On the Greyback in fall colours!

I had to take a dump today!  I mean a load to the dump! The car was full.  And when I was finished there I went for a quiet adventure with God and through His magnificent creation.  It was another awesome day to be with my Lord and see some the creatures He has created up close…

If you take the dump road to the top you come to a clearly marked decommissioned road called Greyback Mountain Road.  And when the sign says decommissioned they certainly did mean it!  The ruts were deep enough to swallow the front end of my Ford Edge.  Only once did I miss slowing down in time…OUCH!  But if you went really slow the amazing colours of fall were stunning!

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Here is a section early on this journey from the air:

 

Greyback Mountain Road takes you among other places all the way to James Creek Falls.  Today that short journey took 1.5 hours.

20161022_130448-2 20161022_130844-2 The hike there was short only 250m return.  (100m to the lookout bench one way)  But the falls were quite impressive from a little further down the trail.

I continued on Greyback through a rather snowy section chatting and waving to several hunters along the way.  I turned out a better day to take pictures them to get your deer, moose, elk, big horn, or anything else as one hunter told me.  They were packing it in.

You can continue down Greyback until you come across Okanagan Falls Road heading north/south.  I turned south. This part of the road was no longer decommissioned and wasn’t half bad for a back country road.  At about KM 45? I stopped to take in this view:

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And of course I had to put my drone up in the air to capture it from even more angles.  Such marvellous colours here!

A few more kms and then I turned right, down Carmi Road, heading to Ellis Reservoir.  I was hoping to do a fly over there but alas the wind picked up too much for the Phantom.

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Valve wheel for Ellis Creek on Ellis Dam. Penticton’s water shed.

So I continued down Carmi across from Lost Moose Lodge.  There are some great mountain bike trails there.  20161022_145620-2Good for hiking too.  I spent about an hour exploring 2kms worth.  Once again the colours of fall and the magnificent rock bluffs and cliffs made the hike full of eye candy.

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Watch your step! The valley floor behind me is about 400 feet straight down.

 

20161022_150038-220161022_150046-2The view of Penticton / Naramata from this point overlooks Okanagan lake.   img_8988-2This hill has always been one of my favourite panorama view points.  Worth the drive up Carmi Road.

On the way down I came across some friendly critters.  More than a dozen Big Horn Sheep were hiding from hunters just a few blocks up from Mike & Gails place.

 

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 How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Psalm 104:24 (NIV)