2017 Experience the Mountain Parks

Marble Marvel

The 800m Marble Canyon trail crosses seven bridges along the route of a “migrating” waterfall and provides valuable insight into the rebirth of a forest.

At the first bridge, we’re greeted by a blast of cold air – a potent example of the canyon’s effect on local climate. Glaciers 20km up the valley chill the air that settles on the valley floor. And the shaded depths of the canyon cool the air more.

At the second bridge is a natural arch, which marks the waterfall’s location about 9000 years ago. Please don’t attempt to cross here! People have died from falling at this spot. The large boulder near the fifth bridge is a glacial erratic, deposited when the glacier that carved the Tokumm Creek Valley receded.

Spray from the canyon saturates the thin soils on the rim. Only lichens and mat-like plants can take hold. Before the 2003 fire the complement of plants near Marble Canyon included some species normally found north of the Arctic Circle. With most of the damp forest consumed by fire, the plants now include species associated with drier, lodgepole pine forests. Countless thousands of young pines now grow amid the charred spars of the old forest. Wildflowers thrive and colour the ground in late spring and early summer.

Lower Marble Canyon

Photo by: Graeme Pole

The canyon’s deepest point is the 39m drop underneath the seventh bridge, the present location of the waterfall. Constant pounding at the base of the cataract creates a plunge pool, which enlarges over time and begins to undercut the rock above. The hanging lip of the waterfall collapses into the plunge pool and the brink moves a few metres upstream. This process has helped Marble Canyon’s waterfall to “migrate” more than 600 meters upstream in 11,000 years.

Marble Canyon is eroded into the Cathedral Formation rock, which contains mostly the mineral dolomite. So, although the rock is not true marble, it looks the part when wet.

Ochre Beds and Paint Pots

This 1km walk leads to colourful deposits of clay and the outlets of three mineral springs. On the way you are treated to a suspension bridge crossing of the Vermilion River.

Sediments deposited on the bottom of an ancient glacial lake became the clay of the Ochre Beds. The remarkable colours result from saturation of the clay with iron-rich water from the outlets of three mineral springs – the Paint Pots. The compounds have also stained rocks and vegetation in the Vermilion River, facilitating its name.

Paint Pots

Photo by: Graeme Pole

The Ktunaxa (toon-AWK-ah) First Peoples knew the Ochre Beds as, “The place where the red earth spirit is taken.” The Ktunaxa gathered the colourful clay, formed it into cakes and baked it in fire. They ground the resulting compound into powder and mixed it with animal fat or fish grease to create a body paint, which was used in rituals and for trade.

In the early 1900s industry came to the Ochre Beds. The clay was excavated and shipped to Calgary as a source of pigment for paint. The enterprise failed, rusting equipment remains beside clay for a harvest that was never completed.

What once was considered sacred still is. Please keep to the beaten path and do not walk in the ochre deposits or remove any of the material. Disturbances take many years to disappear.

Photos and Story by: Graeme Pole