Author: mhomac

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.

With a bunch of sunny days in the forecast…and a balmy +5 C promised for the day…the alltrails pick was for Bear Alley. It just sounded so enticing……and it looked from the map , like a hike that would keep us mostly in the sun.

The road leading in to the trailhead was sheet ice…and seriously downhill…..so we backed up a bit and walked down. Having geared up with my gaiters and ice trax…we trudged up over the hill again.

The point that Alltrails said was the trailhead was on private property with multiple clear signs prohibiting trespassing.( BTW..I reported it to Alltrails and they have since deleted the map ) Disappointing b/c the road ahead and the hillside we were headed to looked amazing. We had to drive back down to OK falls to get enough signal to find an alternate…..

The alternate today was Fire mountain, same parkland as Peach Cliff, but this one was a loop around Fire Mountain.

We found ourselves back among those majestic ponderosa pines. On the most beautiful blue cloudless sky day. (Editor. My favourite little spikey cacti friends safely buried below the snow )

We almost walked in to the middle of a herd of mule deer.

They did not seem particularly fazed by us as we quietly crept by , trying not to disturb them. ( in the last frame there you can see the little one jump the fence..!!)

Safely by them we headed on up through the pass. By this time it was warming up so the layers were peeled off and stowed. The snow was becoming icier as this is clearly a well travelled path……so much easier underfoot than the last couple of hikes have been

Further up the pass we met mostly eaten deer carcass on the side of the trail (bleuch…!!!). There were lots of tracks around, but it was hard to tell what they had been made by.

A little further down we met a lady with a dog who told us she lives locally…and frequently sees bears on that mountain. She was fairly sure the deer was a mountain lion kill, not bear. ( well now…thats re-assuring..!!)

It’s quite definitely bear territory when you look at the landscape around……did I mention the lady we met was carrying her bear spray in her hand…!!!

We did see more bear tracks further down the trail. It’s an interesting situation where you kinda want to see them….but you kinda don’t..!!!(sorry the pix of the prints did not come out very clearly)

It was a much easier walk than the last couple have been. The snow was probably not as deep to start with, but also trampled quite a bit more and frozen a bit more to make the path just a tad easier to walk on.

The requisite spectacular views were duly sighted and recorded…..!!!

The way back down was fairly sun exposed….so we ended up having to stay on the snow as much as possible because the exposed ground was very soft and muddy with the snowmelt.

Another very beautiful, very satisfying day out…..

Next post will be a conglomerate of a few trips down the side of Skaha lake…..

Extra Pix

Yee ha……the weather has taken a distinct change for the warmer……but still with snow at higher elevations. The weather network promised us a sunny day so I picked a trail fairly close to home that would keep us in the sun for most of the journey.

Lower Parker loop was the pick for the day. Another trail up by the observatory (DRAO) ……a nice looking loop according to the map….and Alltrails was telling me it had been travelled a few times in the previous couple of days. So off we went….!!

Snow tracking rather than path following on this one. The snow looks shallower than it actually is because the top layer is a bit frozen……

…….so the tracks we are following are mostly from snowshoes, but every half dozen steps or so…..your feet crash through.

It was a truly beautiful day…lots of sun and blue blue sky.

To begin with…its hilariously funny…as your feet keep disappearing….but it gets very wearing very quickly (as Scott described…its a bit like a reverse whack-a-mole where your legs suddenly disappear down a hole ).

The landscape did not disappoint, between the snowy line of the hills/mountains, and the strips of fluffy cloud giving us those calendar page vistas…..the skyline was spectacular.

We were grateful to be following the snow tracks, but even with them, by the time we got to the almost halfway point it had taken more time than anticipated. It is hard work slogging through the snow and we were starting to lose the light. (Editor. So Mho turns to me and and says that we’re less than half way and starting to lose the light and we should probably retrace our steps ….what did I think ? Well those of you who know me will know the answer.) The decision was made to complete the loop rather than backtrack…….

………and then the snow got deeper…..

So now we were almost leaping from step to step (still following someone else’s footsteps.) At this point we decided we were actually going to lose the light if we went all the way round..

……but it looked like we could cut off a section by striking out through the gully rather than round the next hill.

Best laid plans…..the snow (now virginal) was knee deep and deeper…..my gaitors had completely given up staying over my boots by this point…….so we waded through the snow…expecting it to let up any time soon….it didn’t…… LOL…I thought it was going to get shallower as I got close to this tree to fix my gaitors……NOPE…!!

It really did not help that we were killing ourselves laughing as we were falling all over the place in the snow. It still makes Scott laugh out oud when he looks at the pictures of me falling over, or disappearing in the snow….!!! (Editor. I had the unenviable task of ‘running’ on ahead to take photos looking back, then falling behind to take photos in the direction of travel and finally running to catch up again. Somehow we convince ourselves this is fun, sometimes not at the time but it always is looking back.)

Eventually we got to the fence line and the very welcome sight of snowshoe tracks on the other side..

Yes…that last picture is my leg disappearing…….again…!!!!

A quick check of the alltrails map suggested that this snowshoe trail should lead us down to our start point …and a trail to follow was much easier trekking than breaking a new one. (Another moment of appreciating what the pioneers must have faced…!!)

By the time we made it back to the trail proper…we were both slightly tired…..!!!!

It was a 6 and half km hike……but probably the hardest we have done…

….but so beautiful.

The next post is a day that very much reminded us of the ever present bear population….!!!

Extra Pix (this was a tough one to winnow down the pictures because there were soooo many good ones..!!)

A day of bright sunshine , but not necessarily warmer temperatures took us down to Vaseux Lake bird area again.

(Link to website for this sanctuary..!!)

It is such a spectacular little conservation area right on the side of the highway (highways through the Okanagan is what would just be called a road anywhere else in the world because through the valleys there is generally one road…in and out……that was one of the big issues with the flooding late last year……there just are not many roads…because there are a lot of mountains..!!)

It was one of those blue sky days that we love…so we drove down hoping maybe to find some birds….wrong season I suspect. There were some swans on the lake…a couple of intriguing whirrs of wings through the undergrowth…but not much other than scenery to see.

From the south end of the area….on the north end of the lake….as you look down you can see the sheer cliff of McIntyre bluffs…..its kind of chilling to see just how vertical the drop is.

With nothing else in the plan for the day we decided to stop in Okanagan falls and take a look at the trestles…with a view to biking down (28km round trip) with some warmer weather.

With not much else for entertainment on this frigid day it seemed like a good idea to drive back up the east side of Skaha on the return to Penticton (highway 97…the main highway is on the west side)

Its a lovely road….a narrower, sinuating backroad (with, much as you would expect, a radically different vista). About a kilometre before the Penticton boundary, we spied a small parking area with some Conservation signage. Had to stop…..after some stone skipping on the lake (see ……here )

We checked out the sign…and I had a look on Alltrails cos I couldn’t believe that I had missed such a promising looking trail…..to find no entries on that trail.

So …I learned a new skill on Alltrails and drew my own trail map to follow. (Woo hoo..!!)

The trailhead has a big information board on the re-establishment of the bighorn sheep population.

The trail itself was promising it started out with a fairly level trail heading south along Skaha……with the kind of views we have come to expect…!!

There was a little bit of bushwhacking to get us all the way over to the trail we were trying to follow…..

The trail was still making some promises We met a couple coming down that said thee was a bunch of mountain sheep at the base of the rock face………

We were headed in a slightly different direction tho…..It was yet another one of those walks where the terrain kept changing as we went up.

…and of course…the breathtaking views …

It also got snowier the more we climbed……but as it was a fairly steep ascent we were getting warmer rather than colder……as you see progressive layers of clothing being shed…!!!

The path became a rock face. A rock face interspersed with icy patches and the grade was still increasing at this point. (By this point we are both laughing out loud at our ambitions…!!!)

At this point, following someone connecting his kneecap (loudly) with the rock ‘path’, we decided it might be a better idea to go in another direction and follow a more lateral path…!!!(Editor. The peak in the distance of the photo above left was our goal, approx 4km of ice and moss covered smooth rock. The tap on my shoulder from mother nature was enough to convince me to try again another day )

So in the interest of ‘living to hike another day!!” ……we changed the plan and struck out a bit more sideways.. This tracked us back to the very end of the trail we did with all the pictographs .

…and going down is always a bit harder than going up…….!!!

The lake is so impressive, even from the lower elevations….

Another very satisfying day out.

EXTRA PIX

Well it started out as an idea. With the snow melting fairly rapidly here at ground level ..and having had a couple of days of rain, the prospects of muddy walks were not particularly appealing.

The promise in the weather forecast was for a reasonably warm daytime high of plus 3°C .(…you take what you can get…!!) and we have been shut indoors for a bit too long now…..so revisiting the KVR little tunnel seemed sensible…..nice even gravel path, easy elevation…..beautiful views that should be impressive in the remaining snow.

When we got there what we found was a snow covered, barely travelled path….about 8 to 10 inches I would estimate. So much for the nice gravel path. Oh well…!! ..it became an excellent opportunity to try out our newly purchased long gaitors..!!

Lets just say it was hard going…….

The weather network had promised sunny breaks in the early afternoon (the sun is still disappearing from the sky behind the mountains at about 3 pm ish…) so we were confident of some worthwhile views and pix.

It was really foggy. Heading up the trail, We were walking towards the fog/low lying clouds. It is a very interesting effect…that very clean line of the bottom edge of the cloud.

The views down to the lake make that effect much more dramatic……..especially as we approached the tunnel. Watching the other side of Okanagan lake…the sun broke through onto the water.

The glittery, ripply sunspot is truly something to behold. We gasped…held our breath a little, and raced, as fast as the deep snow would allow, to the tunnel hoping it would still be there when we got to the other side. The intensity, shape and colour of the light changes by the second as it moves up the valley and fresh openings cleave through the cloud cover. The silence only adds to the majesty of it all.

Being January 14th…it is also what would have been my fathers 101st birthday. Last year my niece and her partner organised a virtual run in memoriam..my (Macfarlane) tartan buff is from that run.

That sunlight display across the lake rewarded our efforts with an unfolding burnished, other-worldly spectacle.

We (I…!!) decided against trying the ladybug walk out onto the rock formations. Just a bit too icy and slippery (despite the fact that any pictures from there would (almost) have been worth it.)

The walk back down was vaguely easier….but it might just have been the psychological effect of knowing we were going downhill.(……and the knowledge that there was coffee in a thermos waiting in the truck.)

By this time our legs were…well tired is one word…….the constant unevenness and lack of traction are hard going on the hips and ankles. Interestingly its easier to walk in the fresh snow to your knees cos at least your footfall is even…and there is a little bit of traction. Walking in this stuff…… imagine staggering drunkenly for 10 km!!! ( Editor. Hmmm no idea what that might be like )

It was as beautiful (if a little veiled) as expected…….and despite the complainting…..it was great fun….!!!

The highlight of the journey down was the fleeting appearance of this little rainbow cloud…….I hope you can see it…..it was much clearer in life and we almost missed catching it on camera…..

The next trip out was a hilariously death defying trip up a trail we found on the east side of Skaha lake.

( PS if anyone is interested, here is the link to the same hike pre-snow.. https://osteopraxis.com/2022/01/02/nov-26th-naramata-kettle-valley-rail-to-little-tunnel/ )

Extra pix

Finally…after a deep freeze that BC apparently just does not get (more snow than BC has seen in years ) alongside all the other world craziness we seem to be living through……it got warm enough to get out…….WOO HOO..!!!

We had borrowed some snowshoes from friends to try it out……so the Mahoney conservation area seemed like a good spot to try them out. This is the same trailhead as the Hawthorne mountain hike…and crossing some trails we walked before on our “off piste” hike in mid December.

We swiffed about 400 m in on the trail…and decided we did not care much for the snow shoes. Off they came and we trudged back to the truck. Having stowed them safely we started again in just boots. (The hiking poles really helped….LOL…the ‘slightly’ packed snow is desperately uneven and challenging to walk on.)

It was a spectacular day, very fresh..!!! crisp and sunny with blue….. really blue sky. It was tough going on the hips and the calf muscles walking in the snow. Sometimes disappearing in the snow. (its hard to describe how much fun it is wading through deep fresh snow..I just love it…!!!) Luckily I had picked out a trail that was only 5 and a bit kilometres.

It was such a lovely day….and the snow…aside from the slightly packed trail from other peops snow shoeing……was about knee deep. I was very glad of my short gaiters….but it was not long before the fronts of my legs were soaked through and cold (like freezing cold..⛄!!) We were thinking it might be time for some full length gaitors…..

A couple of km in…the trail we wanted headed off in to almost virginal snow (there were tracks from someone being through on a horse )…..oh I do love walking in snow, and it was not long before my shins were soaked up to the knee…….but it was great fun…..

Sparkly, twinkly white and ice…….long shadows…and a surprising vividness to the red of the pine tree bark….and a tremendous deep azure blue in the sky.

Even though we had walked this trail before …it was completely different…( the pool in the picture below is the one we saw the beavers in a couple of hikes ago…!!)

It was had work trudging through the snow….but we had a blast…..and a lot of laughter along the way……!!! ( Our legs are gonna be sore for a couple of days….but totally worth it….)

I don’t think we will be in the market for snow shoes tho….

Next post will be the return to the Kettle Valley trail and a hike in snow up to Little Tunnel again.

Extra pix

Winter really hit after our Christmas Card hike in the snow above Naramata. The temperature plummeted to lows seldom seen in the BC southern interior. (https://globalnews.ca/news/8461151/snowfall-alert-bc-interior-december-18/ )

But someone in the trailer was really happy with the furnace pumping out heat in abundance…..

The roads just get prettier as mother nature photoshops the views with a fluffy white paintbrush……

We were quite pleased with ourselves for the job we (We being Scott…!!!) did insulating and skirting the trailer…..heat tape up the belly, fancy silvered bubble wrap skirt and our trusty propane forced air furnace. So far we have not had any frozen lines in or out.

We finally managed to get some of the beers from Abandoned Rail brewery and I am happy to report it is a most enjoyable beverage…Well done Peter…!!

The weather seriously curtailed our outside activities…thankfully Penticton has a really nice pool and it has remained open despite some of the more opressive covid restrictions elsewhere in the country. We have kept busy inside….with a few projects…..

….and we have benefitted from expert assistance…..

Christmas and the New Year came and went….and it was cold out there…….

We did accumulate a bit of ice on the inside of the windows…and the cat found himself a spot on top of the blu-ray player….toasty toes…!!!

The mail trips down to Osoyoos take us past the Vaseux Lake bird area……one of those things one drives past…….and you keep meaning to stop……Well on this day we did……and decided we should definitely stop another day….

January 6th was a huge dump of snow (for Southern BC ) plowing and salting is a bit of an alien concept here ….!!

The fun part was that it was cold enough that the snow stayed dry and crispy for over a week. It has warmed up to a more normal (seasonal) temp for the area now and the snow (at ground level ) is mostly gone as Ontario has now been buried and frozen…!!!

We have had a couple of treks out on trails on intermittent sun filled days…..those will be posts unto themselves….and some walks along the frozen beach by the campground

Driving here in the BC interior was such a pleasure in the warmer greener season……snow adds a whole different spectacle to the scenery….

January 17th was a wolf moon (i found out after the fact……)

January 18th was another cold but sunny day…so we took a trip back down to Vaseux Lake to see if we could get some pictures.

It was quite something it has to be said……

We took the opportunity to drive back up to Penticton on the minor road up the east shore of Skaha lake……and found a trailhead that was destined to become our next hike…..just across the road from the stone skipping site..!!

Next adventure will be a return to Mahoney….but past our knees in snow…!!!

Another break in the weather, we wait by the door ready to exit at a moments notice. Not so much that we need it to be warm….but we do need it to be somewhat stable.

I had scouted out this trail as it was a relatively low level hike….but promised good vistas… in an area we had not hiked yet and not far from home base. I included the second map as it shows where the hike is relative to Penticton…….

It was 4 Deg C in Penticton and a promised sunny day…..it was not 4 degrees up the mountainside…and we were on the west side of the valley…ie not in the sun..!!!

We started on ice..so I wore my ice trax for the first time and I would have to say……I like them..!! Even the parking at the trailhead was pretty steep on the start of this one. ….but the views started almost straight away…

Not the most challenging hike we have done, but a very pretty trail up the west side of the valley. It was all ice underfoot for the first half…and then a very satisfying ‘crunch’ through snow for the rest….

I keep on saying it…I know……but you have to stop and drink it in…walk a bit and then stop and stare a little bit more.

At the top of the trail there are two viewpoints and it is a truly magnificent view …….

We even had a little atmospheric moon showing through the blue sky to add to the majesty of the picture……

There were a lot of people out and about on this trail….and a lot of dogs…and a lot of unleashed dogs…..(but that is a rant for another day…!!)

The walk back down had us facing the lake pretty much all the way down…….it was a treat to be sure….!!

Another beautiful day in BC……..

The next hike was our Christmas card walk previously published Christmas Eve….the next post will be our first outing in 2022…..Mahoney Ecological Area and the East White Lake trail…….

A few Extra Pix