Snpintktn……a place to stay forever…

Penticton….the name is derived from the Salish (indigenous language) word which means roughly…a place that one can stay year round. The city of Penticton adopted it as their city slogan….slightly modified.

From the disappointment of Mount Revelstoke, between the weather and Parks Canada fire management, we tested the wind and it spoke of a brilliant plan. Re-visiting Cathedral Park. Last time we were in the Okanagan it was late in the season, and then too early in the spring to either get the transport in, or for the daylight hours to be long enough to get us into the core.

Here we were a few hours away and quite literally around the longest day….it seemed like the obvious choice.

We secured a campsite at our old winter stomping ground at Wrights Beach Camp on the northwest shore of Lake Skaha, hitched up old Xolo and off we trotted.

Back in Penticton again, set up in what feels a bit like home from home (having spent the winter of 2021 here) ……the search was on for a trail to stretch our legs out in prep for the BIG hike.

Looking around on alltrails it is surprising just how many of the trails we have done here….or ones that neighbour or cross ones we have done. We found an interesting looking one up the Carmi Road on the east side of the valley….this one led down to the Ellis Dam…which holds back the reservoir for Penticton. Something different…let’s give it a go….

It was an easy walk as we were intending to save our legs for our epic journey up to Cathedral Park (yet to come)

It started out with a bit of a trudge up the logging road…..then turned to strike out across the dam. What a lovely spot if you wanted a quiet evening picnic…..

The wildflowers were spectacular…..

..then a goose family swam out to give us a little show of their fluffy offspring.

We turned down the path past the dam following the Alltrails route. At the point where we should have been able to ford the creek, we quickly realised that the spring run-off from the dam had raised the water level too high for us to cross.

After a bit of searching further down…it was quite clear that the normal fording spots were too far underwater…so we had to turn around and head back. A bit of a disappointment……but we were looking for an easy day…so it worked out perfectly.

Extra pix