Month: April 2022

After a lot of considering, we had decided the perishing cold weather was not going to improve any if we fled south into Montana, so we should stick around for a little longer to spend Easter with the youngest.

So, Easter Sunday, faced with some pretty poor weather predictions, we opted for a fairly close to home hike in Big Hill Creek.

It was a fairly straightforward hike up the gorge from Cochrane…and excuse to get outside and a little bit of extracise….It turned out to be nicer than expected……and a great excuse to spend some time with the kid…!!

It started out as a pleasant day…plus 10 celsius in fact….

…and then in true Alberta style….it started to snow……at plus 10 celsius…!!!

Scott caught some geese in flight….!!!…spot the goose….!!

It was warmer than it looked , if a little on the windy side..!! Another enjoyable day out with Bronagh.

Now it was time to leave Calgary and finally head south. Our new friends from Spring Hill, Vladimir and Irina recommended Covered Wagon RV park in Magrath. It’s less than an hour from the border…so it seemed to be sensible as a stop….less than 2 hours from Shelby ( our next stop) just in case we get caught up crossing the border…..not anticipating problems but it never hurts to be prepared.

The weather forecast changed dramatically in the last few days…Tuesday went from predicting a lovely warm spring day to threatening 20cm accumulations of snow.

We pulled out fairly early to beat the snow…and took the route Vladimir recommended…skipping the city of Calgary by taking the road slightly to the west…no views as we drove through driving snow…but no accumulations yet…and negligible traffic.

But the time we got south enough…about level with high river…the sky turned blue…and the day looked lovely for about 50 km…then the wind started.

Gusts of up to 100kmph said Environment Canada…the rest of the journey became a bit of a slog….the crosswinds…even with the airstream…were diabolical….

We drove past signs pointing us to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump…so had to stop.

Its an amazing site. 6,000 year old buffalo jump. Wowser.

It was a battle just getting from the trailer to the visitor centre…!!! But a great place to stop and learn if you are ever in the vicinity. ( especially if it’s a little less windy..!!)

Once we had battled our way to the centre….we did the full tour….fascinating….

The outdoor part was a little more challenging…..!!!

It was a most worthwhile stop on the way to Magrath and Covered Wagon RV.

EXTRA PIX

After a day of wallowing in the hot pool we decided that we should do something active the next day because that would easily justify more guilt free wallowing……so a hike was duly researched and appointed. Then back into the hot springs…for more wallowing. One of the guys we met told us he has a membership so he comes regularly…and in the summer he brings his binoculars…and sits in the hot pool watching the bears and other wildlife on the mountain……!!!

There are quite a few interesting looking hikes around Fairmont Hot Springs Resort…but its a little too late in the season for the snow to be stable, and a little too early for the ice to be safely gone at the higher elevations.

There are also a couple of lower level hikes…I picked out the Owl Loop b/c from the pictures it looked like there might be a natural hot pool on the hike. I could not find any other information on it and where it actually was…so we packed some microfibre towels, dry undies, great hopes and set off.

It was a brisk but clear morning. Perfect hiking weather really.

There were patches of the trail that were still a bit icy and snow covered…but it was mostly clear giving us a very nice little forest walk.

…and not another soul around…….

Theres an additional loop called Montezumas revenge……if anyone has any notions on that ..I’m curious……its an easy extension of the Owl loop…adds about a km….nothing scary.. nothing hard…..

It was a lovely walk…but the mountain views promised in the reviews on Alltrails were not forthcoming….until we got almost to the bottom of the hill.

The path back up was a little more challenging…….

…..and then we ended up following the creek back up towards the resort.

As you follow the creek…the water is very clear…and further up you can start to see the mineral deposits on the rocks……Very hopefully (actually a little gleefully..) we clambered down to check the water….it looked amazing…but it was cold. So we carried on up the path

Closer to the top…actually almost to the end of the loop we scored, if we had come anticlockwise (not our tradition..LOL)…we would have run into it almost immediately..

Its a vey dramatic waterfall over the cliff. Apparently its actually the overflow from the Fairmont resort……but the rock pools below are so heavily mineralised that the pools are almost like tinted concrete.

Its a bit of a scramble down across the creek and clambering up those smooth surfaces to get to the pools…

The water is lovely. Not as warm as the official hot pool…which actually means you can stay in for much longer without needing a break. The bottom of each pool is full of mineralised gravel…so its kinda like little layer of pumice stones on the bottom……so by the time you get out the skin on your feet is completely smooth (assuming it wasn’t when you got in…!!!)

There were a few family groups with little kids…it was amazingly cool watching the little people in the water.

Eventually we dragged ourselves out and dried off a bit…to get back to the trailer and have a bit of supper….before returning for our last evening wallow in the hot pool. Its not like any artificial hot pool you have ever been in…..its a bucket list item for sure…….gotta try it……its amazing If the hot tub at the gym was fizzy pop (7-up)…The natural hot spring pool is a quality champagne.

Sadly it was time to move…diversion over and back on the road headed for Calgary and the bairn.

This one should be called attempted parenticide. Bronagh ( youngest daughter ) recommended this one. She had had some reviews from friends that it was a cool hike, and it seemed like an interesting idea.

The drive out to Kananaskis Country is very pretty. It is out in the same direction as the Paradise trail that we did with Bronagh….Kananaskis is quite lovely. As we drove in we did have the thought that we should purchase the pass…By the time we got to the trailhead there was no LTE…so we had to drive back up the road to get enough data to purchase the day pass…and then back to the trailhead again.

Hold onto something before you start in to this one…spoiler alert….there are A LOT of pictures…!!!..and some of them are pretty scary…or they were for me anyway…😂

Canyon Creek Ice caves….Alltrails described it as a 6km slog up a gravel road with an interesting bit at the end. ..and in truth the walk for the first bit was not particularly challenging…..but the landscape was NOT dull or boring in any way..

Kananaskis is just a little south west of Calgary (see maps)

Looking at the reviews and the pictures on the app it seemed like a good idea…that and the forecast was for a warm sunny day \(yup…up to plus 16 C…woo hoo..!!). The app suggested that it took an average of 3 hr 45 min……we thought we should easily manage that pace or better…..!!!!!!

Again…we are in bear country…and its definitely the season for those guys to be waking up…so we were as prepared as one can be,.

Maybe if you are local the rock faces and the deep canyons become dull and commonplace. We thoroughly enjoyed the walk. Made good time too….for the first 6km….😂

Then we got to the end of the road, and the start of the more challenging hike up the canyon side. No worse than others we have done.

…..and then you get to the shale…….!!!

Even at this point, although its getting rockier and a little steeper it is still quite manageable……

…and you can see the caves further up , which is encouraging….and it gets steeper, and the rocks get a little looser.

Until it has actually become almost rock climbing…hands and knees …pulling yourself up small rock chimneys……

…and if you grip tightly with your fingernails and turn around to look across the valley….the view is stunning…!!! ( and terrifying..!!)

The closer you get to the cave, the harder the climb becomes….

…even as you approach the mouth of the cave, it still doesn’t flatten out…..the first 20 feet or so in to the cave is still climbing…!!!

…and then once you are in…..its amazing. Where the water drips through there are grand icicles from the roof…

Inside the cave. I found a rock ledge to sit and have a snack and a drink and to contemplate how the heck we were going to get back down while Scott went deeper in to investigate the cave.

We had taken a flashlight with us, but it was not really cutting it to get pictures inside the cave. It was complete darkness in there, but with the flashlight you could see the ice stalactites and stalagmites.

After a bit of a rest…but not too long b/c it was cold in there……the hardest task of the day was picking our way back down the shale.

It was slightly less terrifying than I expected b/c coming down it was easier to see the path ahead…..no less steep or slippery. The big camera was packed away safely lest it get smashed on the rocks on the way down.

It was a bit of a scramble down but at least it was not icy. I imagine its also much more slippery in the summer when its dry and dusty. And probably a whole lot busier too…..!!

Phew….!!!

Back down to level ground. One of the reviews had suggested following the riverbed back down as being a bit more interesting than the gravel road……so thats what we did….

It was definitely more challenging underfoot but more importantly, gave us a whole new view of the canyon.

The rock formations were amazing Intermittently there were big rusty iron chunks. Also were the exposed shale layers in the riverbanks.

Some great little cliffs and rock faces….

We reached a bend in the riverbed that came close to the road…so we popped back up onto the road for the last couple of kms…..the river itself was becoming wider and snow covered……we also found some bear prints in the snow….!!!

There were a lot more rock climbers out and about by the time we were heading down. The cliff face in the next 3 photos was small in scale relative to the surrounding topography, but of course that can be deceptive. The climber you can see in the close up is also in the wider shots, bonus points if you find him.

It was a really great day out. We highly recommend this trip for anyone healthy enough to do the climb. Loved it…!!!

Extra pix.

That bittersweet moment arrived….time to pull out of Wrights Beach Camp, our home for the last 6 months, and start the traveling thing again. With the truck and trailer all washed and sparkly clean, everything stashed and stowed safely, we are ready to rock and roll.

Wrights has been a fantastic stop with incredible hikes, amazing scenery, delicious beer, wonderful people. It will be a real pleasure to swing around through this town again.

The drive up the west side of Okanagan Lake gave us one last glorious octacular feast. We knew that Kelowna might be sticky…hitting it at 9 am…but in the grand scheme of things…its just not that busy of a town…so even tho the highway cuts right through the middle of the city, it was a straight run through.

Heading north out of the city through Lake Country and Vernon…..places we had not been yet and the rain started…..not anything torrential mind…just enough to make it difficult to take pictures, between the raindrops and the wipers…LOL….

Most of the road north follows the lakes. The rainy weather created lines of fluffy clouds clinging to the valley sides and atmospheric mists over the waterways.

BC is such a beautiful province that even the rain makes it a different kind of pretty. wow what a drive.

The cat, travelling in his box is quite laid back. Sometimes he likes to watch the view, sometimes he just sleeps. ( Editor. If I look over and see the cat like this I’m thinking, I’ll have a pint of what he’s having )

Its not the best time of year to be traveling this far with a trailer. Most of the campgrounds don’t open ’til May…or even the beginning of June…….but the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort was open…and that was our destination.

With no convenient options to split the journey we were doing an uncharacteristic run of 7 1/2 hours. Turned out to be 8 1/2 technically ‘cos we crossed a time zone as well. ( there’s just too much to see in between to drive that far in one go…!!)

So we pulled over at a truck stop in Revelstoke for lunch, our halfway point. Great thing about hauling the house along behind you…when you stop at the side of the road you have a kitchen, including fridge…and a bathroom…right there….!! Then back on the road.

We passed through multiple of these avalanche tunnels…..its quite sobering, thinking about it..!!

Avalanche control Shortly out of Revelstoke we drove into avalanche control. The Rogers Pass is apparently a bad area for avalanches….it is VERY steep as you go through…so we got stopped…and hour and a half…and a long line of traffic.

They set off field guns at a couple of spots along the pass…and then search and rescue have to go through and clear the area. They also had a slide happen a bit further east….so they said…..so…me and the cat hopped back into the trailer and curled up under a blanket..(it was cold up there..)

From the top of the lakes up the Okanagan we were back on the trans Canada. We completing a travel loop back through Golden. (where we had been in the fall)

The road to Fairmont Hot Springs is south through Radium and then a little further. I tried to get some pictures of the mountains ahead and the mountains behind. BC certainly has an abundance of mountains.

Fairmont Hot Springs resort is halfway up a mountain itself. Pulling the trailer up the road to the site was…..daunting.

The next experience for the life events bag was ….when your pull through site isn’t a pull through for a 30 footer. Between the steep uphill, the slippery loose gravel, the right angled turn in from the narrow lane and the tree right on the corner of the site. We soon decided that it just wasn’t going to work, pulled all the way around the road and backed in. (no divorce happened…Walkie Talkies are magical things..!!)

…and then….head for the hot pools…….

I can now assuredly declare myself to be an addict…of natural hot springs…be warned…they may feature strongly in our future travels….!!😀

With a couple of decent weather days and the weather looking unpleasant in the long range, the Alltrails search threw up some choices…Bronagh had a day off….so Anne and Sandy Cross conservation area on south west of the city had our name on it…..for the enticingly named Paradise loop. Parked and paid our $10 for the day.

It is a completely different landscape from the BC interior, but no less beautiful.

There are multiple loop trails in this conservation area…the one we chose actually combined all the of them along the way.

Its hard to know whether to look up or down, as the clouds dance their way by.

Boy it was windy out there. The first part of the trail is up over a ridge and grassland…so no shelter…..we were very glad of hats and gloves at that point. As we dropped down from the first ridge it was a little more sheltered for a bit…then we got blasted off our feet again…..it was most entertaining…….lol….

The park is mostly grassland but also leads through birch forest…which seems to me now to be very “Alberta’. The rolling low level hills of the grasslands have a very distinct beauty of their own. …and the skyscape with those oil painting unreal clouds…..is fascinating. Interior BC is Ponderosa pine for the most part…Alberta is birch…

There are strategically placed memorial benches and picnic tables along the way…it would be a great place to stop for lunch….if it was not so bloomin’ windy..!!

Just like the mountains, as we wander over this undulating landscape I just don’t ever get tired of the vistas.

Then there are the reminders of the prominent presence of bears around (yes I have my bear spray on board..!!)

The amazing thing in this part of the world is, because Alberta is so flat….the horizon to the west is….the Rockies for as far as you can see….north and south. Its like someone made a larger than life wallpaper border…and stuck it all the length of the western border of Alberta.

It was a trail with just enough grades to make it a bit challenging (especially for the photographer who is constantly running up and down the trail ahead and behind to get his shots …!!! (Suffering for his art…but believe me…not in silence..!!))

I think this was my favourite image for the day…..the ever present mountainous horizon.

Lovely walk …lovely day….grand day out with Bronagh.

Extra pix

It seemed ironically appropriate for the last outing before pulling out of Penticton to be biking up to Abandoned Rail. The bike ride up the Kettle Valley Rail trail to the brewery was our first activity upon arriving in Penticton, and now 6 months later…the brewery is finally ready ( and COVID restrictions have relaxed enough) for them to have their opening.

So…Saturday morning we were up and out on the bikes….

……….it did not seem nearly as hard as the first time back in September.

It was a cool but clear day…..its such a lovely trail with a very gradual incline. In the fall there were only glimpses of the lake through the vineyards and apple orchards that line the route. In March tho, the view is clear across the valley.

There is a trestle bridge across they canyon just before you get to the brewery.

It has a section of love locks…!!! Which is something we have seen in quite a few places.

The brewery is just on the outskirts of Naramata, the premiere wine region of the Okanagan. The site they built on used to be a ‘slushie’ spot, where trail users could get slushies made with local Ambrosia apples……the sign is still there…!!

Abandoned Rail Brewing is in just the right spot to justify a beverage for the road home. (and a great excuse to get the bikes out.)…and also to meet a couple of friends from Kelowna for a last visit before we leave.

Congratulations to Peter and the team for a great looking little brewpub, and a very quaffable selection of beers. My big reward was the newest brew, a porter which had not been canned yet so was only available on tap. Food was available from the Wienery food truck….I did try the roasted marinated carrot……it was so very much better than it sounds…!!!

The porter was delicious….!!!

So we finished up our brews, said our cheerios to Maria and Stephen (of Bear Creek Park fame..!!) …and set off back down the trail.

Sometimes you just have to stop and stare…!!

The KVR is one of many jewels that make up Penticton. It’s a beautiful trail for biking with a steady grade and a superb surface for the bike. It has fantastic views…and the next big bonus now is a fabulous little micro brewery to stop for refreshments along the way…

Our last big outing in Penticton, home to finish up our preparations to pull out on Monday and start the trek east, south……or where the wind blows…..!!!

This is a collection of days out. We had approached the same area from three different angles on different days, so it seemed to make sense to put them together.

On..March 1st.. we had taken the short hike up the icy path to Hardy Falls.…and in the interests of adding more steps to the days activity…..we parked back towards the shoreline at Summerland to check out the trail up Trout Creek. Scott had been looking to get some interesting shots out over the lake and part of this trail went down onto the shore.

We went west first, away from the lake. It turned out to be a very easy level walk up the side of trout Creek .

The side of the ravine made a very impressive backdrop, and eventually made impossible to go further up the creek….or at least it appeared that way with the snow still covering the water it was impossible to tell if there was a path there……or just the creek, and I was not willing to find out the hard way..!!

The other end towards the lake took us right out onto the beach. There is a dog park there……with access to the lake and a small forested area for dogs to romp in. Cool spot if you are a dog.

Summerland Trestle and the KVR

March 8th. Looking for interesting walks in terrain not yet covered we plumped for the trestles on the KVR (Kettle Valley Rail trail ) up the east side of Okanagan Lake. There is a steam train route that runs on a ten mile stretch of rail through Summerland…and the trestle is the starting point.

It was a cool but beautiful day….so we followed the trail south from the trestle. It’s a bit like the Naramata trail in that it is the old rail line, but far less travelled and far less manicured.

We had debated biking this route in the fall…and were now very glad we did not do it. Lots of loose rocks and basically a surface that would make biking a bit of a grind.

At the other end of the trestle we spotted a property with what looked like groups of children involved in some kind of activity. The signage from the trail side indicated that it was a research station

Further investigation when we got home revealed that it is also the site of the Summerland Ornamental Gardens.

March 12th…..the gardens. It was a rest day from hikes…and not very warm but clear day, so it seemed like a plan to go check out the gardens. It turned out to be a quite fabulous place, even at this time of year. It also blessed us with some different angles of the trestle and the ravine that holds Trout Creek.

An unexpected delight with a real history…..the place was originally developed in 1916 as the Federal Agricultural Research station. Its another place that is a ‘must visit’ especially if you end up here in the spring or summer when its blooming.

It was pretty interesting wandering about even this early in the spring ( or late in the winter..!!) but this place must be truly amazing once the flora starts up its engines.

Unfortunately we will likely miss it as we start heading east at the end of March.

I think I’m going to miss the loveliness of the Okanagan….may have to circle back someday….!!!

Extra Pix

Another beautiful day in the neighbourhood…….the intrepid adventurers set out in the truck for a bit of a tour.

Wrights Beach Camp as we left was another one of those days where you just have to stop and get out to gaze at the view from the bottom end of the campground.

The lower end of the lake at Okanagan falls remained frozen, and frozen enough for ice fishers out there. The next Lake down the valley is Vaseux, where the birding area is….. and it pretty much all frozen. Just like further up at OK Falls….multiple ice fishing huts out there, with people lighting little camp fire by their fishing holes. Scott had had the notion that he wanted to walk out there and take some panoramic pictures from the middle of the lake. As I am sure anyone who knows me is aware…..this did not strike me as being a great idea. But…anyone who knows him……he was determined. We had had a couple of -10 celsius nights so it was as good as it was going to get……so the tour for the day took us down there.

It was a spectacular sunny, wintery sunny day. Crisp and bright. We , or should I say he..!!…was lucky to find a small group of people out on the lake with neat little ice boats. Like windsurfing only on ice with the person laying down like a luge.

Anyway……here are the resulting pictures…!!! ( I may have to grudgingly admit that they might have been worth it……..you still wouldn’t get me out there tho…!!!)

You can see that sheer drop of McIntyre Bluffs in the background of the pictures. It makes me take a deep breath every time I look at that drop…!!!

On the way home we took the scenic route up the east side of Skaha again and spotted these fellas just outside Okanagan Falls.

It seemed like a good fit to put together with a short walk we did to Hardy Falls. A 1km walk up to some very pretty falls. The trail was so well travelled it was solid ice the whole way. SO thick ice on this one rather than the thinner version Scott ventured out on…!!! The path has 8 bridges crisscrossing over the creek up to the falls at the end. I had thought from the map that we might be able to extend the walk further up the gully……but when you get to the falls its pretty much a sheer rock wall behind it. So no luck on going any further without some serious rock climbing equipment and a lot more rock climbing experience than I will ever have…..

One of the very interesting things we found there was some of the beaver damage to the trees. Those tings are fierce…!!!

Some extra Ice pix.

I am always on the hunt for something a little different and on Alltrails. Skaha Ward 1 Trail caught my eye when we first arrived in Penticton, but it was closed after some extensive wildfire damage in the fall. ( and the trail is actually called Sauerkraut.!!)

This was likely going to be our last hike before moving on and as I was casting around for something a bit special, I spotted that this one no longer indicated that it was closed. Excited, I downloaded the route that someone else had followed the day before us. It seemed like a reasonable way to make sure we were on a passable trail. …In Skaha ( from experience) there are many spots where…without a certified trail one runs the risk of walking off the edge of a cliff……

So back up to Skaha Bluffs Park……the gate to the parking lot was open (small celebration…cos the road up to the parking area is about a kilometre of straight up…)

The trail was not technically hard…but we were aiming for about 12km, which is further than we have hiked in a while. Its a very pretty trail through the big ponderosa pines.

The trail weaves ever upwards, switchback after switchback. Not the hard slog that a lot of these trails can be…….more of an uphill meandering..!!! With some lake vistas and impressive rock structures of the bluffs as the trail winds around them.

Eventually we got to the start of the burn. At the edges it is small areas where one or two trees are charred….and a few around about show signs from the heat stress…..but fairly limited damage.

There were odd holes in the ground…….we realised it was where large trees had burned and smoldered until the entire root system burned to ash. We assume that at Skaha the wind carried a lot of the ash away…(unlike the burned areas in Cathedral park where the ash lay thick around the area.) Anyone who has ever burned out a tree stump is probably familiar with this…but it was all new and fascinating to me…!!!

Persevering up the trail led us through a more devastated part of the burn. Spooky forest. You could see the scalding the rocks had taken. On of the big trees by the path had burned so hot the sap boiled out leaving its burned shell covered in large orange beads. Almost alien looking.

The next section of the trail brought us into the ruined forest. Stark black skeletons and as you look to the hill behind, you can see the burned toothpicks of what was once the forest further up.

Its fascinating how quickly mother nature ushers in new growth….lovely fronds of pussy willow stretching their way out of the ruined blackened stumps of the willow trees of last year..!!

The far edge of the loop had clearly experienced a fair bit of intense heat. the rocks had a scalded look….and the ground was soft……we had to be careful to stick to the trail as the ground appeared unstable around us at times……and there were the gaping holes where the tree roots used to be.

It got noticeably colder partly because it was an overcast day, but mostly because of the elevation and the complete lack of shelter from the non existent trees. So the coat and hat went back on…..

The outer loop took us back around to the lake side of the rocks, rewarding us with some pretty spectacular views both down Skaha, and up Okanagan.

There was a bit more burn on the other side too….but not nearly as severe as the other side of the ridge. Another impact of so much tree death is much more soggy ground….soft, soft ground without the vegetation to suck up the moisture and stabilise the ground.

A long walk, a good walk….and some interesting sights.

It was a bit hairy up around the far end of the loop, but I was very pleased to have been up into the burn area. It’s so not what you expect …..your imagination has an idea of what you will see……but the reality is that just as much as the visual feast around you is the feeling of being there. The quiet, cold desolation was new, with soil underfoot where all the leaf litter of the forest floor had burnt away.

I hope you find it as interesting to see this very different sight, a variation on the beautiful vistas we usually show.

Extra pix.