Tour BC 2007 - Day 11

Day 11 - July 23



I slept in until the tent got too hot. It was a little after 8 AM. I
went to the car and got my coolers out. I filled the larger one about
1/3 full of water. Then I poured some of that water into the smaller
cooler, added liquid detergent, and proceeded to do my laundry. I hung
it on the line, hoping for a quick dry.

Then I fixed breakfast. I had trouble getting my stove to light, but
finally it did. I should probably clean it when I get home, I will have
to find the directions on how to do that.

I got confused about what time the nature walk was. I was thinking 11
AM, and then saw a sign saying 1 PM. So, I put on my hiking boots, got
my poles, and went across the street to the trailhead. Although the
park ranger said I should be able to do the loop in 1-1/2 hours, the
sign said 2 hours, and my thinking was it would be longer than that
because I was tired. So, I decided to walk a modified loop.

They have gone to great lengths to make this accessible for many
people. Instead of winding the trail around the mountain with lots of
switchbacks, the have constructed an elaborate stairway system (that some of
the hard core were running up). This system takes you almost to the
top. Then along the down sides, there are ropes, warning you to stay on
the trail. There are fenced overlooks - sort of like adult-sized
playpens, along selected edges of the trail. After viewing one, I turned
around and retraced most of my route.

When I came back to camp, I had my lunch and then went to the nature
hike. The hike was quite interesting. I found out an easy way to tell
the difference between a fir and a spruce tree. I saw ways that the park
service is trying to make trees inaccessible to beavers (covering the
trunk with chicken wire). I saw plants native to the area and also
non-native plants. Finally, the park ranger pointed out poison ivy and
explained how it sends out rhizomes to reproduce itself away from the main
plant. One of the hikers was concerned because last year she had the
campsite where all the poison ivy was and didn't know it.

Then I came back to my campsite and was starting to hydrate my supper.
The clouds were dark overhead and I decided to get my almost dry
clothes of the line. No sooner had I done that, than it started to lightly
rain. Then harder. By this time I was in my tent. Fortunately, I
had a book and magazine to read.

About an hour later, it stopped, and I got the stove out. April Fools.
It started to rain again. This happened several more times. So I
decided to eat my dinner cold, and it wasn't bad. It continued to rain,
and I decided to put on my rain jacket and take a shower. I came back
to my tent and it continued to rain off and on.

Tomorrow: Pack up. I'm planning to go to Revelstoke and stay at a
nearby provincial park. Before I do that, I will probably go grocery
shopping at Save-on-Foods. They had a huge bin selection of items I had
never seen before. I would like to get some fresh produce.



Nikii who is somewhere in British Columbia