Granddaughter #1, meaning Megan, and I were having a little discussion the other day about her activities on the weekend. Among other things, and prompted by a family visitor from eastern Canada, one of the activities included was a visit to Thompson Falls.
Now I don’t know if you have been to Thompson Falls or not, but if you haven’t been there, the cliché comes into play, which says ‘you don’t know what you’re missing,’ and if you have been there, you know what the other folks missed, and I think you know that it’s one of the most unique waterfalls in our country.
You know about waterfalls. The whole attraction is usually falling water.
Not Thompson Falls.
The attraction there, at least as it appeared to me, was not in falling water at all, although there is some. The attraction is in the architecture of the watercourse. There is a waterfall of some minor amount, but then the water follows a course, much of it in rock, which appears almost to be man-made, but it isn’t; it’s one hundred percent natural. I don’t know what it appears like to you, but to me it looks like a Roman aqueduct whose main bridge blew off in a windstorm and landed at Thompson Falls.
The water has that bit of a fall at the first, then gathers itself into this thing that looks like the aqueduct, carries down that structure for two or three hundred feet, disappears, and you never see it again. At least from that spot. It’s gorgeous, and leaves you wondering how something could have been formed as it has and where it has.
This piece, however, isn’t about how beautiful Thompson Falls is; it’s about how few people get to see it, and about how many get lost trying to find it.
I have lived in this area for fifty-two years. Here is what I know about Thompson Falls.
I’ve been there once, and I thought it was very uniquely beautiful.
I also know that trying to find it is very challenging.
Further, I know that if you want to get yourself lost, try finding Thompson Falls.
Here’s how it is for many folks like me, trying to find it. Someone tells you to go to IOOB Campground up the Blaeberry River, cross the river, then go a few miles and it’s on your left.
Sure it is!
So is Christmas!
Well, there is obviously a sign telling you where to turn left, isn’t there?
Sign? Well, if you keep going until you find a Thompson Falls sign, you’ll for sure end up at the Mummery Glacier. Now the Mummery Glacier, I’m sure, is a spectacular natural wonder in our area to see, and a highlight if you are flying to Rocky Mountain House. But it isn’t Thompson Falls!
And here we are, a small community in British Columbia’s backcountry where people come to see things they can’t see where they live in Alberta, Saskatchewan, or anywhere else in North America, but they get here, and they might be lucky enough to hear about Thompson Falls, but getting there to see it is another thing entirely. They might be lucky enough to stop at the Tourist Information Centre; the folks there may know about Thompson Falls, may even have some photos, but will they know that there is no sign to tell a person where to turn off? Not likely.
I had a school teacher once, and all the people who grew up in Invermere and now live here will remember Mr. Walmsley. He was a single guy in his later teaching years, and had travelled quite a bit in his time. He told us once that one of the things that he had learned about travelling was that the best things to see are usually free.
Thompson Falls fits into that category. It’s free.
It’s free, and it’s one of the best things to see in our area.
And why should we care?
We should care because, if nothing else, it’s a wonder that we have to show others that nobody else can show them. I know, the Okanagan is a great place, Wells Gray Park is a super place to go on a camping trip, Vancouver Island has saltwater fishing. And others have their highlights too. But none of them have Thompson Falls! Only we do.
Yet most of the world passes through our area and never hears of Thompson Falls. Let alone see it.
Then, if you want another reason why we should care that people know about Thompson Falls, it is this.
It can make us money.
Just as the Calgary Stampede makes Calgary millions every year and dinosaur things make Drumheller money, little things like Thompson Falls can make Golden money. Every minute that we can attract people to our area, and keep them here, has to build up our economy. Another room night. Another restaurant meal. Another can of bear spray. It all adds up.
But it doesn’t add up if people don’t know what’s here or can’t find it!
We could build a sign out of $10 bills, and it would be cheap advertising for a very inexpensive attraction.
I don’t know whose responsibility it would be to enhance the Thompson Falls experience, but it should be somebody’s.
