Crawling the Crowsnest

This past July my fiancé and I took a drive from our home in the Fraser Valley out to Grand Forks BC to see some family. He had been there a couple times on his own, but this was our first time doing the drive together, and my first time ever going to Grand Forks. I’d been up and down this route before but usually turned north towards Kelowna, and had never been past Osoyoos on this road.

When driving east out of the Fraser Valley the last stop you hit is the town of Hope. From there you have three main routes into the BC interior and beyond; Highway 1 the Canyon, Highway 5 the Coquihalla, or Highway 3 the Crowsnest. The Coq is the biggest and busiest of the three, heading straight through Merritt and on to Kamloops. The Crowsnest though takes you along the southern edge of BC through the more mountainous Manning Park. I didn’t grab shots here on the way up, but made a point of stopping on the way home. Heading up we stopped in Hope for gas and then Princeton for snacks.

After passing through the Smelqmix First Nation and the fruit farms and markets in Keremeos we started to stop more for photos. One valley in particular turn out great, with bright sun, dry summer grasses, and roaming cattle.

Not far from that stop, just before Osoyoos, we arrived at Kłlil’xᵂ — Lake Khiluk, the famous spotted lake. This natural feature is a small mineral rich lake sacred to the Syilx people of the Okanagan Valley. In the summer the lake water mostly evaporates, leaving these amazing reflective pools. The site is protected, though easily visible from the road.

Passing through Osoyoos we stopped on the hills climbing out of town to the east and at the Anarchist Mountain Lookout. This spot has fantastic views over Osoyoos and the surrounding valley. It amazes me how different this place feels compared to home only four hours away.

From there we went straight on through to Grand Forks, winding through long stretches of hills with old farms dotted here and there. We arrived in town in the late afternoon, greeted with beautiful low sunlight.

We spent the night with family, had a lovely dinner and a tour around the surrounding neighbourhood. My fiancé was staying for the week, while I had to head back home for work. After a great breakfast the next morning I refuelled the car in town, and started back home.

Just outside of Osoyoos I saw what I thought were hawks overhead. I had brought my 70-200mm lens with me so I pulled over and got out to grab some shots. On zooming in I realized that the birds weren’t hawks but turkey vultures. Several were circling, flying in and out of a spot just off the road. Getting closer I saw that they were landing on and picking at a large dead elk down the slope from the road. Watching where they flew I noticed the group of vultures together in a far off tree. Crouching in the bushes I also found butterflies and discarded feathers.

Another twenty minutes down the road, outside of Greenwood, was the Tunnel of Flags. This is an old disused road tunnel built in 1913 as a protective cover for the road that passed under a now-gone railway trestle. The interior and exterior are covered in bright graffiti. Here I also met a couple that came out of a bush trail on a dune buggy, exploring the area off road.

An hour further on I pulled over to say hi to some horses by the road, and eventually stopped at the same valley as the previous day to get some panoramic vista photos.

Around 4:30 in the afternoon I had made it back to the middle of Manning Park. With plenty of daylight left I took some time to take the narrow winding road up the mountain opposite the lodge to the Cascade Lookout. This was a childhood favourite spot, having been there (and further up to the Alpine Meadows) several times with family. From here you get a great view over the mountains, the park lodge, and the Lightning Lakes winding through the valleys, with the added benefit of friendly chipmunks to keep you company.

Getting back past Hope into the Valley, I made one last pullover to grab a photo of Mount Cheam in Chilliwack, before finally making it home.

I’d love to do a more comprehensive photography project in the future focused around this highway, doing the entire stretch from Hope, past Grand Forks, to the Crowsnest Pass in the Rocky Mountains on the BC Alberta Border. Perhaps that’s plans for a future summer.