Month: January 2022

Finally…after a deep freeze that BC apparently just does not get (more snow than BC has seen in years ) alongside all the other world craziness we seem to be living through……it got warm enough to get out…….WOO HOO..!!!

We had borrowed some snowshoes from friends to try it out……so the Mahoney conservation area seemed like a good spot to try them out. This is the same trailhead as the Hawthorne mountain hike…and crossing some trails we walked before on our “off piste” hike in mid December.

We swiffed about 400 m in on the trail…and decided we did not care much for the snow shoes. Off they came and we trudged back to the truck. Having stowed them safely we started again in just boots. (The hiking poles really helped….LOL…the ‘slightly’ packed snow is desperately uneven and challenging to walk on.)

It was a spectacular day, very fresh..!!! crisp and sunny with blue….. really blue sky. It was tough going on the hips and the calf muscles walking in the snow. Sometimes disappearing in the snow. (its hard to describe how much fun it is wading through deep fresh snow..I just love it…!!!) Luckily I had picked out a trail that was only 5 and a bit kilometres.

It was such a lovely day….and the snow…aside from the slightly packed trail from other peops snow shoeing……was about knee deep. I was very glad of my short gaiters….but it was not long before the fronts of my legs were soaked through and cold (like freezing cold..⛄!!) We were thinking it might be time for some full length gaitors…..

A couple of km in…the trail we wanted headed off in to almost virginal snow (there were tracks from someone being through on a horse )…..oh I do love walking in snow, and it was not long before my shins were soaked up to the knee…….but it was great fun…..

Sparkly, twinkly white and ice…….long shadows…and a surprising vividness to the red of the pine tree bark….and a tremendous deep azure blue in the sky.

Even though we had walked this trail before …it was completely different…( the pool in the picture below is the one we saw the beavers in a couple of hikes ago…!!)

It was had work trudging through the snow….but we had a blast…..and a lot of laughter along the way……!!! ( Our legs are gonna be sore for a couple of days….but totally worth it….)

I don’t think we will be in the market for snow shoes tho….

Next post will be the return to the Kettle Valley trail and a hike in snow up to Little Tunnel again.

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Winter really hit after our Christmas Card hike in the snow above Naramata. The temperature plummeted to lows seldom seen in the BC southern interior. (https://globalnews.ca/news/8461151/snowfall-alert-bc-interior-december-18/ )

But someone in the trailer was really happy with the furnace pumping out heat in abundance…..

The roads just get prettier as mother nature photoshops the views with a fluffy white paintbrush……

We were quite pleased with ourselves for the job we (We being Scott…!!!) did insulating and skirting the trailer…..heat tape up the belly, fancy silvered bubble wrap skirt and our trusty propane forced air furnace. So far we have not had any frozen lines in or out.

We finally managed to get some of the beers from Abandoned Rail brewery and I am happy to report it is a most enjoyable beverage…Well done Peter…!!

The weather seriously curtailed our outside activities…thankfully Penticton has a really nice pool and it has remained open despite some of the more opressive covid restrictions elsewhere in the country. We have kept busy inside….with a few projects…..

….and we have benefitted from expert assistance…..

Christmas and the New Year came and went….and it was cold out there…….

We did accumulate a bit of ice on the inside of the windows…and the cat found himself a spot on top of the blu-ray player….toasty toes…!!!

The mail trips down to Osoyoos take us past the Vaseux Lake bird area……one of those things one drives past…….and you keep meaning to stop……Well on this day we did……and decided we should definitely stop another day….

January 6th was a huge dump of snow (for Southern BC ) plowing and salting is a bit of an alien concept here ….!!

The fun part was that it was cold enough that the snow stayed dry and crispy for over a week. It has warmed up to a more normal (seasonal) temp for the area now and the snow (at ground level ) is mostly gone as Ontario has now been buried and frozen…!!!

We have had a couple of treks out on trails on intermittent sun filled days…..those will be posts unto themselves….and some walks along the frozen beach by the campground

Driving here in the BC interior was such a pleasure in the warmer greener season……snow adds a whole different spectacle to the scenery….

January 17th was a wolf moon (i found out after the fact……)

January 18th was another cold but sunny day…so we took a trip back down to Vaseux Lake to see if we could get some pictures.

It was quite something it has to be said……

We took the opportunity to drive back up to Penticton on the minor road up the east shore of Skaha lake……and found a trailhead that was destined to become our next hike…..just across the road from the stone skipping site..!!

Next adventure will be a return to Mahoney….but past our knees in snow…!!!

Another break in the weather, we wait by the door ready to exit at a moments notice. Not so much that we need it to be warm….but we do need it to be somewhat stable.

I had scouted out this trail as it was a relatively low level hike….but promised good vistas… in an area we had not hiked yet and not far from home base. I included the second map as it shows where the hike is relative to Penticton…….

It was 4 Deg C in Penticton and a promised sunny day…..it was not 4 degrees up the mountainside…and we were on the west side of the valley…ie not in the sun..!!!

We started on ice..so I wore my ice trax for the first time and I would have to say……I like them..!! Even the parking at the trailhead was pretty steep on the start of this one. ….but the views started almost straight away…

Not the most challenging hike we have done, but a very pretty trail up the west side of the valley. It was all ice underfoot for the first half…and then a very satisfying ‘crunch’ through snow for the rest….

I keep on saying it…I know……but you have to stop and drink it in…walk a bit and then stop and stare a little bit more.

At the top of the trail there are two viewpoints and it is a truly magnificent view …….

We even had a little atmospheric moon showing through the blue sky to add to the majesty of the picture……

There were a lot of people out and about on this trail….and a lot of dogs…and a lot of unleashed dogs…..(but that is a rant for another day…!!)

The walk back down had us facing the lake pretty much all the way down…….it was a treat to be sure….!!

Another beautiful day in BC……..

The next hike was our Christmas card walk previously published Christmas Eve….the next post will be our first outing in 2022…..Mahoney Ecological Area and the East White Lake trail…….

A few Extra Pix

The plan for the day was to hike the Observatory loop. It kind of made sense, having spied the Observatory from Hawthorne Mountain, to take the ground level walk around it….

( The Observatory being the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory ..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Radio_Astrophysical_Observatory )

We drove up to the observatory with my trusty Alltrails map already downloaded….

….only to find, once we arrived, the Observatory property…and the trailhead for this hike….are currently inaccessible to the public due to the covids.

We had noticed another trail entrance further up the road on our way home from the last hike……but with no data service to search for another trail….this time it was navigating without a route using Alltrails…….how bad could it be..!!! how long was the trail, was it steep and were there any aliens visiting ?

The parking area was jammed with vehicles……and the signs indicated that this was another birding spot. We only saw a couple of actual people head off up the trail, and though we thought it might be busier than our usual hikes….we were here, so, off we trekked around the edge of the cliff.

Found this weird creepy ….large stripped skeleton…not a cow…(not a person) maybe a bear we thought…(or an alien…!!!!).Further investigation once home leads me to believe it was a pig of some kind…possibly a feral pig ( they apparently have a problem with feral pigs…Alberta Saskechewan, BC )

It was a grayish, cold day and a lovely trail. Then it started going steeply downhill. (….not a good sign early in a hike….cos it means you have to climb back up…likely at the end). We decided to keep on going to see if we could make the loop around the hill/mountain…..

As we passed through the trees on the way down the hill….there were a number of neat piles of branches scattered through the area……further investigation determined that this was a conservation effort to combat an invading beetle infestation……it looked like preparation for a bunch of socially distanced bonfires…!!!!

At the point we were pretty sure we were NOT going back up that hill……we found another strange structure that looked like maybe some prospecting of old (or maybe I’m just over romanticizing…!!)

After another little bit of a climb we stumbled on a pool where we spotted a couple of beavers..(we think…!!). They were initially startled when we arrived…but soon got back to their beavery business…swimming around…diving for stuff…..generally mucking about.

We trekked across part of the same trail we followed up Hawthorne mountain…..and it looked (from the map) as if we could get all the way up the valley……..there were a couple of ropey (slightly scary..!!) bits in the middle where we were a little concerned we might have to back track.

…but we found our way back on to another well travelled path that lead us all the way back to observatory…this time in the valley below Hawthorne….and another unexpected abandoned object in the middle of nowhere…!!!

Good walk…nice day…!!!

No bears, or lions, or jackalopes….!!! ( Or aliens )

Next trip out…..The Fur Brigade trail…!!!!

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We set off to try our hand (or feet) at Keogan Mountain…the weather was warmer than it is going to be for a bit so we thought we would try this one. But…arriving at where google maps took us to the trailhead…it starts in the middle of a vineyard that states ‘by appointment only’ on the gate. (Boooo…..!!)

So a quick adjustment to see what else was around….took us to McIntyre Bluffs….the hike is through Willowbrook Parkland ( https://www.willowbrookparkland.com/ ) which is a private park that asks for a $5 per person …$10 seemed like a good deal for the day so off we trotted….especially when the signs on the gate seemed to promise us Lions and tigers and bears…….

With no real chance to research or prep this on…I was not entirely sure what to expect…..but the start through the forest was promising…..

The trail made some promises….Rattlesnake Trail leading to Rattlesnake Lake……quite lovely…but no snakes…!!!

The reviews said to expect some near vertical inclines on the path…….when one is 4 km in to a 10 km out and back hike…without having encountered any serious elevation yet….I was starting to get a bit worried.

It turns out that perception is everything….!! Yes there were a couple of short steep climbs on the path……but we have seen, and done, MUCH worse…..!!!

Once you get to the bluffs….the view literally takes your breath. We have driven by these cliffs many times and stayed at Gallagher Lakes at the foot of the cliff, and now we were at the top. It is a sheer drop down to the highway….but its a ‘top of the world’ kind of place and on this beautiful blue sky day…the view is all the way down the valley across Oliver. Osoyoos and the countryside beyond are just visible in the background. The world had become miniature in that moment…!!!

This was probably one of the busiest places we have been at elevation…there were two other couples that had brought their lunch for this spot….a stellar idea……!!!

We stopped for a water break and some snacks. As we sat basking, the wind that had been promised in the forecast started up…a warm south wind, but a strong one…so it was time to head back down……

For a last minute pick…it was a pretty good day I would have to say…

And given the wind that whipped up…we were quite thankful we were not up Keogan mountain…….maybe another day…!!!

Next trip was an attempt at the Observatory loop……(a crazy adventure due to another ‘access denied’ and last minute change of plan …!!!!)

Extra Pix

We had a break in the weather. The forecast had been predicting a miserable day….but the morning outlook was much better. It was time to load up Alltrails and see what I could find, with not too much elevation…(we have had a lot of rain…not that I mind the mud…its more the slippery stuff…I prefer my legs to be unbroken..!!)

I found this one…the Peat Bog Loop, 22 minutes from home. It looked like a good candidate ( although it did occur to me as we started walking, that the name…Peat Bog….might not be a good omen…!!!)….the park we were headed to was actually the one between Campbell mountain and Skaha Bluffs.

The access road up to the trailhead was death defyingly steep and winding (as we have come to expect…!!) and the view across the valley was truly awe inspiring (….there were a few spots on the road that were a sheer drop off….cliff going down forever …and no barrier….and a driver that delights in driving right next to the edge…!!!) Editor, if the customers ain’t screamin’ …. turn it up.

The trail description promised amazing views of the valley…if there is a spot with good views….we did not find it…..!!!

It was a mostly deep forest walk….with a relatively easy grade….very serene and very pretty but no magnificent blogworthy photo ops…!!! (other than maybe some enormous prints…!!)

Midway round had some lovely views…but too many trees to be as photogenic as some of the ones we have done to date..

Crunching through the snow…lots of squirrel tracks…no bear tracks..!!!

The little squirrel prints were super cute…you can see all of its little fingers..!!!

The photographer turned his attention to smaller details in the absence of our usual landscapes LOL……

It was a really pleasant forest hike…..and good to get out and get some air and some exercise. There is more bad weather coming up so it might be a few days before we get out again.

Next hike was an attempt at Keogan mountain…which is the start of the next story…!!!

After a little break for the holiday season……and some record breaking cold , snowy weather in BC (!!!), here’s the first of the last few adventures of 2021, clearing the decks for a whole new set in 2022. No plans yet for a direction, we’ll see which way the wind blows us.

Happy New Year everyone….!!!

I have to say I did not have particularly high hopes for this one…….the last couple of hikes…though they were great fun…really did not deliver on the views we promised. So this one ….mostly…… was a fairly gentle elevation gain for the gradually diminishing weather conditions we are facing.

We definitely had a good day for being out…..it was a spectacular blue sky day ( with a few of those fake little cotton candy ‘Toy Story’ clouds scattered about)…and by following the rail trail we knew the grade was not going to be particularly challenging.

The view, strangely, for not having to work too hard for it, was breathtaking……

But as much as the walk does not challenge physically….you just have to keep stopping and staring because it just a non-stop fantastic visual feast the whole way.

The traffic was mostly bikes…there were a lot…..it would be a great trail for biking further…..we may have to come back and do the next stretch up to the Adra Tunnel. Its a much longer tunnel and most of it is now collapsed….but it sounds like an interesting site. As it was…we were headed to the smaller Little Tunnel…a very impressive engineering marvel …!!!!…I wonder how many broken limbs, squashed digits happened and lives were lost in its construction as well just the run of the railway blasting out the cliffs and filling the gullies….

Just beyond the tunnel we could see some huge rock ledges….the furthest one had what looked like a picnic table on it….and it seemed impossible to get to……but a little further on there is a marked trail called the Ladybug trail which weaves back across the rocks to where the table is, and another marvelous vantage point…..

We passed signage for “Rock Ovens”…apparently built for or by the workers who built the railroad. We were very tempted to do this side detour but we had a time deadline on this particular day (birthday party for a friend….Happy Birthday Stephen…!!) so we decided to investigate a little and come back another day….

Rock ovens….https://discovernaramata.com/parks-trails-beaches/rock-ovens-park

And so to the return journey…..

Overall…it was a ‘good for the soul’ day. BC` continues to astonish me with its spectacular beauty. It just never gets old…!!!

Next trip is the not particularly inspiringly named “Peat Bog Loop”…..what could go wrong there…!!!

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