Epic Powersport Getaway

It comes as a shock to the system.

Rounding the last corner in the jet boat, I come face to face with a wall of water. I knew that it was here, but the sight of it still takes my breath away.

While it can be approached by foot from the top, I was told that there’s no better way to experience the sheer grandeur of Kinuseo Falls that from its base.

As someone who has been running rivers for the last decade, I would argue that the best way to experience life itself is from water level.

The locals told me that the Murray River canyon was worth a visit, too, so before heading upstream, we headed down for a few hours, to explore the Murray River Valley.

But this? This is something else. Something not usually encountered. Some rapids have proved impassible, but none have been quite so sheer, a white wall, dancing over the rocks as it plunges from up there to down here.

An island at the base of the falls offers a place to beach the boat and hike up to the falls themselves.

I sit down on a large, flat-ish rock near the point of the island and stare, mesmerized, watching the ever-changing water. Then, I close my eyes and just listen to the sounds of it. This is heaven.

This is not a place to be admired from a distance, it is a landscape to be experienced, viscerally. To be touched, tasted, lived.

In the summer, hundreds upon hundreds of kilometres of roads and cutlines and trails criss-cross the back country, leading ATVers to destinations experienced only by a few, like Warner Lakes.

In winter, the roads are buried, as are most of the trees, beneath acre after endless acre of snow, and each incoming storm gives snowmobilers the chance to lay down first tracks in one of Tumbler Ridge’s many riding destinations.

So go on. Get dirty. Get wet. Go play.