a little part of the high rim trail

Saturday Kris Louie and i went for a snowshoe along the high rim trail. it was snowing like a mad man.

a short drive and walk in the postil region

tom and i went for a walk. at postil. there is still lots of snow. we had a little off-trail explore and the snow was thigh deep. recon for summer camping will have to wait a bit longer. here are pictures.

forest trail

thankful for 2 wheels and 4

The Sunday of a 3 day long weekend seems like the perfect time for an adventure, so thats what we did. Pat, Charlie and I piled our bikes (not charlie's bike...he's a dog and can't ride a bike yet) into the truck and headed up beaver lake road. destination: high rim trail. This is a part of the trail i've been on a few times, and also the part of the trail the Herman the Adventurous mouse started his journey in the geocache christine and i placed.

We unpacked everything and immediately got riding.   Weird that i had no recollection of the long uphill right at the beginning.  Once we got to the level top part, it was hard smooth single track.  good times.  We chilled out in a meadow that overlooked the central okanagan pretty awesomely.

the sweet singletrack through the meadows.

stopping for some pictures (and a beer)

okanagan lake in the back, duck lake in the front.

sweet okanagan day.  20 degrees.

The spot we stopped also happened to be in wrinkly face cliffs provincial park.  A place i can see from my living room window.  Cool to be ion the top of it looking down, instead of the other way around.
 

patrick chilling atop the cliff.

And, wouldn't you know it, we stumbled upon a 1971 plymouth gtx.  Stopped for some pics with it.

patrict and the gtx

hope the owner doesn't come find us messing with his car

after our break we got back on and kept on keeping on up the trail.  Patrick uttered the words "looks like this is where the shit starts" referring to fallen logs and more pointy rocks.  at that exact moment, i got a flat tire.  the shit did start there.

a little flat repair.

After fixing the flat, it was time to turn around.  there was a campfire to be had and some green army guys that we needed to shoot with the pellet gun.  so we returned to the truck and quickly found a close place to have a fire.

there are 7 army guys hiding in this picture

We spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening shooting and generally relaxing around.  good times.

It's starting to get colder here.  freezing at night and stuff.  not sure how many biking adventures we can have before we trade the bikes for snowshoes.  I'll obviously let you know.

Or... come for a first hand experience yourself sometime.  we got room.

an adventure with dad

since we had spent the last 2 days in a truck driving from manitoba, smelling each others pizza hut farts, it was time for a short, mid-week adventure. outside of the small closed cab of a ford f-150. it had to be somewhere kinda close, not too crazy, and cool. beaver lake rd it is.

1st stop, high rim trail.  we headed south from beaver lake rd, on the part of the trail that tom and i snowshoed on.  pretty cool.  we saw a bear.  after about 5 km, it got pretty muddy, so we turned around.

vernon creek.  before it gets contaminated by civilization

trail workers bridge across vernon creek.

Next stop, beaver lake forestry rec. site.  we ate smokies and explored around, and schpitzeered all afternoon.  good times.  not a cloud in the sky.

rude dog at beaver lake. 

Next we took echo lake rd to king edward and into specs lake.  a spot mike and i have camped before.  a helicopter came and hovered about 3 meters off the lake.  not sure why, but it was cool.

the site at specs lake.

then it was on to oyama lake.  a short stop there to look around, then down oyama lake rd. to civilization. 

the oyama/wood lake land bridge from the viewpoint on oyama lake rd.

It was a solid adventure by all accounts.  thanks to dad for indulging some 4x4ing.  hope we can do it again soon.

sunday on the high rim

Not my 1st time snowshoeing on the beaver lake part of the High Rim trail, but my 1st time going south instead of North. Tom and i put on the snowshoes and proceeded into a foot of fresh powder. so sweet.

tom crossing the bridge. aka the fallen log with a railing.




the coolest thing was these cinnamon bun looking things. wet sticky snow rolling down the hill. biggest one was a foot across.


1st tracks. walking was risking falling snow from the trees down your back.


creek under the "bridge"






after crossing the road. into the gaping maw. pretty dark and cool in there. rainy even.

the ribs at the end of the day.

updating the geocache

2 years ago we placed a geocache on the high rim trail off beaver lake road. today, we decided to put a travel bug in it and see how far it will go. it was a great day for a snowshoe. the travel bug is a cat toy that we hope zora and zen won't miss too much. we made hot chocolate, packed some snacks, and away we went.

herman the adventurous mouse going into our geocache

christine climbing along the high rim trail

stopping for a snack and hot chocolate break

winfield from the trail


stay tuned for updates on the adventure of herman the adventurous mouse. and as always, the adventures of ryan

oyama backroads explore

For a while (like a few years) i've been wanting to make the drive from beaver lake to oyama lake, via the back way. This weekend mike and I did it. turns out it really was no big thing. It certainly was a cool trip, but not too dramatic i mean. We camped at streak lake, a small lake that connects to oyama lake. the road into the actual forestry site is kinda bad. a minivan could make it, but you might lose some parts.

The lake itself is long and narrow. I did 2 solo trips around in my canoe, and paddled through a small lily lined channel and ended up in oyama lake. Mike caught 2 fish, i caught zero. i did see a moose. pretty cool i think.

the view for 2 days


the channel into oyama lake


oyama lake


On the way out, we headed for oyama lake road but stopped and checked out a few other forestry sites on our way. King Edward Lake is a nice lake, but the forestry site is rihgt along the road. High Lake has a small site, but the road in is barely a trail. almost rolled the truck there. do not try and drive in, but the short hike leads to a nice site. Dalmer lake is nice too. not far off the road at all, and the lake looks minty. Finally oyama lake site. The lake is really sweet and pretty busy. The forestry site is shit though. basically a parking lot with a fire pit. don't plan on staying there.


mike on his way in. view from the campsite


i didn't put the fly on my tent, the weather was so perfect. sun all day, clear all night. cool but not cold. and zero bugs.


oyama. wood lake on the left, kal lake on the right

Winter camping on the High Rim Trail

December, anderson and I snowshoed in the High Rim Trail for our first un-supported winter tenting mission. by un-supported, i mean the truck was 3 km from our camp, not a drive up winter camp as usual. We packed pretty liberally, including, but not limited to, 4 3hour fire logs. We figures they might be the best way to get a fire going. we also had 2 camp stoves, 3 bottle of liquor, 2L of sunny delight and a bunch of food. The snowshoe in was pretty crazy. lots of powder, first tracks, and 40-50 pounds of stuff. We set up camp almost in the dark, lost a bottle on the way in, and found it during a random night mission.

once we got the fire ripping, it was good times. actually, it was good times before then too.


in the morning we had a sweet view above the clouds


our camp spot, looked great at night and during the day


the road to the trailhead


anderson manning the trangia. dinner cooking.


It was a very successful mission. we'll do it again sometime.

ryan and christy go snowshoeing

yes we did. on the high rim trail up beaver lake road. here are the pictures. it was fun. we brought snacks.

the valley was covered in fog the whole time.



but we had minty sun all afternoon.



first tracks. my favourite.



christy with meadow


look. its the moon



finally a clear view of the lake


more fog. i told you there was a lot.



this is where we ate our snacks


time to go