Initial hike- August 7th, 2014

My hiking blog is up and running (finally!) and I am trying to catch up on my posts.

I had no idea how to set up a log, so I started with some recent hikes, and I am kind of getting the hang of it, so I am going 'back in time' to when this idea all started- just from an historical perspective! So - remember- if you are reading this- that this will be out of order, but necessary, until I figure out how to edit this thing!

August 7, 2014

This was a great start to my intended hiking blog and start up to my 'club'. My niece Janine, and her husband Keith, had been travelling for a year and had returned to Canada. They were driving from Edmonton to Victoria, but stopping at my sister's ranch (Rhonda and Leo) in Falkland.

We had done the Enderby Cliffs hike with Janine and Keith last year, and Janine had liked it so much, that she asked me to arrange another hike when they returned from their travels.

I had done the Meadows in the Sky hike in Revelstoke a few years ago. The name of the Parks Canada attraction derives from an alpine meadow of wildflowers, which only blooms for the first two weeks of August every year. The timing was perfect!

We agreed we would meet Janine and Keith (and their friends Eduardo and Jen) at the base of Revelstoke Mountain, at the exit marked by the Meadows in the Sky billboard sign.

We (me, Bonnie, Tom, Patti, Trudy) drove up from Kelowna/Vernon and met with Janine and her crew at the pre-arranged time.

There is a 20 km drive up a winding road to the summit of the mountain. There were viewpoints along the way where we pulled off. Impressive views of the Cascade Mountain chain, valleys, the Columbia River, glaciers and the town of Revelstoke (see photos).

At the summit, we parked in the overflow parking lot (it was very busy- the main parking lot was full!) and off loaded our picnic lunch and Tom, Keith and Eduardo found a place to park on the road coming up to the parking lot.

We found a nice picnic spot, beside a small lake. The alpine meadows were in full bloom. It was a nice sunny day. We got caught up with Keith and Janine (had not seen them for a year!!) and had a few laughs (and one bottle of red/white wine!).

After lunch, we packed everything away, and climbed up a steep hill for about 25 minutes to the summit of the mountain. Along the way we stopped to take photos of the alpine meadows (see photos).

At the summit of Mount Revelstoke, there was a trail to the Ice Box, a small "glacier" protected from the sun by the shade of large boulders (see photos). We took a number of trails (all moderately easy), but good footwear is required as you are climbing over rocks and boulders.

We hiked to a fire monitoring station, that eventually led to a view point overlooking the Columbia River- amazing!

On the way back to the parking lot, we took a different trail, which was pretty rugged, and steep (all downhill) where we had to be careful not to trip on exposed roots and ruts in the trail.

Once back to the parking lot, we took another hike to a remote lake, that was recommended by an employee of the park. It was through a forested area, and although not as spectacular as the 'Ice Box' hikes, it was very quiet, peaceful and invigorating.

We left Kelowna at 7:30 am, and when the hike was over, it was about 330pm. We all headed off to Rhonda and Leo's where we had a BBQ and arrived home at about 10pm.

I did not bring my pedometer, but enjoy the photos!

(Oops! photos were supposed to be down here! Oh well- will get it eventually)