Touchdown in Vancouver after a brief layover in San Fransisco airport. Had a bit of a close call at immigration (they just couldn't understand how someone gets enough time off work to travel casually for a few months! Apparently being self employed does the job convincing them...) and then a reunion with Maureen and Larry! No time to see the sights though, it was evening and we headed straigh to Chilliwack where we were using friends spare beds for the night.
Next morning we woke to rain! Lots of it. This meant that the beautiful scenic drive ahead (which this whole day had been planned around) was to be.... Altered. I can't say ruined because I really love rain! The mist was low and the rain fell hard and thick for most of the 4 hour drive that day (with wipers on full for 2 of those hours). Couldn't see much and the downpour was apparently very uncharacteristic of this region. We arrived at Peachland around midday to pop in and see Maureen's parents, who are still living in the Sam house they've been in since 1968! They came with us for lunch up the road a bit where I got to meet Nicole for the first time in 18 months! The main difference now being that her hair is short and mine is long!
The rain had cleared by now, but as soon as Nicole and I got to her place it just started. The first rain in Kelowna for quite some time, they have been having a heat wave and there were a lot of active forest fires in the region, so it really was a blessing, as long as more lightning didn't start any new ones. Nicole and her boyfriend Logan (who was ways for work) live in a converted cabin upon a hill in the woods in a region called Bear creek, not far from views out over the lake and township below. Gorgeous :)
That evening we hit up a local pub on 'wings Wednesday' and then got ready for our adventure starting the next morning.
The rain was still going, but we set off in hope of some clear views. Again, the rain felt enjoyable, and we'd be passing back this way next week, so I was ok to miss the views. Our first stop was some nice, highway side waterfalls and swing bridge.
We had lunch at Revelstoke and then onto Rogers Pass, what should be a stunning pass in the middle of the Glacier National Park, but the clouds were low and wet. We were booked to stay at a hut that night, and had planned on hiking the next morning up into one of the glacial valleys. At the camps office we are told that the valley we were planning on visiting currently is hosting a not-so-friendly mumma grizzly bear! It had even tried to charge a group of people the day before! So they suggest going in with large groups only, but in general probably just avoid that hike. But fear not! The hut is in a good place, so we just decided to get ourselves there and see what to do after. We were all excited for a hike in the rain for a couple of km's, got all geared up and waterproofed and headed out to the hut. Which turned out to be so close that the guy at the car park entrance offered to walk us there!!! Haha doh. We misinterpreted those directions! So anyway, a 150m hike later and we arrive in paradise:
This cabin, "Wheeler's Hut" is situated near the road at the base of the mountains that make up Glacier National Park. It is names after Authur Wheeler, the first mountaineer of this region. From here, many of the hikes into glacial valleys, up to summits and mountaineering treks can be started. Staying with us here were a friendly older couple from Ontario and a pair not-so-friendly old men who were going mountaineering. Shame that they weren't chatty because I'm sure they had some stories to tell!
Cabins like this are all over Canada, the best ones, like this, which are run by the Alpine Club of Canada. The upkeep is impressive, and very comfy for $25/night. Especially (as you'll see later) for the huts that are only accessible by hours of difficult hiking, which they keep replenished by helicopter!
The hut houses 30 people. It had two rooms like that which you see below - fireplace, two long bench tables, padded bench stools, books and games, and in between these two rooms is a large, self contained kitchen with 4 stoves and all kitchenware needed. Upstairs there were three open rooms with a total of 30 king single size, super padded and comfy mattresses. Even you would have been comfy mum! Pretty luxurious camping :)
In the late 19th century, the Canadian Pacific Railway came through this area. But due to needing such a steep absent to get to the park, they were unable to host a dining car. Consequently, the Glacier Hotel was build. Only metres from where we camped in the hut hosted a first class hotel, where passenger would alight the luxurious train for night in the mountains. The hotel and train stop also served as a way for all the explorers to base their adventures, in an otherwise impossible to reach area.
However, in 1910 there was an avalanche on the rail track which killed many workers and deemed the already precarious train line un safe. From then on the train was diverted, meaning there was no longer access to the hotel and it shortly after closed it doors and was demolished soon after. Remnants of the hotel still remain to see...
And nearby gushing glacial waters...
Our "long walk" back to the car the next morning (the fog, rain and bears thwarted any hopes we had of seeing the glaciers above and hiking in the valleys to meet them).
After a few more hours on the road, most of which was spent in the wide Columbia valley (along side the river of the same name), we arrived at a ski resort town called Panorama. This is where Nicole's partner Logan is working for the summer, installing a new chair lift. We had rooms to stay in at his accomodation, so got settled in there and later took a drive out to see the local river and some potential climbing areas...
Can you see the wire crossing the river below? Some climbers have put up a pulley to cross over...
The following morning, Nic and I headed off for our first hike of the trip (finally). We were to take a chair lift up the start of mount Panorama, and then hike the rest of the way to the top. This ended up being a four hour endurance adventure! Very very steep hiking, with no respite, only up up up!
We found a toy horse along the way... And fed it a carrot!
From the top there were views all the way around, into the immediate East Kootaneys, the distant Weat Kootaneys, and the most stunning of all, the Rocky Mountains including Banff National Park....
The chairlift is mainly used by mountain bikers who come up and do crazy trail back down again... So so much biking here in the summer. No one else hiking like us!
And on our way down we saw a wedding party waiting at on a small deck just above the chair lift. We passed he bridesmaids on their way up... Be we never saw the bride!...
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