Eden Falls: the Okotaru

The small community of Eden Falls sits within the snowy Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. A tourist town nestled at the base of Mount Hyunsan and overlooking the crystal clear waters of lake Shivale. Surrounding the small town are miles of forested mountains, protected from the touch of civilization as a wildlife preserve part of the Kootenay National Park. Overlooking the town is the Regal, a five star ski resort, the towns main source of tourism.

The town flows over several rocky hills up against the mountain, has only three real main streets covered with hotels, quaint souvenir shops, tourist activity offices (horse back riding, trail hiking, helicopter tours, etc) and is surrounded by a few small residential areas for the locals and their bed and breakfast homes. Like much of Canada, the population of Eden Falls is of mixed heritage, but has a surprisingly large community of Korean, some of which have lived in the area well into a third generation and it is not uncommon to see signs around the town in both English and Hangul.

There is only one country highway out of Eden Falls, running ten kilometers north till it joins up with highway 93 which runs south west further into BC and north east till it joins the Transcanada Highway. The Regal has a heliport with its own helicopter and the town has ranger station with a heliport and helicopter. The Okotaru Tea House is perched on a rocky hill overlooking downtown Eden Falls and the Lake, with Mount Hyunsan and the Regal rising up behind it.

Thus is Eden Fall's Kodak moment postcard... picturesque...

Behind the scenes, the tourist industry is a pitiful trickle at best. Only one of the Regal's four wings remain open and in repair, the rest are in shambles. After hours the three main streets turn out cheap bars, strip dives and displays of back alley hookers. The local "bed and breakfasts" double as only slightly less dirty fun houses and the local heliports are busier with night time shipments than daily tours. The trade industry deals in anything and everything it can get away with, narcotics, black market goods, slave labor immigrants and pleasure flesh. Everyone in town knows it, everyone who is smart is a part of it and even the tourists aren't completely ignorant.

Okotaru Tea House