A Wet Dream with a Hint of Humidity

 

For over three weeks, Penticton had been seeing temperatures in the mid 30’s with the occasional climb into the high 30’s. Hoping to escape some of the heat, we planned an early yard maintenance trip to the cooler climate of Vancouver Island. Sadly I forgot that despite lower temperatures there is a much higher level of humidity on the Island. If you are not acquainted with the ambient temperature and humidity “feels like” relationship then let me fill you in.  

A healthy body needs to maintain its core temperature at 37 degrees Centigrade. To do this, our body has several mechanisms to control its core temperature. One of the ways is evaporative cooling, the same principal used by swamp coolers. Our body sweats, the sweat then evaporates from the skin which acts to pull heat away from our body creating a cooling effect on the body. 

High humidity creates higher moisture content in the air which acts to reduce the body’s ability for evaporation reducing the cooling affect on the body. The loss makes the ambient temperature feel warmer to you than it actually is.  This affect has been mathematically charted and incorporated into weather forecasts with statements like “today’s high temperature will be 32C but will feel like 35C”.  This same effect also creates the wind chill factor but fodder for another blog.

 Chart: www.yorku.ca

So, while temperatures were lower on the Island, the “feels like” temperatures were up there with the current temperatures in Penticton. But thanks to an occasional breeze coming in off the Pacific, the “feels like” temperatures were kept in check which greatly assisted our yard maintenance tasks. However, it does cause you to sweat a lot more. I sweat easily so not a big fan of high humidity. 

Vancouver Island is blessed with many beautiful and scenic opportunities and on any given trip we try to make some time for ourselves to find and explore one. Thanks to our youngest son, the surfer, we were made aware of  Juan de Fuca Provincial Park and Sombrio Beach It seems that stormy weather can create some pretty gnarly surfing breaks there. Sombrio is just one of several beaches in the park. .

 

With a little research we made a plan to hit three beaches on this adventure, Botanical, Sombrio and China Beach with an overnight near Jordan River, another beach with some nice beach break waves for hodad surfers. If time allowed we would also retrace our steps to the Sooke Potholes as we did not fully explore them on a previous adventure. (See blog posted December 2019) 

Photo: Sooke Potholes, 2019

Our first stop was to be Botanical Beach located near the small village of Port Renfrew about 70 kilometres from Sooke. From there we would retrace our route with stops at Sombrio and China Beach then a quick sprint into Sooke for a swim and a hike through the Potholes if time allowed and dinner before returning to Jordan River for the night.   

Botanical Beach is known for its easy access to tidal zone pools. The pools can be a visual feast of starfish, sea urchins, mussels and anemones as well as other flora and fauna. The pools can only be explored during low tide thus the first fly in our adventure ointment as a check of the tide schedule indicated that with our timing we would have us arriving during high tide. Botanical is a washout.

 Photo: Handsomedans.ca/botanical-beach

So it is off to Sombrio Beach. When our son and girlfriend heard of our plans to visit Sombrio, they asked to join us. We had gotten the sense from the way they have previously spoken about the beach that they had a great love for it.  We met them in Jordan’s River then joined them for a 20 minute ride to the Sombrio Beach trail head. 

What piqued my interest in Sombrio were access to two small but scenic waterfalls that were only a short 1 kilometre hike down to the beach from the parking lot, and a 15 minute stroll to the first waterfall.  The beach was spectacular. Huge logs littering the beach creating private nooks for the dozens of campers we found camped along the beach.  Surf was light today so surfers were in short supply.  

The beach contains stretches of powdery sand interspersed with layers of small rocks that have been ground down by wind and surf into smoothly polished stones of different shapes. They are pretty to look at but difficult to walk on as they roll around like ball bearings when walked on.

 

The first waterfall does not disappoint. From the beach, it requires a short hike up a very narrow cleft into a cliff that surrounds much of Sombrio Beach. 

Much of the walk into the waterfall is done walking through the stream of water coming from the waterfall so we brought and old pair of shoes for this section.  

The walls had a green shimmer from the moss that lines the walls. . 

As we worked our way into the cleft towards the waterfall, the gap got narrower and narrower till you could almost touch either side with your arms out stretched. 

Nature has been at work here for a few thousand years and allowed allow Mother Nature to create this incredible space. 

A stunning and perfectly formed shower stall. Although no place to set your soap and hang your towel. Perhaps, not so perfect. 

 As I have previously written in past blogs, standing under a natural waterfall is high up on my bucket list although it clearly states that it is to be a tropical. This baby was definitely not tropical. Not sure if it was glacier fed but it was cold enough that the boys went MIA after just a few seconds under the freezing torrent of water that fell  about 10 metres.  Thankfully the day was sunny and warm and I dried off quickly once we got back to the beach.

 

Waterfall #2 is a further 15 minute stroll along the beach. Sombrio is just one a several trail heads for the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. The trail is well used and takes hikers on a 47 kilometre ramble along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. On the spur of the moment, we decided to access the trail for a short hike that would take us to the top of the waterfall. 

For a different and more distant perspective.

 

 

Our spur of the moment decision was fortuitous. On our return to the beach, I tried to access the bottom of the waterfall for a photo op. I found it inaccessible due to high tide.

Hence the internet photo.

Photo: theadventuretwo.com

Back to the car, we headed back to Jordan River to pick up our car, say goodbye to the kids with plans to head to China Beach where we encountered fly #2 in our adventure ointment. The parking lot was jammed and while there was some parking backup on the highway, it too was full.  No problem, we still had the Sooke Potholes to explore back in Sooke.

As we headed back to Sooke, we passed through the hamlet of Shirley which hosts a Sunday Market with a craft fair, local produce, music and snacks. A craft fair to Nonie is like catnip to cats, it cannot be resisted. Ninety minutes later we left the fair $30 lighter having bought two sets of beautifully potted sushi dishes.  The sets would have been twice the price anywhere else.

Back on the road to Sooke we came face to face with fly #3 in our adventure ointment, a motorcycle accident had closed the road. The road from Sooke to Port Renfrew is a windy, uppy, downy road and based on our sightings that day is well used by weekend motorcyclists. We made the decision to return to Shirley for a snack which turned into dinner and to wait for the accident to be cleared.

An hour later with sun setting we head into Sooke and decided to hike the Potholes another day. We picked up some popcorn and wine and headed back to Jordon River and a late night dip in the advertised hot tub. Fly #4 in our adventure ointment, the hot tub was barely ambient temperature. Ewwww!

Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is definitely worth a return visit, but perhaps not in the summer. We hear that the winter surfing there can get you pretty stoked.  

Road Trip 2022- Trice is Nice, The Final Chapter

Our third and final stop of our 2022 road trip is a three-peat return visit to Jasper Alberta. I know we have all dreamed of a three-some but this was the first time that we have visited the same destination more than twice. . (See blog of December, 2017, Something Old, Something New)  For those of you, who have never been to Jasper, envision a little brother to Banff. It is quite a bit smaller and not as overwhelmed by tourists although it has become significantly busier than on our previous visits

Photo- 1999ish- Angel Glacier- Mount Edith Cavell 

Despite looking for a place to stay 4 weeks before our arrival, I could find very little available and nothing that was under $250 a night. This was a considerable increase from our last visit as all reasonable priced places were already fully booked. Not a good omen. As this was not our first rodeo, we went to our usual fallback position and searched in towns that were close to the park. Eventually we found very nice accommodation under $100 in Hinton Alberta but a 65 kilometre, 40 minute drive from the park entrance. It was a small price to pay for a smaller price.

Photo- 2017-Mount Whistler Summit, Jasper

Our initial plan for the day was to rent some e-bikes and do some adventuring around the immediate area of Jasper. Part of the reason for making this choice was driven by our desire to test drive what riding an e-bike would be like. We our  now in our 70’s and e-bikes will most likely be our go to method of travel in the all too near future. The immediate area around Jasper has numerous beautiful glacier fed lakes and streams accessible by an extensive walking and biking trails. The trails all come with unparalleled views of the Canadian Rockies. 

As we left Hinton, it started to rain. The forecast for the day was to be cloudy with a 60% chance of rain throughout the day so upon arriving in Jasper in a drizzle, we made the snap decision to revise our plans and do some hiking rather than biking. Given the choice between hiking and biking in the rain, we will take walking every time. Rain can find its way into many more bodily locations when you are biking through it. A visit to the visitor centre and we were provided a number of hiking options. So chanting our rain mantra “we won’t melt”, we headed off to Pyramid Lake.

 

The Pyramid Lake Loop trail is a 11 kilometre trail and as stated in its name is a loop trail so we never saw the same view. 

It starts with a walk along the lake before looping up into the surrounding mountain and into deeply wooded terrain with the odd peek-a-boo of Pyramid Lake.

 

A nice hike, made all the nicer as it had quit raining and we remained blissfully dry. We didn’t see another drop of rain till we started our drive back to Hinton. 

 

Pyramid Lake is only a 10 minute drive from Jasper but that 10 minutes seemed to scare away most of the looky-loo’s so the trail was all ours.  Well, not quite, as we got deeper into the woods, we came across some reasonably fresh but not steaming bear scat. We also heard snorting nearby a couple of times but no visuals.  

As well, lots of fresh claw marks on the pines trees that sadly were infested and dying from a pine beetle infestation. Our bear bell and air horn were given quite a workout till we were safely tucked back inside the Prius with the doors locked. 

 

Returning to Jasper, we still had some legs left so took a wander around Edith and Annette Lakes, located just a few kilometres north of Jasper. The trails here are very user friendly and had been on our itinerary if we had rented e-bikes.  More streams and pretty glacier fed lakes to view, it never gets tired. 

From here we headed back to Hinton. 

It was birthing season for the elk so we were cautioned to stay well away from any mama elk. This picture was taken from safely inside the car. 

On the drive back, we talked and decided that there was still more things to do and see in Jasper. I think we may have a foursome in our future. 

Road Trip 2022 – Bones to the Bad- Episode 2

Today we fully expect to answer the question “How bad does it have to be to be bad?” First we will have to find something that has been declared bad. “Having a bad hair day” was not in my cards so we have decided to head to Alberta and a return trip to the town of Drumheller, home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and some prehistoric dinosaur bones. We had never really planned to return but since we were so close, curiosity got the better of us. The museum is located in the middle of the Alberta Badlands.  So we decided to find out what makes the Badlands bad. We are not sure what year we visited Drumheller previously but it was shortly after we dropped our youngest son off at University in 1999.

 Photo from 1999ish.

An early departure from Field gave us the opportunity for a quick visit to Banff.  Our last visit was in 1990 with our teenaged kids. Much has changed. Then we sprang for a one night budget breaking stay in the Banff Springs Hotel. Not sure what we paid but current room rates are in excess of $1,100. We fed the kids pizza and a movie in the room while we went out to a highly advertised and expensive fondue restaurant. The cheese dip may have “gone bad” as it left a very “bad taste in our mouth”.  Despite our bad review, the restaurant is one of the few places from the 90’s that is still standing in downtown Banff.

We found Drumheller littered with dinosaurs

Very friendly and social dinosaurs. 

Perhaps too friendly! 

It's also home to the world’s largest, walk up dinosaur. 

This “bad boy” stands over 26 metres high, 46 metres in length and weighs in at 66,000 kilograms. 

It provides a great view of Drumheller from its gaping tooth filled mouth if you can get past the "bad breath". Opened in 2001, it has ingested over 2,000,000 visitors.

The museum is home to a diverse collection of fossils recovered from around Alberta and BC as well as examples from around the world. Over 30 full size dinosaurs have been re-created  using fossilized dinosaur remains found from the areas close by.

 

Over 65,000,000 years of history has been crammed into its 4,400 metres of display space. The most famous of course is Tyrannosaurus Rex or T-Rex to his friends. He was known to have a very "bad attitude".

They even have some fossilized dinosaur shit on display. I guess cavemen hadn't got around to inventing dinosaur pooh bags yet. 

 

The museum spit us out 3 hours later overloaded by way too much paleontology.. Our next destination was a hike down into Horsethief Canyon and an introduction to the Badlands. Sadly I took a “bad turn” and drove 30 kilometres in the wrong direction.

 

It wasn’t wasted as we ending up driving by the access road to the Hoodoos site which was to be our next destination after Horsethief Canyon. Perhaps our “bad luck” was turning around.

 

A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by erosion. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They generally form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations. 

“Wikipedia/Hoodoos”

 

There was no “bad information” from our gps Naggedy Anne who got us to the canyon with out any further deviations. The Badlands kind of sneak up on you. They are found in deep ravines which cannot be seen till you are right on top of them. They were created by meltwater from the retreat of the Laurentide glacier around 13,000 years ago.

 

Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded.^[1] They are characterized by steep slopes, minimal vegetation, lack of a substantial regolith, and high drainage density.^[2] Ravines, gullies, buttes, hoodoos and other such geologic forms are common in badlands.

“Wikipedia/Badlands”

 

It was a short 5 kilometre hike through the many ravines that form the canyon. Occasional short bursts of sun interspersed with dark blobs of rain cloud filling the sky kept things moving. The Badlands are interesting but they do not provide much variety of terrain with one ravine looking much like the other.

 

So how would we would rate the Badlands. We decided that they "ain't half bad”.  Sort of like listening to bagpipes, very enjoyable for the first 10 minutes or so but then you just want them to stop.  

Back at the hotel, tired and grumpy Nonie got into it with a local. But saner heads  prevailed and they parted with no "bad blood". 

Road Trip 2022

 Road Trip 2022- Episode #1

There is a saying, “You can never go back” but over the years, we have found this truism not to be entirely true, specifically about places that we have visited.  When finishing a visit, we in veritably ask ourselves, do we need to come back? Are there still more things we need to do or places we want to see here? We live in one of the most beautiful areas of Canada so the bar is set very high when we ask ourselves those questions. Road Trip 2022 was to see us return to two previous locations where we had left much undone and one location that had not made the cut but curiosity drew us to return for another visit.   

Our first stop, Yoho National Park and the village of Field BC, which we first visited in 2017. (See  blog of December, 2017, “Something Old, Something New”)  On this trip and not reading the small print we, arrived the day after the official closure of the roads that accessed the hiking trails we had selected.  Thank to the ladies in the Visitor Centre, who found us hikes that were still accessible.

Photo is from 2017. 

 

So to avoid our past mistake we arranged to make our return trip at the beginning of the season after the park had officially opened on May 15^th planning our arrival on May 30^th.  Arriving early to Field our base of operations for the next two days, we opted to make a quick foray into Lake Louise, a 30 minute drive away. It was here 50 years previously that Nonie worked at the Post Hotel as a server in the coffee shop between her 3^rd and final years at UBC.

The hotel is now known as the Post Hotel and Spa with room rates in the $440+ range. Perhaps when we win the lottery, we might spend a night there. From the Post, we headed up for a quick visit to view Lake Louise, a site we had last visited 40 years ago. We found a much different place then we remembered.  

Sadly Banff and Lake Louise have become very, very, very busy and the expectations are things are only going to get busier with the cessation of COVID rules.  What we found was a giant parking lot capable of handling over 700 cars and a shuttle bus service that ferried visitors from three other satellite lots located on the outskirts of the town. Bring $12 if you want to park by the lake but the view is still free. 

 

Seems we have been pitched another curve ball, not thrown by COVID this time but by global warming. Winter had not released its grip on Yoho. Access roads that would normally be accessible by now were still deep in snow and the danger of landslides kept clearing crews away. Gosh darn it. The internet saved the day where I found a replacement hike although it was located next door in Banff National Park and thanks to a tip from the host of our AirB&B in Field we had a pretty sweet short hike to finish the day.

 

So it was up early for a fifty kilometre drive into Alberta to find the trail head for Johnston Canyon and the Inkpots. Johnston Canyon is a popular site with warnings that you should arrive early to avoid the crowds.  

Johnston Canyon and the Inkpots share the first kilometre of trail that brings you to just another of those stunning waterfalls that are scattered throughout the Rocky’s.

Despite arriving just before 10:00 am the parking lot was over half full so it was a bit of a conga line till the waterfall. From there the trail starts to climb rising over 600 uppy downy metres in the 4.5 kilometres to the Inkpots. The waterfall is the main attraction for 95% of the tourists that come here which left us pretty much alone as we started the climb from the canyon bottom.  

As we climbed up in elevation, the trail became a bit of a skating rink in the shady areas. We knew we might see some snow or ice so had brought our cleats for such an occasion. This allowed us to power up and down the trail.

 

What are the Ink Pots?  (hikebiketravel.com/the-ink-pots-via-johnston-canyon/)

The Ink Pots are mineral springs that differ in colour because each pool fills at a different rate. According to a sign the milky-green pools fill more slowly and have a heavier suspension of fine materials than the clear, deep-blue pools.

Year round the water temperature of these pools is about 4°C.

While I much prefer an outbound trail as you never have to retrace your steps, an out and back is still pretty good. 

It always amazes me that looking back at something from a different angle can make it look all new and different.

To close out the day we revisited the Natural Bridge in Yoho to look for a hidden road behind the parking lot, clearly mark road closed. We were told that we could ignore that as it was meant for vehicles and not for hikers.

 

The road took us down to into the Valley following the Kicking Horse River where we found the cutest little white sand beach just as the sun broke through the rain clouds that had chased us for most of the day. We could see ourselves returning to this spot on a hot summer day for a cooling swim in the chilly glacial waters and perhaps a picnic on the beach. Best of all, not another person in sight. 

A perfect end to a perfect day.