Tuesday July 10, 2007 Revelstoke – Revelstoke Mtn

Margaret wished we had seen snow – today she got her wish. But probably not as much as we hiked through. But first downtown.

We enjoyed visiting Revelstoke last year, one we reason we returned this year. It is a pleasant, friendly town, located at the juncture of four different valleys (and accompanying rivers/streams). It is also the staging area for the Canadian Pacific Railway with lines heading out in all directions.

We began the morning with coffee and pastries at a local bakery. Then we prowled the city streets looking for photo ops and general shopping. Margaret found both. The “main” street in town is closed on weekends for “farmer’s market” sales, but during the weekdays, it is another part of town to prowl. The first photo is the entrance to this street – guarded by bear sculpture on both sides. Most of the intersection corners have flower baskets – very pretty. Wonder what it looks like in February?

Then we went looking for a car wash – of any kind! This sounds easy – particularly when a kind gentleman gave us specific directions. Nada! Never did find what he described. Finally we stopped at a lumber yard in the “Industrial Park” and asked. He sent us to a different place. It was a gas station we used last year during our visit. The owner asked, “Is your car dirty?” Yes! You’ll need $5 to wash it. It was dirty but it only took $4 to wash – complete with foamy soap brush. Didn’t get off the road tar or serious bug “doo” but it looks better than before.

On to Subway for a sandwich and sodas for our picnic outing to Mount Revelstoke. Remember, Revelstoke is at 2,000 feet (roughly) and Mount Revelstoke peaks out at 6,230 feet. So today’s outing was all uphill – to say the least!

Last year when we were here, the road to the summit was closed due to snow, so we were only able to drive about ¼ of the way up. This year, it was open to the top (almost). Specifically, the road from the entrance to the top is 16.1 miles. At the entrance, the sign said the road was open: 15.5 miles. So off we went.

The parking lot (at 15.5 miles) was adjacent to a nice lake with picnic sites. We had our Subway sandwich there – with deer-flies. That’s what we called them in Georgia. They might be horseflies; or some other nom-de-plume; but whatever, they are large, fly-looking things that buzz you and bite you no matter whether you’re moving or standing still. They fly slowly so you think you can swat them, but no, they recover and attack again. Their bites are painful. And if successful, can leave a long-lasting welt. Several got me, so I’ll see how I survive.

I mention these pests for a specific reason. After our picnic lunch by the lake (our neighbors surrounded by deer-flies), we elected to take the “shorter” trail to the summit of Mt. Revelstoke. The sign said it was only 1 Km – about 0.62 miles. We took this trail as opposed to the paved road because it was “shorter”. Big mistake! But what did we know?

Our shorter trail took us through deer-fly infestation, up steep rocky trails, and over knee-deep snow drifts! Actually, the snow drifts weren’t the worse part. By carefully staying in previous foot-prints or staying in the shadows where the snow hadn’t melted as much, we were able to keep our footing, stay reasonably dry, and took no tumbles, left no sitz-marks, and didn’t embarrass ourselves.

The biggest problem came when we were roughly 2/3 of the way up and came to an apparent “end” to the trail. I say end, because after climbing for 30 minutes, the “trail” appeared to begin heading down-hill at a steep angle. Not only steep, but with lots of snow to clamber over. It looked like it was going to go down-hill in a serious way; not something you want to tackle on snow.

Fortunately, a family came down-hill on the trail and we realized the trail took a sharp turn. No markings, although the lady-ranger said she had tried to mark it with a downed tree! Sorry, all downed trees look alike! Anyway, the family coming down said they had traversed lots of snow but they had made it that far. We thanked then and proceeded uphill.

To make a long story short(er), we made it to the top, i.e., the last parking lot, without any tumbles or embarrassing incidents. There we asked the resident ranger (for clarity, these Rangers were folks operating out of the back of their SUV’s parked by the road) where to go next. There were three trails available: 1) the Meadow in the sky – reported to be beautiful with flowers; 2) two lakes; and 3) trail to the summit of Mt. Revelstoke. The first two trails looked to be completely snow covered – not something we needed any more of. The trail to the summit was actually clear – not a long hike and completely clear of snow. It was obvious which we took – mostly to claim we’d been there. (Photographic evidence available.)

We found several lakes / ponds with ice. Photo above.

There were several vistas of mountains and valleys – a couple of down-town Revelstoke. But one we like particularly was the Columbia River and its valley just north of the Revelstoke dam – photo above. Last year we visited the Revelstoke dam and were very impressed with the structure and its history. We didn’t make it to the dam this year. Ironically, the only photos that I “lost” last year, were from our visit to the dam. Still haven’t figured out what went wrong.

We’re back in the campground tonight – surrounded by lots of folks. Wonder where they were last night? It is a peaceful and idyllic setting. The only night sounds are the river (stream?) and the train traffic. Other than that: dark and quiet.

M. A beautiful part of yesterday was the flowers, just getting their spring start. The hoped-for walk in the meadows was not to be as the meadows were still deep with snow, but the other slopes and sunny places were home to columbines and lupine. Other red flowers and ones that looked like cream-colored jonquils – all very pretty. In fact the road up was fringed with wildflowers and small waterfalls; the trees were magnificent. On the upper slopes they were stunted from the cold and the ranger’s station at the top was blanked with snow up to the tip of the flagpole. Brrr.