Oliver

May Long – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

 

Do you think we’ll need a chainsaw?  Nahhh, leave it at the bottom…

Oops.

Well, it’s only an extra 40 minutes of driving to go get it.  What have we learned, Dorothy?

John gets excited when he sees big wood.  There were some random tourists watching this scenario unfold, too.  Good times.

Oh right.  The May Long Weekend.  Fresh snow, should have brought the boards.

I P’d a frog…

I didn’t run the first lap down the Cawston side.  It was Barb’s turn, so I drove.  I got to ride lap 2 on TKO.  Unfortunately, winter was hard this year (contrary to what you hear on the news).  Lots of trees down, and lots of snow.  We had to hike down a considerable distance.

At least the lower part was in prime shape.

This zone is super sketchy when it’s dry, so a bit of moisture made it ultra tacky.

As usual, I get the best shots of French Jonny.

We ran into some of the Penticton locals on the 1st lap, and Kurt jumped in for lap 2 with us, showing us how to do it on light gear.  Then again, I was on my Altitude so I guess that made for two of us idjits running big mountains on little bikes.

Smile!

Even with lots of snow and downed trees, that ride is still one of the best. And spring storms make for epic light.

Like this…

Judy-Lynn and Chris – Day 6

Posted on by Smoke

Well, the new wines are out in Oliver, so I guess we should go for a little drive down the valley today.

Or should I say “Up a mountain”.

Only one more day after this one, so Chris is going for broke on the log rides.

I still couldn’t get him to try this drop, though. Oh well, they’re talking seriously about moving out this way, so he’ll get another shot at it.

This is near the spot where Chris started asking me a bunch of questions about mushrooms (seems he’s been threatened with expulsion from the MTBR forums for posting too many mushroom pics).  I said Ididn’t think there were any around, and then spotted these HUGE puffballs.

Seriously….HUGE.

Didn’t feel like stopping for that long though. Look at how much descent we still have to do.

It took a bit longer than usual.  Had to stop for so many photo opps.  It’s nice with the sage in bloom.

Some seriously sick shots here…

…including my pick for the shot of the week.

Not that this one is all that bad, but that last one is epic.

Another one of yours truly, silhouetted.

A stock angle of Chris. Everyone gets one of these if we ride this trail together.

It’s a bit drier than Ontario, eh?

Chris managed to bail into one of these.  No big deal, but it’s gonna be weeks before the last spine comes out of his hand.

OK, so that was very nice, but now we need to slake the thirst.

Judy gets some practice pouring left handed.

We took a scenic drive through Canada’s only desert on the return trip.

It’s quite a sight, and unique in Canada.

Oh, and some wildlife shots for you.

Oreamnos amerianus, the Mountain Goat.

And another Praying Mantis when I got home.

PS – Happy Birthday Mom!

Dynomite – Day 4

Posted on by Smoke

Finally, a little break in the weather.  Should be ideal conditions for Kobau.

There was even a bit of fresh snow in the high country, but still, all that rain this week was still not enough to really settle the dust.  I don’t care what various government officials are trying not to say….we’re in a drought here.

It was still awesome conditions for riding.

John makes this look huge, eh?  He’s only 3 feet tall though.

This is the part of the day that makes everyone realize just how big these hills are.

Hi Stash!  the camera just loves you, did you know that?  i always get the raddest pics of this girl.  With Gary on babysitting detail, Stash was able to get another lap in with us today.

Oh, there she is again.

Joe on the same line. 

Many thousands of feet of dust and sagebrush later, we’re still descending.

Maybe it’s not a full bluebird day, but we’re still having a great time.  Brant, Rob, and Gabe tagged along today to fill out the group.  Lots of Kobau virgins along for the rip this time.

OK, it’s time for the Rogues’ Gallery…

Rob

John

Stash

Joe and Jim.

Jim.

..and Gabe.

Of course, that was only round one.  Round two is TKO, and it was in awesome shape again.

You never get many pics on TKO.  You’re just too busy hanging on to the bars on that trail.   It was definitely getting bonier than the last time we were here.  The lower half was pretty sketchy in places. We found out later that an Oliver local crashed at the worst spot on the trail just before sunset, and had to get Search and Rescue out to keep him company overnight so he could get heli’ed out in the morning.  This is big mountain riding, you have to respect this one.

Besides, you don’t want to miss out on the wine tasting at the bottom.  We went to Hester Creek this time.

We actually managed to finish up early enough (these are the longest days of the year after all) that we could go for a swim in Okanagan Lake, and have a couple games of bottles.  It’s like horseshoes, but it involves beer bottles instead.  Don’t worry, the rules make it impossible to break one.

He also shamrocks walks on the beach, sunsets, and sleeping in vans.