Bloganagan

Grandma Wears Hiking Boots – Preview

Hardy Falls - Kokanee Spotting

It’s a balmy fall Sunday. I’ve been buried in the office cave all week. I really n-e-e-e-d a hit of nature – something in a waterfall and maybe a bit of light Kokanee-spotting. Not a really tough trick in the Okanagan, unless your hiking partner’s a 23-pound six-month-old. You try pushing a stroller up the switchbacks to Bear Creek Falls!

Ditto for the eight hundred gazillion steps at Fintry.

Mission Creek Greenway is pretty and pushable, plus it comes equipped with salmon – but, alas, no waterfall.

I could see lots of birds at Haynes Point in Osoyoos – and it’s stroller-friendly – but now we’re coming up short on both waterfalls and salmon.

If you’re hoping there’s punch line somewhere, here it is – Hardy Falls.

Cathedral Park & Cathedral Lakes Lodge

Picture a middle-aged woman in multi-pocketed safari shorts, festooned in backpack and cameras, flinging wide her arms and bursting into a spontaneous chorus of The Sound of Music. Okay, so I didn’t actually sing, but only out of deference to the sensibilities of resident small creatures.

St. Peter’s may be bigger and St. Paul’s more historic, but I think the world's most beautiful cathedral is right here in Southern BC. Encompassing 33,000 hectares of pristine wilderness in the transition zone between the North Cascades and the Okanagan Mountains, Cathedral Provincial Park is a place of spiritual beauty.

Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre

Why did the biologist paint the rattler’s tail yellow? Who cares – I hate snakes – well, more like love/hate. The fact is, I actually wanted to see a rattler, but they’re getting so scarce in BC’s southern Okanagan Valley that my best chance for a sighting was the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos.

Bear Creek Trails

When I want to show visitors the full-meal-deal Okanagan nature experience in a compact morning hike, Bear Creek Provincial Park is my go-to place. Easy access, right on Westside Road (directly across Okanagan Lake from Kelowna), with trail options that show off all the attractions from cottonwood riparian zone to arid ponderosa pine parkland with a waterfall thrown in for bonus points. Check out my Okanagan Hikes photo album for more pics.

California Bighorns

Just had to share this. One of my absolute fav things about living in the Okanagan is seeing awesome creatures in the wild. My life list here in the valley includes kokanee salmon, bald and golden eagles, osprey, hawks, slews of water birds, black bears, mule deer, white tail deer, moose, mountain goats and these guys, California bighorn sheep. This bunch roams a ridge on the west side of Okanagan Lake.

I got a phone call yesterday tipping me off that they were near Westside Road at the junction with the Bear Main Forest Service Road. I grapped the camera and jumped in Snow White. By the time I got there, part of the group had moved out of sight, but I climbed down the slope and came across this ram and his harem.