Introducing... Aldea Yanapay♥

I thought I would post a little something to show you why I am so excited about spending five weeks in Cusco. Enjoy! :)

How to Hike the High Rim Trail (concluded)

DAY THREE
Tuesday, October 5th

7:00- Good morning, sunshine! Don your toque and emerge from your ice-encrusted tent to take some pictures of the day's first rays of sunlight over the valley. The frosty foliage is lovely as the sun rises. Fetch the food from last night's slightly more successful food cache. Get out the stove, pot and lighter, planning to wake Orissa up with piping hot oatmeal for breakfast. Realize you have no idea how to work the camp stove. Dang. 

8:30- Wake Orissa up. Shake the ice off and hang the tent fly on a branch to dry in the sun. Get Dave out for the one and only photo-op of the trip (sorry, Dave!). After a little camp stove lesson and breakfast, strip down behind the fly-curtain (whee! that's brisk!) and change into your day clothes.

10:45- Finish packing up (Can't forget that bear spray!) and move on from Wrinkly Face.

11:45- Stand on a cliff edge high above Oyama, eating trail mix and trying to get a photo of your house, which is inconveniently positioned that a tree blocks it no matter where you stand, even though you can see your neighbours on either side.

12:30- Climb a steep hill at km 30, on top of which "the Monolith" rests. Stare at the massive boulder that looks like it fell from the sky. Stare at the ground around you when you think you hear rattlesnake or twelve nearby.

1:50- Cross Oyama Lake Road, your last chance to get off the trail before Vernon. Shortly thereafter, arrive at the awkwardly-named Cum-A-Long Bridge. Stop for some major regrouping. Stand in the icy creek to numb the pain in your feet. Share some lovely Vegetable Mr.Noodle and an apple for lunch, with a side dish of two Advil for Orissa (once again, new boots do not belong on the HRT!).  Refill all the water containers and do the dishes in exchange for your partner's reluctant cooperation in a self-timer picture. Question Rissa's sanity when she suggests that you finish the 20 remaining kilometres of trail tonight. Agree that it's not impossible, but decide to see how you feel after a couple more hours.

3:00- Resume hiking.

4:45- Start battling your way up the seemingly never-ending Microwave Station hill.

5:00- Crest the hill and experience your reward; the best view of the entire trip, a panorama of all of Vernon, Swan Lake and Kal Park, even some of Okanagan Lake over the western side of Kal. You can practically see to Prince George from here. You have no option but to spend the night. Take pictures and play with the bold little chipmunk who came to inspect your Nature Valley wrapper.

5:30- Convince Orissa that she wants to camp here too. Start looking for a tent site. Feel awkward when a family shows up in a truck. Quickly warm up to the company when the son points out that the lock of the tower store-room-type dealio has been blown open. Grin ear-to-ear at the prospect of sleeping in a warm, bomb-shelter-esque room with electric lights and no set-up required. Go exploring for another viewpoint with the dad, a photographer named Steve. Find your view just in time the catch the sunset over Okanagan Lake and learn a photo tip or two. Be welcomed back to the campsite by the sounds of a crackling fire and a strumming guitar. Use the tripod that Steve sets up to take some pictures of Vernon at dusk. Chat a bit more with your new friends before they head back down to the valley.

7:30- Eat all the rice and Craisins you have left  (you only packed food for three days). Savour your simple meal by the fireside with the stars twinkling above you and the lights of Vernon doing the same below. Laugh when Orissa remarks how romantic it is and asks you why you're not a boy... because you were thinking the exact same thing. Talk until you're tired enough and head for bed. But only after you've brushed your teeth and (creatively) put out the remains of the fire.

 

9:00- Get cozy in the microwave tower vault, smiling all over at your amazing good fortune and knowing that it's all downhill from here, literally.

How to Hike the High Rim Trail (continued)

DAY TWO

Monday, October 4th

(Hey readers! I have noticed that a lot of people visit my blog to read this post and the others about hiking the High Rim Trail... Which is super cool! Please comment about whether the posts were helpful, entertaining... or share your High Rim stories in the comments section! Happy trails and happy reading!) September 21, 2011

8:45 a.m. - Untangle yourself carefully from your sleeping bag and emerge from the tent to greet the day. Do a few Sun Salutations to stretch last nights hard-ground-induced cricks away. Retrieve food from tree. Wake Orissa up for breakfast time... then choke down the oatmeal you love so very much.

10:15 - Make some final adjustments to your pack and head out onto the Trail. In case you've forgotten which trail, please refer to one of the multitude of helpful signs marked "High Rim Trail".

11:00 - Arrive at "The Grand View". Marvel at the view of Kelowna from 1380 metres. Also marvel at the perfectly level space framed with wood and marked "TENT", the benches, the fire ring and the PIT TOILET. This could have been your campsite. If you are Orissa, laugh heartily. If you are Julia, force a laugh and try not to throw yourself off the cliff in frustration.

12:00- Make your way through the "Forest of Despair", a grey and lifeless place that seems to suck enthusiasm for hiking right out of your very bones and make your pack twice as heavy.

2:30-ish - Lunch of a crumbly bagel with cream cheese from a tube and a delicious apple on a rocky ridge.  When you pack up to move on, do NOT place your Buff in the sternum strap of your backpacking for "safe-keeping". Continue through the changing landscapes; the sparse, arid forest and stony ground of the high rim... the steep ravines and more lush, mossy foliage flanking creeks whose banks are clothed in every fall colour... the groves of trembling aspen with leaves like golden coins, which turn the path into a Yellow Brick Road... Soak in the beauty.

4:30 - Stop for a snack and to take some jumping pictures over Winfield. Realize that jumping after about 6 hours of hiking is easier said than done. Do it anyways. If you have ignored the instruction about not placing your Buff in your sternum strap, this is when you will realize that it is lost forever, and be very disappointed because it was such a lovely and useful item.

5:30 - Arrive at Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, at km 31, just in time to admire a sunset view over the valley, especially Kelowna, and snap some lovely photos of the evening light.  Layer up, set up camp, then build your first successful campfire EVER while Orissa prepares tortellini with tomato sauce. Share and savour a delicious mint-chocolate bar by the firelight. Before going to bed, sit together outside the tent watching the city below light up. Sing Hey Jude, Kiss a Girl and Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of your lungs, with a multi-lingual, disjointed duet of O Canada as finale to the mountaintop concert.

9:00 - In the tent, confer about tomorrow's plan of action and finally decide not to decide, just to play it by ear.

9:30 p.m.- Fall asleep feeling that good kind of tired you only feel at the end of a long day of exertion out in the fresh air.

HOW TO HIKE THE HIGH RIM TRAIL; Two Girls' Epic Journey of Bagels, Layering Their Clothes and Not Showering... Oh, And Amazing Views.

DAY ONE
Sunday October 3rd
1:30 p.m. - Start hiking at Philpott Road in Kelowna. Spend a very steep km + sweating it up "Cardiac Hill". Meander through the forest; up, down and around. Around km 5 hike up "Cardiac Hill" (Surprise, that first one wasn't actually Cardiac Hill!); it feels like "Heart Attack Hill". Admire the forest, then wonder when you're going to get a good view. Get well acquainted with a certain man's face whose picture has been affixed to several trees aroud km 7 (that was a nice kilometre). Wonder whether you will be able to get to "the Grand View" to camp before dark and camp there.

5:30 - Keep going even when Orissa is clearly ready to stop. Fail to control the inexpressible need to "Just see what's around that bend." Miss a turn and walk about 1 km off-course. Realise it and take some lovely sunset-y pictures as you get your bearings and turn around. Keep pushing, hoping to make it to "the Grand View" to camp.

6:30 p.m. - Call it quits at an open dirt road-type-area. Sit down immediately and pull off your hiking boots. Feel your body start to freeze as soon as you stop moving; change into every piece of clothing you have apart from those sweaty things you were hiking in. Set up the tent. Light the camp stove. Watch as your pot of water is engulfed in foot-and-a-half high flames for about 3 minutes. Wait for stove to cool. Cook a very large amount of rice and then broccoli, burning some onto the pot. Garnish with cheddar and seasoning salt and enjoy. Nearly choke to death on a mouthful of rice when Orissa makes you laugh too hard and you can't stop laughing, even as your life flashes before your eyes (You'd think that would dull the humour...). Spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to throw a rope over a high branch some distance down the road. Break rope while hoisting food into tree. Repeat step 1. Finally manage to suspend food from tree branch... about 4.5 feet in the air. Oh well. Dispose of your uneaten half of a salmon sandwich under a heavy rock.  Back at camp, present Orissa with one of the brownie cakes you bought at Safeway during the Vipers' game on Saturday night as her Chocolate Surprise. Watch her be unimpressed. Enjoy your own brownie cake anyways.

9:00p.m.- Snuggle into your warm and cozy sleeping bag for the night. :)

Blogginning.

So, here goes nothing! I made a blog. This is it.


My main purpose in creating this blog is to have a place to tell the stories of my travels, starting with PERU(!) this January; but I thought, "Hey, why not get a head start and get used to the process?"


Well, that and "Man, I'm bored! Maybe I'll start the blog to use of some of this excess spare time!"


Spare time does not come naturally to me... I can't be content just to sit around and do nothing. Now, being out of school and not working during the day I have to find things to do. Weird. They used to find me. But I think I might be getting the hang of it.


Well as kick-off to the blog, here are the lyrics to the song "I Will Go" by Starfield, which inspires me every time I hear it. That's all I've got for now, so I'll leave you with the beautiful lyrics.
With love,
Julia

To the desperate eyes and reaching hands
To the suffering and the lean
To the ones the world has cast aside
Where You want me I will be


I will go, I will go
I will go, Lord send me
To the world,
To the lost
To the poor and hungry
Take everything I am
I'm clay within Your hands
I will go, I will go, send me


Let me not be blind with privilege
Give me eyes to see the pain
Let the blessing You've poured out on me
Not be spent on me in vain
Let this life be used for change


I want to live for You
Go where You lead me
I want to follow You