On a pleasant spring day, I drove north to Clearwater, then up the wells Gray Road for 4.3 km to a trailhead for the Clearwater River Trail.    This had been an informal parking area for the trail to Triple Decker Falls and beyond, but it is now an official trail with BC Rec Sites and Trails.   There is now a good parking area, signage, and evidence of trail maintenance.    The trail descends from the Clearwater River Road down toward the Clearwater River and continues on to Dutch Lake, but for this day I hiked down to Triple Decker Falls, then to the Osprey Lookout, and to Candle Creek Falls, then I hiked back up the hill to the start.

After a short hike down the hill, a side trail goes to Triple Decker Falls.   This is an impressive falls, but it is in steep and narrow canyon, so it is harder to get up close, and there was so much mist from the falls during spring runoff, I was happy with staying dry.   The trail went on down the ridge, winding northwest to avoid the steep lava cliffs near the lower falls.    Osprey Lookout has fine views of the Clearwater River.

The trail follows Candle Creek downstream and a bridge across the creek is located just below Candle Creek Falls.    By going under the bridge, we can scramble up to a wet spot by the bottom of the falls.    In summer we can even go behind.    In spring, the whole area is soaked by the mists, so I retreated from the plunge pool after taking a bit of video.

I returned back the way I came, going up steadily, hiking about 5 km.   There were a few wildflowers along the trail.     There were some tourists on the upper part of the trail, but the lower end was quiet, except for the roaring of the falls and the rapids on the river below.   There are many waterfall hikes in the Wells Gray Park, farther north and I plan to do some of these over the next months.

Included here are some photos taken by the author from this hike, embedded in a Google Photos album slideshow.    Captions can be seen by going to the link – Clearwater River Trail.