Month: March 2022

Giants Head was a trail that we had dismissed in the fall as being shorter than we liked. Based on the recommendation from Deb and Keith…the guys we met up Conkle Bonk.…..as being the grind that the name promised…we thought it might be worth the challenge.

Looking at it from the Trout Creek and Summerland Trestle hikes drew us to it….so today was the day.

The road up to the trailhead was again one of those straight up ones…that would have been impossible in the winter weather without chains…or studded winter tires..!!!

The trail starts off with a bit of paved road…..and then diverts off at 90 degrees…..straight up the hill. With Summerland below you…its quite the sight.

And grind indeed it was. The uphill slog lived up to its promise……but like all the best slogs…its rewards were bountiful.

It was coolish when we started out….so I started with my coat on. That lasted about 5 minutes on the hill. For some reason it became very warm…!!! And thankfully the view was a great excuse for frequent stops…!!!

….and a couple of well placed benches on the way up…..

On this perfect blue sky, sunny, windless day the vistas down into the valley…and indeed…from the top…all the surrounding valleys were up to par for sure.

Its a well marked trail. Many red posts to remind you….that it’s a grind..!! I’m imagining its likely a very busy one in the summer.

There were more people on the trail than we have been used to. Even a couple of trail runners bounding by us across the top of the Giant.

Around the top there are a series of what can only be described as viewing posts. Several of them are welded in the direction of the more relevant points that can be seen from the top. Including the Summerland research station, Apex Mountain and Brent mountain.

The path down is always worse……LOL…and this one was no exception. We continued the loop and followed the east ridge down.

The path, as with many of them at this time of year, was ice covered….but it’s warm enough that the snow melt makes the bare part of the path soft and slippery mud. Choosing our footsteps very carefully and picking our way, down we went…..trying not to slide down the sheer drop below. Fun and a bit scary….!!!

The very last part we rerouted out to the paved road as the very soft surface became too treacherous and frankly too much hard work…..!!!

Another beautiful day, another beautiful memory.

Extra pix.

A series of beautiful blue sky sunny days inspired a trip up to Kelowna for a trail in Bear Creek Park with a couple of friends from the old country who reside in Kelowna. Our neighbour here at the campground had recommended Bear Creek park so it seemed like a great opportunity to combine a walk with a visit.

The drive up the side of Okanagan Lake was amazing, there was not a breath of wind and the lake was mirror flat.

Following the road north up the west side of the Okanagan is like flipping the pages over in a ‘beautiful scenery’ calendar. The scenery changes but does not ever lose its spectacular quality.

Bear Creek was the destination. The Burnses met us at the trailhead with Watson (the border collie) in tow.

The trail starts with an immediate climb up the ravine….mostly stairs…( I didn’t count..!!)

………and then levels out where we planned to follow a couple of loops up at the higher elevation.

Like most of the hikes around here, the reward for the climb is amazing panoramic views of lake and mountain….and on this occasion….the skyline of Kelowna.

The weather obliged us with some whispy clouds up over the contours of the mountains on the far shore.

The trail took us down another long flight of steps in to the ravine and then up a series of switchbacks on the other side.

The path up, as seems quite common at this time of year, was still snow covered with the covering having been trampled by multiple hiking feet had become a somewhat treacherous path of ice.

The little bit of drama for the day was losing Watson for a bit……but he was safely retrieved and we were able to complete the loops without further incident. ( Maria calling for Watson from the top of the hill made a great shot dontcha think..!!)

Once Watson was safely back on track with his people again the trek continued round to the outer part of the loop. This took us through a bit of forest, and then back to the east ridge with a lovely lookout over the lake again.

It was such a lovely day and the splendid vista of the lake on the way down became an exercise in just ‘soaking it all in’………A good for the soul type of day..!!

Day finished out with a late lunch/early dinner at the Everest Grill in West Kelowna. It was picked for the convenience of its location…..but a truly excellent meal was delivered to us. Highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in the area.

Extra Pix

It was yet another one of those days that did not turn out as intended. We had some mail to pick up in Osoyoos, so I picked out what should have been a decent walk down that end of the valley. Mount Kobau made great promises. It was a trip further along highway 3 ( towards Vancouver ) than we have been before. As we pulled off Highway 3 onto the logging road that lead to the trailhead, a 19km road, it became very clear that proceeding was not a great idea.

The road was ice covered and narrow. Discretion over valor wins out again…!!! As we turned to get back onto the main highway…the view up the Similkameen Valley drew us in that direction. Apologies for the quality of the pictures I took as we drove up Similkameen Valley…..it was spellbinding….!!

So instead of finding another trail around Oliver we made the decision to carry on along highway 3 and loop around to Keremeos.

There are so few actual roads here, because its more about weaving a path through the overabundance of mountains than any straight lines between a and b.

I genuinely had no concept of the extent of the mountains until we got here. I guess its a bit like …everyone knows Niagara falls is going to be impressive…….but you really can’t appreciate just how big or how powerful it is until you are standing next to it.

I digress….so …we continued up through the Similkameen valley. It is incredibly beautiful and unspoiled…….and vast. There are essentially 3 roads across the mountains from the interior of BC to the actual west coast. Its 397 km from Osoyoos to Vancouver if it helps give you scale……most of the valley has no cell service…so we drove almost all the way to Keremeos before we could look for alternate trails.

The choice seemed to be either the railtrail along the river and dead flat….or heading up the hill to the Keremeos columns again to see what they looked like in snow. So we opted for the latter. The valley here is obviously quite a bit warmer b/c the snowmelt even at higher levels was more advanced than the one valley over in the Okanagan, so it seemed like a worthwhile venture.

Ironically the hillside snow was largely melted…but the road up must be more sheltered from the sun as the road itself was snow/ice covered…so it was hard going……….. again.

its a great trail….its a series of switchbacks all the way up and most of the time you can see down in to the valley…the feeling you get looking down is similar to looking out the airplane window as it descends on a clear day. A world in miniature.

Eventually we got to the spot where no one else had gone further….ie no longer trampled path….but launched off into untouched snow for the last kilometer to the columns.

As tempting as it was….my legs were already struggling from the ice earlier and the grade….so my vote was no!! Although the columns in the snow promised to be spectacular…..surviving to hike another day took precedence.

And so to the journey back down….!! Why does it always seem like the downhill should be easier…….but I think it may actually be harder…But Oh so pretty….!!!

Such a beautiful day. Keremeos and the valleys around it are quite otherworldly even surrounded by the daily spectacles of the BC interior. I’m so glad we came.

In the meantime…here are some of the extra pix from this one.

Extra Pix.

The KVR runs right through Wrights Beach Camp here on the outskirts of Penticton. When we first arrived we had a sight which overlooks the lake…spectacular view. But the decision to stay over the worst of the winter meant we had to move to a more central site as they shut off the water to some of those more lovely ones.

We have had several walks down the rail…and a few bike runs down there too…..so this post is kind of an overview of the ones that involved pictures being taken.

The first trip down the lakeside was pre winter…..just as fall was switching the colour palette over to reds and yellows.

Sept 26th.

Dec 22nd.……out for a VERY brief walk in -23 C…Brrrr

There have been a few hikes and a couple of bike rides more recently. Some of them to ogle at the ice formation and the snow dusted valley sides.

Jan 23rd .Hike down the KVR b/c the weather had improved a little but there were still some spectacular ice formations.

It was a day where there was not a breath of wind and the lake was mirror flat.

Partway down the side of the lake, we caught up with the resident swans…..and a whole bunch of ducks hiding out in a very sheltered spot down at Kaleden.

Jan 24th Short bike ride……it was above zero and the walk the day before instilled the brave idea that the snow might have melted enough to be able to get down to Okanagan Falls. ( The wind chill was minus 5C …frozen toes…..and wind in our faces all the way home) still it was good to get out for a bit….even if we did call it halfway down..!!! Once the sun goes the temp just drops like a stone.

Jan 31st. Then there was the feral horse invasion. Yes you read that correctly. There is a small herd of feral horses locally…we woke up one morning to find them happily munching the grass in the campground. They were rounded up and moved out with golf carts. The next couple of weeks they had ropes up across the gates….every time we went in or out of the campground meant hopping out dropping the ropes and then replacing them after leaving/returning.

Feb 5th took us back up the side of the Okanagan Lake to meet up with friends on a skiing vacation at Big White. We took the opportunity to take them some of the Abandoned Rail brewski’s……Scott….being Scott….had to stop along the way to do some artsy pictures of the cans…!!!

Feb 9th.…we finally ran out of roasted garlic.….so had to rustle up a small batch of local Okanagan garlic in the Instantpot….!! and another batch of the olive oil preserved garlic…

The new batch was then test driven in a batch of garlic bread…..(topped with local honey and sesame seed..) The black honey from one of the local producers is something we had never seen before…but have become avid fans..!!!

Fe 16th. A further improvement in the weather situation tempted us out to try and hit that Okanagan Falls target again., so we embarked on a slightly longer bike ride.

On this day we took the bikes down to trestles at Okanagan Falls at the southern end of Skaha, and carried on a little further to see how far the trail would actually take us.

Feb 22nd Another cautionary tail that did not involve either slugs or shoes. In the evening I was sure I could smell burning plastic. Persuaded Mr to go out and check……scarily we found our 50 amp connector had slipped slightly and was shorting…….

Thankfully the local RV repair guy at Apex RV repair…the wonderful Raj, came to our rescue and saved us from certain doom as the temperature was forecast to drop to -15 Celsius that night. Raj came out in freezing temperatures in the dark and got us back up and running again.

Its hard not to just stop and take a few pictures every time we go out. Every different weather condition just seems to lend it yet another kind of beauty.

Up next….a return to the columns at Keremeos in the snow.