Oct 12th, Lake Quiniscoe via Lakeview trail.(Biting off a bit more than we could chew)

This was an ambitious project for sure. To get to the interior part of Cathedral park, there is no road access….well there is…there is one private road where ( in season ) you can get a shuttle…a jeep ride up (for a fee)….but we were beyond the end of the season so if we were going to get to the core it was a walk in. The shortest route in is the Lakeview trail …and its 16km in ( and yes ….16km back out )…..We thought..(!!!)….if we started early ( sunrise for the day was 7.19 am…..and set at 6.33pm ) 4 hours in 4 hours out…..we might manage it….!!!

It was cold….fall is most definitely in the air…!! 🍁🍂

The trail is daunting…in the first 6km you gain 1200 m in elevation….unrelenting up is the description.!!!……….its not rough…its just up…and up…and up……

If you are thinking that the look on my face is a bit tortured….you are quite correct…!!! It was torture…..many rest stops…( and a bit of whingeing…!!😣)

It was cold enough on the way up that when we disturbed a couple of pheasants…they ambled…lethargically across the path…!!

Eventually we did get to the spot where we could see the mountain range….not close enough to get photographs with a phone camera….but enough to appreciate what we were aiming for……breathtaking views of those mountains (with snow on top…!!)

The path levelled of for a bit giving our very weary legs a bit of a break…..but we were up into the snow line…so it was cold and crisp….

…….and quite unexpectedly some fungi in the snow…!!! (my guys…!!!😁)

…at 3 hours in and just shy of 9km……it became clear that we were not going to make it….and the road down was not going to be easy……so before any more climbing (and expending more energy going in………) we should admit defeat and head back down……..we could not afford to lose light either on the walk….or the drive back down Ashnola.

There are a couple of burned spots…it’s the same weird pattern where there are burned trees…..and thick ash……but then all the trees around are completely intact…

In the valleys…the sun goes down at 6.33…..but you lose light before that…cos you are in the shadow of the mountain….the horizon is not at ground level…!!!

There were a couple of stops on the drive back down the valley for more photo ops….it is just so beautiful ………oh…and the trail that we actually walked…!!!

Next stop was an astonishing trip to Skaha Bluffs…….

Extra Pix