Exploring the Koots 0829 to 0830

One of the fantastic appeals of this area is how close everything is. Yesterday and today we took 24 hours and went on a mini expedition to climb Sphinx Mtn. This is (supposedly) a prominent peak visible from Balfour and area. Catherine has been looking at it every time she plays bridge down there and really wanted to climb it.

Wednesday, we loaded up, drove down to the Kootenay Lake ferry and proceeded up the Grey Pass Forest Service Road (remember, this ascent was done in true BC alpine style - see earlier post).
We arrived at the Oliver Lake campsite not long before sunset, just in time to have a quick stroll to the lake and time to read for awhile. We spent a quiet, pleasant night "car-camping". Before the sun got up too far, we crawled out of our nests, had a great breakfast of instant oatmeal, lots of sugar, ramen noodles and hot iced tea. Can't beat that!. Drove down the road a few km and began the climb up to the trailhead. There were 5 km of very steep and very rough track, necessitating some complete 4x4 climbing (Cath even got out to walk once rather than stay inside the truck!)

The trailhead was reached, we packed, and began the short hike through the woods and up to the alpine meadows and on to the peaks, as there were, we discovered, two of them - one being the peak of Sphinx Mtn and the other, slightly lower, some "unnamed peak". About 600 m elevation gain from the trailhead to the first summit, a short backtrack to a col and then up the second peak with great views of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake and all the surrounding peaks.
From our vantage points we had great views of Loki Mtn, St Mary's Alpine area, several areas in Kokanee Glacier Prov Park (including the antenna structure on top of one peak that I visited last March in skis. What we discovered was that Sphinx Mtn isn't really all that visible from the west side of the Lake because "Unnamed Peak" is in the way. However, it was a nice outing, some exercise was had and we were back home in under 24 hours just in time for my daily dose of "The West Wing".

Insect Art

A piece of bark fell off a log I was splitting yesterday and I noticed some very interesting nature art. Bugs are very plentiful in our woodpile and now I know what they're up to while they're in there. Personally, I think it looks like some prehistoric sea creature. Perhaps Pinus horriblus.

Eclipse

Given that last night's lunar eclipse was the second celestial event this month, I was hoping for some clear skies. Earlier this month, cloud cover (for almost the first time all summer, of course) pretty much ruined views of the Perseid meteor shower. Last night was perfect.

My internal alarm woke me up before 2 am and with the appropriate layers of fleece I was able to wander around on the deck admiring the moon, the Pleiades, gazillions of stars and more meteors than I saw during the "shower" earlier in August. By the way, the Pleiades is the constellation represented in the logo that Subaru cars show on the front grille.

The eclipse grew slowly, with less and less of the moon lit by the sun's direct light. At totality, around 3 am, the moon looked like a pale orange ball in the western sky. This color was the result of the sun's light bending as it passed through the earth's atmosphere, with the short wavelengths being the ones bending the most, hence illuminating the moon hiding in the earth's shadow.

Nights around the full moon are pretty spectacular around here, as the moon rises over the peaks on the eastern side of the Lake and reflects on the water that we can see below. Pretty nice, I'd say!

Exploring the (?) Koots 0822

After finishing our hike to Jonas Pass and a visit to Edmonton, I took a couple of days to visit a vacationing Kobus in Fernie and knock off a peak or two. I'm not sure if Fernie is exactly in the Kootenays (East OR West), but it's close.

Our first day was the Middle Sister, one of three nice peaks visible from the Canadian Tire Parking lot as well as Kobus' front yard. An easy 15 km drive up a nearby gravel road and a couple of km of very slow driving on a narrow, rutted trail, was followed by 1200m of elevation gain in about 6 km. The backside of the Sisters is a very attractive area, nice valleys, scree slopes, a moose and great views. Middle Sister seemed like one of the highest peaks in the Fernie area, from our perspective at least.

A bull moose was the only wildlife we saw, although there was some relatively fresh bear poop along the trail, which encouraged us to make lots of noise as we hiked along through the woods. Views from the summit (aside from the ubiquitous green fiberglass antenna enclosure) included Lake Kokanusa, Crowsnest Mtn and a sea of peaks in every direction. I'm sure that I could almost see home from there!

The next day was supposed to be Crowsnest Mtn, but all the access roads and woods were closed because of the fire hazard (hmmm - a different approach compared to BC's). Our alternate peak became Mt Proctor (7 km 1500 m), but a later-than-normal start, sore feet and a longer distance, meant that we only got part of the way. It's going to be a long hike the next time we give it a try.

Who You Gonna Call?

Well, on a Saturday, in Nelson, you won't have many options. It started off as a rather normal Saturday: a quick trip to Nelson for some building supplies, a trailer-load of topsoil, some groceries. A "trip to town" as the locals say. We find the plumbing shop is closed as is the locksmith shop. At the last stop, things begin to unravel. A fan belt breaks, in this case, the one running the alternator and the water pump on the truck. Things begin to heat up quickly. We stop at an Esso not far from the BOB (Big Orange Bridge). Not only are their service bays closed, but the owner seems more interested in berating his employees and ushering us off the lot than helping out in any way (guess I won't be buying gas there any time soon). We nurse the overheating truck to Walmart where the young fellows in the service bays seem more interested in fiddling with their studs and nose rings than helping, and besides, they don't "do" fan belts. A local garage, seemingly with the only service bays open today, might be able to do the job by 3 pm (it's only late morning at this point). As a last resort, I hike over to the local NAPA store to buy a fan belt and the two wrenches I will need to to the job myself. A pleasant surprise awaits: the fan belt is available and the fellow at the desk loans me a toolbox with all the things I need to replace the belt. About 30 minutes later, I'm finished the job and we're on our way home for a beer, a late lunch and the jobs I'd planned for the afternoon.

I'm sure that unhelpful "service" businesses are everywhere and Nelson isn't the only place with few repair options on a weekend, but I've got a giant RASPBERRY for Walmart and the Esso on Nelson Ave near the BOB. I've also got a big BOUQUET for NAPA and the guy working there Saturday. Thanks a lot!

Exploring the Koots 0807

Today was a day off work for an "ascent" of Meadow Mountain, just west of the north end of Kootenay Lake. The ascent was done in typical BC style: find the appropriate Forest Service Road and drive to the top. In this case, about 26 km of steep, dusty, somewhat rocky road. This got us to the meadows and from there it was about an hour up a steep hillside to the summit of Meadow Mtn.

Although views to the east and south were pretty well obscured by smoke haze, the mountains to the east, notably Mt Cooper with the Spokane Glacier (in Goat Range Provincial Park) were in fine form. The glacier on this mountain faced north and although I'm sure it's melting quickly like all the rest, it still seemed pretty big and impressive. We would have been able to see the Bugaboos, but for all the smoke. We could see the Macbeth Glacier which is up the Glacier Creek valley. A trip for another day.

We also spent a short time in the meadows once we were done with the summit of the mountain we had come to climb. The meadows were a bit dry at this time of year, especially with the hot, dry weather we've had. However, there were a few small tarns with nice plants around their edges. There is also a BC Forest Service Site on the edge of the meadows that would make a nice place to camp for a night or two while enjoying the 360 degree views and the flowers in the meadows. Plus the ridge up here extends a ways in two directions, sort of east and northwest. Several hours of easy walking seem possible.

Plane Spotting

On our way back from Meadow Mtn this afternoon (see next post) we noticed unusual activity - several water bombers working as well as some choppers with their buckets.

This first picture shows a Martin Mars water bomber heading towards the Slocan fire and a Canso water bomber heading down to Kootenay Lake for another load of water. The Martin Mars bomber was pretty impressive as it flew almost overhead a few times in a sort of large, stately, noisy way.


Today seemed to be a good day for fighting the surrounding forest fires. Low winds and cooler temperatures apparently allowed crews to make some headway on the fires. Watching from the Kaslo airstrip, I was able to see two choppers flying buckets of water to the fire in Kemp Creek, just a few km away from the town.

From Meadow Mtn we were able to get a view of a fire in a valley at the north end of Kootenay Lake (Hamil Creek). We also note that "finally" there is a campfire ban in the Rocky Mtn Fire District. What I can't understand is why such a ban wasn't put in place several weeks ago AND why the woods haven't been closed to all commercial and recreational activities. The fire hazard around here is very serious and yet the Forest Service seems to be pretending that it's business as usual.

'Tis the Season

The forest fire season, that is.

Several bloggers have recently commented on how hard it is to post regularly during the summer and I have to agree. When you get up at 5:30 am to start on your outdoor list just to beat the heat, and you don't quit until mid-afternoon anyway, one is somewhat disinclined to spend much time on the computer, even if the basement is the coolest place to be. There have been whole days in a row when I haven't even turned my computer on. Hard to believe, eh?

Anyhow, on to the topic at hand: forest fires. We're in the Southeast fire zone in BC and it's pretty much the only zone that's in an extreme fire situation. There are about a half-dozen fires burning within a 70 km radius of our location. The one closest to home is actually in the watershed for the Village of Kaslo's water supply so there are some concerns in town. Our subdivision's water comes from Kootenay Lake, fortunately, so we only have the "normal" contaminants to contend with.

The Kaslo airport has been busier than normal lately, since the local fire is just a couple of minutes away. Last night we saw a Skycrane up there. And the other day we saw a Marten Mars water bomber fly by. Although it didn't look like it from our deck, this plane has a larger wingspan than a Boeing 747. Pretty impressive, making its stately way up the lake.

The past couple of days have provided some respite, a bit cooler, with lower winds and some showers. Steep, rocky terrain doesn't help the firefighters' job any either. There is a chance that cooler weather will be more likely in the coming week.