Bikely map

I woke up and it was cold enough (and the tent was damp enough both from the cold and from having been pitched in the rain the night before) that I was quite slow getting myself out of my sleeping bag to actually begin the day. This lag pushed my start time back to 8:45am from the usual 8:00am.

In spite of the conditions in/around the tent, it was actually a rather nice day, and I didn’t get terribly far before the turn off towards DRAO (note that DRAO was a point of interest for me largely because my friend Tim did a work term there) near this little vista:

Having gone on a bit, made the turn, climbed a little (but still steep by my Ontarian estimation) bit, I took this shot looking back to the highway:

And got a few more pics of what was basically ranchland on the way to the observatory

upon approaching which, I was greeted by this sign (which struck me as surprisingly close to the observatory, but I guess it’s largely a matter of ridges, valleys, etc.

and there’s the observatory, first as taken from the sign, and then a few other shots closer up:

One of Tim’s stories of DRAO involving Faraday cages around computers, I just had to capture the faraday cages around the A/V and computer equipment in the Visitors’ Centre

and an obligatory big dish shot

The rubber band holding my (borrowed) camera together also having broken, I seized upon the excuse to wander into the Observatory building itself (which was clearly signed as not open to visitors), find an administrator’s office (though not until I’d peeked into a few machine rooms and whatnot) and ask for a replacement (which I did, and was given).

After this, I continued along the minor roads in the White Lake and Twin Lakes area towards Oliver. Note the ice pack still on the ground:

And one of the minor country roads which I opted not to follow, since I wasn’t going to Oz

A few more shots as I continued along, towards (and into) the Okanagan Valley.

And as I continued towards Osoyoos, I caught a glimpse of the mess of relatively steep grades and switchbacks by which I’d climb out of the valley: The Anarchist

looming a little closer

filling the frame

though for all the anticipation, it wasn’t that much of a climb. In fact, I was able to go for >1.5km at a time once or twice without stopping to catch my breath, and I don’t think that I ever did a stretch shorter than 300m (remember also that this is on a bike loaded down to weigh about 110lbs, and towards the end of the day)

One nice thing about riding up switchbacks along a really steep mountainside is that it affords nice views (and unlike riding down, one actually wants to stop and admire/photograph them)

Though like with any significant climb, there’s also the temptation to photograph the road too

Though the view from the ridge (which is quite certainly not the top, end of the long continuous portion of ascent though it may be) is also rather nice

Since the time was wearing on, and I’d misremembered the material I’d read on Anarchist Summit, I interpreted the pitch as an unsigned summit, and set up camp for the night.