The Walk to Sicamous, Part I

Photo Credit: Anita Johnson

Front: Ceilidh Johnson

Back: Emily Yun and Meighan Johnson

Photo Credit: Anita Johnson

LtoR: Ceilidh, Arta, Emily, Dalton, Meighan

Photo Credit: Anita Johnson

LtoR: Arta, Emily, Dalton, Ceilidh, Meighan

.... the trail goes from Sicamous to TRAIL END

which is where we being the walk toward Sicamous ...

I remember a pleasant walk part way to Sicamous years ago.

I have been longing to repeat that adventure. So on a day when the air was smoke filled and there was a question about “what to do” some of us started out on a five part adventure:

1) Greg’s Path,

2) an Uphill walk,

3) Trail End to Trail Beginning, and

4) Old Sicamous Road.

Photo Credit: Anita Johnson

LtoR: Dalton, Emily

... admiring the height of the ferns along the path ...

I am counting Old Sicamous Road as four and five, since it seemed like a longer stretch than the other 3 legs of the journey.

Greg’s and Glen’s Path (soon to be renamed The Grandfather’s Path)– Dalton, Emily and I tried this stretch a few days ago.

The path goes parallel to the railroad tracks, but since it is forested on both sides, there is a feeling of being among the trees more than being on the track.

Photo Credit: Anita Johnson

LtoR: Ceilidh, Meighan, Arta, Emily, Dalton

... we pause for a photo on the trail ...

And even the feel of being more in the forest than being near the water.

I noticed that the people with me were beginning to give names to the spaces that have been created: the tree that is shaped like a ‘U’, the bowed tree that looks like a hotwheels track, X marks the spot (where two trees criss-cross in a perfect X), the Little Canadian Stream, the Meadow Stream, and “the place where a Douglas Fir upended and ruined the path (except for the saving grace of a chain saw later on)”.

The path is covered from the sun, branches stretching out to shade us.

The boles of the trees are so high that I have to touch someone for stability as I throw my head back to see the tops of them. There are places where Greg has filled in gravel to make the walk easier.

I see rocks that have been moved by him along the way.

Photo Credit: Meighan Johnson

LtoR: Ceilidh, Meighan, Dalton, Emily, Arta, Anita

... our crowd on the walk to Sicamous ...

I see branches in tidy piles.

Each time I travel the path I see more work that has been done, so sleuthing and trying to figure out what has been done next becomes an adventure.

There is only one point where I think I am seeing something that is not of Greg’s hand. There were three big indents in the blackberry patch.

My guess is that bears were in there, since I can’t imagine any human pushing the vines back in such a spectacular manner.

I took a nice fall forward before I had gone 10 yards.

I tripped over a big rock.

Photo Credit: Anita Johnson

LtoR: Dalton, Meighan, Emily, Ceilidh

... walking down the road just under the Pilling house ...

I had my sunglasses on.

I wasn’t paying attention to the ground.

I was gazing around in wonder at the beauty.

 I took this as a lesson to take off the sunglasses when I am in the forest.

As well, I watched the ground for the rest of the hike and I couldn’t have taken a better lesson.

The roots of the Douglas fir criss-cross the trail with such beauty, sometimes even acting as the step up to another level of the forest.

Arta