostly melted away from warm weather in the last couple of weeks.
Around 1pm we met up and dropped a vehicle off at the end of the trail. Dave jumped in my truck with Luc and I and we headed to the trailhead. In about 10-15 minutes we arrived at the top of the valley to begin our hike on this awesome little section of the Trans Canada Trail in our backyards.
Dave had put many hours of his time into developing, maintaining, and protecting this trail section over the years before it became a part of the Trans Canada Trail network. Although he had been here many times, he is quick to point out that 'Bear Creek never disappoints', and he is right.
It is still early in the spring and the leaves are not yet out, but the tree buds are swelling and the green growth on the ground is just barely beginning. We each grabbed our packs, slipped on some gloves and toques, and we were on our way.
The trail drops quickly from the field at the top and soon we are hiking near the creek that runs through the bottom of this beautiful valley. On the way down we already see some damage from motorized quads and side-by-sides that have chewed up the grasses and left only mud and water runoff trails behind (as well as some beer cans and other garbage). We each quietly pick up every bit of garbage that we see and Dave pulls out a plastic bag he brought with just in case.
At the creek we get our first views of the afternoon ahead, as every year the water changes it's path slightly and often wipes out parts of the trail itself so each spring's first visit is a rediscovery. Ice from the winter was still hanging thick on the banks, now about 12" above the creek itself. It didn't take long for us to have to cross the creek, and we found right away that the ice would hold us easily as long as we stayed back a bit from the edge where it overhung the water.
We had picked up walking sticks and used them to stabilize ourselves as we worked to walk along the ice and on the bank to a good crossing spot. We found a couple of good rocks in the water and with a careful foot placement we could make it across dry. This wasn't always the case as the day passed.
Down in the valley we were out of the worst of the wind which was nice as the obscured sun stayed hidden all afternoon. We marvelled at the piles of scrub and some larger trees that had been pushed around by the water and kept looking for spots that would cause problems if we tried to paddle Bear Creek again. Dave and I had tried last year and we got beat up and denied in fairly short order. I limped away without my kayak and Dave lead the way as we hiked out to a nearby road. After about the first dozen piles of bush across the creek and many tree trunks laying across above the low water we gave up any thoughts of cleaning it up enough to try again anytime soon.
We hiked along enjoying the company and the scenery as we picked our way around and then decided to bush wack our own way and stay with the creek instead of following the trail itself. Being near the water is always interesting and we knew we would find the trail again further down the valley, but it also meant lots of creek crossings. Sure enough, we each got wet feet as we moved along, sometimes giving up trying to find the right spot to cross on rocks and just hopping through the water for a couple steps. The sky opened up a couple of times briefly to blow small ice pellets at us, near enough to accumulate, but enough to get our hoods up a few times.
Our hiking sticks worked to almost vault us over in a couple of spots, and I nearly went in face first when mine snapped as I trusted my weight to it in mid-vault. After a couple of hours we found a relatively wind free spot and sat along the back on a small ledge near the water. We pulled out some snacks and a drink and sat down for a bit to take a break. As we sat, we talked about the hike, the damage from the quads, the mini glacier ice banks, and how nice it was to be outside enjoying the day.
After our snack we continued down the valley a little ways and noticed especially the slumping that had occured on the steep banks near the creek. Mature trees pushed around and toppled over by the movement of the earth as it let go from it's resting place a moved on down the slope, demonstrating before our eyes the powerful effects of mother nature as the valley walls gave in to gravity. High above the valley floor the hills released and flowed like very slow lava towards the bottom showing layers of gravel, sand, soil, clay, and slippery muck that lubricated the other layers.
Not long ago the highway near here caught the attention of the media when the hillside began to move and over the course of 24-48 hours a section of Manitoba provincial highway #83 moved over 20' sideways and more than that downhill. The event lasted several weeks before the engineers decided it had stopped for now, and a few more weeks before the province decided what to do about it. A fair bit of money was spent digging into the slope and burying large rock to help drain the area, and rebuilding the highway. Here we could see the process continuing in nature, the never ending change of river valleys everywhere as forces work on the surrounding hillsides.
In one area where the bank stood over 100 feet high a wet slump between two banks was dripping water and liquified clay over the ice sheet that remained from the springs high above. Dave wanted to go have a look and Luc was quickly up after him. The two of them worked their way up the ice and mud so I decided to follow them. The ice itself was slippery enough, but add in the water and slippery clay and you had a sketchy mix. if you stepped off the ice you would sink several inches into the wet clay banks and have a nice clay bottomed boot to step back on to the ice with. Any mis-step could have resulted in a slide down the ice to the water below and more than a couple of bumps and bruises. We each picked our own path and made it succesfully up to the top of the bank where we realized the entire bank was seperating from the others around it. Deep cracks had formed in the earth vertically as the ground released from the surrounding area that would catch the rains and lubricate the ground even quicker as time rolled on. This area may look different the next time we see it.
Nearly up to the upper height of the fields above us we decided to hike back down to the creek to continue down the valley. We pushed our way through thick bush as we descended over brown grass and some snow patches. The narrow valley forced us to cross back and forth through the water and on several occasions other streams entered from other ravines along the way. One particular ravine was actually a small valley with a creek of it's own and the spot where it rushed into Bear Creek found us needing to cross one of the creeks to continue on. Bear creek was not practical to cross as it had a raised ice bank on the opposite side from us with no way to get up on the ice. Ahead of us the new creek poured out of it's valley over large rocks boiling and splashing. After a quick search up and down the area Dave decided to cross near where the streams met. By walking on a few rocks under the surface he managed to cross safely while soaking himself to up above the knee on both legs. Luc and I looked a little longer and then found our own places to cross, struggling for sure footing in the cold and pushy water.
We soon met the trail again and followed it for a bit until it branched where one path continued down the valley and another rose up and over a ridge to the southwest. We took the uphill trail as Dave knew that a nice lookout was along the way where we could see a couple of valleys streached out before us. A steep hike brought us up to the lookout where a small clearing allowed great views and we stopped for another snack and a drink. As we sat and chatted we spotted something big and black in the trees below us a few hundred feet away. The black animal appeared to be walking uphill, or in a tree. Dave got his small binoculars out of his pack and took a better look at the creature. . . sure enough, it was a bear! The bear appeared to be a yearling, probably out on his own now, but possibly still with his mother. It had climbed a tree and was sitting in tree clinging to the main trunk. We passed the binoculars back and forth for a few looks until the bear climbed back down the tree and disapeared from view. Just as we finished our snack and talked about carrying on to the end of the trail a large bald eagle sailed just in front and above us riding on the wind with it's powerful wings. As the eagle passed by and continued on we shouldered our packs and began the short hike down the valley to the car at the bottom of the trail.
In a few short minutes we emerged wet, muddy, tired, and refreshed from our time hiking on the trail. About 7 kilometeres took around 3 1/2 hours to complete with most of the trip being 'off trail' hiking. We had accumulated one 11 litre ice cream bucket and a grocery bag full of other garbage consisting mostly of beer cans. A bit of mud at the end from where the water from our creek had washed over the road for a few days to finish off the hike and a few minutes drive to get back to my truck. Twenty minutes after walking out of the forest we were each back at home and in dry clothes warming up our feet and hands.
Bear Creek never disappoints!!
