Hiking in Alberta

It’s Wednesday, August 27, 2014, another sunny warm morning in the Okanagan.  The temperature is supposed to go to 30c. again today and then get cooler tomorrow.   Mo who spent most of her life in small towns in Alberta often sings the praises of the weather in this valley.  I am usually less exuberant about it, but after spending last week in Waterton Lakes, Alberta, I’ve joined her chorus.  Waterton Lakes National Park is a wonderful place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.  The VOC’s plan for ten days of hiking had to be altered.  As the first two days were the only ones for which rain was not predicted, we did big hikes on each of them.  This took a toll on my feet, but I’m really happy that I did both hikes. 

On the first day we took a boat from the Waterton marina to the trailhead for the Crypt Lake hike.  It’s one of the longest I’ve taken since I was in Lake Louise in my 20s.  Near the top, you climb a short metal ladder, crouch through a tunnel and crawl out onto a narrow path along a steep talus slope.  At this point, there is a cable that has been bolted into rock at many places.  People like me cling to it for what feels like a lifetime in the hope of reaching the easier path that seems to be miles away but isn’t.  The only reason I wasn’t ecstatic to have finished this part was that I knew I would have to do it all again in reverse on the way down.  The rest of the hike was wonderful.  As we soaked our feet in the cool waters of the lake while waiting for the boat to take us back to town, we saw dark clouds approaching over the mountains across from us.  Riding back in the boat, we felt the wind increase and watched as a curtain of rain was drawn across the water toward us.  We got a little wet running for our cars.  What luck!  The next day the same thing happened but with slightly less luck.  We were within site of the cars parked in the campground but still had a short walk to end the hike when the wind really started to whip and the rain to pelt.  We got drenched.  But the hike had been magnificent, one of the best of my life.  It’s called Carthew-Alderson after the names of two of the lakes you see from the top.  The land you hike through and the vistas that you see are worth every bit of effort that you expend to be there.  When we got back to our room at the Crandell Mountain Lodge, we were cold and wet and our feet were sore.  So we changed into warm clothes and soaked our feet in ice water.  I had a big blister on the underside of one toe and another toe that was turning blue and becoming very sore.  Fortunately, one of my roommates, Dianne, was a nurse.  She helped me bandage them.  It rained constantly for the next two days, so we walked around town, shopped, visited the Prince of Wales Hotel and had hot tubs, saunas and steam baths.  Some people stayed on and did a couple of hikes, but Mo, John and I left on Saturday; we drove back to BC and into the sun.

Nobody was able to take the Goat Haunt hike in Glacier National Park, Montana.  I would not have been able to go on it in any case because in packing for the hiking trip I discovered that I couldn’t find my passport.  I spent a long time searching for it but never did find it.  Fortunately I found this out in time to do something about it before leaving for Korea.  As it is, I spent yesterday in Kelowna filling in forms, declaring my old one lost or stolen and applying for a new one.  This process was not without the usual bureaucratic hitches, but I think all went well.  I should be able to pick up my new passport on Sept. 10.  I had to change the name on my passport to Janet Shirley from Jan as the woman in the BC driver’s license office had predicted I would almost four years ago.  What a mess.  I had bought my ticket to Korea in the name of Jan so had to change it there too, at a cost of $200.00.  But all is in order now.  I don’t expect any hitches on my trip, at least in that respect.  I loved the Monty Python skit that included the lines, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.”  I think I’ve learned if not to expect it at least to be able to face it a bit better than I used to.  Or have I?????

Now I’m looking forward to Jay’s arrival in two weeks.    

Approaching the ladder and tunnel on the Crypt Lake hike

The highest point on the Carthew-Alderson hike

Maggie, Diane, Jacquey and Jan on the highest point

A view on the Carthew-Alderson hike

Homecoming

Today I was wakened at 6:22am by the friendly sound of ‘Kakao’ emanating from my iPhone.  It was Jay.  We had discussed many things on Monday when we Skyped, so I was not too surprised that his message was about his coming to Vernon.  I was; however, disappointed to read that it would be the week of Oct. 6^th to 13^th.  Oh well.  I was about to reply that I would cancel my trip to Korea and see him then, when there was another ‘Kakao’.  It read, “ Oh Jesus, I meant September.”  Phew!  I was looking forward to what might be my last visit to Korea, and it will still happen.  He phoned me immediately after the mixup, and we worked out the details.  Speedy means of communication have their positive and negative aspects. 

The Okanagan continues to be hot and dry.  I’ve been hiking twice, biking once and swimming a few times but always in the morning before 11:00 or evening after 7:00, aside from hiking up at Sovereign or Silver Star where the altitude makes it a bit cooler.  The night temperatures are in the teens, so the house cools down when I open all the windows.  This morning I went right into the garden after talking with Jay and put in about 3 hours of back breaking labor with shears, trowel and rake, cutting back iris, etc., weeding and cleaning up the parched flower beds.  Today the temperature is supposed to reach 35c., but it’s overcast at the moment and there is smoke in the air so it might not get that hot.  We have an arsonist in the Vernon area who has set several successful fires in the last couple of months, but last night he seems to have reached beyond his grasp.  He tried to burn down 2 of the Tolko yards.  Tolko is the biggest lumber and sawmill operation in the area, so it could have been quite a blaze.  But both were discovered in time.  There was some smoke in the air this morning as I gardened and a helicopter flew in concentric circles overhead most of the time I was working.  It’s nothing compared to what is raging in Gaza, Iraq, Syria and the Ukraine, but it passes for a conflagration in Vernon.  

The last days in the east

It’s Tuesday, August 5, 2014, and I’m in the Kitchener airport, early again, with a 2 hour wait for the plane to Calgary.  I just found out that I won’t have to change planes there for the flight to Kelowna, so if the plane stays on course and in the air and Mo and John make it to the airport to pick me up, I should be back in the Okanagan before peach season is over. 

The VIA Rail trip from Ottawa to Kitchener was uneventful this time.  Cathy picked me up and my stay with the Walkerton Van de Vyveres began with a glass of red wine, a chat with Brian and Cathy and a good night’s sleep.  From that time ‘til this, I have been surrounded by lush green fields and woodlots, high corn, waving grain and the 3 generations of VdeVs who live here.  They’ve had a cool, wet summer so far.  I experienced some of that, but the weather was fine for all the main family gatherings.  I swam in the Saugeen River, although only once.  We went for drives and walks and ate Bruce County beef tenderloin and standing rib as well as Mark’s fresh fish.  For the first time in ages, I experienced the fun and fatigue that goes with being in the company of young kids.  This was my first visit since Brian and Cathy moved into town and David and Dana took over the country house.  I wasn’t deprived of farm experiences however.  Cathy still takes an active part in the garden and barn activities.  We picked beans until my back ached and ate fresh beans, peas, beets, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes with almost every meal.  The roosters came close to providing my stay with its only catastrophe.

 Just before I arrived, Cathy had noticed that one of them wasn’t moving and had a purple tone to its skin.  She had killed it and what she found inside wasn’t pretty.  Google searches and calls to the vet. boded ill, and a decision was made to kill the flock 2 weeks early to eliminate the infected ones and save the healthy birds, if there were any.  Monday was chosen as the day for the slaughter of the infected.  The birds didn’t seem to be getting any worse on Sat. and Sun., but the date was not postponed, so I was there for the event.  David and Cathy went to the barn alone that morning to prepare everything very carefully because they would be killing, plucking, cleaning, bagging and freezing all the birds that were fine and burying the infected ones.  Mark was going fishing in the morning and would join them at noon.  I stayed at the house with Dana and the boys until I got the call that all was well at the barn.  Dana called Dave on his cell to see if things were fine, and he replied, “K”.   That was all he could manage because he had to open his phone, and answer the message with his nose; his hands were covered in blood.  I went out and became a chicken plucker.  I hadn’t done that since I was about 8 years old and my friend Sue Peters’ mom’s chickens arrived unexpectedly just as Sue’s birthday party was beginning.  They had to be plucked immediately, so those of us who wanted to helped with the plucking.  I liked doing it and told my mom what fun it had been.  She was horrified that anyone would make kids pluck chickens at a birthday party.  This time, I hesitated for a minute because the hot, wet feathers were dirty and their smell was not inviting, but then I plunged in with both hands and it was fine.  We worked well as a team of 3 and faster as 4 when Mark joined us.  We  had fun in fact, even indulging in some slaughter house humor once it became clear that we would not need the deep whole that David had dug for the infected birds because there weren’t any.  Near the end, David came up with a system of stuffing the chicken into a feed bag with a hole cut into a bottom corner so that only its head stuck out and the body was confined, keeping the wings from flapping and legs from kicking as it was being held for its head to be chopped off.  It seemed to be fitting that the feedbag that had held the bird’s food should do double service as the container that carried it to the axe.  The day ended with a gathering in the back yard of Dave and Dana’s house and a dinner of pizza that had no chicken on it. 

The waiting room is filling up and the flight to Calgary will leave in about one hour.

Sunday dinner with the Baughans and Danbrook,  Ken, Sarah (Geoff's girlfriend), and Megan 

Carolyn and Geoff

Sunday dinner with the Walkerton Van de Vyveres, Cathy with David and Dana's youngest, Zak, on her knee

Brian with Dana, Alex and Zak

Mark blowing bubbles for his daughter Emily ( Jen is sitting in the background)

Alex and Evan, Mark and Jen's son, playing with water in the back yard at Brian and Cathy's

David happily feeding his goats down on the farm

Cathy and David less happily chopping the head off a rooster, take one

take two

Cathy and Mark preparing surf and turf, Walkerton style