It’s a Lever 2000 commercial!

Christie Falls is a spectacular gift situated  on the edge of the area know as Fintry Protected Area. Fintry Provincial Park is at the east end of the Shorts Creek canyon where it opens onto Okanagan Lake below Westside Rd. and features the very popular Shorts Creek waterfall. Thanks to Don and Norma Jean for arranging the hiking trip. This I section has a trail and is know probably because it is also a new rock climbing area. The cliffs are flat, steep with a curve inward which allow the falls to cascade over the cliff face uninterrupted before gently touching down 100 meters onto the rocks below. This trip was in August so while there could be a higher volume of water earlier in the year, at the time we were there the great height allowed the water from Christie Creek above to disperse enough so that it seemed to equal the strength of a typical shower. When John took a shower, if he had a bar of Dove soap he may have been hired for a great commercial.

Christie Falls GPS track below begins at the Tim Hortons on Hgwy 97 where our group met to start the trek. We took Westside Rd after crossing the bridge and followed Bear Creek Forest Service Road to km 13 where we went up Esperon FSR to Christie Road. Christie Rd begins about half way past Big Horn Resevoir – a large man made lake on west side of Esperon at the 28 km.

Christie FSR off of Esperon

 

After we traveled down Christie FSR for a couple km, one  of the groups tire went flat. No problem though, some kind of gunk from Canadian Tire was blasted into the tire via the air valve and then pumped up with a handy little pump plugged into the lighter and off we went again. We turned up a short logging road that came to a dead end then parked and found the trail at the end of the “cul-de-sac” of the logging road. I thought this was the second road heading north after entering Christie FSR but after looking on the satellite view via the gps track below, I am not so sure – however it is easily found if you watch the km signs on Christie road – the correct road to take is directly accross from a km sign.

Of course you can also download the track from this site via google maps and upload it to your GPS – or if you have a BlackBerry just follow the indicator until the location matches on the google maps matches the map below. One note of interest on BlackBerry map use. When I want to use Google maps on my BB, I scroll the map through the area that I want to travel so the images download when I have cell service, then when I am using my gps app on my blackberry I can switch between the app and google maps to see whatever i need to see. Sounds confusing but if you use your BB for your GPS, you need to remember to download the map images before you get out of cell service each time you go out. Just make sure you have the map layer of your choice as well as you cannot change between layers without cell service.


View Christie Falls in a larger map

A flat tire is quickly taken care of by some Canadian Tire gunk.

The Trail Head is behind the vehicle at the end of this culdesac.

View from the Christie Falls hiking trail head.

Christie Creek runs near by the trail as you walk to the top of the falls, there are two “bridges” to cross on your way. It was interesting to see the growth two years after the Terrace Mountain fire.

Christie Falls Foot Bridge – careful Linda

Christie Falls hiking trail – single track – rocky and hilly – obstacles

Growth after the Terrace Mountain Forest Fire

Christie Falls Foot Bridge – careful Linda

The top of Christie Falls

Canyon view from above Christie Falls

Almost at the Rope Trail down to Christie Falls

Christie Falls near Fintry

Christy Falls with cave behind the falls – to see the folks in the picture – click it, then click it again and zoom in – it gets really big!