Kimberleyѻýs Steve Tersmette has published Waterfall Hikes in the Canadian Rockies, a follow-up to his 2020 book Waterfall Hikes in Southern British Columbia.
In the first book, Tersmette covers southern B.C., from the Alberta border to the Okanagan corridor. Tersmetteѻýs latest offering covers Kootenay National Park and the Fernie area, as well as the Crowsnest Pass, Waterton, Kananaskis and southern Banff.
ѻýItѻýs been non-stop since the end of 2018, so itѻýs been 300 waterfalls in the last five years that Iѻýve been too,ѻý Tersmette said.
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While heѻýs elected not to track the kilometres heѻýs put on his car, Tersmette thinks heѻýs done 1000 kilometres of hiking for each book.
ѻýThereѻýs some waterfalls I went to that didnѻýt get included, thereѻýs some I went to twice,ѻý he explained.
He released the first Waterfall Hikes in 2020, which he realizes was an ѻýodd timeѻý as it was during the peak of the pandemic, but it turned out to work out better than he anticipated.
ѻýIt almost couldnѻýt have released it at a better time; when people were needing to get outdoors and do something, so it actually worked out really, really well,ѻý he said. ѻýWeѻýre just trying to keep the excitement going with these next two books for the Canadian Rockies.ѻý
Thatѻýs right, with his second Waterfall Hikes just published, Tersmette already has a third in the works that will cover the north Rockies, from Lake Louise to Valemount.
These projects have been a huge undertaking requiring a great deal of work, but itѻýs all been worth it, Tersmette said.
ѻýThe places that Iѻýve had a chance to see the last few years, places I had no idea even existed,ѻý he said. ѻýI grew up in the Rockies and been hiking around here my whole life and saw places and valleys and things that Iѻýd never seen.
ѻýItѻýs cool to share that. A lot of people gravitate towards just a handful of hikes around Banff, or around Lake Louise, but thereѻýs 100 hikes in this book, and 100 hikes in the first book and another 80 coming. So itѻýs kind of cool when you can show people places that they didnѻýt even know existed in their own backyard.ѻý
So what is it about waterfalls specifically that make them so alluring?
ѻý[Theyѻýre] hypnotic for sure,ѻý Tersmette replied. ѻýYou can go from a completely turbulent, chaotic waterfall to something super peaceful all in a matter of weeks, just depending on runoff and streamflow, but waterfalls ѻý theyѻýre pretty special.
ѻýAnd the great thing about waterfalls for the kids, is they get this really cool reward after a hike and you donѻýt have to get super high in the mountains or on top of a mountain to appreciate it.ѻý
Tersmetteѻýs books can be found here:
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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