Yes, I really did hike up a mountain, Rose Swanson mountain in Armstrong is a very popular climbing area with great trails, and is rated moderate to difficult to climb, and even though it had some pretty harsh switchbacks in places the view was worth it.
There were three points where we could see for miles in either direction, towards Vernon, and back the other way towards the Shuswap.
At the summit we could see three of the Okanagan’s famous lakes at one time… pretty amazing. This is only one of the lakes.
With the spring runoff leaving behind little ponds, the mosquitoes were kind of bad, but the wildflowers, and the vegetation were gorgeous.
Looks like some type of Campanula was growing in the rocks at the very top of the mountain, now that’s a hardy plant.
We saw a type of Fritillaria, that they call a chocolate lilies, Indian paintbrush, and lots of other pretty foliage.
My nimble niece who plants trees, and does forestry work all day had no problem hiking up the mountainside, after all for her it’s all in a days work.
Me… well I wish I had done a few more bike rides to get into the groove, but I am looking forward to doing it again. I took my camera along, and every time I got out of breath I would stop to take a photo… I have a lot of photos.
Don’t think this is something that I could do every week, but it is something that I will do again, maybe in the fall, can you imagine the colors of the leaves then?