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.