I am still catching up on blog posts
from our trip to Canada in 2019. Those adventures all seem so long
ago, especially after the 2019/2020 Australia fire season, that I
have to go back to our trip database to help me remember the details
of our mountain adventures. As an aside, if you don't have a trip
database, however can you relive "this day in history?"
A picture from "this day in history" 2005
Anyway, I was going to rewrite my trip
report for this rather epic journey around Okanagan Mountain Park,
but, after re-reading my report in our trip database, I am simply
going to copy it in here. It gives a pretty reasonable idea of what
this trip was like. First, however, a few introductory comments.
Okanagan Mountain Park, have a gander
at the map below, lies on the east side of Okanagan Lake at the south
end of the rapidly expanding city of Kelowna. It gets hot in the
summer, Australian hot at times, which Canadians like and is managed
by BC (British Columbia) Parks, a chronically underfunded and
under-resourced provincial agency. In 2003, a huge bushfire, started
by lightening (as are most Australian bushfires despite what the
Murdoch media propagates) burnt the entire park and 240 homes.
My route: CN, Divide Lake, OK Mountain, Baker Lake, Wildhorse Canyon
Courtesy of my friends who live in
Kelowna and with whom we were staying, I had a laminated paper map of
the Park, much like the one shown below, and, a little bit of study
convinced me that a great rest day activity (we had been rock
climbing in nearby Skaha Provincial Park) would be to walk a huge
loop covering almost all the tracks in the park. I would start in
the north, walk south along trails on the east side of the Park to
the south end, then walk west, then back north again. I was
undeterred by the story my friends told of having to sleep overnight
on the track because they did not make it to the campground at Divide
Lake. The fact that this outing was around 35 kilometres long with
over 2000 metres of elevation gain, and it was forecast to be a hot
day, also did little to dampen my enthusiasm.
Doug on one of Skaha's beautifully clean climbs
The final thing I will mention is that
the tracks, with the exception of the Divide Lake trail, which goes
to a very popular backcountry campsite, have never been properly
maintained since the 2003 fire. As such, there is a lot of dense
undergrowth, a lack of footpad, virtually no trail markers, or trail
markers on toppled over trees, braided tracks, and disappearing
tracks. Suffice to say that it is not a fast track.
I left the Topor house around 7 am and
started walking about 7.30 am. Most of the trails are not really
that good. The OK Mountain fire burnt all the trees and toppled many
of the marker trees, and some of the vegetation is growing back quite
thick. Additionally, apart from the track to Divide Lake, the trails
are not heaviy used enough to keep them clear. BC Parks, as usual,
has done little trailwork.
Okanagan Mountain
All junctions are signed and most have
a map of the track and the distance to the next intersection but some
junctions are just marked with signs, and there are some spots where
there are multiple trails. In places, the trails are a bit vague and
hard to follow, while in other places there is a lot of greenery to
push through, and, in yet, other spots, the track is stony and
eroded.
I took the Boulder Trail up to the CN
Trail which loses elevation for a distance then crosses a creek on a
bridge, heads uphill a bit and then splits with the right hand fork
heading west and the left hand fork joining with the Divide Trail
which is an old road. I was a bit surprised at how long it took me
to get to the split and this would become a theme for the day. Once
on the old road, travel was easy and it is scenic and pretty with
folded cliffs and gullies and masses and masses of wildflowers.
Wildflowers beside the trail
I passed one young woman on the way to
Divide Lake and arrived at the campsite after 3 hours. Of course I
was feeling really fresh here so decided to continue on with my
planned loop. There are picnic tables and a hut at Divide Lake and a
neantheral couple were hacking at dead trees to keep their campfire
going. I texted Doug and continued on.
Still old road to Okanagan Mountain
which does not have much of a different view to anywhere else. I did
not stay but walked back down the road and located the sketchy track
signed for Baker Lake. Immediately, I thought, this will be a slow
track, and it was. I had to watch for a foot pad and markers as
where it had been burnt was hard to see. The trail markers are on
trees that have fallen down onto the ground.
Baker Lake
I had a nice view of Baker Lake which
would be a way better place to camp as I suspect not many people go.
Beyond Baker Lake I had a couple of spots where I lost the track for
a bit or took the wrong fork and it was slow going. This is the
Frederic Creek Track. I passed two guys resting here but no-one else
until I was back on the Boulder Track at the end of the day.
Coming down I took a fork to the right,
but it was wrong and I had to get a GPS signal, then bushwack back
east to regain the track. I lost at least 40 minutes here as I was
struggling to work out from the map on the phone whether the track
junction was to the east or west of me. Unfortunately, the first
time I got back on the trail, I turned around about 40 seconds from
the track junction which is quite near Frederic Creek. Eventually, I
walked back towards Frederic Creek where I found an unsigned junction
that matched the map - once I looked closer at the paper map, and I
turned right and after a bit came to the actual signed junction.
Not much forest regrowth after 16 years
I was getting a bit concerned about
time but not too worried and walked on to have a quick break on a
rock slab and text Doug. I thought I was about half way to Goode's
Creek but I was nowhere near that far along. I walked and walked and
walked along a track that wound up and down, often through brushy
undergrowth and finally got to the Goode's Creek junction. This was
definitely a bit confronting as I now had 17.5 km (according to the
sign) to reach the north parking lot. I thought I was probably only
traveling at about 2 km an hour, so I would be getting out around
about 11.30 pm! Yikes.
The next junction was 2 km away and I
timed that section plus tried my best to walk faster. A lot of
uphill again and dense shrubbery in places. I timed myself at 2 km
in 45 minutes - not great. Now I had 15.5 km to go. I tried to call
Doug but had no reception so kept walking.
Looking down towards Wildhorse Canyon
The next section would have been nice
if the bush along the bottom was less thick and there were not
mosquitoes. The track, however, was easier as it ran in a straight
line up the middle of a small canyon with little cliffs on either
side. Quite pretty. But, each side of the track was pools of
standing water and the mosquitoes were insane. I was walking as fast
as I could and swatting mosquitoes with my hat. I got dozens and
dozens of bites and was going a little bit spare. A bit of self talk
was needed that these were only mosquitoes and I was not going to
die.
I managed to leave Doug a message that
indicated I was in survival mode and could he call me back. I was
still concerned about darkness falling and trying to walk out in the
dark - with no headlamp! Doug called me back near when I was
reaching the end of the mosquitoe tunnel and I told him I would keep
going and let him know when I got to the next junction which was my
only way of knowing how far I had to go.
Trail through Wildhorse Canyon
Eventually, I got out of the mosquito
tunnel and the track turned into a bit of an old road so it was
easier going. I had not had a drink for hours but wanted to get some
idea of how far I had to go before I stopped to eat or drink.
Finally, I got to the Goode''s Basin junction which is not how it
looks on the map as the old road continues down to the lake, and the
track turns into a scrappy track again and begins climbing, climbing,
climbing. I drank 750 ml of water and ate an energy bar while I
walked and told Doug where I was but I did not know how far I had to
go as this junction had no distance recorded.
View from OK Mountain down to OK Lake
Finally, I came to a junction near a
creek which indicated I had 5 km to go. I knew this would be a hard
5 km and would climb back up again, which it did. So, lots more up,
a narrow somewhat scrappy track and my feet were now so sore it was
painful to walk. Finally, after a shattering descent on slippery,
steep, rocky ground I reached the last junction which I had passed 12
hours ago. The track, of course, goes uphill until the final
shattering descent. I staggered out to the car after 12 hours and 15
minutes, nearly crippled with sore feet.
I passed two young women on the track
who got a shock at seeing a near delirious older woman staggering
along. The last few hours of the walk I had felt quite spacy and
strangely lonely.
Wildflowers growing in dusty ground
