Monday, November 30, 2009

winter camping, and yes, we were warm enough




so on nov 28 we returned to hydraulic lake with a truck full of stuff. our mission, to sleep in a tent in the snow. we toured the campground until we fond a primo spot. not surprisingly, we were the only ones there.

we brought the usual pallets, aluminum foil and random meat. it was a darn good mission. we (kris and i, who else) had 6 sleeping bags, therma-rests and even pillows!! talk about luxury.



the entertainment for the evening consisted primarily of getting pulled around a gt snowracer behind a truck. the result is some sweet bruising all along one leg. no pics of that, sorry.

sven and tim joined us around the fire for the evening, but felt their own beds were far better than sleeping in a tent in the winter in the snow. they definitely were welcome company.



It was snowing all evening, but when we woke up it was sunny. we had a sweet breakfast, but not as good as the bird did that stole kris's marinated steak and a bunch of his bacon.

sorry this post is lacking the normal enthusiasm. it's monday. i didn't take many pictures, but i hope you get some of the idea from the ones i did take.

until next time...

Monday, November 23, 2009

more tales from the truck








hydraulic lake... what a sweet little spot.

we (kris, sven and I) drove up here sunday. well, sven drove until his truck would go no further due to traction issues, then he hopped in the 4runner.



It was not the usual daredevil mission, but anything is better than nothing. The road up is a little slick, but not so bad. at the top is Hydraulic lake, which is also a reservoir for kelowna. The water level seemed to be low, but sine this was my 1st visit, it's only a hunch. There are actually a few different lakes. all frozen over now, but with a dubious thickness of ice. There are 2 forestry campgrounds at the top. we chilled at the 2nd one and had a small fire. good chance to axe and saw some stuff up. getting the fire going was a challange, until we got the right wood. then it was all good.



we only chilled at the top for about an hour, then drove back down. i do believe that this camping are will be a spot for a possible winter camping trip and snowshoe adventure.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

terrace mountain, the long way around, and up, and down



star date nov 9th, 2009. just kidding, i think star trek is lame. but it was nov 9th. once again, kris and i decided to go somewhere cool. armed only with a general sense of direction but a good knowledge of coolness, we set out in the mighty truck. we decided to try and make our way up terrace mountain. thats where the biggest fire was this summer. i also heard of an abandoned mine that was in the area. that was all we knew, but we brought headlamps just in case we found the mine.


The mission began just off bear creek road. we saw lots of guys/ladies (its hard to tell when everyone has helmets on) ripping it up on dirtbikes. we checked out some of the trails on foot, and just when we were about to give up looking for the mine on the lower part of the mountain, we found it. We suited up (aka, turned on out flashlights) and began to adventure in. the welcoming party was a puddle of calf deep stinky mine water. then a big rat. we took a few pictures in the mine, then busted out of there. thinking there might be a bear or something worse. maybe an angry troll.



anyway... after the mine we continued up and up and up. into the land of ice and snow and dreams of winter tires. we took the long way around when we made one of those accidental on purpose decisions. the road was primo. until we got to the huge dead end. it was a dead end to rival all others. the road should have kept going, but didn't. our choices were to return and go up a different way, but it was a long drive back and we might not make the top before the darkness came. so we decided to follow a small dotted line on the map. clearly not a road, but our will power changed it into one! and after a medium size detour and 1 or 2 more dead ends, we were reunited with the correct road.


Then we saw the fires. we knew that the area had been badly burned during the great summer fire of '09, but we saw some big fires on the mountain across fintry valley. they were absolutely no threat to us, and we assumed that they were controlled fires set to burn off dry fuel/pine beetle kill. we left them alone and they left us alone.


so, we were back on the road, almost to the top. we spun up and down a few sketchy hills and the rocky summit was in sight. so was the steep switchback road that we couldn't believe was a road. even from a distance, it looked steep and very very sketchy. It was.

we made it part way up the road, which had about 20 cm of snow. There were tire tracks, but when they became quad tracks we got out of the truck. it was WAY too not drivable. even for us. having come this far, we obviously couldn't just turn around. so we hiked the last 2 km to the top. it was cold. there was snow. lots. the top felt like a blasted waste land, but with a crappy metal shack. we hung out there long enough to take some pictures and to say that we had been there.



then we walked back to the truck and drove back down.



The way down was uneventful (by our standards) and every road we took was the right one. or close at least. we saw some deer, some mountain goats and some very crazy tracks that must have belonged to a liger or something.


sadly, this adventure has taught me that adventures must be more mellow until i have tires more equipped to deal with the inevitable snow. but then... watch out. stay tuned for more adventures, even mellow ones can be sweet. trust me, i know adventures.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

its hard to blog when you are always on adventures



so... its not that i haven't had anything to write about. as vonnegut said "busy, busy, busy" thats my life. not always in a bad way.

this post will be dedicated to an adventure i had with Kris and Sven on Nov 1st. Kris is no stranger to those of you in my blog land, and sven was a welcome addition. we decided to try and find a wilderness camp that was built in 1990 by the environmental youth corp in the mountains near little white mountain. by camp, i mean a place to tent, not a bunch of cabins. we drove up and along the KVR in the truck, with only a vague idea of where we were going. Kris was wearing shorts. sven and i were not. finding the trailhead was pretty easy, and the camp really was a km or so up the trail. it was mission accomplished in a big way. photos i had seen of the camp showed it in a state of extreme disrepair. this was not the case upon our arrival. the camp was in prime condition, and the underground cold storage was back in action. someone really cleaned it up. we decided it is a good location for a potential winter camping mission in the future. we hiked up the trail a little more, but it was getting darkish in the bush, so we made tracks back to the truck.

then we made track in the truck. we followed a few different forestry and logging roads up into the forest and clearcuts up around crawford, just south east of kelowna. it was another successful mission.

btw...
tracks and trails is a sweet site on hiking and outdoor adventure type of stuff. lots of user comments, and Clayton Kessler (the guy who runs the site i think) seems like a bang up guy.