Swathed in Spiderwebs

This morning the outside of my house is swathed in those magical classic-design spiderwebs, each with a spider waiting patiently in the center. A quick count nets 4 on my downstairs deck, one guarding the walkway from my car (which I walked right through last night after dark, but this morning it's rebuilt), and they've virtually taken over my upstairs deck. I haven't picked my cherry tomatoes (which are still going strong) in a couple of days simply because I hate to disturb those beautiful webs.

I've had the kayak out once this week. Many of the winter watefowl are back or at least passing through on their way southward: surf scoters, western grebes, mergansers, cormorants, and a large flock of what I think are murrelets, either ancient or marbled.

Home Sweet Home

The need to see ocean again was just too great.

The drive from Keller's Ferry to I-90 was all rolling fields of grain, nary a tree in site other than those planted around houses as windblocks.

I forgot to get gas until it was almost too late, rolling into the tiny town of Odessa on fumes. I only saw one gas station, and it was closed. Uh-oh. I thought I was going to have to go begging for fuel at a farm. Then noticed a small sign pointing off the main street, for 24-hour credit-card-only gas, a couple of pumps next to the grain elevator. Whew!

I stopped right at sunset at a rest area on I-90, made coffee, and ate most of the rest of my unhealthy vacation snacks. That got me over the pass and home in time to catch the 10pm ferry. Oh, that ocean air smells good!

When I got home, in addition to the couple of beers that Gerry usually leaves me (thanks Ger!), there was slightly battered ear of corn in the fridge... hmm, I wonder where that came from? ;-)

Home by the Scenic Route

I woke up this morning feeling a visceral longing for salt air and greenery. I decided to head towards home via the scenic route, maybe stopping for another day down at Steamboat Rock State Park.

But first, I drove up through Summerland and Kelowna, and back down the east side of the lakes, to check out the route for possible future rides.

My conclusions:
1. I am very glad we did NOT ride to Summerland. For several miles of this route they are doing road construction and the highway is one narrow lane with no shoulder whatsoever, and lots of traffic.

2. The route around the east side of the lakes would be HARD. Out of Kelowna, it’s up up up up and then more up, to an almost 4000 foot pass, not a whole lot of traffic but little or no shoulder, no facilities and nothing but heavily forested mountains (the Kootenays, I believe) for about 50 miles. BUT, if we had someone to sag, from Beaverdell on southward it’s downill and very nice all the way to the border.

I crossed the border at Midway, a tiny out-of-the way station with no waiting. After a friendly chat with the one guard there (he did check my passport and looked inside my kayak hatches for contraband, but I think it was mostly because he was bored and lonely), I continued south on Highway 21 all the way to I-90. I do believe that’s just about the prettiest road I’ve been on in Washington, and now I want to go back and bike there! It’s labelled as a highway, but I bet I only passed 30 cars the whole way.

Keller’s Ferry. Wow. I was just enchanted with this spot. After driving through miles and miles of rocky bluffs and forest, a tiny, free ferry takes you across Lake Roosevelt. You then climb switchbacks up and up the bluff, and just as you top the bluff... it's a whole 'nother world! It's just astounding. I had to get out of the car and just stare for awhile. PLEASE do yourself a favor and double-click to enlarge this picture!

Bike Bounce

It was gray and very threatening-looking when I got up today, so I drove back once again to the Penticton Starbucks, where I spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and catching up on my email. By then it was raining, so I decided to take a drive out towards Okanagon Mountain Provincial Park. This is a little confusing… within 50 miles there’s Okanagon Falls Provincial Park, Okanagon Lake Provincial Park, and Okanagon Mountain Provincial Park. Okanagan Mountain is way out in the boonies, and the last kilometer is a 2-track, 4-wheel-drive-only, not very scenic dead end road. Still, I persevered to the end, just before which I had to drive under a fallen tree leaning across the road. Nothing but a parking lot and presumably a trailhead, although it was raining and I didn’t even get out to explore. Turning around, as I headed back under that tree, I hear a clunk, and looked in my mirror to see my bike bouncing on the road behind me. Well, shit.

I got out to survey the damage. Doesn’t seem to be any to my bike, other than my new mirror falling off, but even that isn’t broken. But when I went to put the bike back up top, I realized the straps that hold it onto the bike carrier had broken clean off. I’m so happy that they broke and not the bike! After removing the front wheel I was able to stuff the bike in the car on top of all the other stuff that’s in there Maybe this is a sign I should head for home?

Back towards town I drove out to Skaha Bluffs and hiked back in a bit to watch rock climbers doing physically impossible things. Oh, if I was 30 years younger and 50 pounds lighter..

Then it was raining again, so back to town for a visit to the wonderful used-book store… one of those big old slightly disorganized places, with books piled high everywhere, and the guys running still able to tell you where everthing is. And then to my afternoon latte, this time at Pacific Brimm, obviously the locals coffee place, very homey with big comfy chairs where I sat and read for awhile. When the rain let up, I went out to explore the huge farmers market that takes over downtown every Saturday. Oh, I wish I could take a bunch of the wonderful local fruits and veggies home. I limited myself to a bag of pickling cukes to munch on.

By the time I got back to my campsite, the weather seemed to be clearing up and the wind had died down a bit (although it never seems to stop here), so I decided to paddle for awhile. About 45 minutes out, the wind picked up. And then picked up some more. And then some more. And I ended up paddling back in a regular gale. Not a headwind, but not exactly a tail wind either. It was exhilarating but right at the edge of my comfort level, and I was glad to get back to camp. It was so windy that stuff had blown off my picnic table, and a layer of sand had formed inside the tent.

I just haven’t felt much like writing for most of this trip, so am just catching up today. Too busy biking, visiting, and just enjoying the sunshine, of which we’ve had nothing but, every single day that we’ve been here. I still plan to stay for a few more days, but have to admit I am so hoping that rain greets me when I drive over the pass back to the west side of the Cascades. I am really looking forward to spending INSIDE time.

Meanwhile… After 5 days of riding and camping with my friends, yesterday they headed home. I drove back towards Penticton, and I stopped and paddled for a while on Vaseaux Lake. After I got out on the water I felt a bit ridiculous in my life jacket as much of the lake is less than 6 inches deep. In places I had to pull up my rudder to keep it from dragging. Double click on the picture to see the nice line of geese posing for me.

Last night I camped alone at Banbury Green Resort, just south of Penticton, and I think I will stay here for at least two more nights. My tent is pitched ten feet from the shore of Skaha lake, and today I spent about 2 hours paddling down the lake against the wind, and an hour sailing and surfing back with almost no paddling. Fun!

20 feet away on the other side of my tent is the KVR (Kettle Valley Rail Trail), which unfortunately is not really suitable for a road bike, but still I hope to ride it the 3 or 4 miles into town tomorrow. The KVR goes for many miles, much of it through wilderness (I’ve seen bikers wearing bear bells) and over some big old railroad trestles which have been rebuilt after burning down in forest fires a few years ago. Someday I’d like to come back with a mountain bike

Back down down down to Osoyoos

Back to Osoyoos, retracing the same route we took up. And I do mean UP. Taking the same route back allowed us to appreciate how much serious UP we really did that first day. I think OK Falls must be a good 1000 feet higher than Osoyoos. It was a fun downhill coast for most of the way back. We finally got around to stopping at one of the hundreds of wineries we've been passing. Back to our cars and campsite in the apple orchard, we were all tired from the heat... it was close to 90 today. After a nice dinner at the local brewpub, we drove up to the viewpoint on Anarchist Mountain to watch the sun set over Osoyoos.

Short and Sweet

A very pleasant and short ride from Penticton back to OK Falls, this time following along the east side of the lake via the route I’d gotten from Bikely.com. MUCH better. We had camp set up at OK Falls Provincial park by early afternoon. A very nice little park right along the river, a shady, grassy oasis in the midst of this desert country. Nancy and both went down for afternoon naps, and both agreed it was possibly the pleasantest nap we’d ever had… dappled sun and shade; warm, caressing breeze. Life is good.

Bike Repair and Ice Cream

After another leisurely breakfast, we rode back into town hoping to find a bike store where I could replace my bike mirror, which I broke on my fall yesterday. Found a great bike shop and great mirror, and then it was time for lunch: perhaps the best sandwich I have ever had in my life, at a little deli near the bike shop. Finally, we headed out for our intended day-ride to the little town of Naramata. Just as we got to the top of the steep hill out of town, I finally decided that the “funny feeling” I had been experiencing with my bike all morning deserved attention. A closer look turned up a loose headset… not a good thing to have if you’re really depending on your bike going in the direction you steer it. So, the others went on towards Naramata, but I went back down the hill to the bike shop. They spent a few minutes tightening the headset for me, and I was on my way again. About halfway up that same steep hill out of town, I decided things still did not feel at all right. Back down I go again. This time, the guy says OK, my headset bearings have probably gone bad; come back in an hour or so.

Thus, I had the opportunity to thoroughly explore downtown Penticton. I quite like this town. It seems just the right size to me. Large enough to have a cosmopolitan feel, small enough to still feel like a small town. Even though there is a Wal-Mart on the edge of town, downtown still feels vibrantly alive. At least 3 very nice coffee shops, a quilting store, a shoe store where they had Keene sandals on sale… uh-oh, it’s Nancy’s fault, since she pointed this one out to me, that I now have my favorite sandals in a third color, a lovely dusty lavender.

Just about the time the others rode back into town from Naramata, my bike was finally done. I still wanted to do the ride, so I headed out while the others headed back towards camp. Finally all back at camp, we enjoyed a great pasta dinner and then were looking longingly at the two old guys across the street from us who were eating bowls of ice cream. Some dessert sure would be good!. Off went Cheryl to buy us some nice, healthy fruit for dessert. She hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes when one of those old guys came over and offered us the remainder of his carton of ice cream! Dixon Seabrook, bless your heart! He stayed and chatted for a bit, and then came back with ANOTHER carton of ice cream. What a guy.

Trail of the Damned

Following the advice of someone who was NOT a bike tourist (note: big mistake), we attempted to ride the KVR from Okanagan Falls to Penticton. It seemed like such a good idea… right along the western shore of Skaha Lake, totally flat. BUT…it quickly went from hard-packed dirt to loose gravel, large rocks, and in places, mini-sand-dunes. After struggling through this, walking a good bit of the way, and ¾ of us taking falls, we decided to bag it at about the halfway point. From the lake we had to push our loaded bikes about a kilometer up a very steep hill to get to the highway. Not a lot of fun, but once we got there it was a nice downhill coast into Penticton.

From the shore of Skaha lake, its another 5 miles into downtown Penticton, which is actually on the shore of Lake Okanagan. Although we had originally intended to ride on to camp near Summerland, we were all too worn out from the awful trail experience, so hoped to find camping near downtown. No such luck. The only campgrounds near downtown were “No Tents” (guy said they ruin the grass). We did find a marvelous restaurant for lunch, followed by Starbucks. Then back we went the 5 miles to Skaha Lake to find camping. The first one we tried had closed for the season at 5pm that day (it was about 5:15). The second one wanted us to pay for three separate sites at $24 each. But the third one was just right… very friendly and a little rough around the edges, with lots of senior citizens apparently living there full time. We crowded our 3 tents onto one of their 10 or so gravel tent pads, next to another group of women who were avid rock climbers; Skaha Bluffs, just down the road, is a popular rock climbing area.

This may be a new low for Rainbow Riders. It took us 7 hours to ride 21 miles today.

Hills!

Too tired to write yesterday. We did only about 32 miles with maybe 1400 feet of elevation gain, but Nancy said it was the hardest 30 miles she’d ever done, and I would come close to agreeing. So much for my theory that we would be riding along the bottom of the valley, so it should be relatively flat.

But it was very scenic and we all enjoyed it. We got very late start, close to noon by the time we got out of Osoyoos, and it was 5-ish before we got to OK falls. We asked a teenage girl which way to the provincial park, and she, of course, steered us the wrong way. After a couple of miles we were smart enough to ask again and got turned back the other way. But signage for finding the part was practically non-existent, so we opted for the RV part instead. Not very scenic… stuck way back in the corner behind the office and next to th4 restrooms… but functional , and we were tired.

My friends Gail and John from Texas are up here on vacation, and I went out for dinner and a nice visit with them while the others had a meal at camp.

Then we had a bit of excitement right after bedtime. I heard loud voices and then a strange loud scrambling sound…. Kids climbing over the fence right next to our tents, after running through the park and stealing beer, pop, and, for some reason, an ear of corn, from Rver’s coolers. They got away but dropped about half of their haul climbing over the fence. We found the ear of corn the next morning.

Osoyoos at last!

Sept 9,2009
Here we are in Osoyoos. Nancy and I left Everett about 9:30 this morning, after somewhat amazingly fitting all of our stuff into my car: 2 bikes, a kayak, a bike trailer, camping gear and a week’s worth of supplies for two people. We drove over on the north cascades highway, not the fastest but certainly the most scenic route. Stopped for lunch in Winthrop and made it to the border by about 5, where the guard asked us the usual (where ya from? Where ya going? Why? For how long?), told us with a perfectly deadpan face that it was going to snow here next week, and then waved us through, without ever asking for our passports or even our drivers licenses!
We tried to get into Haynes Point provincial part for the night, but, as had been my experience on a previous trip, it was full. The campground host says you must get there “much earlier” in the day to secure a spot. It’s a very popular place, on a long, narrow spit jutting out into lake Osoyoos, where practically every campsite is waterfront.
Oh well, of we went to the other, very touristy side of the lake, The nice, grassy-field campground that I stayed in a few years go has been pa paved over and turned into an rv resort, like most of this side of the e lake. We found 2 or 3 little run-down looking tent campgrounds. The first on e we stopped at had no one manning the office and no information whatsoever posted, so on we went. We are now at a tiny (11 sites) place squeezed in between apple orchards and rv resorts, with no electricity, a sign warning us to boil water before drinking. And for sale signs posted out front… so I imagine it will be gone to condos or rvs on my next visit. On the plus side, its just us and one other tent here, and we have free pickings of the loaded apple trees in the camp.
We drove into town to a\the ridge brewpub for dinner )really excellent beer and good food., and then took a drive up Anarchist mountain to watch the sun set over the lake. A good day.
Sept 10, 2009
14 males biking, 750 feet elevation gain
6 miles kayaking
Sunny and 80 F, perfect biking and kayaking weather!
After lingering over our campsite breakfast of coffee, tea, and oatmeal with apples from the trees hanging over our tents, off we went on our bikes to explore the town. A stop at the visitors center scored us some good information on bike routes. We stopped at the bike store hoping for some nice Canada-themed socks, but none to be found.
We then road out to visit the Nk’mip cultural center, which, although not a casino, certainly must be dragging in big bucks for the tribe. It’s a huge and beautiful place on the hillside overlooking Lake Okanagan. Many very nice sculptures, a huge campground on the lake, a large condo development, a very pricey restaurant. There’s a museum which we elected not to visit due to the $12 admission. I forgot to ask how to pronounce Nk’mip. “Nik Mip?” “Unk Mip?”
From Nk’mip, we took hillside roads through orchards and vineyards, back to our campsite. I was so energized I hopped right in the kayak. I paddled into a brisk breeze for about an hour, enjoying bouncing in the small waves and watching the “stink boats” zoom by. There was a hobie cat just flying around the lake, making me wish that I still had my little sunfish sailboat. Turning back with the wind behind me, I made it back to camp in 40 minutes, hardly paddling.
September 11, 2009
I got chilly during the night last night, so dug out my sleeping bag liner, carefully unfolded it, and climbed inside of t and into my sleeping bag. Awhile later, I noticed I was still cold, and felt around.. No liner! I guess I dreamed it all! So once again, I dug it out, unfolded, climbed in, ahh, that/s better. But when I woke up this morning, I my liner was still packed away in it’s little stuff sack! (This makes me think of the dream sequence in American Werewolf in London, but not quite so scary.)
After another long, leisurely camp breakfast, with more of those fresh apples in our oatmeal, we decided to take a short drive. We took the Crow’s Nest highway , up ( and I do mean UP) into the fabulously scenic Similkameen valley. This is some of the prettiest scenery I’ve seen anywhere. A narrow valley with a bucolic green bottom full of orchards, vineyards and gardens, closely surrounded by steep, rocky mountains.
We stopped in Karemeos for lunch, and then drove an very steep road full of hairpin curves up to the Apex ski resort. The resort looks like it’s fallen on some pretty hard times, lots of of stuff for sale and nothing open.
Back down the mountain to Penticton, where we found a starbucks.. I asked an other star bucks customer abut the “jazz” placard she had hanging around her neck, and it turns out there’s a big Dixieland jazz festival in town all weekend. She told us to walk “just a block or two” over to the convention center to get more information. It turned out to be more like a mile, but on the way we found a big bike store where we once again could not find cool socks, but I did buy a shirt on sale. We finally made it to the convention center, picked up schedules, and each bough last year’s festival t-shirt. A worthwhile walk!
Our short drive ended up taking all day, and we finally got back to the campsite about 5, expecting Cheryl and Gerry to be there, but no. When they still weren’t there at 6, we headed off for dinner. When they STILL weren’t there, we started to worry. Much to our relief, they finally arrived at about 9:30.

Fall arrives

Right on time for Labor Day, it has rained all weekend. I feel sorry for the Labor Day campers, but anyone from the northwest knows to expect this, and the rain is SO welcome!

I suppose this means I've waited too long to do any serious blackberry picking this year, but here's a picture anyway. This is from the beach near my house, but basically what every vacant lot, bluff, and untended yard look like around here in late summer. It amazes me to see blackberries for sale in the grocery store when there are quite literally enough blackberries here, free for the picking, for every man, woman, and child in the greater Puget Sound area.

I intended to light my furnace (propane fireplace) this morning but for some reason it won't light. Seems like I go through this every fall. I turn it off for the summer, since propane has become so expensive, to save the money that running the pilot light all summer would cost me. Then I end up paying the service man $150 to get it re-lit for me in the fall, thus pretty much negating any cost savings. Oh well, I suppose turning it off is still the environmentally correct thing do to.

A few nights ago during my sunset paddle, a whole school of porpoises passed within 50 feet of me... there must have been around a dozen of them. There are so many salmon jumping out there now, I really though one was going to land right in my boat. I wonder if it's legal to take one home if it volunteers like that?

Sunset has now travelled well south of it's summer position behind Double Bluff, to the northern part of the Olympics.

I've just about finished packing for my bike trip in the Canadian Okanagan, for which I will be leaving on Wednesday morning. I'm taking along my new netbook so hope to do some posts while on the trip.

A week or so ago my friends Vicki and Nick were here for a visit. YOu'll have to guess which one is which: