White Lake Snow Crust Blues: Monday, January 25th!

Catch-and-release, that's like running down pedestrians in your car and then, when they get up and limp away, saying -- Off you go! That's fine. I just wanted to see if I could hit you. -Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, television host, and actress (b. 26 Jan 1958) 

Uphill Grind!

Hi all: Some of our Monday Boot Hikers expressed interest in going snow-shoeing this Th, if there would be a gentler and shorter hike than Rick's.
I intend to go, and instead of going solo, as I planned, I could use some company of a few Gentle Breeze souls. Let me know if you would be interested.
Al

White Lake, We made it!

Up at 6:45 am to make sandwiches and carrot sticks for today's boot hike. By the time I'd packed our lunches, cleaned the glass platen of the fireplace and unloaded the dishwasher it was almost 7:50 am and Teens the Teenager was still abed. This being the case, I poked my head into her room and suggested, to the sleepy head , that it was time to rise and shine. Made her a cup of java and quartered an orange for her and the light breakfast she'd requested the night before, was ready when she appeared. Lady Dar made an appearance a few minutes later and the two chatted while I readied my hiking gear. Saying goodbye to The Dustman, he was up at 8:30 am, and his daughter, we left the house at approximately 8:40 am.

Hello Ridiculously Happy Hikers! Thanks again, from both Teens and I, for the more than marvellous time! Especially to the leaders, but also to everyone who showed such care and concern for the Wild Australian. Tina spent over an hour in our tub as soon as we were home, and consumed three bottles of wine! Cora Lee had to put a life preserver on her after first bottle. Sorry we didn't join gang at Opus but I had to get home to continue helping Dusty with shelving we are installing. Thanks again. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Stats for hike: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1029117757#.Vqhyxp5XRkM.email

My musings on hike, if interested. (Please note that some of the names have been changed to protect the guilty!):

Spamela was waiting at the Home Hardware lot when we arrived so I introduced Teens to her and while they were chatting more people arrived so I continued the on-going round of introductions. Quite a large gathering, 22 in all. Since I had TNT in tow, I drove and Spumoni and Theodorakis carpooled with us. As we were to hike near White Lake, I pointed out parts of the GranFondo cycling route, to Christina, although we were covering it in reverse. Gang rendezvoused at the small parking lot off Fairview White Lake Road, a few kilometres south of the The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory.

From a cycling point of view, I'm always happy to reach this spot, heading north, as the toughest of the hills one encounters, out of Oliver, have already been tackled, although there are still a couple of decent climbs left before one passes St Andrew's by the Lake. At any rate, by the time we had unloaded and readied ourselves, it was close to 9:30 am and we set off, following, initially, much the same route as one of the hikes we'd taken this summer. This time, however, we were not going to climb as high, but rather hike around the knoll there. According to an earlier message Spamela sent out we understood the following: "Without snow this takes about 3 hours. With snow it could be more like 4 hours but it's easy, mostly flat." Famous last words indeed! 

Naturally, given past weather conditions, there was a decent amount of snow, with a fairly hard crust, so much of the walking was single file, aiming for the footsteps ahead. Generally speaking, this was more than fine, most of the time, although depending on where one happened to be, in line, the size of the made depressions and their distance apart could prove problematic. Especially for the visiting skier and her short stubby legs! Make no mistake, Tina enjoyed a simply wonderful, wonderful time. Without question, she found the winter scenery and atmospheric conditions simply spell-binding and remember, Dear Reader, she is used to seeing some pretty spectacular sights out of Sun Peaks. She continues to remark on the inviting welcome she received and how much she delighted in the group's camaraderie. 

However, as I'm sure I need not tell you trekking vets, skiing is not the same as boot hiking so when she had stretch her legs to reach footsteps out of sync with her own gait or break a new trail, through the icy crust, either for any prolonged length of time, she found such exertion tiring. That being said, everyone was most solicitous of her welfare, (with the exception of her so-called friend Patrizzio!), and kudos must be awarded to Tatyana and Martagnan, who helped her along the mountain goat trails of the canyon and kept her company for much of the hike as well. Truth be told, Aarturo must be highly, highly commended for riding shotgun over the last hour or so of the outing, never leaving Tina's side, making sure she crossed the slippery ladder bridge over the small creek without mishap, always offering encouragement, (When not lecturing Patrizzio about the low resolution of his digital pictures!), and witty remarks as they traversed the remaining kilometres. 

Still, these small tribulations pale against the grandeur and resplendence of the landscape we traversed. The monolithic cliff faces, anointed with sprinklings of snow, shrouded in mist, framed by towering pines, thrilled but simultaneously reminded us of our own puniness. Hanneke, motionless, on a crude dock, back-dropped by the mirror image of the surrounding forest on the rock still surface of the moss green tarn, snow demarcating its steep shore, says it all. Speaking of moss green, how fortunate we were to see so many regal trees wreathed in their organic version of ermine, one remarkable specimen, suffering from a broken heart, bleeding frozen resin, weeping silently while we ate our snacks and sipped our java.

And what of The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory itself? Though man-made, the rows of power poles seemed to "bleed" into the hills behind, absorbed, assimilated by the covering pines. The dish and ranks of troughs suggest nothing if not the cold of interstellar space, a more than appropriate sensation as one could feel the chill of the wind across the open grassland on the last leg of the hike. The loneliness of the four strand, cruelly barbed fence, (softened somewhat, by an irregular border of hardy sage), immediately brought to mind the uproariously funny scene in Fargo where Steve Buscemi's character, Carl, stops his car by the side of the highway to bury ransom money in a snowdrift. Everyone in the audience knows, (even if you are not from the Prairies or Mid-West), that he'll never be able to find the loot again. And then, to the west, bracketed by the slopes of the valley's hills, snow-covered to the south, exposed earth to the north, a shining eye of light, topped with low cloud, just to keep it in place. Still, a most fitting symbol for the mental and emotional picture I will carry of this otherworldly outing. Though certainly not "flat", and definitely not "easy" on TNT's wonky knee, we both thank our gifted trek leaders for such a scintillating slog. Bravo! Onward!! Fight!!!

Hi Patrick,So sorry to hear that we'll have to eat all that turkey and other delicious food without you. However, we certainly understand that things are usually more complicated than we would like. That's life! There will be many other opportunities.
 
Thank you for your very kind offer to buy tickets anyways. You can simply make a thirty dollar donation in lieu of the tickets and we can essentially sell them again, if that is okay with you? Paying me at next Monday's "torture session" would be splendid or Corinne can make the donation at the February meeting. If she gives her address as well, the Grandmothers' organization will issue her a tax receipt.

Despite my disappointment at not having you join us on Thursday, I am very excited to hear that Corrine ( or is it Cora Lee?) is interested in joining the South Okanagan Grandmothers' Organization or the SOGOS, for short. Our next meeting should be on February 10th at 10:00 a.m. at the Shatford Centre. I would be happy to meet her there and introduce her to the wonderful people in our group. We are always excited to get new members. Actually, she will be in very good company as we have had several new members join in the last few months. Have Corinne contact me, if she wishes, when it gets closer to the meeting date and we can meet out front of the Shatford Centre. See you next Monday! Cheers, Marian