On the Road to Kelowna

I’m on the road to find out right now so this will be quick. I’m driving a friend and all her stuff from Colorado to Canada. So the past couple days I’ve been trapped in a 22-foot, yellow Penske rental truck heading north and west to Kalowna, British Columbia.

When you’re on a road trip of any kind, whether in a moving truck or your hybrid Toyota, then it’s good to find places to stop and stretch. Today I stopped for an hour at some good crystalline granite boulders on the pass east of Butte. Pulled off I-90 at a wide spot and found the boulders that I climbed on the last time I was through here seven years ago. Shoes, chalk bag, the roar of the nearby highway, and worry about the state patrol stopping and wondering why that darn truck was parked off the highway. I don’t know if they would understand this vertical compulsion. “Sorry officer, I’m just trying to get this last problem and then I’ll move on….”

Tomorrow is the last leg of the drive, a wandering route up northwest Washington and then up the left shore of Okenagon Lake to Kelowna. A lot of good climbing is up there, notably Skaha with around 700 routes, mostly bolted sport climbs, on over 50 crags. I’ll post an update in a few days.