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.
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
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.
Wow, I forgot about the fire that was here. I remember now I hiked this area just days/weeks before it happened. I will have to go see the view from Terrace Mtn. again now.
we checked out the falls last sunday. and up terrace mountain too. the roads to the summit are getting harder to drive and harder to find, but we made it. roads from last year no longer exist.
the falls were spectacular! the creek was pretty full and so the falls were really going. the burnt trees made it a visually interesting trail.
our first time there, but not the last.
check out our adventure on my blog.
http://ryanstalesofadventure.blogspot.ca/
Check out this video on YouTube of Christie Falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxlwqxs9Xc4
What a great job on the Video creation! If you want to create a few posts and share your outdoor intelligence just let me know and I will create a username for you.