Kelowna Parks Challenge – Trip #44
This week, as part of my Kelowna Parks Challenge, I explored the rest of the Upper Mission, including the new Ponds neighbourhood up on the south ridge of Crawford Canyon, then got down into the canyon itself! Woodhaven Conservancy and Canyon Falls are two spectacular places in Kelowna to go for a walk.
Read on for my impressions and reflections.
The Trip
Land and History
As I have described in previous posts, the Crawford Canyon was formed by the Bellevue Creek, which descends the south slopes from Crawford Lake near the top of Little White Mountain. Travelling through a deep ravine almost the entire way down, it deepens into a canyon where it crosses the benches. After a couple of waterfalls, the creek drops to the level of Okanagan Lake, and the canyon widens into a V-shaped valley. It is there, on the delta at the mouth of the creek, that the community of Okanagan Mission is found.
For most of the twentieth century, the homes of the Mission clustered along the lakeshore, and the uplands in and above the canyon were agricultural lots. The canyon itself was located on land pre-empted by the Crawford Family, which is how it got its name.
Parks Challenge Context
This was my last adventure in Okanagan Mission, as part of the Kelowna Parks Challenge, which means I have already explored neighbourhoods adjacent to this week’s parks. Earlier this spring I explored Crawford Estates, on top of the north ridge of the valley, as well as the South Ridge neighbourhood, to the immediate west, on the south ridge.
There, I climbed Kuiper’s Peak and looked down across the hilly terrace between that prominence and the canyon. All of that area has been named ‘the Ponds’ and is currently under development. Uneven as it is, there are indeed many ponds to be found in the dales between its hillocks. Several have been protected through their inclusion in local parks.
In other words, this week’s parks were a contrast in established and new parks. Canyon Falls and Woodhaven have been well-known and popular hiking destinations for decades, while the parks of the Ponds are brand new. Nevertheless, those new parks preserve natural features that have similarly drawn naturalists for many years, despite their lack of official protection.
Jack Smith Lake
This park sits on the southernmost side of the Ponds. It exists, at the moment, simply to protect the popular lake at its centre. Jack Smith Lake is a local hotspot for both birders and fishers.
To the south of this park lies the Thomson Flats area, the development of which is currently being planned. It won’t be long before the golden field and green trees there are traversed by the new South Perimeter Road.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: Because there are no official trails, dogs are not allowed in this park.
Hill Spring
Another park that awaits further development and definition, Hill Spring Park protects a small pond and some of its surrounding riparian habitat.
Unlike Jack Smith Lake, this park has had one official trail developed. From the corner of Elderberry and Bergamot, it leads along the hillside above the street and stops at a point near the pond. It does not (yet) make a loop, but connects to a pre-existing network of informal trails and old gravel roads.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: Dogs are allowed in this park, but they must be on-leash and on the trail.
Ponds Community Park
This is a large and prominently-located park that is clearly meant as part of the Ponds’ new village centre. Down the street from the empty lots of the future shopping district, it sits on the edge of the canyon and provides a yard for the brand-new Canyon Falls Middle School.
This park also marks the beginning of the Ponds Trail, a wide, paved multi-use trail that winds its way along the top of the canyon wall, just outside all the new suburban backyards.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: Dogs are allowed in this park, but they must be on-leash and on the trail. They are not allowed near the playground.
Canyon Falls Park
This park exists to preserve the deepest and most dramatic parts of the Crawford Canyon, the parts that feature two beautiful waterfalls. Other than the trail along the top of the canyon and the trail to the falls, the land in this park is steep and inaccessible.
The trail to the falls is not long, but it is steep. Until the city improved it a few years ago, it was even more of a scramble, featuring ropes to help hikers up the slopes. There is a gate at the trailhead and the trail is sometimes closed when the slopes are considered unstable, usually in the spring.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: Dogs are allowed in this park, but they must be on-leash and on the trail.
Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park
This park represents a precious example of valley bottom habitat that was protect from subdivision and development. Located on the former flood plain of Bellevue Creek, it features four different forest ecosystems. It provides habitat to many local species, including the locally-endangered western screech owl.
In 2013, several large lots were added to this park, tripling it in size. A management plan was finalized in 2017, with a plan to remove existing buildings and fences before naturalizing and reforesting the land, but most of that work has not yet been done. The new sections of the park are not yet open to the public.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is a portable washroom in this park off the parking lot at the entrance.
Dog Rules: Because it is a nature conservancy, dogs are not allowed in this park.
Reflections
Once again, I had a great time exploring a section of the city that I had already seen from multiple angles on previous trips. Climbing up to Crawford Estates as well as climbing Kuiper’s Peak gave me ample opportunity to look down on the Ponds and into the Crawford Canyon and wonder what it was like down there. Of course, I was not disappointed.
The landscape of the Ponds was a fascinating one to explore. With its hilly nature, it is clear than many residents of its new subdivisions will have a great view to the north. In between those hills, parks and trails around its namesake ponds will eventually create a beautiful chain of natural sanctuaries for the neighbourhood’s residents.
For now, the neighbourhood feels decidedly unfinished. As I explored it, I could see the layers of modification that have accrued there, both from large-scale agriculture as well as the forest fire seventeen years ago that cleared the forest just in time to be cleared for development. All in all, it gave the impression of a landscape whose incredible natural potential is not currently being realized.
Both the Canyon Falls trail and the trails of Woodhaven lived up to their popular reputations. They are deservedly destination parks and I am sure I will be coming back to them someday. I am, of course, very excited about the Woodhaven management plan, and look forward eagerly to following the stages of its implementation.
Conclusions
With the addition of this week’s five parks, I have now seen one hundred nintey-one of the two hundred three parks on the Official List in three hundred forty-one days, or 94% of the parks in 93% of the year. This moves me ahead every so slightly, which I definitely need to get this challenge done successfully.
With only twelve parks left to go, I can see the finish line coming fast. It is super exciting. More and more, as I explore I find areas outside the official parks that I would like to investigate further. Ideas are already forming for future adventures. I hope you will stick with me as I continue my adventures in Kelowna.
