Tag Archives: hiking

nature, Photography

Above Osoyoos

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Osoyoos is a community at the southern end of the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, and is directly next to the border with the United States. It’s only 60 km (37 miles) south of us from Penticton. We recently visited and took some photos of it from Anarchist Mountain, which at 1491 metres (4892 ft) above sea level provides some excellent views.

A southwestern view of Osoyoos Lake with the United States in the distance.
A western view of the lake with the Monashee Mountain range in the background.
And another western view but a bit more northerly.
Looking more toward the north.

Osoyoos is at the northernmost tip of the Sonoran Desert and can be extremely hot during the summer; it’s quite arid year-round. It’s known for its fruit orchards and the dry conditions also produce some stellar red wines. It’s a great place for outdoorsy summer holidays with lots of boating, swimming, camping and hiking and is definitely worth a visit if you like those activities – with maybe a nice glass of wine in the evenings!

Happy Sunday.

nature, Photography

Autumnal Okanagan

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A recent hike on the KVR Trail above Okanagan Lake produced these autumnal sights.

This rain squall on the other side of the lake did reach us, but we were back in the car by then.

The sun peeks through cloud as the valley continues to don its autumn garb. In the meantime, the mountains across the lake choose a seasonal blue.

Happy Tuesday.

nature, Photography

Bulkley River

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The Bulkley River of northern British Columbia is a major tributary to the much larger Skeena River – I’ll post pictures of the Skeena later; it’s huge.

Bulkley River with the Hazelton Mountains in the background.
Rapids on the Bulkley River.

This river is greenish-grey which indicates that it’s fed by glaciers and their forceful runoff. The colour comes from pulverised rock particles that absorb and scatter sunlight; the rivers and lakes near the Rockies are an impressive bluish-green.

Happy Friday.

nature, Photography

Hiking in the Hazeltons

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We recently left Penticton, British Columbia en route to Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the northern Pacific coast and the home and ancestral territory of the Haida First Nation. Getting there would take three driving days and one ferry.

Haida Gwaii

After stopping for the first night in Prince George, we continued on to Smithers.

Smithers

Smithers is near the Hazelton Mountains which are a sub-range of the larger Coast Mountains. In winter there’s a lot of good downhill and cross-country skiing and in summer the hiking is fabulous.

Hazelton Mountains

After a decent night’s sleep we drove to one of the peaks and found a good hiking trail.

As we neared the trail head the temperature went down to 24 C (75 F) from 33 C (91 F) in the town of Smithers below. It was a much appreciated break from the heat wave we’ve been experiencing all over British Columbia.

M scoping out the trail.

Being able to enjoy the trail in much cooler temperatures was a real plus.

From Smithers all the way to the coast, the forest is lush, dense and beautiful. This is because even though Smithers is fairly far north, its climate is mitigated by the temperate rainfall from the Pacific Ocean which leads to these lovely, almost-rainforests.

There were a number of powerful glacier-fed waterfalls on our route that we stopped to admire.

All too soon we needed to return to our vehicle to continue our drive to Prince Rupert and the coast. Our ferry booking for the sailing to Haida Gwaii was coming up next.

Happy Thursday.

nature, Photography

Spanish, Ontario

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When we stopped for a little hike while on our way to Sault Ste Marie, we spotted the pretty little town of Spanish below the trail bluffs.

It’s protected a bit from Lake Superior because it’s on an inlet, a good thing since storms on this lake can be rather nasty.

It was still a bit early for the marina to be populated with boats but it wouldn’t be long.

We had a beautiful vantage point over the lake and the little town; the trail was quite a nice one if rather buggy. We had to really keep moving to stay ahead of them.

Happy Tuesday.

Commentary, nature, Photography

KVR Trail

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The Kettle Valley Rail Trail is a 660 km decommissioned passenger train line that used to run through southern British Columbia from Hope to Castlegar between 1910-1964.

Heading toward Penticton.

It continued to be in operation as a freight line until 1989 and after it fell out of use, the tracks were removed and it was re-purposed as a hiking, running, walking and biking trail.

Heading toward Kelowna.

M and I have walked chunks of it in all seasons; it has terrific views with the Columbia Mountains to the east and the Okanagan Mountains to the west.

Okanagan Lake from above.

The KVR is also part of the Trans Canada Trail, a cross-country network of trails, waterways and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

The sun shines on a still-awakening valley.

The Trans Canada Trail, at 24,000 km, is the longest multi-use trail system in the world.

Grape vines and orchards below; the city of Penticton to the left.

We love having this trail almost at our doorstep and are so happy that 35 years ago, a group of forward-looking people decided to band together to re-purpose an old rail line.

Happy Tuesday.

nature, Photography, Wine

Ripening

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One of the trails we like to walk/hike runs through dense agricultural areas with many orchards and grape vines.

I like keeping track of how everything is ripening; right now the peaches are being harvested. The wine grapes will be much later, however, especially depending on whether they will be used for ice wine. If that’s the case, they will remain in the fields until they have been frozen. This will concentrate the resulting juice, producing a very sweet dessert wine.

I don’t know what kind of grapes these are as the rows aren’t labelled but they seem to be doing well.

Happy Saturday.