Spring Showers Deliver Green and Wild Flowers

Of the 34 Sunday hikes scheduled for the Vernon Outdoors Club (VOC) this season 8 of them are within a 30 minute drive of town. Most of these hikes are planned early in the season, in April and May, because many of the hikes farther away are higher in the Monashees, where snow can remain until early July. Generally these are shorter and easier hikes, and  a good way to get in shape for more strenuous hikes later in the season. 

panoramic view from Camels Hump

When you take a panoramic look around Vernon, you can identify most of the peaks that  we clamber up in the spring and, although I have done most of these at least once before, I enjoy every hike and get hyped by the views. An added bonus is the proliferation of  spring wild flowers that are popping up along these trails, some are vibrant and bold, others little and delicate.  

Chocolate Lilly

I am no naturalist but am gradually learning from the more seasoned club members.  I see my fellow hikers carefully scanning the grasses and forest to spot the first chocolate lilies or lying on their stomach, their camera face to face with a fragile fuchsia-coloured shooting star.Their efforts are rewarded and preserved in their stunning pictures.  

Shooting Star  photo by Colin Baxter

On Mothers Day (May 10) we hiked Camel's Hump, a double peak southeast of Lumby, off Creighton Valley Road.  As you drive east through the Coldstream Valley, it is easy to recognize but it is often confused with a closer triple peak south of Lavington called Blue Nose.
The greatest challenge of Camel's Hump is the drive up to the trail-head after you turn off Creighton Valley Road.  A vehicle with high clearance is essential and 4 wheel drive is advisable. The 6 km trail takes you up to the first peak and the lush vista of the Creighton Valley.  Here you see the second hump, an impressive outcrop of basaltic lava. 

Camels Hump

 The trail dips down between these humps and climbs up to the second one  where there is one of the best views of the North Okanagan, extending from  Kalamalka Lake to the south- west,over to the still-white ski runs on Silver Star Mountain and the north end of Mabel Lake, and the pastoral Coldstream Valley that stretches towards the shining white peaks of the Monashees on the eastern horizon.  It is simply spectacular.



An early season hike that the VOC  includes every year is up East Hill.  The trail starts only 10 minutes from downtown Vernon.  From the hillside you can see the north end of Kalamalka Lake and  the Coldstream Valley which is that fresh spring-green for only a few weeks before the sporadic spring rains dissolve into the arid sunny summer. 

Every time I have been up East Hill, the wind blows and it is not unusual to see a hanglider or paraglider circling above the valley, drifting on the thermal currents.   The Lavington/Lumby area has several  good launch sites and has hosted many competitions.

Another hike a bit farther from Vernon that is usually scheduled in May is up Sugarloaf Mountain. The trail-head is about an hour from Vernon, off of Westside Road.   Apparently this round-topped hill standing by itself on the west side of Okanagan Lake looks like a sugarloaf.  I did not know what a sugarloaf was, so looked it up and here is what Wikipedia had to say:
A sugarloaf was the traditional form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end-product of a process that saw the darkmolasses-rich raw sugar, refined into white sugar.^[1]

This is only a 5 km hike but is considered moderately steep, taking about two hours for the round trip.  It looks down on the valleys of Whiteman Creek and Bouleau Creek eventually coming to a cliff edge that offers a great view of Okanagan Lake to the south which is a spectacular spot for lunch.  

Okanagan Lake, looking south from Sugarloaf Mountain

Much of the trail is through woods and over rocks and tree roots, so you have to watch your feet.  But it is easy to be distracted by a variety of spring wildflowers.

meadow arnica

fairy slipper (calypso orchid) photo by Colin Baxter

We have been away again for a few weeks, so have missed several spring hikes.  The snow is now gone from Silver Star Mountain and Terrace Mountain, and within a couple weeks the VOC  hikes will take us back into the great Monashees.  In the meantime, the lilacs and rhododendrons in my garden have finished blooming, and the irises and weigela blooms are looking tired.  But the roses are in full splendor, the day lilies are budding and the lavender will soon fill my yard with is aroma. Early summer is upon us.