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.