Mt Boucherie, Kelowna, BC, Canada

Only the third hike I did all summer this year! This time I went with an acquaintance I made on one of the WhatsApp groups. Mt Boucherie is an easy hike in West Kelowna. Pretty straightforward. It is 5.6 km long and has a 300m elevation gain. 

Kanwal and I

Knox Mountain, Kelowna, BC, Canada

Knox Mountain, often called Kelowna's Grouse Mountain lies right at the heart of the city. Situated in downtown it is minutes away from the core of the city. One weekend I headed over the mountain to do a hike. I was still feeling disappointed by my effort on the Sea to Summit Trail a couple of months ago so I wanted to get back in the hiking rhythm. It was not much of an effort. I enjoyed the early morning calmness and peace that comes before the crowds come in. A refreshing Sunday morning hike. As good as it gets! 

Sea to Summit Hike, Squamish, BC, Canada

Very rarely do I go on a hike randomly but this was one such instance. I was in Vancouver for the weekend and having promised my friend Kimi that I would join him for a hike, I had to keep my word. So Kimi, Divu, Suyog and myself headed out in the direction of Whistler intending to do the Parkhurst hike mainly to see the abandoned town. But midway we changed plans and decided to do the Sea to Summit hike in Squamish instead. I did not realize what I was getting into at that time. It was months since my last hike and I was a bit out of rhythm. Nevertheless we did it in 4 hours which was not bad considering it was a 6 km 900m elevation gain hike. Not going into too much description here. Ill let the pics do the talking(and the videos too). The views were stunning and the Gondola ride back to the base was thrilling as well. 

 

A visit to the Railway Museum (CPR Station) in Castlegar, BC, Canada

On my third trip to the Kootenays, the previous ones being in Nelson and Trail, I found myself in the city of Castlegar. 

Castlegar is the second largest city in the Kootenays with a population of around 8000 people. An interesting feature of this city is that there is a large population of Doukhobors here. Doukhobors are a Christian religious group originally from Russia. Since they rejected the Russian Orthodox Church and faced persecution they emigrated from Russia in large numbers during the 20th century. Many of them settled down in British Columbia and in other places in Canada. 

Like my previous trips in the Kootenays I was scheduled to be in Castlegar for 3 days and 2 nights but this time I had only one evening for an exploration of the city. I found out there was a railway museum here and it automatically became a must visit for me. So, on the second evening after the day's work was complete I immediately made my way to the CPR Station Museum as its called.  Now, I have a fascination with railways, be it from any part of the world, and ever since I read a book about the history of the Transcontinental Railway route I became a fan of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Having done the Toronto to Vancouver rail journey abroad the iconic train 'The Canadian' my love for the history of the Canadian passenger railway increased.

I couldn't wait to check out this museum which is a housed in a 100 year old actual station and is believed to be one of the best preserved ones in the province. The station is made up of two floors. The upper floor used to be the station agent's residence and the entire floor is recreated the way it used to be in the 1900s. It was fascinating to see the different equipment in the home and the type of home furniture and accessories. But for me the ground floor was much more interesting. It housed a number of exhibits and a lot of books on railways in Canada. I could have spent a couple of hours easily just browsing through the books. But I was pressed for time and could only manage a cursory glance at the titles. There were also a huge archive of newspapers. Again I could only take a casual look at the newspapers. Some of the other interesting exhibits include a 1929 Harley Davidson, a 1924 Brown Radio and most interestingly for me a 1923 time table of the Canadian Pacific Railway which included the Transcontinental Railway.  Having done that trip just last year it was fascinating to look at. 

Outside the station is a Caboose parked on the railway track. I checked out the inside and it was standard caboose with no interesting features. The railway museum I visited in Prince George had far more models including some locomotives. Going back inside the station I met the caretaker there and chatted with her for a while. A spirited lady, she regaled me with stories about the station she had heard from the long time residents of Castlegar. One anecdote that quite stuck in my head was about an old lady who used to work at the station as a telegraph operator. She used to transmit all the status of the trains to the neighboring stations. After that wonderful conversation with her I bid her adieu and left for one more stop for the day, the Zuckerberg bridge where I just casually strolled for a while before heading back to the hotel. It was a satisfying evening overall. 

Evenings in Trail, BC, Canada

Continuing from my previous trip to Nelson, BC, within a few days I found myself once again in the Kootenays, this time in the city of Trail, BC. 

Trail is a curious name for a city and lot of people who hear it for the first time get confused. It is actually named after the Dewdney Trail which passed through the town. Apart from the curious name, Trail has a very interesting history. It is the site of the World's largest Zinc and Lead smelter in the world! The existing plant has its origins in 1896 when the a person names Fritz Augustus Heinze opened the British Columbia Smelting and Refining Company smelter here. It kept on expanding and went through multiple ownerships including Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR) at one point. Nowadays the company is owned by Teck Resources. Most interesting of all, this plant had a part to play in the Manhattan Project. There used to be a heavy water plant here which supplied heavy water to the Manhattan Project's P-9 project. 

I was going to spend 3 days and 2 nights here in the city. Since I would be working in the day time I had 2 evenings to explore the place. On the first day I simply went on an exploratory stroll through the streets with no set target. Much of the city scape is dominated by the smelter. It is visible from all directions. In many ways it reminded me of the town of my first job back in India. Raigarh, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh too is dominated by the presence of a steel company. Trail is similar. I was in this city before during a field trip during my Master's program from UBC. I went to some of the places we visited last time including to the banks of the River Columbia. Trail's downtown is set on a plain but much of the residential area is set in the a hilly terrain. To avoid the long winding roads Trail has these series of stairs all over the place. Made the walks all the more fun. 

The next evening, I had two goals. One was to visit the Museum I saw the day before. So immediately after the day's work I made my way to the Museum. This was a combined visitor center and museum. The museum was spread over two floors. The bottom floor was mostly about the sports team of Trail. Having not much interest in sports I just walked briskly through the exhibits just casually taking a look. On the second floor, the display was arranged very systematically detailing the history of the place right from the indigenous people here then through the settlement and to the present. There were lots of cool exhibits like an underwater suit that divers wore while exploring the Columbia river and there were posters from the world war era, detailing what to do in case of an air attack. I spent a couple of hours here taking a good look here. My second goal was to get a good shot of the city with the plant in the background. I was trying to get to higher ground to get that shot and for this I had to use many of the stairs that I mentioned before. This was super fun. I always like to go to the 'normal' area of any new place I visit to get a feel for the place. Finally after getting some nice pics I made my way back to my Hotel room. The next day after work we departed from Trail and thus ended a nice short trip. 

The Museum 

The Stairs

A walk in Myra Canyon, BC, Canada

Ever since I moved to Kelowna, I have been hearing about Myra Canyon a lot. Its a very popular weekend spot for the people of Kelowna. One fine weekend just in time before the onset of the heat wave in British Columbia, me and my friends decided to check it out. 

Myra Canyon is a part of the Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park in the Okanagan east of Kelowna. The main attraction of this place is the railway trestles that transverse this canyon. Back in the 1915 to 1960s there used to be a railway line running through this canyon. Called the Kettle Valley Railway, a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, this railway ran from Midway to Hope. During it's construction the builders faced a big hurdle when they hit the Myra Canyon section but they more than met this challenge. Now a National Historic Site of Canada, the plaque there reads that it was a Canadian engineering achievement and the completion of this section of the railway provided a vital link between the east coast of Canada and the southern interior BC. There are a total of 18 trestles and 2 tunnels here. 

Places which mix history and natural beauty are always a delight for me. So I had to visit this place. So a weekend Thivya, Divya and myself finally made a plan to go. We took a Taxi and went to the Ruth Station Taxi lot which is one end of the Myra Trail. The other end is called the Myra Station. Below is a helpful map of the trail from the Myratrestles website.

There are remnants of the Ruth railway station here beside which the trail runs. The trail is actually where the tracks used to run. They have been removed and a walkable and cyclable route has been built. We walked on this path just talking and enjoying the sunshine. We finally hit the first trestle after maybe an hour and a half of walking. We took pics here and just enjoyed the views around. We continued walking and covered till the 8th trestle where we finally decided to head back. Sadly we couldn't go till the first tunnel as we were getting tired and since we had no means of transportation and were relying on calling a taxi we did not want to take a chance. We were back at the Ruth Station Parking Lot by 2pm and thankfully we got a taxi to go back home.

Overall, Myra Canyon is a good place to do some leisurely strolling and biking. This was more like a test visit for us and we plan to bike the entire way next time. 

Evenings in Nelson, BC, Canada

My new job often takes me to different cities and towns in the interior British Columbia. One such trip was to a city called Nelson in the Kootenays region of BC. Nelson, a city of 10,000 is the cultural hub of the Kootenays. Boasting of an impressive collection of heritage buildings it is the kind of city I love to visit. I was going to spend a couple of days here. Mostly working during the day I found a way to spend my evenings exploring the city. 

My first day of the trip started with me and a colleague's drive from Kelowna to Nelson. On the way we stopped at Grand Forks and only reached Nelson around 4pm. Immediately after checking in the Hotel I made my way out into the streets. Our hotel was located right at the end of the most happening street in Nelson, called Baker street. I strolled along the whole stretch of the street till the very end. Nelson, true to its 'hippie' image features a lot of boutique and offbeat stores. I was soaking in all this hippie 'vibe' when suddenly out of nowhere I heard the hugely popular Telugu song 'cheliya cheliye' play out somewhere. Turns out there was a big store selling Indian products and they were playing this song on the loudspeakers. I casually walked inside the store and had a nice little chat with the cashier about Nelson. Later, I aimlessly wandered around the streets here just going where my heart led me and by the time it was 8pm I had covered the downtown area and the river side area. This whole part is beautiful with some pretty old buildings and shop fronts. This was a delight for me as I love old buildings. I called it a day by 9pm and made my way back to the Hotel. 

The City Hall in Grand Forks

Random streets in Nelson

Next day threw up an unexpected surprise. For our work we had to go to the nearby town called Kaslo. Now from my previous googling about the region I know that Kaslo, apart from being very pretty, was also home to a very important landmark. Kaslo houses the SS Moyie sternwheeler. A National Historic Site of Canada, SS Moyie is the oldest intact sternwheeler in the world. Somehow in between my work I made sure to check it out and took a few pics. It looked magnificent sitting at the waterfront near the row of pretty shops. 

The main street of Kaslo

SS Moyie

We were back in Nelson by 5pm and this time I went in the opposite direction to where I went the previous day. I badly wanted to check out the railway station here and made my way to the quaint station. There was not a soul there so I strolled around the deserted area and finally sat down near the tracks. A locomotive was shunting far away and railfans know how dreamy is the sound of a locomotive shunting in a lonely area. I sat there for sometime lost in thoughts with the sound of the locomotive shunting taking me back to my travels in India. After my reverie was broke my a slight drizzle I quickly got up and left the station. I still had one place to check out and even though it was drizzling now I was determined to check it out. I had heard of a tram operating in Nelson and knowing the late hour I knew it was not operational at that time but I still wanted to just take a look at the tracks and maybe take a pic at one of the tram stations. Which is exactly what I did. There is a lot of history behind it but suffice to say that a volunteer group called the Nelson Electric Tramway Society still operates one section of the tram line along the waterfront. After this mission accomplished I made my way back, still in that drizzle, back to my Hotel. The next way we departed for Kelowna. Overall, even though it was a work trip, I made the most of it and it turned out to be a hit both workwise and my travel wise. 

The deserted railway station

One of the tram stations

A day in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada

In the early party of this year I found myself spending a couple of months at a friend's place in Ontario. The global Covid-19 pandemic made any proper travel trips impossible but right before I returned to British Columbia we made a short day trip to the famed Muskoka region north of Toronto. On this trip it was me, my friends Namendra and Sonali and their kids, Kittu and bubbles. We started off from Barrie which is where my friends lived. Passing through Orillia, past Washago we made our way to Gravenhurst. We made a brief stop at Namendra's office near Rama before making our second brief stop at Gravenhurst. One of the most beautiful villages I have ever seen with pretty shop fronts I wanted to spend more time here but due to our plans we resumed our trip sooner.  

We made our next stop in a town called Bracebridge. Here, to my surprise I found that there is a very old hydel power generating station. Built in 1894 it is one of the oldest power generating stations in Canada. We spent some time here taking pics and checking out the station. The region after Gravenhurst is all cottage county pretty much till the start of Algonquin Park. A causal look at the Wikipedia article of Muskoka revealed that a lot of Hollywood stars have their cottages here. Tom hanks, Steven Spielberg and Kate Hudson to name a few. 

We reached Algonquin park sometime in the afternoon and did a brief hike there just to stretch our legs and take a look around. After enjoying a few walks we decided it was time to go and we started off on our return journey. We stopped briefly at a roadside restaurant to have late lunch. The restaurant reminded me of Dhabas of India. After lunch our next stop was at home which we reached around 6pm. It was nice short getaway from the dreariness of the covid19 lockdowns.