A Little Piece of Heaven

I've had Valhalla Provincial Park on my hiking "list" for several years now and on Monday a.m. I finally left for this "little piece of heaven". It took us about 3 hours from our place to reach the trailhead. We'd heard about the long access route - it's about 40 km on a good gravel road until the last 3 km. It's a lovely route. The trail into Gwillim Lakes is one of my new favs. It's not too long - about 3 hours of backpacking - there's only about 20 min of forest walk and even it affords a few scenic mountains views.

In an hour, there's a lovely lake called Drinnon Lake, and after that it's pure magic! The walk goes across several creeks and past numerous mountain lakes and tarns. The meadow flowers were glorious.

Upon arrival at Gwillin Lake (the lower lake hosts the campground) there's not much to do except enjoy the views in EVERY direction. On Tuesday, we did a circuit above the lakes and had even more amazing views to enjoy. I like this place!

The Garden Gecko

I mentioned earlier that I'd be giving a garden progress report during the season and I haven't done that. Here goes: the zuccini look wonderful but aren't producing very large zucc. The beans have started and the sweet peas and scarlet runners look lovely. I am impressed with my south desert gecko presiding over the garden affairs - hanging out with the carrots and beets. The sunflowers have started to bloom and my daylilies have never been nicer. We're eating raspberries on a regular basis but know that we'll be depending on the fruit stands for many of the things we haven't yet grown. This summer, I've been able to eat TWO home made cherry pies (not made by me, alas) and they've been the best ever!

Kootenay Mountain High

The regular Sunday Strutters were taking a week off this Sunday after last week's gruelling True Blue Mountain. Happily, but disastrously, I had been in Trail playing in a Swiss Teams Bridge tournament. Sue and I had a difficult day at the bridge tables but not as tough as the folks slogging up True Blue.

Today, I went off with 4 other hikers to a place known as Texas Peak. We didn't get all the way to the peak but had a very nice vantage point in all directions from a smaller summit on the route. This picture is looking west and there's a couple of peaks in the picture which are supposed to be easy scrambles. The hiking season is in full swing and today we were happily out of all signs of smoke. In Kaslo's valley there's a big fire just south of us and things are getting hazy in mid-July. Send us some rain!

The Not So Secret Garden

There's nothing secretive about the showy flowers of the zuccini plant and I love them. They are so visible in our beds which border the driveway. I have loved watching my vegetable garden grow from the windows of my home. It's doing reasonably well, at least where the soil is better than gravel. We ran out of compost, so the garden looks a little less inviting the closer to the garage one gets. We could certainly use a really good rain, but having a 10 metre walk to our local produce is what summer is all about. Enjoy the local eats, readers!

Happy Canada Day!

I know that this isn't a Canadian flag, but it's a flag that I did purchase as a fundraiser for the Langham Theatre in Kaslo. It's been painted by a local artist and did hang in downtown Kaslo for several months. In March these display flags were auctioned off. It seemed fitting that Canada Day was the day we finally mounted the "garden flag". Thanks to Dave for doing such a great job.

I celebrated the day by participating in Kaslo's first Canada Day 5 km Walk/Run. Of course, I walked it, but it was good to walk with a "real walker" and we finished in just under 50 minutes. We walked through part of "lower" Kaslo and part of the river trail - what a good way to celebrate our awesome country and the beautiful Kootenays.

Good Old Summer Time

We now have two screen doors to open up during the night and get the breeze blowing through the house. I love them! This is the one which faces west, and not the one that is most frequently used but it's darn hard to get a good picture of the other one. There is something so reassuringly summerish about the slap of that screen door as it closes, however. It just takes me back to Canadian summertime "lake country". How very lovely to be living in it.