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.