Penticton Outdoors Club    

Spring 2012

March sees the transition from Touring Skiing to Hiking. During these few weeks the keen skiers are hoping for one last blast of winter before packing up their skis for the season, while the hikers are wishing for warm dry conditions to remove the last of the snow and ice from the lower altitude trails. Further ski outings through the spring will only be organized “the evening before”-- when and if fresh snow and cold temperatures prevail on our high mountain routes; so ski outings will not appear on the schedule.

The spring planning meeting was held at Guy and Katherine DuVent’s home at Twin lakes. At this meeting it was decided to hold two “joint” hikes along with the Adventurer’s Club, with participation limited to 10 hikers from each club for each of these hikes. The first will be a strenuous hike on Middle Mountain, (Oliver area), led by Jerry Monahan on April 21. The second will be organized by the Adventurer’s Club later in the season.

• Sat Mar 17- Phil Elliott will lead a hike to the summit of Eagle Bluff. This hike, starting from a kilometer up the road across from the Vaseux lake recreation area, was made possible by the purchase of the land from ranchers by Lands Trusts. It is an interesting hike with scenic views throughout. It also has a couple of optional side circuits, such as to the top of Ochre Cliff, or an elongation southward to the edge of Vaseux Canyon.

• Saturday March 24- Josianne Rovinelli will lead a 3 ½  hour hike up from the old Keremeos cemetery to the massive basaltic cliffs forming the Keremeos Columns. There are several areas of these vertical lava crystals towering a hundred or more meters high, made up of perfect hexagons half a meter across. Interestingly they are situated outside of, and to the north of the Keremeos Columns Provincial Park. Although this geographical error has been pointed out to Parks over the last thirty years, Parks has not yet found time to correct this inaccuracy.

• Sat. Mar 31- Bev Krieger will lead a hike to the tip of Volcano Mountain. The top ridge shows how active the fault lines  are in this area: with the summit ridge split lengthwise by a gaping fissure, and several parallel previous “sections of ridge” can be seen below working their down into the Trout Creek Canyon far below. The western end is a raw projecting finger of rock. The hike starts from the Trout Creek Trestle.

• Sat  April 14- Margaretha Hogeling will lead a hike from Madden Lake through the rolling country to Sawmill Lake. A forest fire ten years ago opened up the views, making this a much more interesting area to hike.

• Sat  April 21- Guenter Hoernig will lead a hike over Campbell Mountain. This hike has almost continuous scenic views, either out over Okanagan Lake  or  the Penticton Creek valley.

• Sat April 28- Elvia Dumas will lead a hike up Nkwala Mountain starting Husula Highlands and working across the southeast face to the summit; with spectacular views of Okanagan lake and valley all the way up.

• May 6, SUNDAY- Renee Martin will lead up Mount Keagan, starting across the road from the south end of Mahoney Lake. The trail works its way around and up the west flank to reach open slopes with views south over the Oliver area. Then it winds up to the middle of the top ridge. Three small summits can be reached, each with its own views, Return is from the northernmost, looping down to the upward trail.

• May 12 Guy DuVent  will lead on his favorite Cross-Over Trail in the White Lake area. This is a figure of eight route reaching four different summits with open slopes leading up to craggy tops.

• May 19 Josianne Rovinelli will lead an Osoyoos Grasslands hike starting in the Kilpoola area and heading up the ridges south.Views into the south Similkameen, and over to the Cathedral Mountains will be spectacular.

• May 26. Ann Kiefer will lead a hike to the top of McIntyre Bluff starting at Covert farms, heading up to Rattlesnake Lake, then east to the saddle between Keagan and McIntyre. From there trails head south up the ridge to the final viewpoint perched at the southernmost top end of the rock bluff. Return back along the rim of the rock face gives a chance to peer down from Lover’s Leap projecting rock shelf. Lots of Mariposa Lilies should be in bloom immediately above Covert Farms.

• June 2  Jerry Monahan will decide on locale depending on weather conditions.

• PlanningMeeting: will be at  Ann Kiefer’se. Tuesday June 5 at 7 pm.

• June 9 Barry Lemay will lead a hike on the Three Blind Mice Trail network off  the Arawana Road. This set of trails was developed by mountain bikers, and has multiple scenic viewpoints

Email: bradhouston@shaw.ca