Living Virally: A Cluster F#*K

 Episode 7

The verdict is not yet in but Phase III may be a bust. It has been 6 weeks since Phase III was implemented and the daily rate of COVID infections has increased from 10-15 to 50 plus. Here in the Okanagan we have gone from zero to 10+ daily.  The province is once again in an upward trend of COVID infections, lets hope it is just a passing phase. 

I blame the Millennial’s but don’t “Hey Boomer” me, the proof is in the figures. As reported by the BC Centre for Disease Centre “Likely source of infection for most cases was contact with local clusters.  The number of reported cases among children remains low. Over a quarter of the 196 new cases in the last· week (among those with known age) were 20-29 years old (53/196; 27%).”

The local clusters that they refer to were two large parties held in Kelowna during the July long weekend. As of July 30^th, there were 130 cases of infection directly related as a result of these parties.

These large gatherings that ignore social distancing and wearing masks continue  throughout the province. The latest report has three Vancouver PD officers testing positive of COVID after breaking up an August long weekend party of over a 100 people termed a “out of control” gathering. By out of control, they are referring to the lack of social distancing and more than 50 people with future infections to be announced.

But hey I was a kid once and loved a good “out of control” party. The difference though was parties in those days did not come with a potentially deadly virus and the chance to kill your grandparent’s, just one hell of a hangover so “Party On Dudes.”

 Photo: Vancouver Sun

Don’t get me started on wearing a mask. Okay, so I started. People assume that I wear a mask to protect myself. Wearing anything but a properly fitted N95 mask will not provide adequate protection against the virus but what wearing a mask can do much better is protect those idiots not wearing a mask should I be infected. 

Some how these anti-maskers just don’t get it that my wearing a mask is protecting their dumb asses. 

The last four weeks have been a replay of the previous four weeks with golf, yoga, runs, swims, bikes, coffees, and dinner in the park with friends......

......along with escapes into the world of Bob Ross and happy trees. 

Another escape from this viral life was in order. 

The choice of destination was driven by a news article I came across about the last drive-in theatre in the Southern Interior. It seemed like the perfect road trip, seeing a movie in our car. 

As a teenager and young man in Kamloops, I saw most of my films through the front window of a 61 Ford Falcon as Kamloops was blessed with two drive-ins. I will leave the rest of those experiences to your imagination.  

Photo: Sundown Drive In- Kamloops Museum

My last visit to a drive-in was as a married father of one. We had bundled up our 1 year old son with the plan to bring him to the drive-in and put him to sleep in the back seat while we enjoyed the #1 hit of 1977, Star Wars.  Much to our astonishment, he enjoyed the movie more than we did as he spent the whole evening bouncing on my lap, gripping the steering wheel, completely mesmerized by the movie. 

So 43 years later, in the small town of Enderby, we were once again enjoying an evening at the movies, this time, without children and through the window of a 2016 Prius. We purchased both our tickets on line instead of hiding one of us in the trunk mostly because a Prius does not have a trunk. Also missing was the big clunky crackly sounding speaker that hung from a metal post in each stall, replaced by an FM signal listened through our car radio.   

Enderby is located in the extreme  north end of the Okanagan Valley and about a 15 minute drive from the city of Salmon Arm where we had booked into a lovely B&B for a couple of nights. While I have driven through Salmon Arm, many times over the last 50 years, We have never stopped for more than gas.

We also came to Salmon Arm to enjoy a number of bike rides that I had found in a newly published book of cycling called “The Okanagan and Beyond”. 

I did not remember from my previous visits, nor did the book mention how freakin hilly the area around Salmon Arm is. Nonie was a real trooper. 

 

Later in the afternoon saw us hitting a few of the wineries that have started to pop up in the Shushwap Lake area.  Similar to the Okanagan, the areas around Shushwap Lake have micro-climates that allow some of the more cold-resistant grape varietals to grow. Based on our sampling, the vines have been very successful adapting to the cooler climates of the Shuswap 

Living Virally: The Wet Coast

Episode 6

Our time loop is becoming further unraveled. Phase III for the restart of BC has been implemented. This means that we can begin “smart and safe travel within the province and the restart of in-person K-12 and post-secondary classes”.  Of course, physical distancing is to be practiced and the wearing of mask when that is not possible. So, with the governments blessing we decided to hit the road, but where to go?  Since moving to Penticton 32 years ago, I have always had fireworks for my birthday. 

Not to be this year as my fireworks tends to attract tens of thousands of people into the downtown core, something that will not be allowed till at least Phase V or VI. 

So with no reason to stay in Penticton for my birthday, the search began. Manning Park was on the top of the list till a junk e-mail crossed my computer inviting me to “find and explore beautiful Whistler”.  It had been many years since was visited Whistler, so long ago that Nonie and I spent several hours arguing about when we did visit. We eventually settled on 1983 or 1984, a period when we were living in Vancouver.  So after thirty-six or so years, perhaps it was time to re-visit.

First we needed to find a place to stay. Luck was with us and we scored a one bedroom condo for $69 a night that was only a 15 minute walk down to the Village centre and a 20 minute walk back up to the condo.  Kudos to Horstman  House, we had a wonderful stay. 

Photo: Tripadvisor

Our safety plan was to do most of our own cooking with one outing to a restaurant on my birthday, pack lunches for all bikes and hikes as well as  minimizing visits to the village when it was busy. We also did all our shopping in Penticton to avoid any unnecessary shopping trips.

We left Penticton under a slight drizzle which turned to a nasty rainstorm as we crossed over the Coquihalla Connector to Merritt. From Merritt we drove to Spences Bridge, Lytton, Lilloet, Pemberton and our final destination Whistler, a route that allowed us to avoid travel through the Lower Mainland. As we approached Whistler the clouds opened up around us and we were blessed with some sun for the final few kilometres into Whistler.  

Arriving late in the afternoon, we checked in and enjoyed a brisk walk down to the Village. It has certainly grown considerably since our last visit. Besides the Village Centre, they have added a North Village and an Upper Village to the core. We actually had a mission as we had missed one important stop before we left Penticton, the liquor store.  Whistler has grown so much they now have two government stores and a number of private outlets. 

Day 2 dawned with a mixed bag of cloud and sun. Today we were going to explore all the lakes around Whistler by bike. Whistler has great access to shared hiking/biking paths the can get you anywhere in and around the Village. The trails were well maintained and provided a myriad of photo opportunities.

Quiet little wet land areas filled with turtles. 

Glacial streams to cool my tender tootsies. That is till the I lost feeling  and they became frozen tootsies pops. 

The ice on the cake was my chip onto the 9^th green at Nicklaus North. Twelve inches from the cup done with no feeling in my feet.  

Day 3 greeted us with torrential rain, the Wet Coast starting to live up to its name. Our original plan was a hike into Iceberg Lake located in the alpine on the south side of Whistler Mountain. A 15 kilometre out and back trek with 1,000 metre elevation gain, most of it in the first 2 or 3 kilometres. Greeted with steep muddy trails we opted for Plan B, a short hike into the Nairn Waterfall located about  20 minute drive north of Whistler.

As we made our way into the park. Our efforts were rewarded as the clouds parted and  we were bathed in lovely sunshine.  

As we headed back to Whistler, the clouds closed in again and the rain started up. Not torrential, more of a hearty drizzle. We were headed to Olympic Park, which was home to the Nordic and Ski Jump events for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. I had actually visited the site during the construction period.  I was there to carry out a site safety inspection of the Whistler Olympic Village with the local VANOC team. 

Our goal today was to climb to the top of the highest ski jump for a late lunch. Not as easy at is sounds.

First there is the approximately 500 steps the gets you to the end of the jump. Thankfully the clouds cleared and we made the climb in sunshine. 

Sadly the sun disappeared and the weather turned into another hearty drizzle making the 1.5 kilometre trail to the top of the jump and the starting gate into a nasty, steep muddy, slippery climb requiring a rope in one section.  

But lunch and the misty view were pretty spectacular. 

As the rain became more torrential, we made our way back to the condo for popcorn and a movie.  

The rain that greeted us on Day 4 was more than a hearty drizzle but less then a tsunami. Today, we were headed up into the high alpine of Blackcomb and Whistler to do a few hikes. We tried to wait out the rain but gave up and headed to the Blackcomb gondola chanting our favourite mantra “We won’t melt.” Nonie has a bit of a phobia about ferries and gondolas so getting her on one is always a challenge. Thankfully the heavy cloud cover masked just how high up we were going. (7, 990 feet)

Magically, as we arrived at the summit, the clouds thinned out enough that we could find our way around although the Village below was not visible. 

We enjoyed the one trail that was open with the rest closed as the snow pack was still pretty heavy leaving the trails unmarked. 

There are at least another 6 trails available on Blackcomb. We are definitely returning in the warmer weather. 

As we returned to the gondola station, the cloud cover became even thinner giving us a bit clearer view of the valley bottom. While it was nice, it did create a bit of a dilemma for me.

The Peak to Peak gondola travels between the summit of Blackcomb and Whistler mountains. We had tickets for the ride. Nonie was going to have to suck it up for this one. The gondola will travel 3.024 kilometres at an elevation of 436 metres above the valley and at a speed of 7.5 metres per second. 

She turned out to be a real trooper. Though a return trip to the Blackcomb side was not to be in the cards according to Nonie.  

We were greeted at the Whistler side by rain mixed with sleet and a pretty brisk wind that rattled the gondola car as we entered the station. That pretty well sealed the deal on the chance of any return trip. 

Only part of one trail was available with the rest still covered in snow so it we were quickly back to the lodge for lunch and a hot chocolate before taking the Whistler Gondola down into the Village. We did take time for a meet and greet with the Inukshuk who lives on the summit. He/She was not great at maintaining social distancing.  

Dinner to night at a Mongolian restaurant then on the road home tomorrow. 

Day 5 and while it was not raining, it was completely socked in with visibility of about 100 metres. It cleared up by the time we reached Pemberton where we stopped for breakfast. For lunch we turned into a pullout that provided a lovely  view of the Nicola River. While enjoying lunch an eagle landed in a tree beside us. I think he was monitoring the river for fish but he also seem to be eyeing my sandwich quite a bit. To avoid what could be an ugly situation we moved on. 

The chance of getting another rate of $69 Whistler would seem to be really slim as current rates for the same condo is $208. But should it occur, we will be back. Ice Berg Lake is calling me. 

Living Virally: 5% of 40 Days and 40 Nights

Episode 5

So, week 12 of self-isolating has passed and the government is now allowing some of those prohibited enjoyments back into our lives; yoga, golf and limited restaurant/pub services. For me and best of all, my favourite coffee place has re-opened. An almost sacred place where I have passed many enjoyable hours reading newspapers and watching Penticton go by.

 During week 11, we enjoyed lunch with my sister at a local restaurant on the very first day they opened to the public. Change was in the air. We were required to wait outside for about 10 minutes before we were escorted into a virtually empty restaurant. Not allowed to choose a table and we were seated at a table that was clearly 2 metres away from the next occupied table.  We were offered paper menus to be destroyed after we were done with them; but encouraged to use our phones to download their on-line menu. No water glasses but bottled water was available for a price. Servers were a bit standoffish. (2 metres)  Our food was dropped off at the end of the table and we were expected to serve ourselves from there. Dirty dishes, the same way, moved to the end of the table where they would be picked up by a staff person wearing gloves and a mask.As a male I must admit to a bit of a phobia being around people wearing rubber gloves. To pay, we used our phone to scan a QR code left on the table which took us to a web site where we could peruse our bill and then use the phone to pay the check. Welcome to the new reality.

Un-necessary travel outside our home area is still frowned upon but week 12 saw us escape into the mountains for a two night stay at the freshly opened Chute Lake Lodge located 30 kilometres in the mountains above Penticton.  Our plan was to visit and bike into Myra Canyon and the lodge is located just a short 25 kilometre bike away from the entrance to the canyon. Myra canyon is home to 18 visually stunning trestle bridges.  We have traveled this section of the KVR on three previous occasions. 

Since the last time we traveled, 14 of the trestles were destroyed by a massive wild fire in 2003 and were quickly rebuilt over the ensuing years. But to our dismay, the canyon section was closed to the public because of the difficulty to maintain the required 2 metres distance while traversing the narrow trestles. Over 75,000 visitors visit the canyon each year, most through the warmer months. Definitely not this weekend.      Photo: myracanyon.com

So plan B was an 11 kilometre hike into Elinor and Naramata Lake. The trail into the lake is part of the Highlands Trail/ High Rim Trail but is also used as a Forest Service road and for half the route, a logging road. This unfettered access means lots of use by four wheelers, atvs and dirt bikes.  No quiet back country trails this weekend. 

If I have one word to describe this trip, it would be WET. We arrived early on Friday and enjoyed the last few dry hours we would experience, exploring the newly renovated Lodge, grounds with a little fishing on Chute Lake. From dinner on, we experienced everything from light drizzles to torrential downpours that viciously exploded onto the tin roof of the lodge. As we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Lodge on Friday evening, we watched puddles grow into ponds.

 

The rain continued throughout the night, waking us several times when it sounded like a steam train was steam rolling through our room. Waking, we discover that overnight the puddles had become more like lakes. Hiking boots or rubber boots was the topic of conversation over breakfast. 

 

As the morning wore on, the rain became a light drizzle. Chanting our mantra of “We won’t melt”, we headed out for Elinor and Naramata Lakes.  Thanks to all the vehicular traffic, the trail/road was dotted with huge pond size puddles requiring some deft footwork to get around them. The four wheelers and atvs were having a great time roaring through them at high speeds creating giant tsunamis like waves. The car washes in Penticton were going to see some serious business today. Lunch was eaten hunkered down under a tree to keep our sandwiches dry.

 

Saturday night was a replay of Friday night with a great meal and more rain. But hey, we didn’t melt.

LIving Virally: Time Loops

Episode 4

I have found a name for our current life style. It is called a “Time Loop”. As defined by Wikipedia “A time loop or temporal loop is a plot device whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes used to refer to a causal loop ; however, causal loops are unchanging and self-originating, whereas time loops are constantly resetting: when a certain condition is met, such as a death of a character or a clock reaches a certain time, the loop starts again, with one or more characters retaining the memories from the previous loop.”

It seems our loop is a “time loop” and not a "causal loop". So here were are in week 9 and a process of loop resetting has taken place with the government starting to open things. To celebrate, we enlarged our bubble by organizing a get together with friends in a local park. Each couple brought their own chairs, booze and food. We set up our chairs in a circle using the government approved 6 feet of separation. As there were nine of us, the diameter of the circle became quite large. For you math types, the circumference of our circle became 48 feet so using the formula D = C/π meant our circle had a diameter of 15.281757 feet of distance between some of the couples. Since most of us are deep into our 60’s and those 70’s rock concerts left some of us with hearing loss, there were a lot of “huh”, “say again” and “didn’t get that” going around. To be fair, it was also very windy that day.

The only other change to our days of sameness was to make another attempt to summit Mount Nkwala. We picked a pretty good day with some sun and cloud that would keep the temperatures in check. The views were boringly spectacular as usual.

The rains have kept the meadows moist and well covered in a beautiful array or flowers. We took time on this trip to capture them. 

Arrowleaf Balsam Root 

White Yarrow 

Numerous trails proliferate up, down and around Mount Nkwala. The trails are shared by both hikers and mountain bikers. This is one of the reasons that we got some what side tracked on our first attempt to get to the summit. There are too many trails that don't really have any destination other than to create some gnarly berms, banks and kickers.

Indian Paintbrush

Scarlet Gilia

We decided to take the trail that looked the most traveled with the hope that we would at some point find ourselves taking photos from the summit of Mount Nkwala. Along the way we ran into a few obstacles. Nothing that couldn't be straddled and gotten over.

Bitterroot

Shooting Star

Our chosen trail walked us through a lovely heavily wooded meadow. Sadly some of the stately old trees had succumbed to rot and wind but made for a lovely photo opportunity.

Three Leaved Phachelia

Scentless Chamomile

Well, is seems that we have been foiled again. No summit. Our well traveled trail took us on a lovely wander around to the back side of Mount Nkwala where we came to a well traveled dirt road that we are told would eventually take us to the summit. We did try a trail off the road that wandered up toward the summit but as we climbed it became smaller, less clear until Mother Nature took it completely back. 

We will be back but I think we will wait till the wild strawberries are ripe. If we don't make the summit, at least there will be a snack. 

Wild Strawberry 

Living Virally: Ground Hog Days and Days and Days

Episode 3

It is week seven in self isolation and life rolls on. Each day passes with an almost unerring similarity, like a really, really boring version of  Ground Hog Day.

• Wake up between 7 and 8 AM, make a pot of coffee
• Deliver a cup of coffee to Nonie still in bed
• Go for a run, a bike, a Zoom yoga session
• Go on line to catch up on the world and what crazy, stupid things Trump has said or done that morning
• Make lunch and decide who is cooking dinner
• Once or twice a week, hit the grocery store hoping to find toilet paper and yeast
• Binging Netflix, Amazon Prime and see what crazy, stupid things Trump has said or done that afternoon.
• Fondle golf clubs (Editors note: golf courses have reopened at the posting of this blog and fondling has terminated)
• Start dinner
• Pour a glass of wine, must be 4 PM some where
• Eat dinner
• Hit the Lazy Boy for a few hours of regular TV
• In bed by 10:00 PM
• Repeat

Wait a minute, except missing my weekly two hour coffee break, golf, travel, swim sessions and the fact I usually never fondle my golf clubs, the above pretty well describes my regular life.  A certain amount of self isolation for seniors is nothing new. The government has mandated that the entire province, the entire country must live like most seniors. Welcome to our world suckers.

Nonie received an unexpected change to her routine in week 5 when her quilter’s guild was tasked to make medical gowns for a drive up-virus testing site being set up in Penticton. A task right up her alley and she easily made the shift from manufacturing quilts to medical gowns.   

Week five and another break to the cycle of sameness was necessary. So a mild hike was in order. This time we headed to Okanagan Falls and a hike up to the top of Peach Cliff.  No mountains today, just a lowly cliff.

photo: www.exploreoliverbc.com

Of course as expected on all our hikes in the Valley, the cliff delivered an awesome 360 degree view of the valley.

Peach Cliff was the home to the Dusty Mac Mine. The mine operated from 1969 to 1976 producing $34,000,000 in gold and silver. 

Reference: Roed MA and Fulton RJ (eds), 2011 Canadian Geology South Okanaga Geology Committee, pg. 106, 161,162

With the snow gone, spring had arrived like a lion and the hill was covered with a carpet of Sagebrush Buttercup flowers.

I am starting to sense  an increase in grumpiness in the world, myself included.  While we have a certain level of freedom to get out and about, there are still limitations placed on what used to be our normal activities. That and the lack of a firm time frame in which we might see our lives return to normal seems to be forming into viral hot buttons. Don’t get me started on having to witness the self destruction of Trump's America. Living as close as we do to the elephant, its destruction can only make our recovery more difficult. 

So another hike is in order. We chose Mount Nkwala, a 1,019 metre mountain overlooking Penticton. The weather was a mixed bag but we needed the escape so off we went.  As we ascended, clouds started to pile up, black and ominous with scattered pockets of rain visible around us.

As we enjoyed lunch, a large and very black cloud began to form over Nkwala’s peak as a slight rain started to fall.  Nothing we haven’t seen before. Lunch over and with our eyes focused on Nkwala's peak, we headed up. Within minutes the gentle rain turned in small bb sized ice pellets which then became marble sized ice pellets a few minutes later. Perhaps it was time to head home.  

The rain continued to follow us as we made our way back down. There are a number of trails that wander around Nkwala so inadvertently we explored a few of them as we made our way back to the trail head.

No, we were not lost. 

Nkwala is not finished. To quote Arnold, "We'll be back".