Tackling the Oliver Tower Viewpoint Trail

First things first. We had a job to do this morning. Preparing apples was different than at North Okanagan Valley Gleaners. We only had to remove the stems, cut out the scabs and bruises, and give the apples a quick rinse. Terry was one of the people coring the apples. Then the chunks were put into the dicer, spread on cookie sheets, and put into the dryer.

Our morning's work was finished so quickly, I suggested an adventure before we drove the 20 minutes back to Okanagan Falls. "Let's go check out the hiking trails above Fairview," I said. "It's going to be showery for the next few days."

Terry looked up his All Trails app, and found a trail. Parking at the bottom of a steep cliff, we gazed up and saw a well-worn path of scree, large loose rocks and sand. This is it? I thought. Talking briefly to a hiker striding down confirmed it. 

"You can go straight up here, or around where it's not so steep. I find it a great workout twice a week," he said.

We decided to just go up. "I just want to see what's on the other side of this ridge. You know, like the song":        The bear went over the mountain....

                  To see what he could see... 

                  And all that he could see...

                  Was the other side of the mountain..."

The first thought that crossed my mind as I plodded through the deep sand was I'm not as fit as I was on the White Goat Falls trail  ten years ago. Terry had been so impressed at the time, and called me a mountain goat. Today I had to stop every once in a while to catch my breath and still my pounding heart. Terry kept asking anxiously, "Are you all right?" 

Finally at the top of the gravelly part, we reached the ridge. That's where we saw the "other side of the mountain." You can see how difficult it was to wade through this loose stuff. 

Already the view from the ridge was looking spectacular

As the path levelled out, long-needled Ponderosa pine trees dotted the dry hillside. No sounds, but we did see and hear a covey of quail at the bottom of the hill. Here and there clumps of tiny, low-lying

Prickly Pear cactus peeked through the long grass.

 

Rusty remnants of an ancient fence

"Look up, there's the tower!"  

I didn't know there was a destination to this climb. I didn't know the trail was called the Oliver Tower Viewpoint Trail. But I made it up there, 3.7 km, 830 feet up, on the top of this "mountain."

From that vantage point, you could see all over the valley. 

Various trails meandered down the mountain, so it was much more relaxing on the way down.

When we got to the bottom, Terry again said, " You did great, I'm impressed!" 

For me, a little encouragement goes a long way!