Testalinden Canyon Hiking

Testalinden Canyon Hiking



I did this hike in April a few years ago, but this year with the cool spring the foliage will likely be at this stage in early June.

Hiking the hillsides on either side of the Testalinden Creek Canyons is a matter of following cattle and game trails. I had the pleasure of doing this hike in mid April. Turn west off highway 97 on Road No. 16 then right on 123 street and left of 324^th . This end on the property of John and Darlene West. They do not mind people accessing the hikes here, if people ask permission first. An alternate way would be to head up the Mt. Kobau Road to the second switchback and head out that way.

I parked near the shop and walked up to the deer fence and slightly south to a gate in the fence. Please, as with every other gate of this sort, be sure to close it securely. Keeping south of the creek I wandered up to the hillside and onto a cattle/game trail that headed south an uphill through sagebrush and bunch grass.
Not wanting to get too far from the canyon, I took the first fork that took me back towards the creek. This eventually petered out and I began to climb the so what steep slopes walking very carefully. I could see into the steep canyon of the creek and the open hillsides to the north of the canyon. To access that side you would want to cross the creek near the bottom and take the cattle/game trails on that side. Either side offers nice open hillside hiking.

I spotted several mule deer alertly watching me and listening with those big ears. We watch each other for several minutes before all eight of them bounce off over a ridge. I was not too surprised as I had been seeing lots of droppings, but it is always a thrill to spot them.

Ever the one on the look out for wild edibles, I noticed lots of yellow bell flowers. Enough so that I almost regretted not having my digging tool with me. Almost, I could feel my back protesting enough as it was. Still! Maybe next time I will take it along just in case. The tiny bulb a little bigger than a pea is very nutty in flavour and is a nice crisp addition to a salad.

Eventually the land levelled a bit, (ok became less steep) and I wandered for a while enjoying both the hillside and the views of the valley floor from Tuckelnuet Lake to Osoyoos Lake. But one always must come down again, I wanted to explore just a little more, so headed down a bit further south than when I came up.
Always remember that when coming down and you run into a rocky bluff, you either have to scale it, find a way around or head back up hill. I found a few faint deer trails that led me safely through, although I was very glad I and good sturdy boots to support my ankles.

Once down to the lower cattle/game trail I followed it south to a pole which appears to have been for an electric wire years ago. Here the trail headed both up hill and down hill, so I headed back to the West’s place.

So far I had not run into any prickly pear, but there were a couple of nice patches along this trail. Nice plum prickly pear! I have carefully skinned and eaten some of these raw, can not say that I particularly liked them but they were edible. It is said though if you roast the spines off in the coals of a fire, the insides could then be popped out much like a marsh mellow. Our children initially thought they tasted like kiwi fruit, but I could not taste the similarity.

Eastmere and Westmere Lakes

Eastmere Lake

Westmere Lake

Eastmere and Westmere Lakes

I took the North Prairie Road from Summerland and then the Summerland to Princeton Road for about forty kilometres and turned right on the Trout Creek Forest Service Road. At 2.2 kilometres I turned left and headed up the hill. The road proved fairly rough and loose in some sections, but I just slipped the Jeep into four-wheel drive to be on the safe side.

At about 2.3 kilometres the road splits: the right hand branch heads into Eastmere Lake, while the left hand road continues towards Westmere Lake. I hoped to make it to both lakes today after failing to make it to Barton Lake the previous Sunday. According to some ATVers I had found the trail, but ran out of time. My plan was to find an old road that showed between the lakes and see if there was a connecting trail.

As this was my first trip in I wasn’t sure which road to take so took the left and turn for 0.9 kilometres and then I believe took the right hand road. My notes were a little mixed up here, but just don‘t good down too far and you will be alright. This road was not too bad but ended up being blocked off with a notice restricting vehicular traffic.

Going over the berm, the old road and trail heads off to the right and has been decommissioned with lots of holes, which will make for an interesting hike carrying a canoe. Finally, after about 1.2 kilometres the trail splits and both branches lead to the lake, the left being about 100 metres and the right about 150 metres.
This is a reasonably sized lake but seems fairly shallow and reedy around the shore. Looks ideal for a belly boat and worthwhile going to the trouble of packing a canoe this far. When someone goes to the trouble to hike a canoe or boat into any lake to be left for later use, please treat it with respect and replace it on the shore where you found it.

I now back tracked to the first intersection and investigated this route. In less than half a kilometre the road became quite rough. I parked and again began to walk the last half kilometre to the lake. Shortly before the lake I took the left hand fork. It was a bit tough walking as there were a lot of windfalls. On the way out I met Ian Chapman from Kelowna who was coming in on an ATV and was using a chain saw to clear the windfalls. One good reason for allowing ATV’s on some trails.

Eastmere Lake is another good sized lake and appears to be deeper and perhaps a little easier to fish from the shore, but again is an excellent lake to fish for a belly boat or canoe. Ian informed me that these lakes held fish reaching 15 to 16 inches and they are regularly stocked. Unfortunately, I was short on time and the wind was too strong to get much fishing done from the shore.

Looking at the map I printed off from the Fish Wizard website, it looks reasonably accurate, but some of the roads shown are now fairly overgrown. I depend a lot on my GPS along with these maps. I did notice that it is a very short distance to Eastmere Lake from the Trail into Westmere Lake, but did not notice any reasonable trails connecting the two. At times, I was about a quarter of a kilometre from Eastmere Lake and thought it would be a good idea to blaze a trail through here making it easy to access both lakes from one starting point.



White Lake HIkes

White Lake Hikes

There is a nice hiking area east of White Lake, just past the Dominion Radio Observatory and down the road towards Willowbrook. Once past the lake you will come to a parking area and a walkers gate on your left. White Lake is an alkaline lake and once the spring waters have evaporated looks white as its name implies. As with most hiking, take an adequate supply of liquids for even when there is water it is often alkaline or otherwise not fit to drink. Some hikers and camper carry water filters and purification tablets, something to consider if you plan on lots of back-country travel.

From the gate the trail follows an old road 420 metres down to an old corral and the first junction. To the east there are bluffs that are likely volcanic in nature, while the bottom consists of sagebrush flats down to the lake. There are several bird boxes on the old fence and we were able to watch the bluebirds darting about. Off over the ridges a couple of eagles circled and very high we could hear flocks of sand hill cranes flying north.

If you continue straight ahead at the junction you soon come to a draw and a creek. The old road and trail here are somewhat enclosed in trees and offers shelter to deer and many birds. There is a healthy supply of deer in the area, mostly mule deer but I have seen a few white tailed deer around. Keeping your eyes open you can see a fair number of tracks and droppings while hoping for a glimpse of these graceful animals.
We decided to enjoy the sun and the gentle spring breeze , turned left and began the climb upwards. The terrain generally was quite gentle after the first little climb and the sage covered hills were pleasantly spotted with little yellow flowers like buttercups, yellow bells and spring beauties. Both the yellow bells and spring beauties have been an important food source for the local peoples. A few areas were depression slightly and given decent moisture would be a little swampy. There were also some nice looking juniper trees in the distance and jack pine and fir trees on the ridges. This section was 1.4 kilometres to a pond and another junction.

The old right hand road heads uphill to the bluffs where you can look down on the ranches, the observatory and just a little of the Saint Andrews development. One could spend a fair amount of time up that way, but we wanted to check out what kind of ducks where on the pond further along. Carrying on straight ahead, we skirted this pond by what looks like aspen trees.

The higher we went there seemed to be more grass and a little less sagebrush. 506 metres further we came to another pond. This is what I was hoping for -- some different ducks. I managed to snap a picture and looking through the Audubon bird books thought they appeared to be ring necked ducks. Closer on the shore a killdeer scuttled about.

An old trail carries on past this pond for another 630 metres to the ridges overlooking the draw between Willowbrook and Okanagan Falls. I’m not sure, though, whether this is posted private land or not. There was a gate here and as always, you must leave any gate as found, either open or closed. This is vital on all rangeland to keep cattle where they belong both for the protection of the rancher and the environment.
Protecting the environment also means not spreading unwanted plants. I believe that hikers should wear clothing that does not pick up burrs and spread unwanted plants. If you do happen to catch any on your clothing, carefully pick them off and dispose at home with the household garbage.

First Deer

First Deer



Just picked up my fishing and hunting licences. Makes me remember my first deer all those many years ago. It was a tough year for getting out. My Mother-in-Law was visiting from New Zealand, so I had only spent one afternoon up near Howard Lake.

Now it was the last day of the season and I was checking out the Bald Range between Summerland and Princeton. Six inches of fresh moist snow covered the ground, so it was easy to see where the deer had been active. However, I was hoping to find where they were now.

Since first light I'd been driving from old road to old road and carefully checking them out. Now I was heading down the last one I could check and light was fading fast, only about a half hour of shooting light left as I parked at the log landing at the end of the road. Discouraged, I still slipped out of the subaru and began walking around the clearing a few yards into the trees.

Suddenly two deer bounded out into the centre of the clearing and one was a nice buck. A quick shot from my 30-30 dropped it in its tracks and the doe took off. Just as I got up to the buck it raised its head. Having read about people being injured by a wounded animal. I put the rifle to its throat and shot into its brain.

Rapidly I cleaned it as well as I could from all that I remembered that Dad had told me. Then dragged it about 300 yards down to the car and tried to load it into the back. All I could manage though was to get the back end in and it would slip out as I tried to lift the rest. Remembering I had passed a couple of men cutting wood a half mile back, I tied the antlers to the trailer hitch and drove back down the road, hoping they would still be there.

Luck was with me and the three of us managed to lift it up onto the roof rack. I got their name and address so I could repay with a venison steak. Now in the gathering dark I drove back home. One hand held the sagging roof and the other on the wheel. This first deer is still the largest deer I have ever taken and we ended up with 165 pounds of venison in the freezer and enjoyed roasts again for the first time in years.

A friend who was an avid hunter, came and helped me finish dressing it out and hanging it before we later skinned it out and took it to the butcher shop. To his surprise he could not find a hole in the body. If you enlarge the picture and look carefully you just might see where I hit the buck.

Earlier today, one of my readers suggested that I also include some articles about survival. So I'll give that some thought.

Canyon View and Ellis Ridge Trails

Canyon View and Ellis Ridge Trails

East of Penticton there are a lot of old roads and trails great for back road exploring, mountain biking and hiking. Today I thought I would hike the Canyon View and Ellis Ridge Trails.

I headed east up Penticton Avenue and turned right up the Beaverdell Road. The pavement ends at a cattle guard and to the right is a parking lot. Off to the left a paved road heads into the Lost Moose Resort. Shouldering a light pack with a water bottle I set off on the main trail through bunch grass and ponderosa pines, to first explore the Canyon View Trail.

A couple of smaller trails led off to the right, but I kept on the main trail through the ponderosa pine and bunch grass. The first intersection came at the 216 metre mark, left to the Ellis Ridge Trail and Right to continue on the Canyon View trail. 294 metres later I was on the rim overlooking the rugged canyon of Ellis Creek and Penticton, but the trail seemed to peter out.

Backtracking 21 metre I noticed a rock figure (an inuksuk?) and cairns off to the west. Sure enough, following the cairns, I located more trail. It again petered out in 175 metres, but I soon found a trail crossing my path that headed back in the direction from where I had just come. A windfall had thrown me off. I was to run into several more windfalls further along the trail, and as several times the trail was very faint temporarily lost it. Another project for the future would be to cut the windfalls and signpost the trails.

From this point on the trail wandered back up hill through a little heavier forest at times, with significantly more pine in the mix, and 640 metres later I was back at the parking lot. Today I was lucky and kept running into deer, somewhere between eight and twenty --definitely eight because I saw that many in one group.
Back down the trail I went to check out the Ellis Ridge Trail. While the Canyon ridge was a relatively gentle walk this one was a bit steeper, but worth the effort. The leg to the first junction was 488 metres and considering the steepness of the terrain is a fairly easy walk. At this point the trail circled down hill and back up before again heading back to the parking lot along this section.

Down I went to get some more views of the rugged canyon and on the way back up stopped for a breather at a nice picnic table. This loop is about 500 metres in total. (I had filled up my GPS) At the top corner of this loop the trail continues along the side hill up about 6.4 kilometres to the parking lot for the Carmi hiking and skiing trails. Back I headed to the parking lot, still hoping to catch sight of a mountain goat or big horn sheep, but it was not to be on this day.

Slipping across the road I checked out the Lost Moose Resort. One sniff on walking through the door and I was sorry I had not timed the end of my hike for supper. The Lost Moose Resort has a nice licensed restaurant with a deck overlooking the valley and lake. They also have three Bed & Breakfast rentals and a large campground with 14 sites, but have been able to fit up to 300 people in with no problem.
Tired from a good days hiking with friends, stop at the Lost Moose Resort and forget about preparing supper and doing the dishes. No sense in ruining a good outing by having that to look forward to!