2010-02-28 49 -119

Location

Near the Trans Canada Trail, south of Kelowna.

Participants

Plans

After a 6-month hiatus, I was finding the lack of geohashing detrimental to my health. I expected not to reach the coordinates. I had never been to any section of the Trans Canada Trail, nor the Kettle Valley Railroad.

Expedition

A one-hour highway drive, then to the edge of the city to find the head of Gillard Forest Service Road. It took me a while to realize it was nestled inside a new housing development, and started my way up.

As I ascended, the road gradually transformed from dry dirt, to mud, to slush, and finally compact snow. The sections with slush were barely manageable by my vehicle, but keeping it in first gear, with a high rpm, and steady speed allowed me to continue even though it felt like all four wheels were spinning out.

The Trans Canada Trail failed even my most humble expectations. It was a road, and the only sign on it read, "Active Logging". I felt lucky to have made it this far by vehicle, so I decided to go on foot from here. I attached my new gaiters, but left the snowshoes in the car.

I expected that if I made it this far, the trestle would be impassable. Indeed it was, but they had built the road around it. I suppose the train would not of been able to follow this path because of the degree of the turn. It was an easy 2km walk, and perhaps 100m through deep snow to reach the coordinates. I saw no one on the way there, but passed snowmobiles and a vehicle on the way back.

I had managed to reach a place where the car horns and cheers from Canada's gold-medal victory in men's Olympic hockey did not reach.