The Magic Satchel

Prior to leaving work on Friday I spent some Google time looking for hikes in the area we would be camping in that had some elevation gain. The closest I could find was Plateau Mountain, and lacking a better knowledge of the area this is where we decided to go. We didn’t have a map, and only a vague idea of where to go once we got out on the road, but we somehow managed to find the start of the hike without any turning around.

You start out on a road that is blocked off by a locked gate, and walk up at a relatively easy incline… on the road. This continues for a while and I say “well, it is great to be out here walking but this hike better not all be on this road or this is going to suck”. We continue walking on the road and reach the top of the ridge with no difficulty at all. The road continues off to our left and directly across from us is our goal, Plateau Mountain.

Yeah, the road we were on took us up 90% of the elevation gain we were expecting to have to work for, and there wasn’t an obvious alternative to the road to continue on to the top of the mountain. At this point I think we agreed this hike was sitting in the 2 or 3 out of 10 category for challenge, fun, views… all the stuff you hope for when you go on a hike.
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Yes, the new season is almost upon us and I’m ready to actually follow through on the “we should hike and / or camp more this summer” we say every year.I don’t see it happening every weekend, but I need to get out and see more stuff like this on a regular basis:

I’ve got myself some fancy collapsible trekking poles which should help distribute the load off my older than they should be knees and ankles. Also, for the first time in a number of years I’ve actually bought myself some real honest to goodness hiking boots.
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Details and photos will come tomorrow night.

For now, the feet and kness knees need their rest. (Evidently the brain needed some rest too!)

Edit sept. 25 23:23pm: Photos of Friday night and some from Saturday morning are now up on flickr, starting on page 2.

no, but you are a big freakin’ lake.

Howdy Calgary!!!

So, the first stretch of the 60km Kelowna chapter of the Weekend to End Breast Cancer is done: 10km through downtown Kelowna and along a Knox Mountain to the Paul’s Tomb recreation area. It was a windy afternoon/evening and the rain was pleasantly light and sporadic. Lovely weather for a hike.

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I know I said I’d do more writing on my September 8th hike, but since I went back out the following weekend (Sept. 15/16) to hike the ridge again plus camp for my birthday, I figured I would combine it all into one post.

(plus I’ve obviously been a combination of lazy and busy if I am only getting around to writing about my birthday camping weekend 6 days after the fact)
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This coming weekend Jen & I are going to walk/hike 60kms. As we couldn’t join my family in Calgary for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer, we are going our 60km this coming weekend around Kelowna.

We are planning 10 km for tomorrow night around downtown and up Knox Mountain to the Paul’s Tomb recreation area. Knox Mountain is at the north end of downtown Kelowna and overlooks the city and the Okanagan Lake.

Then Saturday we are heading down to the Myra-Bellevue trails just south of town. A large portion of this area was devastated by the massive fires of 2003; the black trees and the amazing regrowth make it a really neat area to hike through. We are planning to do 25kms in this area and then after heading home for a quick refresh doing another 5km around our neighbourhood.

Sunday will see us walking from our current home to our new home over in Westbank. This trek will take about 21km and seems like a charming and fitting end to the weekend. We’ll take lots of pictures and check back in on Sunday night. Or throughout the weekend if we feel ambitious!

for years I have insisted that the name of my favorite hike in Kananaskis is Nihani ridge, and not this Nihahi people kept correcting me with.

“must be a different hike” I says, “I know I read Nihani”.

well, today I went and did this hike for p/d/p (favorite place, mirrors and reflections) and it would appear I have found the source for my incorrect pronunciation.

This sign has been in pretty much the same condition since I first did this hike oh so many years ago (almost 20? holy crap!), and as a result I have always called it by what I saw.

more on the hike once I have time to sit and write about it properly.. plus pictures, and maybe a movie clip or two!

indefatigable \in-dih-FAT-ih-guh-bul\, adjective:
Incapable of being fatigued; not readily exhausted; untiring; unwearying; not yielding to fatigue

Let me tell you something about this mountain, it made me take the last part of this definition to heart.

I could have stopped any number of times through this hike and been ok with the progress I made, but I feel that unless you are talking about reaching the summit, the point of a scramble / mountain hike (within reason) isn’t to just say “I made it to that spot”. If I had turned back there would be a part of me that would insist I come back some other time to stand on top of this mountain and raise my arms in victory.

If I was hiking alone I might have stopped and turned back, using my need to be back in Calgary for 3pm as the perfect excuse to abort and go get something cold to drink. I didn’t turn back because I really did want to reach the top… plus Jon wouldn’t let me quit before we got there.
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what the? posting photos on the same day?

On the way up:

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When we reach Baldy South there is a group of 10 or more people up there, with the youngest I saw maybe being 50(?). I am pretty much mentally put in my place, and I sincerely hope I am still doing stuff like this when I am their age.

When I come puffing up the ridge to the peak like Thomas the Tank Engine I look at them all and say “well crap, why didn’t anyone tell me there was a shuttle bus up here?!?!”

They all laugh and we carry on… down a massive scree slope to the connecting ridge to Baldy West.
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