After a number of years visiting Painted Bluffs Provincial Park, we sometimes visit by boat.   The land route is not easy, nor pleasing.   After a long drive to Copper Creek, there is some difficult access qround private property, fencelines, and the railway.    On the other hand, a boat can launch from Savona (or Tobiano) and go across the lake, following the shoreline up to the beach at the foot of the bluffs.   The landing is an easy one on a gravel beach.

A short hike up the slopes and across the railroad tracks is required.   There is no discernible trail, but a route follows the dry stream bed up to the bluffs.   Sinuous ridges extend from the hill above.    The dominant colors are green (copper), red (cinnabar), orange (iron and algae on rocks).   Nothing grows on the narrow ridges, nor in the rills between them.   The foot of the bluffs is an eerie spot.     A visitor can explore the foot of the bluffs easily or climb side hills for a better view.

On our last visits, we have chosen to climb the ridges for different perspectives, following the colored ridges to new viewpoints.

The narrow ridgetops are a scramble suited to good boots and steady balance and the gullies are difficult to traverse, but the diversity of colors, shapes, and materials brings new rewards to explorers willing to climb to the heights of the bluffs.   All photos by the author.    Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption.

Painted Bluffs

blazing stars

colorful eroded ridges and gullies

the view to the south

beach landing

There are a few rocky ridges intermixed with the eroded bluffs too. A few scrubby plants can be found among the rocks. In the gullies are pieces of calcite, sheets of mica, and variety of interesting rock samples. First Nations people gathered copper nuggets at the bluffs and nearby at Copper Creek. When we travel to the site, we practice no impact exploration, leaving samples where they were found. On a previous trip, we watched bighorn sheep traversing the upper bluffs, but we try to stay on the tops of ridges or in the bottom of stream gullies, not wanting to erode the sides of the ridges. With almost no vegetation on the bluffs, we were surprised to see blazing stars in bloom on a rocky-sandy ridge.

Painted Bluffs retains its other-worldly beauty because it is in a remote spot.   Visitors need to respect the heritage values of the site, taking only photos away with them and leaving no trace of their passing.