Okanagan Camping
Another fall camping trip
Camping at
Okanagan North
There used to be a day (when I was a kid) that you could just drive to
a camp site and camp. A few years ago, I did a
trip into the Okanagan
including some camping near Oliver. We looked to stay at a camp
site with showers but they were all booked up. The following
year, I noticed the camp site appeared to be booked all summer, even
early in the summer. Turns out, if you want a camp site in
Okanagan North, you really have to reserve it the day it becomes
available to book, 90 days in advance. Good to know.
This year I booked three camp sites 3 months before the date and we
went camping!
Fall camping trips are actually a long
standing tradition in our group. This is our 7th fall camping
trip. Last year we went to
Manning
Park and we were a group of 11 people. This year because of a
number of coincident events on the same weekend we were a mere 8
people. I can tell you that 8 people is much easier to cook for
than 11 - I suspect we will plan future trips to be around 8 people.
Every year has it's camping successes. This year it has to be
"smores" and banores. Option A (classic) is graham
crackers, marshmallows and chocolate wrapped in tinfoil, heated on the
fire. Option 2 (ban'ores) is a banana cut open and stuffed with
chocolate and marshmallows before wrapping and heating. Both
options were excellent.
We have had "camp friends" before but this year we have a winner to the
most tame. There was a crow (we named Bob) who was so tame he
could have been a house pet. Absolutely no fear of people. I
was impressed with his tenacity trying to get into things. The
funniest part was the crow hiding food bits under Mark's tent.
Almost made us sad to go.
Penticton Farmers Market
Last summer Helen and I had a long weekend so we booked a
B&B in the Naramata
area. On Saturday we visited the markets and I was quite
impressed by the variety of stalls and the frantic nature of the
customers - several of the stalls sold out early so if you wanted the
best selection, you were there at opening.
I had some basic grocery items I needed
for
dinner,
but otherwise we were just here to have fun. This market draws
farmers from the surrounding area, but it isn't overwhelmed by fruit
stands.
Tasting at Elephant Island
Most of the camping trips I've done in the past were centered around
life at camp and hiking (some people called them death marches).
This trip we had another daytime activity - Wine tasting!
While several of us have
been to
wineries before, this is the first time the group of us have done
it together.
Tasting with friends is quite civilized. You get to understand
how much your palette is different that anthers and how even start to
guess which wines your friends will like.
Lunch at Hillside
In our traditional camping
trips, most of our
lunches
are eaten at camp or while out hiking. Not so on this trip - we
had wineries to see lunch wasn't going to slow us down! I've been
to Hillside Wineries lunch before and it hit the spot well.
Naramata has a
number of smaller wineries so
we poked
around. Lang is a favorite because of the grand views of Okanagan
lake.
McCullough Trestle
I found it impossible to do a camping trip with no walking at all. so
we had to do a least a few hundred meters. We parked at the side
of the road nearest McCullough trestle (on the Kettle Valley Railway
line) and walked down to the bridge. This is a modern bridge, but
I still appreciate the place.
Mission Hill (aka Disneyland)
There are a few "mega" wineries in the Okanagan. Of the ones I've
visited (Sumac Ridge, Quails Gate, Jackson Triggs, Burrowing Owl)
Mission Hill is most over the top. It has the classic tasting
room doors (dialed to 11), a tasting room that feels like an store on
an airport concourse and large grounds for "exploring".
We liked some of the wine, but it certainly isn't boutique. After
tasting (and this was only our third tasting of the day - honest!) we
went out and played on the lawn. The view is very nice and the
lawns are taken care of
better than
some golf courses I've seen.
There were some well behaved kids going for a roll down the
amphetre. Eric figured if the activity is rated E for everybody,
then maybe he should try it.
Love those
grapes
On my previous trips (always earlier in the year) the grapes have
always been little nubs. This year we arrived a few weeks before
harvest so the grapes were almost full.
Surprisingly, most vineyards allow you to walk
up and
down the rows. Sadly, I have no ideas which varietals are
which.
Giant's Head Mountain
Second day - almost no hiking. I
looked
though my books and found Giant's Head Mountain. It was a brief
hike (we went from the parking lot to the peak in about 3 minutes) and
we were taking in the views. The views were nice (sadly, the
lighting was quite flat) but I was happy to see the desert plants that
live up here.
To call this area dry would be an
understatement.
Given that this area is so dry, I was surprised how much of the plant
was flowers.
Tags: Okanagan(28), wine(12), Do Not Tag(10), market(5), produce(4), flower(4)
People: Eric(5), Jeremy(3), Andrea(1), Gabi(1), Mark(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > John Harvey Photo - Camping > Okanagan Camping
From: John Harvey Photo > John Harvey Photo - Camping > Okanagan Camping 2 > Okanagan Camping
From: John Harvey Photo > John Harvey Photo - Camping > Okanagan Camping 3 > Okanagan Camping
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Last Modified Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at 23:45:34 Edit
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