Brandywine Falls Provincial Park

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Brandywine Falls Provincial Park
BrandywineFalls 1200W.jpg
Brandywine Falls (camera angle used has shortened the apparent height of the falls)
Location British Columbia, Canada
Nearest city Whistler
Coordinates 50°02′07″N123°07′07″W / 50.03528°N 123.11861°W / 50.03528; -123.11861
Governing body BC Parks
Brandywine Falls Provincial Park

Brandywine Falls Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located adjacent to BC Highway 99 between Garibaldi and Whistler, British Columbia. [1] It is managed by Sea to Sky Parks for BC Parks.

Contents

Falls

The 70-meter (230 ft) falls are located on Brandywine Creek, [2] which has its origin in the Powder Mountain Icefield to the west, and are formed by the lip of a lava flow flanking the west bank of the Cheakamus River. Just downstream of the falls is Daisy Lake.

At least four basaltic lava flows of Late Pleistocene age comprise the vertical walls surrounding Brandywine Falls. [3] These Cheakamus Valley basalts are part of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, a northwest-southeast chain of volcanoes and related lavas that form the northern end of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. The lava flowed over deposits of glacial till, silt, and gravel then cooled creating a hard weather resistant top cap over loose unconsolidated material easily weathered. The perfect conditions for a water fall creation. 10,000 years later ice from the Fraser Glaciation receded from Cheakamus Valley releasing melt water and creating Brandywine Creek. This worked its way downstream and started to erode the looser material and undercut the hard basalt top layer, creating the falls.

History

The name Brandywine is believed to have come from a wager between two surveyors (Jack Nelson and Bob Mollison) for the Howe Sound and Northern Railway over the height of the Falls. The closest guess winning a bottle of brandy (wine). The height was measured with a chain and it was Mollison who won the bottle of brandy and Nelson then named the falls Brandywine.

Another explanation of the naming of the falls comes from around the 1890s when Charles Chandler and George Mitchell passed out there after drinking too much brandywine in their tea.

Around the early 1900s Brandywine Falls used to have a train station and many log cabins adjacent to the falls. Some cabins can still be seen in a dilapidated state by the side of the trail. As part of the improvements of Highway 99 for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the area was subject to many day-use improvements which replaced overnight camping with parking and picnic tables.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Garibaldi</span> Stratovolcano in British Columbia, Canada

Mount Garibaldi is a dormant stratovolcano in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Pacific Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has a maximum elevation of 2,678 metres and rises above the surrounding landscape on the east side of the Cheakamus River in New Westminster Land District. In addition to the main peak, Mount Garibaldi has two named sub-peaks. Atwell Peak is a sharp, conical peak slightly higher than the more rounded peak of Dalton Dome. Both were volcanically active at different times throughout Mount Garibaldi's eruptive history. The northern and eastern flanks of Mount Garibaldi are obscured by the Garibaldi Névé, a large snowfield containing several radiating glaciers. Flowing from the steep western face of Mount Garibaldi is the Cheekye River, a tributary of the Cheakamus River. Opal Cone on the southeastern flank is a small volcanic cone from which a lengthy lava flow descends. The western face is a landslide feature that formed in a series of collapses between 12,800 and 11,500 years ago. These collapses resulted in the formation of a large debris flow deposit that fans out into the Squamish Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garibaldi Volcanic Belt</span> Volcanic chain in southwestern British Columbia, Canada

The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is a northwest–southeast trending volcanic chain in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains that extends from Watts Point in the south to the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield in the north. This chain of volcanoes is located in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It forms the northernmost segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, which includes Mount St. Helens and Mount Baker. Most volcanoes of the Garibaldi chain are dormant stratovolcanoes and subglacial volcanoes that have been eroded by glacial ice. Less common volcanic landforms include cinder cones, volcanic plugs, lava domes and calderas. These diverse formations were created by different styles of volcanic activity, including Peléan and Plinian eruptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garibaldi Provincial Park</span> Wilderness park in British Columbia, Canada

Garibaldi Provincial Park, also called Garibaldi Park, is a wilderness park located on the coastal mainland of British Columbia, Canada, 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) north of Vancouver. It was established in 1920 and named a Class A Provincial Park of British Columbia in 1927. The park is a popular destination for outdoor recreation, with over 30,000 overnight campers and over 106,000 day users in the 2017/2018 season.

Garibaldi, originally named Daisy Lake and also known as Garibaldi Lodge and Garibaldi Townsite, is a locality and ghost town in British Columbia, Canada, on the Cheakamus River around its confluence with Rubble Creek and just south of Daisy Lake. The CN railway and British Columbia Highway 99 traverses it north–south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheakamus River</span> River in British Columbia, Canada

The Cheakamus River is a tributary of the Squamish River, beginning at the terminus of McBride Glacier on Mount Sir Richard in Garibaldi Provincial Park upstream from Cheakamus Lake on the southeastern outskirts of the resort area of Whistler. The river flows into Cheakamus Lake before exiting it and flowing northwest until it turns south and enters Daisy Lake. Between the outlet of Daisy Lake and its mouth, much of its length is spent going through Cheakamus Canyon, where the river flows through swift rapids and even one good sized waterfall. The river flows south from the lake and through the canyon before joining the Squamish River at Cheekye, a few miles north of the town of Squamish. The river's name is an anglicization of the name of Chiyakmesh, a village of the Squamish people and a reserve of the Squamish Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Ranges</span> Subrange of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada

The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. Located entirely within British Columbia, Canada, they run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to Bella Coola and Burke Channel, north of which are the Kitimat Ranges. The Coast Mountains lie between the Interior Plateau and the Coast of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Black Tusk</span> Mountain in British Columbia, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Edziza</span> Stratovolcano in British Columbia, Canada

Mount Edziza, sometimes called Edziza Mountain or Edziza Peak, is a stratovolcano in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Big Raven Plateau of the Tahltan Highland which extends along the western side of the Stikine Plateau. The mountain has an elevation of 2,786 metres, making it the highest volcano of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex. However, it had an elevation of at least 3,396 metres before its original summit was likely destroyed by a violent, climactic eruption in the geologic past; its current flat summit contains an ice-filled, 2-kilometre (1.2-mile) in diameter crater. Mount Edziza contains several lava domes, cinder cones and lava fields on its flanks, as well as an ice cap that is characterized by several outlet glaciers stretching out to lower altitudes. All sides of the mountain are drained by tributaries of Mess Creek and Kakiddi Creek which are situated within the Stikine River watershed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Price (British Columbia)</span> Stratovolcano in British Columbia, Canada

Mount Price is a small stratovolcano in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Pacific Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has an elevation of 2,049 metres and rises above the surrounding landscape on the western side of Garibaldi Lake in New Westminster Land District. The mountain contains a number of subfeatures, including Clinker Peak on its western flank, which was the source of two thick lava flows between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago that ponded against glacial ice. These lava flows are structurally unstable, having produced large landslides as recently as the 1850s. A large provincial park surrounds Mount Price and other volcanoes in its vicinity. It lies within an ecological region that surrounds much of the Pacific Ranges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garibaldi Lake volcanic field</span> Volcanic field in Canada

The Garibaldi Lake volcanic field is a volcanic field, located in British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by a group of nine small andesitic stratovolcanoes and basaltic andesite vents in the scenic Garibaldi Lake area immediately north of Mount Garibaldi during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The oldest stratovolcano, The Black Tusk, formed between about 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago (Ma). Following glacial dissection, renewed volcanism produced the lava dome and flow forming its summit. Other Pleistocene vents are located along and to the west of the Cheakamus River. Cinder Cone, to the east of The Black Tusk, produced a 9-km-long lava flow during the late Pleistocene or early Holocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectrum Range</span> Mountain range in British Columbia, Canada

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The Callaghan Valley is located in the Sea to Sky Country of southwestern, British Columbia, in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains 90 km north of Vancouver. It was the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics's Whistler Olympic Park, the venue for the Nordic events of the Olympics, and adventure tourism operations including Canadian Wilderness Adventures.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Barrier</span> Lava dam in British Columbia, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daisy Lake (British Columbia)</span> Reservoir in British Columbia

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Brandywine Creek, also formerly known as the Long John River after a local prospector and trapper, is a tributary of the Cheakamus River in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, entering that stream via Daisy Lake, just below Brandywine Falls. The creek is about 14 km in length and originates on the south slope of Brandywine Mountain in Brandywine Meadows, at the southern end of the Powder Mountain Icefield and is the next basin immediately southwest of that of the Callaghan Valley, the site of the Nordic events facility for the 2010 Olympics. The creek's valley has been partially logged. An unnamed hot spring lies in its upper reaches, near Mount Fee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitsu Plateau</span> Plateau in British Columbia, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheakamus Valley basalts</span> Lava formations in British Columbia

The Cheakamus Valley basalts are a sequence of basaltic lava flows along the Cheakamus River in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. They are part of the Garibaldi section of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and were produced during an episode of volcanic eruptions from an unknown vent. The latest basaltic eruption deposited wood in lacustrine sediments under the lava flows that have been dated 34,200 ± 800 years old. These youngest lavas form isolated ridges above the older glaciated Cheakamus Valley basalts and were described as "esker-like" by Canadian volcanologist Bill Mathews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Cascade Arc</span> Canadian segment of the North American Cascade Volcanic Arc

The Canadian Cascade Arc, also called the Canadian Cascades, is the Canadian segment of the North American Cascade Volcanic Arc. Located entirely within the Canadian province of British Columbia, it extends from the Cascade Mountains in the south to the Coast Mountains in the north. Specifically, the southern end of the Canadian Cascades begin at the Canada–United States border. However, the specific boundaries of the northern end are not precisely known and the geology in this part of the volcanic arc is poorly understood. It is widely accepted by geologists that the Canadian Cascade Arc extends through the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. However, others have expressed concern that the volcanic arc possibly extends further north into the Kitimat Ranges, another subdivision of the Coast Mountains, and even as far north as Haida Gwaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cayley volcanic field</span> Remote volcanic zone in Canada

The Mount Cayley volcanic field (MCVF) is a remote volcanic zone on the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada, stretching 31 km (19 mi) from the Pemberton Icefield to the Squamish River. It forms a segment of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, the Canadian portion of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, which extends from Northern California to southwestern British Columbia. Most of the MCVF volcanoes were formed during periods of volcanism under sheets of glacial ice throughout the last glacial period. These subglacial eruptions formed steep, flat-topped volcanoes and subglacial lava domes, most of which have been entirely exposed by deglaciation. However, at least two volcanoes predate the last glacial period and both are highly eroded. The field gets its name from Mount Cayley, a volcanic peak located at the southern end of the Powder Mountain Icefield. This icefield covers much of the central portion of the volcanic field and is one of the several glacial fields in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains.

References

  1. "Brandywine Falls Park". BC Geographical Names .
  2. "Brandywine Falls". BC Geographical Names .
  3. Floods, faults, and fire: Geological Field Trips in Washington State and Southwest British Columbia