Overnight in Gwillim Basin – Valhalla Provincial Park BC

First I would like to dedicate this blog to my brother Nathan who we lost 5 years ago today.  He loved the mountains and felt at peace in them.  I took him on this trip with me and together we explored this magical place.  It was the ultimate nature therapy.  I want to thank all who joined in from the Kootenay Hiking Club and we look forward to going up again for the Perseid meteor showers on August 13.  

The Valhalla Provincial Park is in beautiful British Columbia just outside of Slocan.  Slocan is located at the southern tip of Slocan lake, more information can be found here.  It is a great starting and ending point to your hiking adventure.  Gas up, stock up at the local store and relax at our beautiful beach.  

Heading out of Slocan you will go up the back road aprox. 26 km to Little Slocan lakes.  At this point you will turn up the Hoder creek FSR and travel about another 22 km to the trail head.  The way is marked by small blue Valhalla signs.  Be aware that this is a bumpy road and the last 2 km especially.  Low clearance vehicles/cars are not recommended as you will probably leave pieces behind on the last bit.

This is a provincial park and there are rules to the park.   There are absolutely no dogs allowed in the park except on the lake trail to Evans creek only (they also have to be leashed on this part).  I have a furry baby myself whom I love very much but there are specific reasons why they are not allowed in the park.  This is a refuge area which they try to maintain as pristine an environment as possible even though it has human interaction.  Dogs can predate and also interfere with the natural predation cycle of the park by leaving scents.  Dog feces also contains bacterias which can be detrimental to the wildlife and I myself have seen people who have illegally brought their dogs into the park leave their excrement behind.  This is only a small area where there is refuge compared to the millions of hectares where you can take dogs freely.  More information on impacts on wildlife can be seen here.  There are also no campfires allowed in the park either.  Wood in alpine areas is sparse so chopping down trees can greatly impact the growth in the area as they do not grow back easily.  Fires not fully put out can also cause wildfires which we see all to often around here.  It only takes one spark to decimate hectares of forest area.  Please be responsible and adhere to park rules, they are not there to annoy people they are there for specific reasons.  We would like to these areas to flourish and not become another casualty to people not realizing their impact on their surroundings.   More information on the trails and maintenance can be seen at the government website

Now we will continue to the our wonderful overnight trip to Gwillim Basin with the hiking club.  A wonderful group of people took an overnight trip on Aug 1/2 into my favorite area.  It was a great experience for me as I have not done any overnight backpacking for years and I was a lot younger when I did.  I took up a overnight pack I believe was a 50L but not 100% sure as it was an older pack.  Strapped on a sleeping bag, inflatable tent mattress and a small 1 to 2 man tent.  Packed light with pre-packaged and dried food and some warm clothes for the night and ready to go. Also with the usual medical items and utensils too.  Keep your pack as light as you can as climbing uphill it will seem a lot heavier than it is.  The first gallery of pictures will be our hike up to the basin with stops at Drinnon and Wicca lakes.

Starting out

Lisa heading over the rock slide

Shannon and Shawn break at Drinnon Lake

I took a walk around the lake to find some new spots

Another break at Wicca lake and some lunch

Another walk around Wicca

Taking it all in

A local resident

The top of the cliffs

Shawn taking in the breathtaking view

Once at the top we all found areas to make camp.  Being a long weekend it was pretty busy up top but we all managed to find a little piece to call our own for the night.  After making camp many pulled out their little stoves to make dinner.  And since it’s summer we had daylight until around 9:30 so it was plenty of time for little walks and exploring.  The sun going down was beautiful on the peaks.  You could see the sunlight inch away until it disappeared completely.  We were lucky to have a full moon that night and watching it rise was amazing.  It was huge and orange coming up over the jagged peaks.  Unfortunately my camera couldn’t get past the brightness so my pictures didn’t turn out but I do have it all in my memory 🙂

My little tent

view from my campsite

Evening is coming

The sun is starting to go down

The last of the suns fiery light

The last remnants of pink on the peak and it was gone

The night was almost as bright as daytime with the full moon.  Several of us woke up through the night trying to figure out if it was getting light out or it was the moon.  At just before 6 am though, I decided it was time to wake up and start the day.  After a quick breakfast I set out on my own for a walk around the basin.  I did a little exploring and found captivating areas and amazing scenery.  I could have spent all day staring at the beauty but unfortunately we had to go back down on this day.  So after an awesome walk and some nature therapy I headed back and we all took down camp to go home.

Sunrise

Paul using one of the stove stand found at the communal cooking area

Shannon getting ready for her walk

I’m off for my tour

Heading around the back part of Gwillim lake

One of the streams coming down from the upper lake

You can scramble up this rockslide to get to a panoramic viewpoint

looking down into the basin

One of our hikers, Peter, found a route to the top on this side

You can just see Peter disappear at the top

Coming into a meadow

Picture perfect

The lakes reflected everything

Every crevice has millions of years of geological stories

The meadow

A little waterfall from the upper lake

A pika posing for me 🙂

an amazing natural design

a farther perspective

So cute and he swam like a duck 🙂

Paradise

He kept sharpening his beak between squawking at me.

And all too soon the trip is at an end.  I want to thank all those who joined the Kootenay hiking club on this wonderful adventure.  It was a really fun time with a great group of people.  I can’t wait to do it again and also explore new areas 🙂  If you would like any information on the area or Slocan please contact me at kootenayhikingclub@gmail.com.  I leave you with the end of the trip pictures.

Lisa and Frank packing up

Shannon packing up

Last look at the Basin

Heading home

Thanks for the good times 🙂

People of Slocan

Due to getting this blog up Dark Bindings Pt 11 will be postponed a couple of days but will be up quick 🙂  Welcome everyone to the People of Slocan blog.  This blog is to show you a little of our wonderful village nestled in the Selkirk Mountain ranges in the West Kootenays.  First a little direction to where we are.  We are in the southern interior of beautiful British Columbia in an area called the West Kootenays.  This is a gorgeous area full of many wonderful and scenic towns such as Nelson and Kaslo.  We are 72 km north of Nelson at the end of the Slocan Valley.  The Village sits at the end of a 29 mile long lake, Slocan Lake, which also borders the Valhalla Provincial Park.  It is a small village of approximately 325 people (not including outlying areas, which bumps up the population quite a bit)  Although we are small we have an amazing amount artisans, events and things to do.  This blog is going to show you a little of what we have to offer and the talented people who live here.  I am unable to show all of what there is due to time and size restraints but I will be doing three more blogs showcasing more throughout the seasons.  I want to thank all of the wonderful people who allowed me to come in and photograph their art, businesses and events and themselves and those who allowed me to share their photos, so please check out each gallery.  Please share our area with those you know.

Welcome to our town 🙂

To begin I would like to show you a little of our town.  Our wonderful beach and it’s quiet streets that are enjoyable to walk in the evenings.  Quiet atmosphere with a background of imposing mountains.  You can feel the stress drop away if you wander around just listening to the sounds of the wind and cheeps of the birds nestling in for the evening.  Go to the beach and sit on a log watching the bats swoop and fish leap for their evening meal in the summer.  In the winter gaze on the snow capped peaks of the majestic mountains of the Valhallas.  Wander back along the Rails to Trails track that runs along the river and hear the soothing music of the water as it rushes down to eventually merge with the Kootenay river into Kootenay Lake.  If you happen to meet someone along the way you most likely will receive a “good evening” with a smile as they too enjoy the peace of the area. Visit the Village website here.  photo credit all photos: Becky Mayrhofer

A gorgeous tree-lined street

Our Village office

The boat launch, to go to a boating adventure along the many hidden beaches

Sit in the gazebo and enjoy the magnificent views

Who wouldn’t want to live here with a view like this

The fall brings beautiful colors in our backyard

More fall colors and a place to see the history of the town

Fall creeps on and green fades away

Winter sets in but still picturesque

Even the winter brings it’s own beauty

breathtaking

We have some wonderful events here in our little town.  Since it is winter I will show you some of what we have for this time of year.  To start one is the Christmas tree light up.  A first year event it brought many citizens out to brave the cold temperatures.  We had a fire to toast our hands over and as well as the light up we had a lovely group of ladies sing Christmas carols for us.  Santa showed up much to the delight of many of the younger crowd who lined up to give him their Christmas wishes.  When the tree was lit it was beautiful, adorned with many homemade decorations that the various townspeople made.  A wonderful event to be held annually in the parking lot of the Wellness Center. photo credit all photos: Becky Mayrhofer

The crowd is starting to gather

Our lovely Karen signing people up for the house decorating contest

Everyone adding their own touches to the tree

The tree is lit 🙂

Still adding the finishing touch

Santa’s sleigh waiting for him

Santa’s here 😀

What do you want for Christmas?

Mesmerized by the fire

After the wonderful light-up we had Christmas caroling on December 21st.  A group of us went out to spread some holiday cheer in the neighborhood.  It’s always heart-warming to hear someone singing on your doorstep, especially if one is alone on the holidays.  It was fun to ride on a trailer and share the cheer with everyone. photo credit all photos: Becky Mayrhofer

Loading up

Coming out to listen

Our lovely bunch of volunteer singers

Our lovely singers 🙂

All tuckered out from wishing everyone a Merry Christmas

Beautiful Christmas lights

The events are wonderful in our little Village but it offers so much more.  Full of wonderful businesses where you can get home made goods and delectables.  And wonderful Artisans who craft amazing pieces of art from jewelry to pottery to clothing and much much more.   I will feature just a few of these in today’s blog and will preview more in the following three blogs I will do.  There is so much I cannot fit it all in just one!  So stay with me and lets go on to the features of the Village of Slocan.

First I would like to bring you to a business that I must admit is near and dear to my heart.  I work here when I’m not out hiking, snowshoeing, taking pictures or blogging.  Mountain Valley Station.  We are like the post person neither rain, snow or power outages will close us down 😉  This little gem of a business is owned by Pat and Peggy Ashton and offers gas, food, a bottle recycling depot, ATM, and features crafts from some of the local artisans. Going fishing on our magnificent lake?  We have everything you need.  It is also a meeting place to have a coffee and a chat with your neighbor.  They also host the annual Boxing Day Skate with hot chocolate and hot dogs for the community.  Here is the little store with more. photo credit: Becky Mayrhofer

Mountain Valley Station

Have a seat and a cup of coffee while reading the paper

Yum homemade 🙂

Pat and Peg hosting their annual Boxing Day Skate party. Liz manning the BBQ 🙂

Getting a yummy hot chocolate and hot dog

Pat with his favorite Christmas hat

Everybody coming together for a little visit and chat

Warming by the fire

The moon coming out to end a perfect day

If you are in town and need a wonderful, cozy and immaculate place to stay try the Blue Moon B&B.  This Victorian style home boasts three amazing rooms and is run by Julie Bouchard and Stefan Kreuzer.  Julie and Stefan are long time residents of the Kootenays who are fluent in several languages.  They also love the outdoors so can steer you to the many activities that our area has to offer.  When you wake up in the morning you are greeted with a gourmet breakfast made only from the finest ingredients.  It sits on the edge of Springer creek so wander out to the yard in the morning and enjoy the sounds of nature while enjoying a fine cup of coffee.  All their amenities and bookings can be found on their webpage Blue Moon B&B 

photo cred all photos: Julie Bouchard

A cozy nook for a breakfast experience

Wonderful art decorates the home to stimulate the senses

Stonework bathroom

cozy beds to rest your weary head on

Beautiful Green surroundings

cozy up in this stylish living room

Next up we have the fabulous Ice Creek Lodge.  This incredible lodge is nestled on the northwestern edge of the Valhalla Park range and is run by Russell and Courtney Hulbert.  It is a back country ski and back country snowboarding paradise.  The timber framed lodge sits at 6100 feet and is surrounded by spectacular terrain and breath taking views.  For the outdoors adventurer this is the place for you. There are knowledgeable staff and owners for all your needs to take a trip from the mundane into another world including epic ski descents of over 3500 feet.  All this in the stunning peaks of the Valhallas, our diverse and amazing park.  One taste will leave you wanting more!  See all the amazing features or book a trip for Ice Creek Lodge on their webpage or their Facebook page   photo credit all photos: Russell and Courtney Hulbert

Ice Creek Lodge

Trekking in the mountains

Sunset

Ridge at sunset

Ultimate skiing

Paradise in the mountains

These are just a few of the businesses we also have The Village Market, a full grocery and liquor store.  They carry local produce in the summer and boast a wide variety of organic foods.  Going up to camp in the mountains for the night?  Stock up on your foodstuff here, for all your nutritional needs.   Need a coffee?  Stop in at Fullabeans for a specialty coffee.  Shop at Second Generation second hand and collectibles for that treasure. There is also a restaurant and the Legion which has jams every Sunday.  Stop in and listen to some music or join in if you like.  Workout for that hike at our fully equipped gym or relax and read a book at the Community library.  I will feature all of these in the next few blogs.

Now we have some pretty cool local talent.  From crafters and artisans to the most raddest and amazing snowmobilers.  To start I would like to introduce Hickshow Productions.  These are some extremely talented snowmobilers that can tame any mountain.  People from around the country and the states come up to take a ride with the Hick’s boys.  They are also our local mechanics (They are the only ones to work on our car and it runs great 🙂 )  Not only can you come up and shred some snow but tune up your vehicle at the same time.  With their amazing rides they take advantage of the abundance of snow here but on top of that are extremely knowledgeable of the conditions and terrain.  If you want to see some of their epic pictures and videos check out their website or their Facebook page  Their website has a wide variety of videos that bring you right to where the action is.  Join in for the ride of your life.   Photo cred all photos: Julia Caceres.  

Introducing the main people:

Cam Hicks

Tyler Hicks

Tyler Gretchen

Julia Caceres photographer extraordinaire and awesome rider

See full complement of riders here

Next up we are going to visit Moving Mountain Pottery.  This wonderful fully functional pottery workshop is run by Willo Treschow.  Stop in to see the wonderful art or join in on one of her public pottery days.  Not only can you create your own works of art but enjoy a great conversation and meet the people who love to come for a visit.  Willo has been featured in Artquest and did an interview with them that can be seen here along with some of her great pottery.  Willo also works with local children giving them an artistic avenue to express themselves.  Looking for something quiet to do for an afternoon, stop in at Moving Mountains Pottery.  You can see more of her items on the Facebook Page as well as the blogsite  photo cred: artquest photos Willo Treschow  remaining pictures: Becky Mayrhofer

photo credit: artquest.ca

Deifer

The Green Lady

creating the art

Working the clay

Taking shape

Smoothing the edges

Waiting to be fired

Next up is our local music teacher and weaver Terry B. Moore.  Terry teaches all the local kids music and some of the adults too.  He is a versatile musician who plays guitar and piano and has also performed in bands throughout the years.  Terry also has another talent and that is weaving.  He weaves the most marvelous jackets on a New Zealand floor loom.   I had never heard of them before but when I looked it up it seems pretty amazing.  Unfortunately it’s that time of year that Terry is snowed in as he lives up the mountain, but he has promised I could take pictures of the loom when the snow goes.  photo credit all photos: Becky Mayrhofer

Getting ready for a lesson

Rocking the jacket

And now to our final artisans and crafters for this blog.  As I said there are many many more that I will be previewing over the next three blogs.  The following two have their crafts for sale at Mountain Valley Station.  Both are extremely talented and are very popular with the customers.  First off is Liz Newman, our jam maker extaordinaire and crafter of beads, bath products and so much more.  Liz’s jam and red pepper jelly are all the rage and do very brisk sales.  I can personally vouch for the red pepper jelly, it is delicious with brie and crackers!!  Photo credit all photos: Becky Mayrhofer

The best red pepper jelly

Yummy jam

Salts for a soothing bath

Oils for a massage after that long hike

And last but most definitely not least is Laurie Hill.  Laurie makes the most fantastic jewelry.  Utilizing different stones and materials she comes up with striking necklaces, earring, bracelets and more.  Many local people shop her jewelry for gifts, myself included.  If you want something specially made she will do her best to accommodate you also.  Here are just a few of her beautiful pieces. Photo credit all photos: Becky Mayrhofer

I hope you enjoyed my first installment of People of Slocan.  We have a wonderful village full of great people.  Sometimes one forgets or doesn’t see the little nooks that exist all around us.  Places that exist in the grandeur of nature, tucked away in there own little niche. I brought you into ours to experience the beauty around us both in nature and people.  We always enjoy meeting new people and sharing our little corner of paradise.  The world is growing and sometimes it’s nice to get away from it all.  Here is a great place to do that.  If you want anymore information on anything featured in this blog or about our area please feel free to email me at kootenayhikingclub@gmail.com

Slocan life

I went for a walk to day…again 🙂  So you pretty much know what is coming now.  A plethora of pictures.  I can’t help myself when I’m out walking I need to snap pictures.  But I didn’t take as many close ups today (a few but not alot)  I took more scenic photos plus I’m adding a few from the summer.  I wanted to show everyone what my area is like.  You’ve seen pictures of the beautiful Valhalla park on our backdoor.  That is why Slocan is known as the Gateway to the Valhallas.  So a little about my small little town nestled in the Selkirk mountain range.  We are a small village, 325 people within village limits to be exact.  If you include the outlying areas it does go up quite a bit.  Although we are small we have a lot of really neat things to do here.  For example what town small as us has a library and a fitness center!   That’s right we have both and they are pretty cool.  Our library has an excellent selection of books and is run by volunteers that spend quite a bit of time making sure there is great reading material.  Our fitness center is also run by a volunteer committee and boasts two treadmills, an elliptical machine, stationary bike, over 20 weight machines, free weights and a (what I call) chin up, pull up etc…thing.  And thanks to a key code lock you can go pretty much when you want (code is changed regularly and can be found at the village office or our local Mountain Valley Station)  We also are sitting on a 29 mile long lake and have numerous trails in and around the Village itself.  Looking for a place to stay, we also have wonderful B&B’s one of which is the stunning Blue Moon B&B. Fresh healthy breakfast and immaculate cozy rooms.  Want to kayak or canoe on our wonderful lake, look up Smiling Otter to rent one to go out on your own or they also have guided tours.  Or if you want to be up in the wilderness book into Ice Creek Lodge an amazing lodge sitting on the edge of alpine territory.    Mountain Valley Station has all you need from gas,atm, bottle depot to munchies for the road and boasts the biggest ice cream cones west of Winnipeg in the summer (It’s true too, I scoop them myself 🙂 ) this is next door to a cute little coffee shop where you can get all your specialty coffees. Want to look at some collectibles? Stop in at the Second Generation store. A second hand store with lovely antiques and knowledgeable ladies. We even have a resident hair dresser at Kootenay Cut and Dye to freshen up before you attend one of the local events or dances. We have annual Casino nights, Pig roast, Hallowe’en and New year dances and texas hold em poker tournaments 4 times a year and much more. Want some beautiful music for a romantic night, hire Two for Trippin, a wonderful duet that provides great music for that dinner or gathering your having.  There is a market for all your grocery needs with a great organic section and a restaurant. I could list all day all the things and services this village has to offer.  All the modern conveniences you need but without the crowded city.  And the best part about my town is that it’s like stepping through a time clock.  You can come here and all your stresses will melt away in the splendor of your surroundings.  Go for a walk and actually hear nature and feel it’s healing.   I have walked these back roads for many years and never get tired of going down them, that’s how magical it is.  Even walking the town streets is amazing with so many people growing large vegetable gardens in their yards and beautiful flowers.  It’s no wonder we have so many creative people here.  The artisans are amazing and craft unique and wonderful items from pottery, jewelery, paintings and more.  So if you happen to be traveling through southern British Columbia and come into the West Kootenays stop in at Slocan.  The people are great and scenery can’t be beat anywhere.  Stock up or relax before heading into our amazing park.  If you would like any information on our area please email me at kootenayhikingclub@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to help you know our little niche of paradise better 🙂  And look our club up at Kootenay Hiking Club on facebook.  We hike throughout the spring, summer and fall and anyone can join in. Feel free to share our little town with people you know too 🙂

Our beautiful lake, looking at the Valhalla Park

One of the other things to do…rockclimbing.  Practice up before tackling Gimli Peak in the Valhallas one of the premier climbing peaks in the world.

One more picture of the wildlife you will see on top of the goats, marmots, squirrels, bears, cougars etc etc…Don’t worry taking proper precautions in the bush and you will be fine.  There alot of knowledgeable people around here to give you a hand.

Just want to relax, sit on the beach and stare at this.  Feel the stress just drain away.

Summer is beautiful here no doubt about that but even the winter snow can bring a whole new beautiful out.

And there are always nature walks, if you don’t want to scout a trail just walk along the backroads and this is what you’ll see.  Spring, summer, fall and winter there are always wonders everywhere.  These are a few sites I see from walking the “loop” a 4km circular walk down the backroad a bit.  It’s a popular route among locals and easy for anyone to follow.  These following shots are taken today in the cold (and not particularly exciting) month of November.  And there is still so much to see.

Curling up from the cold

Drowning in ice, but still keeping it’s last flash of green

An old shed, relic from the past.

Another old relic but very cool nonetheless.

A sign with pizzazz 🙂  Who needs eyesore billboards? Have something fun that doesn’t take away from the surroundings.

Berries still clinging on.

Take a walk down the rails to trails.  It starts in Slocan and runs along the scenic Slocan River to Crescent Valley and is aprox 54 km long.  A great place to bike, walk or cross country ski.  The scenery is amazing or if you prefer, float down the river.  A great way to also spend the day cooling off in the summer sun.

This has been here since I’ve been here and that is alot of years.  I always thought it looked like a horse.

Some moss, we have alot of that here.  It’s wonderful to lay in in the summertime, very soft.  A little to cold right now.

A lonely berry holding out until spring.

A rock. Why?  Just because, and also because I like the green 🙂

I detoured a little from the loop so I could go up to Gwillim creek.  I am looking back down the road as you can see not much around up here, just the way I like it.

This creek comes from the lake in Gwillim Basin of which I posted pictures of in September.  It is my most favorite hike of all and it is also the source of our towns drinking water.  Farther up the creek is the water plant and reservoir.  It is very beautiful with it’s ice capped rocks.

Along the way I passed by the shop of one of the artisans of Slocan.  Moving Mountain Pottery is run by Willo and has lovely pottery pieces.  It is also open to the public and you can go in and make your own pottery.  More information can be found on her facebook page:  Moving Mountain Pottery.

This is the last stretch coming back into town.

A beautiful wall of ice.

This creek runs close to my house.  We just got over a cold snap and as you can see it’s pretty icy.

And that is it.  The end of this walk and our Village office.  It has Christmas lights up but unfortunately you can’t see them.  They are very pretty at night.  Maybe I’ll get a picture one day……. 😉

Gimli- Hiking the Valhallas

Welcome to the Gimli hike.  This mountain is in the Valhalla Provincial Park in British Columbia.  It is an approximately 25 km drive up the back roads of the West kootenay area out of Slocan Village.  The last part of the drive is a bit rough so I would recommend using a truck or 4 wheel drive vehicle.  Once at the trail head you will begin the hike at an steady incline through forested areas.  Eventually you will break out of the forest into an alpine area with amazing views.  Once at Gimli it was absolutely amazing,  I didn’t think of anything else except the stunning panorama before me.  We then skirted along the base of Gimli Peak to get to the adjacent ridge to look over Mulvey Basin.  It was like looking down into a lost world, you so badly wanted to go down into it but there were high cliff walls so you need mountaineering equipment to get into the Basin.  On our way back storms started brewing.  The electricity in the air was so much that our hair started standing on end.  I must say it was a scary experience being out in the open on top of a mountain with lightening hitting the neighboring mountainsides.  Needless to say we hunkered down for a bit until their was a break in the storms and then beat a hasty retreat down the mountain.  All in all though a wonderful hike and I’m lucky enough to go again next week 🙂  I hope you enjoy these pics and for anymore information on this hike or any others please email kootenayhikingclub@gmail.com  

Welcome to paradise!

 

 

 

Driving into the backcountry to the trailhead.

Mini waterfall over stones.

Looking up the mountain before we being ascending.

Beginning to see the beautiful mountains as we go up.

Our destination, Gimli, imposing yet enticing.

Treeline cutting off the menacing rockface.

A beautiful flower dancing in the forest.

Castles on the ridge.

Is that snow over there?

It sure is.  We are up high enough that the snow hasn’t melted even in the blistering heat.

A little cutie having his afternoon snack.

Getter closer the anticipation is building.

Starting to get into the alpine.

So imposing it takes your breath away.

Starting to emerge from the forest and see the expanding vistas.

Each peak starting to emerge in it’s splendor.

Valleys appearing from another world.

This is called the Hippyhead flower. 

A jagged trio reaching to the sky.

A local watching us climb up.

And another, we must be interesting.

Into the alpine.

Now we are starting to hit snow.  Any other time I would say yuk but on a hot day like this day it was so refreshing!

Pretty purple alpine flowers

A marmot checking us out also.

I so badly wanted to explore everywhere I saw.

When I began my weight loss journey, I said one day I would climb to Gimli.  Finally I made it and I feel great!  Now to conquer other heights.

Now heading over to the ridge overlooking Mulvey Basin.

Ascending to the base of Gimli Peak to traverse across.

No words can express, except don’t look down too much it’s a long way down.

As far as the eye can see, stunning mountains.

The somewhat sketchy traverse was worth it..look at this beauty.

If you look hard enough, you can see dryads and satyrs cavorting in the trees.

I wouldn’t want to try and climb those rocks!

 Looking up the sheer face of Gimli, I had to hold on to take this picture!

Another goat climbing up the rock face.

 uh-oh time for the human lightening poles to get off the mountain. Until next time Gimli.

 

 

 

 

 

BC Coast

So here are some pictures of traveling down to the BC coast.  Where I currently live is in the interior and you can see how beautiful that is 🙂  The coast is incredibly beautiful too!  It is a temperate rainforest so vegetation is very lush.  We were lucky to have very warm sunny weather while we were there but on the last day on the way home it rained.  It gave me a chance to take some beautiful misty mountain pictures.  Some of these pictures were taken out a car window so I’m pretty happy they turned out alright 😛  I hope you enjoy these pictures.  On another note I recently dreamed up (literally) a new story.  I am calling it “Lord of the Twisted Vale”.  It is somewhat dark, in fact I was laying in bed thinking up part of the storyline and creeped myself out lol.  I try to imagine myself in the storyline, but it will be a great story (not a horror by the way)  I’m very excited about this one and when I get it started I will post a few excerpts of it on my blog.  I hope everyone enjoyed the 6th installment of “Dark Bindings” also! 

 

On our way past Christina Lake BC

Greenwood BC, stepping back to the frontier days.

The Okanagan Valley, a desert type area.  Watch out for rattlesnakes.

A visitor in Oliver BC.  A little muskrat making his rounds for dinner.

Sitting in a little bit of heaven.

A road through the mountain.

Beautiful mountain vistas fading away.

The Hope Slide.  In 1965 60 million cubic yards of dirt, snow, ice, rock came down from the mountain.  It buried the highway and 4 cars.  2 were recovered the remaining 2 are entombed forever in the rock.  There were two earthquakes recorded at the time, either causing or caused by the slide.

These mountains, also near Hope, inspired some of my writings in “Shadows in the Mountain”  When they are wreathed in mists it’s very inspiring.

Beautiful glaciers.

Just hanging out contemplating the beauty around.

A twisted growth rising out of the lush environment.  Reminds me of my story.

A beautiful rainforest setting, so lush and green.

A Canada goose, swimming and cooling of in the lake.

Walking the baby like a good mother.

Vancouver BC cityscape.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen gardens in Chinatown.  Built to emulate the Ming dynasty from 1368-1644 the gardens are a beautiful place to be.

It is definitely like stepping back in time.

The following pictures were taken at the Vancouver Aquarium.  You cannot use flash on you camera so I tried to get these as best I could.

Jellyfish 🙂

 

 

 

 

Finding Nemo

We were hoping this was a frog raindance.

Urban art, very cool.

 

 

 

Totems standing majestically in the tall grass.

A little raccoon checking things out.

The seawall, a biking paradise.

A lonely tree atop a lonely isle. 

Tankers heading out to sea.

The following are some shots I took of the mountains.  They remind me so much of the settings of some of my stories especially “Shadows in the Mountain”   I love misty mountains so much.

Hiking the Valhallas – Bannock Point and Viewpoint Trail

To begin I would like to dedicate today’s blog to my wonderful mother-in-law who has just passed away from cancer.  She was a wonderful person who encouraged us to follow our dreams and supported our healthy lifestyle.  She loved to hear about our hikes.  I know she will be with us in all our adventures around the mountains.  Love you Diane Langlois, may your soul fly with the eagles now.

This hike took place at Bannock point and viewpoint trail just over midway up the Slocan Lake.  The turnoff is about 2.5 km out of Silverton B.C. a quaint little town nestled in the Kootenays.  Bannock Point is also a wilderness campground and incredibly beautiful.  The shots of us at lake level are taken at Bannock Point and you will definitely see the allure.  After we hiked around Bannock point we went up Viewpoint trail which leads along the side of the mountain.  If you are really terrified of heights I wouldn’t recommend it but I really don’t like heights and I was able to hike it with minimal heart pounding 🙂  The trail skirts along the edge of some moderate to fairly high drops but majority of it is away from the edges.  The view from this trail is outstanding.  We were able to look across to the adjacent mountains and into the valley area.  I could have stood for hours looking at the view.  All the pictures taken above lake level are from this trail.  We decided to take a marked trail back through the forest (just to check it out)  and it was pretty cool.  It kind of reminded me of a setting for some dark fairy tale with splashes of green along the way.  Towards the end of the trail we came across about (and I’m not kidding) 30 or more piles of bear poop.  That was a little freaky and a reminder that this is wilderness area and you must exercise caution when hiking.  Bring bear spray and noise makers and just read up on bear awareness before you go out hiking.  My poor husbands eyes were getting as big as saucers with every pile.  I must admit I’d never seen so much in one area, it must be it’s territory.  There are several trails marked off the one we took leading to other areas but we didn’t have the time to explore them, next time 🙂  I hope you enjoy the pictures and welcome to Bannock Point and area in the beautiful mountains of the Kootenays.  If you would like any information on these hikes please feel free to email me at kootenayhikingclub@gmail.com

 

A bubbling stream coming down from the dark forest above.

Looking north to the still snow-capped peaks of the Selkirks.

Glaciers peaking out from the background.

Forbidding walls of stone but the trees still manage to climb them.

Watching over the still waters of the lake.

My husband and I, shadows in the lake.

Reaching from the ground, grasping as you go by.

Eating the tree, a little stone whale.

A slide of rock and moss, plunging into the depths.

The final petals of a spring flower going out in a splash of pink.

Into the Valhallas, three majestic peaks.

Ripples in the water, like ripples in time falling into the deeps.

Kayakers enjoying the serene waters.

Dropped in the middle of the forest, as if by a giant, unseen hand.

Looking south towards home.

A throne fit for a king.

Hmmm. Should we be worried?

A beautiful mountain, framed by life and death.

A dwarf dogwood, opening to the world.

Getting higher up.

Follow the trail.

This part is on the edge of a drop off with a log jammed in for an extra step.

The trail winding along the rocks and moss.

Higher up looking north again.

Looking the other way towards the back mountains.

A very steep climb down, better to go down on an angle.

Looking south from the top of the cliffs.

Ripped from the ground by an unseen force.

Wandering through a forest of ferns.

A tunnel into another world.

Near the end almost like an obstacle course, near where the bear activity was.