Southern BC - Hiking the dream(s)

As the beating heart of summer ticked on, we set out for the southern climes of BC where the craggy peaks reach the sky and the sun tickles your skin. Camping our way south and then west, we left PG and hit the mountains....

___________________

Our first "real" stop was in Nakusp - camping, swimming, fine pizza dinner with a fine german pint, hot springs and an evening under the starry sky...

Ferry ride linking Nakusp (et al.) to the rest of the province...well, linking them quicker than older land routes. Free... :)

Stopping along the side of the road to pump up the boat that would take us across the lake (Summit Lake) to a mountain range on the far side. Once we crossed, stashed the boat in the bushes and made the delicate climb up the bouldered slope, we were stymied by time and the cliffs...but, a glorious hike and a peaceful paddle on a hot, steamy summer afternoon!






After our boat ride, our scramble up a ridge and a beautiful drive we landed in New Denver, and ... possibly the biggest chess board I have ever seen. Here we took a small cafe break, refuelled ourselves and breezed our way south towards Nelson...

Southern BC - Hiking the Dream(s) 2

After a elegant spell in Nelson, sipping beer and shooting pool, we headed up up up to the traildhead for the Kokanee Glacier trail. Here, we found, porqupines get in a tizzy and enjoy chewing on tires, wires, brake lines and anything that is rubberized and dusted with a wide range of car-based chemicals. So, we were forced to secure our car from these frenzied little beasts with the highest oder of 21st century technology - chicken wire fencing and rocks. They worked, though!

Here we planned an overnight trip to the namesake of the park, Kokanee Glacier, and back. It was abeautiful two days, a gorgeous hike and amazing weather - even an afternoon sun shower that doused us graciously with the entirety of the Pacific Ocean was pleasing and enjoyed.

Kaslo Lake, where we camped, in the evening.

An evening guest for dinner!

Refreshing our bodies after a hot, hot, hot day of walking up the mountians to this montane lake campsite.

Us, along the trail approaching Kokanee Lake.

Us at the base of the Kokanee Glacier. Getting here took some inventive scrambling and an extra shot of energy to our bodies, but worth every drop of sweat and every upward step to get here.

Kokanee Glacier with meadow wildflowers in the foreground.

Bird....

Me during one of the more tricky scrambling moments to get to the glacier.

This is pretty much the opposite view of the Kaslo Lake photo above. Taken at night before the Kokanee Glacier section...so at this point we were yet to witness the strain of the hike and the beauty of the ice.

Southern BC - Hiking the Dream(s) 3

After we returned from the backcountry trip to Kokanee Glacier, we rested a night in Nelson and ased into the following day over coffee and date muffins...

Downtown cafe...

...and then took off on a shorter day hike up to Pulpit Rock. Here we pose above a vista of the city of Nelson. Off in the distance...Rossland. Somewhere.

Southern BC - Hiking the Dream(s) 4

...And to Rossland we came. The goal here was to complete yet another overnight backcountry trip. We aimed our sights at the mountain named Old Glory, which we were informed had an old fire lookout cabin on the peak where we could hunker down. Wihtough wanting to take our chances, we aimed for this cabin, but also took a tent in the event that it was full, non existant, broken or soggy. After a day of heavy hiking, in thick soup-like fog/clouds and a wind that nearly took my hair off my scalp, we found that is was empty, existant, not broken and quite dry. Dry, unlike the outside, was key here. So, we stayd for the remainder of the day, the night and a good chunk of the next morning before heading back down. The wind howled all night, shaking this poor little abode on the mountain peak, but we stayd warm (ish) and dry (ish) for the night and got a pretty cool experience out of it.

At the cabin door, which was pretty much the first proof that it existed as we could not see regularly for more than 20 m ahead of us during the hike up.

Me preparing tea to fight the cold and the ... cold.


After hours of being withing the clouds, they gave us a treat of a hailstorm making the scene that felt wintery, look wintery.

This is the view from our cabin door as we pondered dinner and drank in the relative calmness of being the sole living forms on a mountain peak...perhaps there were other critter about, but they were silently bracing themselves against the storm and had no time to welcome us with chirps, buzzes or calls.

Southern BC - Hiking the Dream(s) 5

After our Nelson and Rossland backcountry adventures, our legs needed some downtime. We headed towards Osoyoos where the wineries are a plenty and took part in some wine tasting and buying. The next day we headed to the Dominoon Astrophycial Radio Observatory - quite famous in the astrophysics circles.

The whole observatory. All of it searching for background radio waves that explain parts unknown of our universe.

The main building, and the first radio telescope built on the premises.

Southern BC - Hiking the Dream(s) 6

So, after an adventurous set of hiking trips, a peacefull winery tour, perfect weather and perfect storms...we settled in on our final backcountry destination - Cathedral Lakes Park. Too much beauty to describe, and to an onlooker perhaps it all looks similar to earlier pictures, but this trip was a we biut more memorable. It was longer, it was harder, it was more varied and it made my legs feel like jello assailed with a gattling gun by the end of it. A good 'jello-gattling-gun' feeling, though. The feeling of accomplishment, of compeltion, of satisfaction....

We hiked up the 20km trail to the Cathedral Lakes - camped for the night - did a 20km dayhike the following sunrise to a ridgeline that parallels the US border somewhat - returned to the Cathedral Lakes to camp another night - and returned home via the 20km trail that brought us here. Alot of hiking, a lot of strenuous hiking. But, as normally happens, the harder the hike the more beauty that you are greeted with. And of course we met this relationship with each peak we summited and each ridge we clambered along.

Us on the ridge overlooking the Cascade mountains in the background.

Mornings and nights were freezing at this altitude, about 2000 masl, but the days were scorching hot. Here, we ponder ... warmth ... over a cup of tea.

We went for an evening hike after reaching the Cathedral Lakes the first night to a lake dubbed Glacier Lake. Quite a way to end the day - alone beside a glacially filled lake, within a craggy cirque of mountains, watching birds and pollinating insects ease themselves into the night.

View that followed us most of the day. Clear skies, the setting gibbous moon, and the dazzle of millions of years of tectonic crunching.

Smokey the Bear. All natural.
Mountain goats. We ended up walking by, I believe, 12 of these critters this one day!

Me on the ridge, prior to lunch on our second day.

Cathedral Park was a higher effort that we ever imagined but it was the best way to end a trip - on a ridgeline basking in the summer heat and the buzz of adrenaline in our bodies.