About Moul Falls
Moul Falls was actually one waterfall that we had to work a little to see (unlike the other three waterfalls we saw in the Wells Gray Provincial Park – Helmcken Falls, Dawson Falls, and Spahats Falls).
It was also the smallest waterfall of the four that we saw in the park.
Nevertheless, we felt that the very quiet and tranquil hike required to even reach the Moul Falls immersed us in the forest environment.
In addition to the tranquility and size of the waterfall, we were also told by the proprietors at the Moul Creek Lodge that it was possible to go behind it.
That said, they did qualify their statement by saying it was not for everyone, and after seeing the falls for ourselves, we decided against going behind it.
The Hike to Moul Falls
Speaking of the hike to Moul Falls, we had to go about 5.8km round trip.
While the hike was delightfully quiet and tranquil, we did have to be cognizant of the possibility of a bear encounter (though we were told that only black bears as opposed to grizzly bears had roamed these parts).
So we came in with a healthy respect and fear of the bears regardless of what type they were.
Anyways, the trail began outside the Wells-Gray Provincial Park on a very wide path that appeared to be an unsealed road in its former life.
Besides the trail being flanked by lovely trees with Autumn colors, it seemed like there were always private property signs and boundaries flanking us to our right.
We also noticed a disturbing amount of red-needled pine trees that were stricken with the pine beetle that haven’t died off from the cold thanks to Global Warming.
At about just under 2km into the hike, there was a sign indicating that the trail continued onto a much narrower path on the left just as we were entering the Wells-Gray Provincial Park boundary.
The sign indicated it was only 15 minutes further to the falls from here, but I swore that it took at least twice as long as that.
Basically, this trail descended much more steeply (though still very reasonable) as it passed by some small cascades along Moul Creek.
Eventually, the path reached a fenced overlook of the little gorge in which Moul Falls resided, and we were able to see its very top from here.
The path continued around the rim of the little gorge on its left.
Once we were beyond the fenced overlook area, the trail narrowed even more with some minor dropoff exposure.
We descended steeply down a combination of inclines and steps before doing one switchback, where there was a bench here as well as a decent view of Moul Falls.
After the bench, the trail made one final descent down more flights of steps leading right to the misty base of the falls.
We were fortunate to have showed up to Moul Falls just as the storm clouds had started to clear.
Thus, there was just enough sunlight that penetrated the gorge to refract the falls’ mist and make a rainbow.
Overall, to give you a sense of the time commitment, Julie and I spent about 2.5 hours to do the hiking and photographing.
Considering that Julie was pregnant at the time, we had to take our time.
However, the trail was quite easy to navigate and we did not have to deal with too much elevation change.
Therefore, we felt that this excursion wasn’t too risky from a physical standpoint given Julie’s condition at the time.
Authorities
Moul Falls resides in Wells-Gray Provincial Park near Clearwater in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is administered by BC Parks. For information or inquiries as well as current conditions, visit their website.
We’ll describe the driving route from Clearwater to Moul Falls since that was how we began the drive even though we ended up staying at lodge much closer to its trailhead.
From Clearwater, we drove a little over 21km north on the Clearwater Valley Road towards the well-signed Moul Falls car park.
The signposted car park was on the left side of the road.
To give you some general context of the whereabouts of Clearwater, it’s 318km (over 3 hours drive) southwest of Jasper, 562km (6.5 hours drive) west of Banff, and 478km (under 5 hours drive) northeast of Vancouver.
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Bottom up sweep from the top of the falls ending at the downstream scenery
Top down sweep of the falls from the bench at the switchback
Top down sweep of the falls from its base before panning to the left to show some of the scenery downstream
Top down sweep of the falls with a rainbow at its base
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Almost to Moul Falls November 7, 2010 9:05 pm - We went almost all the way to the falls, but after the small cascade it seemed like nothing more would be happening. That was a mistake! ...Read MoreVisitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
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