Similkameen Valley from Goat Mountain Viewing Area

Drove through the Similkameen Valley on Hwy 3B on the way to Keremeos. While Keremeos claims to be the “fruit stand capitol of Canada”, I failed to notice any once there.

Panorama of the Similkameen Valley taken from the Mountain Goat viewing area. Similkameen River in the foreground. 14 stitched photos – Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. Click for larger version…

similkameen valley panorama

Upon seeing this sign it became painfully obvious to me that on future trips such as this, I should bring binoculars. I think I saw a white dot on the mountain, but who knows what it actually was.

similkameenvalley similkameenvalley

similkameenvalleygrass

Hedley, British Columbia

The town of Hedley, BC is about 37km south east of Princeton along Hwy 3B.

hedley view of hedley bc water tower left over from hedley gold mining operation water tower and mining infrastructure left over from hedley gold mining operation brassica sp. ? mountain near hedly bc

hedley hedley

    When I pulled over to photograph the sign in the first photo (to record where on earth I actually was)… these horses came running (full out) towards me. I think the idea is they come and look nice for passing tourists in hopes of getting tasty handouts. I had no tasty handouts, so their enthusiasm for my presence waned quickly. A few minutes later, after they had already started wandering off – a bunch of “city folk” stopped with almost as much enthusiasm for actually seeing horses as the horses originally had for seeing me. Apples were handed out and everyone was happy with the exception of the father who had a negative interaction with the barbed wire fence. Yes – those things ARE sharp, that is sort of the point.

horsesinhedley horses begging at roadside horsesinhedley

horsesinhedley horsesinhedley

The Hope Slide

    In the early morning hours of January 9, 1965 a small avalanche descended from Johnson Peak across the Hope-Princeton Hwy, a few kilometers from Hope, BC. Four people had stopped to wait for crews to clear the slide from the highway. As they waited in the dark, a small earthquake occurred beneath Johnson Peak causing the largest rock avalanche ever recorded in British Columbia. 47 million cubic meters of rock came down the slope, covered the highway, and obliterated Outram Lake. The water from the lake, and some of the rock debris, crossed the valley and flowed from side to side, sloshing back and forth across the valley. Two of the bodies of the 4 people were recovered, the other two are still underneath approximately 70 meters of rock. The highway was rerouted around the slide debris, and a rest stop and memorial overlook the slide area.

The first stop on my trip earlier this month through Manning Park/Kelowna/Kamloops was to the Hope Slide.

The remains of Johnson Peak:

hopeslide

Panorama of Johnson Peak (7 photos stitched) and the slide area:

hopeslide

A Few Leftover Winter Shots

Now that the weather has turned hot I’ll post a few pictures with snow. Lots of snow this past winter – almost 3 feet on the ground at once which I do not think I’ve seen here before. Enjoyable except for being trapped at the house for almost a week due to snow on the road.

pinetree buriedfence birdtracks

walnuttree roses

A few from early January:

frostedmagnolia frostyrosebush frozenhips

Extra Batteries do no good if left IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY.

whatcomfalls A few weeks ago I went on an epic photo journey through Manning Park, Princeton, Penticton, Kelowna, Kamloops and the Fraser Canyon. Before I embarked on the PhotoJourney™ I thought it wise to purchase a spare battery. Having haggled a local drugstore down from $160 to $80, which I was quite happy with, I was set. I recently purchased a new Canon lens with Image Stabilization which is rumored to decrease battery life. While I took 650 pictures (many using the IS lens) I did not require the use of my new battery. The question was then – how long can I go before I need to swap out batteries?

The following weekend I went on a quick trip across the US border to Whatcom Falls Park. I saw that the battery indicator was showing about 1/2 of its strength, which means it is almost dead. I still wanted to see how far I could go before swapping out with my spare battery. On the bridge I took about 15 quick pictures before the battery finally died. Nice – about 700 shots per battery!

I reach into my bag to take out the spare. I couldn’t immediately find it. It must be in this flap… or this pocket or…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I actually told my bag NO in dramatic enough terms to elicit attention from passersby.

Somehow the drive back to the border and home seemed longer than it should have.

At least I got a good shot of the waterfall. Handheld for 1.6 seconds! Image Stabilization works pretty darn good I’d say, though I think I’m pretty lucky to have this shot turn out.