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.

hydraulic lake, nov. 2010

what a trip. not much to say. i'll let the photos do the talking.

it was not snowy in kelowna, but the roads went from this:


to this:


and finally ended up like this:


there was some of cooking and eating like this:



steve playing in a sand pit off the KVR


kris contemplating if we should move in or not.


we left, the cabin was just too far to commute.


a good trip, but only because i didn't have to sleep in a van partially submerged in a freezing creek. Steve's van (and the occupants) slept in the van/creek until morning when i was woken up from sleeping in a warm bed to go rescue them.

james lake camping

Never been to James Lake in the summer before, so jeff, kris and i took this trip so we could cross it off the list. The campsite was occupied, but they left soon after we arrived, so we got a primo spot to ourselves.



James lake is pretty small and has a dam on one end.

fished but never caught anything. need to come back with a boat.


the water seemed higher when we left than it was when we got there.


we brought glow sticks. turns out the stick part is optional.

white elephant mine

old slough or something


So many good mines around, we (jeff and i) had to find and explore at least 1 more. This one is called the white elephant mine, near fintry on west side road.


the flooded pit and tunnel


It was raining a bit, and the mine wasn't as cool as others we found, but the trip was still a raging success. The road was sometimes a mystery, but we kept heading for the dot an the gps and eventually we got there.


the "road"


the truck hanging out at the mine


No tunnels to explore, but lots of cool rocks and old foundations around. also lots of redneck shacks.


perfect specimen of the redneck shack. anyone need van parts?


some doods we saw on the way down



Glad to add this to my list of places i've been. now, on to the next one.

seven summits, the return.

So we headed back to Rossland for the Rubberhead festival again this year. The weather was better than last year, and we didn't almost run out of gas again. The Rossland campground was primo. The riding was too. The flat tires were not. 7 of them collectively. Steve had the most, but i had the worst. As a result of catching the last shuttle in the morning, the backlog of people at each poker station (the 7 summits ride was a poker ride) and the 3 hours of climbing, we did not reach the 1/2 way station in time, and so rode down red mountain instead of finishing the trail the normal way. still a sweet ride. still had free beer and burgers after.


the trail is on the ridge behind me. good times.


looking east. thats the town of Trail i believe.


steve checking the map. kris and patrick in the background


The higherst point of the trail. Time 4 lunch.


Thanks again Rossland. We'll be back next year.

summer of beaverdell mines

old radio tower on the way up the mountain


jeff changing batteries


So, all around Beaverdell B.C. are these sweet mines. Old ones. That are still open. Over the summer, we made 3 different trips there. It's only about an hour from kelowna, so its an easy day trip. Jeff was the co-pilot and we had a riot. BBQ lunch before suiting up (headlanps, rubber boots, gloves, 12guage, etc) and heading out of the 35 degree heat into the cool dankness. here are pictures...


This is me by this mine that we didnt explore until our 3rd trip. we had been right beside it a few times, but somehow never noticed it. pretty cool inside, some old ladders and tracks and stuff. also, an almost sealed side tunnel that we will return to scope out later.


This is jeff in a big cavern we found. getting into it was a little dangerous, but once inside, it was huge. The green mossymo was neato. There was a small opening at the top and a few small side tunnels that were reachable but short and mostly blasted closed. dig the orange tow-rope look.


this shot is also from the cavern, looking up towards the opening and daylight.


this is the shot from above, looking down into the cavern. The hole was pretty small and very deep. death if you fell in. then eaten by rats.


lights were obvious necessities


tight fit sometimes


yes, we climber this ladder, carefully.


we don't usually know where we are going or what we are looking for, but after 2 trips to this area, we got pretty good at spotting signs of mines. This is a typical mine opening, about 2 or 3 feet high and partially filled with water. rubber boots are a must, and in some mines, hip-waders would be a definite asset.


beaverdell from the mining road up the mountain

so, thats the mine trips to beaverdell. there are a lot more around there. we ventured into about 8 or 9 different mines. anyone up for a return trip, let me know.

night hike and plane crash

finally went to find a plane crash on okanagan mountain.

we hiked up mtn. goat trail. it took 3.5 hours, and the last 45 min by flashlight, mostly bushwacking after we lost the trail. we camped at divide lake and left for the wreck around 10. it was not easy at all. 1.5 km off the trail as the crow flies, but it turned into just over 2 each way. the wreck was exactly where we expected it to be. i felt it was pretty anti-climactic, considering how freaking hard it was. the only savior was the occasional fallen log that formed a 20m bridge. there really is not much left of the plane. just the last few feet of the broken tail. we did find a few 3 foot pieces of aluminum on the way back out, but hard to if they were there from the crash or dropped there by people who got tired of carrying their souvenir. back to divide lake to pick up our packs, then back to the truck at the south parking lot by about 6ish. The south parking lot is kinda tricky to find, but its a rough road to the right, directly across from a fallen chute lake sign. the trail shown in the backroads map book that leads to the site does not exist. bring tons of water.

here are some pics...

jeff and patrick at the crash site.  it was pretty burnt from the 2003 fire.

down the mtn goat trail.  south down okanagan lake

the trail was pretty open and rocky.  looks a lot different in the daylight.

It was a solid trip.  next time, leave earlier.  if you go and find the wreck, keep your hopes reasonable.  there is no big wreckage to pretend you are flying or anything.  a good adventure though.  do it.

eneas lake. i know what it rhymes with

this was a 1 day trip up past peachland i took with a guy i met on a 4x4 forum. such a good trail. somehow, i tore off half the bumper. weird. i found it on the way down. we'll be back up here, with tents next time.

the trail on the way up. lots of head sized rocks. he ripped it up in his grand vitara.

one of my favourite signs ever

some flex on a surprisingly sweet little truck

the valley on the way up

where the bumper was..

there were some usable cabins at the lake. next time.


the minty lake at the top. we had a nice bbq here. next time we'll bring fishing rods and tents.

it was a great trip on a great trail to a sweet lake. we'll be back!

Mable Lake with the chantille and darin show

So darin and his girlfriend (whom i've never met) came to kelowna for a few days. Part of the awesomeness of bc included a camping trip to mable lake. It was a few days after after may long weekend and when we got the the camp spot it was a freakin' mess. there were bears eating garbage that was left behind. the only consolidation was that i found a camera under a pile of garbage. i didn't have a camera, so it was a welcome find. the pictures here are chantille's, because usually cameras found in piles of garbage after rainstorms need a bit of love before they work. this one was no exception.

The first stop was actually freddy's brew pub, where we got to large bottles of beer. very large.



after setting up camp and cleaning up 4 or 5 bags of other people's garbage we got to cooking and drinking. ribs and corn. mmmmmm.



We explored around and had a great evening. we passed out in our tents and i was in the middle of a great dream when i woke up to darin tripping over my tent in the middle of the night. as anyone who has fallen asleep after drinking and then been woken up prematuraly will tell you, a pee is usually waiting for you after an unexpected mid-sleep wake up. i stumbled out of my tent, cursing darin for waking me, and peed. thats when i noticed that darin was snoring away in his tent. the bear tracks all around my tent in the morning confirmed that it was not in fact darin that fell on me at night, but a 4 legged version weighing about the same but not quite as hairy.



After a chill morning of more exploring and being thankful i wasn't a bear snack, we headed back to kelowna.

some falls we explored to

another very successful trip, even if we did all almost get eaten. the moral of the story... clean up your garbage you lazy bastards.

a bug we hit.