Feb 24th. Keremeos Columns in the snow.

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.