Scottish Festival…fail….regroup at Broken Knee Mountain.

Well, we did try to go to the Scottish Festival in Penticton. We did not even know it was a thing ’til we stopped off in the Penticton Art Gallery for a look. The lady in there said to us ‘Oh you must be here for the Scottish festival…!!’ Like it’s the only reason two people with Scottish accents would be in Penticton……haha..!!

In the end…. we had to do a bit of a musical campsites shuffle around the campground (a whole ‘nother saga) and by the time that all over…it was a bit late for the Scottish thing….so we pulled up our chairs and had a beer instead…!!!

The next day…it was a hot one…. the challenge for the day was another redo…. This time the hike we had to abandon last spring because the rocks we needed to climb were still covered with ice. The last straw had been Scott’s knee impacting heavily on one of these rocks…….and much expletive-izing later…we headed back down.

As would seem to be the usual pattern with these things…….the general direction was up….!!!

We quickly gained enough elevation to be rewarded with that clear view across Skaha Lake

…and then there is a section that goes pretty much straight across the contour line…I remember this being quite mossy and marshy the last time we were here

It was a beautiful climb for sure….but a lot of it was on the outer edges of my comfort zone……

It always surprises me just how well my hiking boots grip……I always expect to slip….but rarely do.

It has to be said …that even without the ice this trail was a challenge with the climb up the rocks.

There were a few moments from the blogtographer suggesting that the picture he wanted was further over on that slipperier, steeper, shinier part of the rock…….while I was already sliding on the bit that I was on…..there may have been some suggestions involving anatomical acrobatics sent in his direction at those moments….maybe…!!!

In these situations the guy with the camera ends up with less spectacular shots than he would like….!!!

….and has to make do with the scenery as I refuse to hang off the edge of the cliff by my fingernails…LOL…

Eventually we got to a section where the trail had been closed because of the burn (the other side of the hill from the Sauerkraut trail) so…..reluctantly (!!) I had to admit defeat (no not gleefully…LOL…) and we set our way back down again. Some spectacular views of the lakes from up there tho’ .

…but then you have to pick your way back down those rock faces…..!!!

…with the occasional stop to stare out across the lake…..

…and soon enough we were back down into the greenery and the backside slide down the dirt back to the truck……

The day was starting to heat up. We were thankful we had started early….and then headed home for a cold beer…!!!

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