Kimberley鈥檚 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. Tersmette鈥檚 latest offering covers Kootenay National Park and the Fernie area, as well as the Crowsnest Pass, Waterton, Kananaskis and southern Banff.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been non-stop since the end of 2018, so it鈥檚 been 300 waterfalls in the last five years that I鈥檝e been too,鈥� Tersmette said.

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While he鈥檚 elected not to track the kilometres he鈥檚 put on his car, Tersmette thinks he鈥檚 done 1000 kilometres of hiking for each book.

鈥淭here鈥檚 some waterfalls I went to that didn鈥檛 get included, there鈥檚 some I went to twice,鈥� he explained.

He released the first Waterfall Hikes in 2020, which he realizes was an 鈥渙dd time鈥� as it was during the peak of the pandemic, but it turned out to work out better than he anticipated.

鈥淚t almost couldn鈥檛 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,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to keep the excitement going with these next two books for the Canadian Rockies.鈥�

That鈥檚 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 it鈥檚 all been worth it, Tersmette said.

鈥淭he places that I鈥檝e had a chance to see the last few years, places I had no idea even existed,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 grew up in the Rockies and been hiking around here my whole life and saw places and valleys and things that I鈥檇 never seen.

鈥淚t鈥檚 cool to share that. A lot of people gravitate towards just a handful of hikes around Banff, or around Lake Louise, but there鈥檚 100 hikes in this book, and 100 hikes in the first book and another 80 coming. So it鈥檚 kind of cool when you can show people places that they didn鈥檛 even know existed in their own backyard.鈥�

So what is it about waterfalls specifically that make them so alluring?

鈥淸They鈥檙e] hypnotic for sure,鈥� Tersmette replied. 鈥淵ou 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 鈥� they鈥檙e pretty special.

鈥淎nd the great thing about waterfalls for the kids, is they get this really cool reward after a hike and you don鈥檛 have to get super high in the mountains or on top of a mountain to appreciate it.鈥�

Tersmette鈥檚 books can be found here:

paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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