Tenacity

This guy showed up a couple of weeks ago and we are slowly becoming friends. I put seed in a small container for him/her (I have no idea how to determine the gender of sulfur crested cockatoos) and put it out on the grass when he comes around in the evening.

I call him "Tenacity" and every evening when I see him my spirits lift. It's clear he has not had an easy life, but he shows up everyday and gets on with things. There is a powerful lesson there for all us.

Rain, Flowers and Bye Bye Bridget

Last night there was a steady trickling sound, no, not the sound of a broken pipe, but rain, gently running off the roof into the rain tank. Only 4 mm, so not nearly enough to break this terrible drought, but, it is perhaps a start. I was early enough to the beach to watch a fruit bat fly off into denser forest, the sunrise was beautiful, and unusually not smoky, and I found a big patch of bright yellow flowers alongside my grassy route home.

Today's gratitude:

• Rain is forecast for later in the week.  Lots of wonderful, life giving rain.
• Sunrise on a quiet beach.
• Surprise yellow flowers.
• Bats in trees. 
• Goodbye Bridget 

Okanagan Mountain Thrashing

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

Zupjok, LLama and Alpaca Peaks: Coquihalla

The logical thing the day after scrambling up Needle Peak was, of course, to follow a scrappy track up Zupjok Peak and ramble along alpine ridges over Llama Peak and up Alpaca Peak. The little forested peak between Zupjok and the highway is called Ottomite and apparently has reasonable skiing in winter, but unless you are a really obsessed peak bagger - which I am not, any more - it's not really worth the detour to tag the summit.

Looking along the ridge to Llama and Alpaca Peaks

There is an old road that leaves the road side rest area, crosses a creek (new bridge) and approaches Ottomite Mountain, and, if you follow this road, you will find a faint trail that runs up the south ridge of Zupjok Peak. There is sporadic flagging and an equally spotty foot pad, but the trail certainly helps get through low bushy undergrowth to the alpine.

Doug at the base of Alpaca Peak

The first peak encountered is Zupjok Peak and from the summit it is obvious that the route to Alpaca Peak is a very pleasant ridge ramble above forested valleys on a mix of meadow, granite slabs, and early season snow.

The spectacular Steinbok Group

Accordingly, we wandered down the north ridge of Zupjok Peak and up the south ridge of Llama Peak. On Llama Peak there is a great view of the spectacular Steinbok Group. It is less than two kilometres along the ridge to the summit of Alpaca Peak where we stopped for lunch. Lots of big granite boulders around the summit and we found ourselves a spot sheltered from the wind and enjoyed the view of Vicuna and Guanaco Peaks to the east. After lunch we wandered back.

Vicuna Peak from Alpaca Peak

Paddling to Christmas Lunch

As veterans of opting out, it never occurs to us to do anything except opt out of the various and increasingly common commercial holidays that punctuate the year. This year, however, I was trying to visit my Mum in Sydney, but that trip was put off by the extensive and overwhelming bush-fires ravaging the coast and the consequent highway closures.

Summer 2019

We were, however, invited to lunch at a friends house in Nelligen. What better way to opt out than paddle to our lunch engagement. In Monty Python fashion, we would be paddling against the tidal current in both directions so weren't sure how long the 18 km one way trip would take.

Tollgate Islands on the horizon

Accordingly, we allowed ample time, and left our local beach right on 8 am. The Tollgate Islands looked interesting in the morning light as we paddled past Snapper Island northwest to the bridge over the Clyde River. About 50 minutes to the bridge.

Snapper Island

Upstream of the bridge there are lots of oyster farms, easy to paddle past on the high tide and then a couple of small islands, unimaginatively named Big Island and Little Island. The shortest distance to Nelligen is to west of both. The river between Batemans Bay and Nelligen is generally fairly quiet and it was so today. Pleasant paddling upstream past swans and eagles. At 11.00 am we pulled up to the steps near our friends house and had a swim in the clear cool water before going along to lunch.

Black Swan

And then the journey back. We got away at 4.00 pm with the standard summer northeasterly blowing. The way the river winds downstream we were able to sail quite a bit but the last 3 or 4 kilometres was into a steady headwind and I started to feel tired. We got out for a brief leg stretch at the bridge, and then it was a steady paddle out the channel until we got to the end of the breakwater and our sails helped a little bit.

Fire Red Sun

Our local beach had a bit of a shore dump, pretty normal with a summer northeasterly, and we were glad to arrive. The return journey was perhaps 15 minutes longer than paddling up. A bit over 6 hours paddling, I think we earned Christmas lunch.

Needle Peak: Coquihalla

Although we had driven over the Coquihalla at least a dozen times - if not more - when we lived in Canada, for some reason, we had never actually stopped and climbed any of the quite impressive looking granitic peaks. The area is quite popular with decent snow in winter and lots of easy scrambles in summer and some very long rock climbing routes.

Yak Peak has several long, run-out rock routes

Doug and I were heading east in our "hashtag van" - a Honda Odyssey minivan with a quick but highly effective van conversion (done by Doug) - and had a couple of trips planned off the Coquihalla. The first was Needle Peak. Ideal when we had a two hour drive from Vancouver to start the day.

The Hashtag Van blends into all surroundings

The standard scramble route on Needle Peak ascends the west ridge after a short but steep hike up the mostly forested north ridge, and is really popular. Likely explained by the fact that the ascent is short, sharp, scenic, within driving distance of Vancouver and does not require a four wheel drive. With under a 1000 metres of elevation gain, it's also a relatively quick trip to the summit and back.

Needle Peak

We found the trail-head easily enough, although if you don't know where to turn off the highway it would be frighteningly easy to miss the exit and have to travel a considerable distance in the wrong direction before being able to turn around.

Needle Peak from the approach trail

The track is almost gentle by BC standards, but is still pretty steep and although there are some trail markers and a BC Parks sign at the start, I don't think this trail was ever constructed simply walked in by climbers.

Low angle slabs at the start of the west ridge

Somewhere around 5,000 feet we hit discontinuous snow and shortly thereafter we were strolling up big granite slabs towards Flat Iron Pass. There was a big group hanging about at the pass and many hikers coming down off the summit.

Overlooking Flat Iron Peak where the 

trail enters the sub-alpine

Once you reach the west ridge, there is only about 230 metres of elevation gain left and you get a good view of the granitic summit of Needle Peak. The standard scramble route - class 2 to 3 - follows the west ridge in its entirety. We somewhat foolishly followed a flagged track around to the south side of the rocky summit pyramid and ended up scrambling up some very loose and somewhat sketchy terrain to regain the west ridge. Definitely not recommended!

Sidling around onto the south side:

Not recommended

Once back on the west ridge some good old fashioned "following your nose" route finding up a few steps and slabs leads to the surprisingly spacious summit. As we had started our hike at 11 am we had the pleasure of having the summit to ourselves as all the other hikers had already started down.

Doug near the summit

We enjoyed a pleasant lunch break in the sun with grand views of the spectacular Steinbok Group, the peaks of Zopkios Ridge as well as Zupjok, Llama and Alpaca Peaks which we planned to traverse the next day. We avoided the south side route on descent and went straight down the west ridge.

Alpaca, Vicuna and Llama

Winkies Whale Watching Weekend 2019

Most years in October, Winkie, of crocodile wrestling fame, organises a weekend at Bittangabee Bay in Ben Boyd National Park to socialise, paddle with whales, and bushwalk. Most attendees are keen sea kayakers so sea kayaking - also the best way to see whales - is generally front and centre on the activity schedule.

From the 2016 Winkie Weekend

Generally, we like to tack on a couple of extra days to improve the drive to activity ratio, but in 2019, we just did not have the time to do that. So, it was a quick weekend trip with one great day kayaking book-ended by a few hours of mountain biking to break up the drive at either end.

Green Cape lighthouse from the 2016 Winkie Weekend

On Friday, when we were mountain biking, the crew had gone south to Green Cape. Apparently, winds were light and the swell was pretty manageable. Whales were seen and everyone had a great day. Green Cape is a pretty interesting place. A very narrow spit of land with sea cliffs on all aspects juts out into the Tasman Sea. The coastline, which has been running south, makes a greater than 90 degree turn and runs northwest into Disaster Bay. This can generate some pretty big seas. During southerly blows, the wave-rider buoy often records combined sea and swell height in excess of 7 metres.

I've paddled around Green Cape twice. Once in big seas with a few metre swell running and a southerly blow chasing us northwards. The second time, paddling south, when there was barely a metre swell and calm winds.

Passing Green Cape in 2018 on the way to the Nadgee

Saturday the winds were forecast to be increasing to 15 to 20 knots from the southwest. Obviously the safest and most logical choice would be to go south and come back with a tail wind but when has doing the safest thing been the most fun? We went north.

The pod heading to Green Cape in 2016

The group started out quite large but fairly rapidly decreased to a more manageable 7 to 9 (it varied). The seas were a bit lumpy with a couple of opposing swells running and the southwest wind already blowing around 5 to 7 knots so when we got out of sheltered Bittangabee Bay and started paddling north along the cliffs, the novice kayakers got anxious. Kerry escorted them back to Bittangabee Bay and then paddled back out to where the rest of the group was bobbing around waiting.

Near Mowarry Point, 2019

PC. Doug Brown

Heading north again we very quickly encountered two whales who put on an amazing display of breaching as they swam right past us. Some kayakers had to back-paddle as the whales came so close. We were not paddling after them, rather the whales were swimming towards us!

Me and a friendly whale 2019,

PC Kerry

The wind was increasing and the sea getting a bit more bumpy as we paddled into Saltwater Bay for a breather. Here the group calved with about half the people heading back while the rest of us continued on to Mowarry Bay. There were more whale sightings but mostly in the distance.

Me and another whale 2019,

PC, Doug Brown

We had a land break at Mowarry Bay which enabled Campbell to catch up with us and join us for the paddle back.

Beautiful Mowarry Bay in 2018

On the way back the southwest wind was up and it was one of those every kayaker for themselves return journeys. The fast kayakers - Grahame and Campbell - rapidly disappeared into the distance after we regrouped - which we did a several times. Impossible to keep up with them, and I just tried to focus on how I had been trained - by another epic kayaker - to increase my cadence instead of trying to pull harder and harder.

Whales keeping us company

The frustration of paddling into a steady 15 to 20 knot wind was tempered by the whale interactions we had. I had two whales follow me for several kilometres only a few metres off my port side. Every time I looked over, two whales would be gently rising up to breathe and then falling back again. A couple of times they came so close to me that I thought they were rock reefs I was about to hit. I am anthropomorphizing, but it felt as if they were swimming alongside to offer me encouragement.

2019 was a good year for whales

Near Mowarry Point we had groups of whales on all sides of us with some swimming close in shore and some a bit further out. As we passed Hegartys Bay, which is only a couple of kilometres from Bittangabee Bay, the whales displayed a few more times and then sedately swam out to sea.

This one is taken off the Tollgate Islands near where I live

That evening we had the traditional Winkie banquet to celebrate another fine whale watching weekend.