Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park, British Columbia: a rock climbing mecca

Princess Cat getting slathered in sunscreen!

This young girl will soon kick my butt (she already does on a mountain bike!)!

I love that my girls got to watch some strong women rock climbing!

The rock climbing scene is such a fun and colorful one! It was really cool to see old people in their 50s still rock climbing (trad even!).

The Skaha Bluffs (located just outside of the Penticton city limits) are the second largest rock climbing site in British Columbia with more than 650 routes (after the Smoke Bluffs in Squamish). We are planning to come back and explore this place more in the fall with our American friends! There is no campground in that Provincial Park, but the entrance is free, and there are lots of hiking and biking trails too. Note that there is no water available in the park and that the best period to visit is from March to October.

It felt really weird to read that on that same night we were at the Bluffs, one of the great men of rock climbing died while base jumping in Yosemite. Here's an article that explains the circumstances of his death.

Those who follow us on Facebook probably know already, but there were two articles published on our adventures in the last few weeks, one in French by Les 4 Farfelus (Une vie sur la route) and one in English by Go-Van. 

More Okanagan Lake goodness...

The girls swam everyday in the icy cold water of Lake Okanagan while my mom and I read and listened to audiobooks (just finished My Accidental Jihad and started Escape) and reading The Signature of all things on the Kindle. We haven't seen any sign of Ogopogo, the Lake monster. There was a photoshoot by Mathilde with Mamie (hence why there are so many pictures of me in this post), good wine at sunset and lots of lying down in the sun.

Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, British Columbia

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Crampy feet from the freezing cold water! They still played for a good hour with that log together! It was a beautiful sight to see!

My mom flew in from Quebec to spend 2 weeks with us before we drive north to the Yukon for the summer. The Okanagan Valley is the perfect place to camp at this time of year. We have enjoyed the beautiful Okanagan Lake and did a beautiful short hike at Hardy Falls. JF found an awesome used Santa Cruz (Juliana) mountain bike for Aïsha (hers was getting small so it went to Mathilde) and she was zooming around the campground on it at every hour of the day (when she was not reading her new books that Mamie brought her or perched high up on a tree). It was the perfect setting to celebrate Mother's Day together. We had long conversations in the morning sun and around the bonfire at night. I am so fortunate to have such a fun, easy-going open-minded mom!

Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Kelowna, BC

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When we did some research to find a winery to visit in the Okanagan Valley and chose the organic and biodynamic Summerhill Pyramid Winery (where they age wine in a pyramid), we expected to be greeted by a bunch of crunchy people. It was quite a shock to see tour buses and a very commercial place when we arrived... We soon found out that is was the biggest and most visited organic winery in Canada! About twenty minutes into the tour (so far a very typical winery tour where the biodynamic practices still hadn't been mentionned...), the guide led us into the pyramid, asking us to remain silent, take a seat, close our eyes, open our hearts and feel the energy of the place. Now we were talking!! The place was filled with cristals, goddess statues and a magic lamp... there were a copper pyramid inside the actual pyramid and an altar in the middle of the room with candles all around... When we asked what they were for, he said it was from their last full moon celebration! Groups of people come to meditate there too... Sounds like it benefits the wine since in a blind-tasting of 10 000 persons, 95% prefered the pyramid-aged wine!

Here's what they say about the effect of the pyramid on their website:
The knowingness of eternity awaits us in this sacred chamber. The word Py-ra-mid means "fire in the middle". We all have this fire in the middle. It is our hearts, our souls. We are mostly liquid and we are affected just like the wine is effected. The effect is clarification. If a wine has a flaw in it, the flaw is accentuated. If the wine has good qualities, they are enhanced. We humans are mostly liquid so when we enter this sacred chamber, it is a grand opportunity to clarify our own inner selves. This chamber helps us to get to the knowingness of who we are. We are electrical in nature, with impulses running from our brains through our spinal columns. We are receivers, we are conduits, and this chamber enhances our receptiveness, opening the left and right sides of our brains, much like the dolphins, whales, and elephants who are in touch with Essence, the all-one ‘soul of the world’.


Many experiments have been documented in replica pyramids. For instance, it is well established that rather than rotting, milk turns to yogurt, meat petrifies and razor blades will become sharper in the pyramid (this has been patented). A timed photography experiment, conducted outdoors in an open frame pyramid, revealed that a plant growing inside the pyramid grew in a clockwise motion, while a twin sister plant nearby but not in a pyramid grew "helter skelter".

We tasted six of their wines and, call us wine snobs, but we were not overly impressed. We liked the Cipes Brut (a sparkling white), cared for the sparkling rosé and really liked the Blanc de Noir, but really did not care for the Riesling, Syrah rose and Pinot Noir. The girls were given non-alchoolic cider in the same glasses as the other guests and it was the exact same color as the Riesling. You should have seen the look on people's face!! Honestly, our friends at Domaine Bergeville who produce 3 delicious sparkling wines (a white, a rosé and a red) have nothing to envy to them.

 

Into the woods

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When we turned off the engine of the Westy, the girls jumped off and ran into the forest. They immediately started climbing on logs and building a shelter… My little wildflowers… We were all so eager to leave the city behind…

After months in the desert, the smell of a lake in the middle of the forest was decadent. Mountain biking straight from our campsite on pine-laden single tracks, being visited a few times a day by a family of deer wondering what the heck we were doing in their living room and losing myself in thoughts by a waterfall while the girls nibbled their first dandelions of the year were just a bonus.

We read The Animal Dialogues by the bonfire in the dark (the best place to read that amazing book), drank our morning coffee in a patch of sunlight filtering through the tall cedar trees and read on the dock under the stoic gaze of a great blue heron.

There’s nothing like spitting your toothpaste in the fire, eating parsley-lemon pasta in lexan plates with a spork, walking with a headlamp to the outhouse and going to bed smelling of citronella and wood smoke to bring you back to center after an intense week.

Was it all as awesome as it sound? Hell, yeah. Maybe even a little better.


This campground is called Round Lake State Park, in Idaho. Sites 12 and 14 are huge! 

The week we lived at the garage

A game of Five Crowns in the bus in Salt Lake City, before the breakdown.

Crossing the Continental Divide

Those who follow us on Facebook know that we broke down near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on our way back towards Canada and that we have spent a week at the garage. The staff has been super friendly, bringing an electric cord outside for us to have power, giving us access to the huge training room, where we even watched rock climbing movies on the big screen, suggesting we use the employees' shower (we looked pretty grubby...) and being very nice to us. We are not their usual clients (it is a Caterpillar garage, which mostly repair big trucks, but since our engine is a Cat, that's where we had it towed) and they looked at us having dinner in our Westy in the parking lot or getting ready for the night while they smoke their cigarette during their break with a rather amused grin. 

We were lulled to sleep by the revving of engines and the night shift workers favorite radio station (these places close at 2 am...) and woken up by diesel fumes and more engine roaring. We found out that the transmission won't be back before Monday, so since we do not need electricity or connexion for the weekend, we will go camp in the forest with the Westy to recharge... watch the sunset on the lake, sit around a bonfire, cook outside, wake up to the smell of damp moss and earth... Nature is my happy place.

 I must say, it has been a challenging week, but I will take our misadventures anytime over the 9 to 5 life. This is part of the reality of chosing to live in an old bus. And I also have to say that one of the reason we decided to bring the Westy was for this exact reason: have a second home when the main one needed repair. I must also say that we were very fortunate this break down happened less than 50 miles from a major city and not in the middle of nowhere on the Alaska Highway. Onward and upward! Canada, here we come... soon!

Saying Goodbye

The children found a big rock and split it in 6 pieces to keep as their friendship rock.

How do you say goodbye to people you spent the last six months with, sharing daily adventures and struggles, caring and cultivating the growth of one another?

We danced under the stars together. We watched countless sunsets, sat by so many bonfires, fell down (literally and figuratively…) and have truly been there for one another.

When you travel with people, most times you also live with them. You get ready to go hiking together, you eat together and come home together. You wake up the next morning and you’re still together. There’s nowhere to hide.

It accelerates a friendship to experience rough times together after only knowing one another a short time. At home, it usually takes a while to see someone’s bad side because you’re only with people for controlled amounts of time. With traveling there’s no hiding. And that’s actually a good thing. You cut a certain layer of crap away from the friendship process, and ask yourself very early on, do I actually like this person? If you don’t, you move on… with your house on wheels.

And that’s what makes saying goodbye to those people so hard. In a short time you’ve jumped through what would have taken years of casual hangouts and meals. You know what your friend is like when she gets really angry or hasn’t slept enough, and you like her anyways.

It doesn’t help that everything tends to be amplified when you travel. Experiences, relationships, and emotions are more vibrant. When you’re outside of your comfort zone, trying something new that’s scary, it matters who you is with you. The girls will never forget who was with them the first time they went BMXing. And I won’t forget Karl and JF’s beaming faces when they came back from mountain biking with their daughters and said: They were incredible! They are riding partners now!

We all remember what it feels like to have a best friend. It's almost like a first love. The longing to be together, the hand holding, the shared laughs, the pure joy… You just never want it to end. Mara said it felt impossible to be apart for so long, impossible to imagine our life without them.

Her words were so pure it brought tears to my eyes and touched me deep inside. Truth is like that sometimes.

 

The Fiery Furnace, Arches NP

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The Fiery Furnace is a maze of canyons and slickrock where it is highly recommended to go with a guide in order not to get loss. You can however get a special permit to go in there by yourself. With JF as a guide, we felt pretty safe! 

It was so special to have this whole place to ourselves, to go explore slim canyons, climb on fins, crab walk over ridges, back track and explore some more.

It was the perfect last hike with our sweet friends. We went back to camp at sunset and ate our meal together around the bonfire. We watched movies we had prepared for each other from pictures of the last 6 months and GoPro footage. All of a sudden, in the darkness of the night, fireworks exploded from the other side of the mountain and colored the sky. It felt like a perfect ending to our amazing adventure.

I recounted our funny tour with self-righteous Ranger John in the Fiery Furnace two and half years ago.

Corona Arch, Moab

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One of the many amazing things about Moab is that everything is right there: the hiking, the rock climbing and the mountain biking, which means that even if the boys finish at 2:30/3:00 pm, we still have plenty of time to go enjoy the outdoors with them. One afternoon, we stopped by the Arches National Park Visitor Center to get the kids Junior Ranger badge (and got an amazing ranger who spent more than 20 minutes answering all their questions with very interesting explanations about the rock formation in the park... Did you know that the arches were formed because the Navajo sandstone was pushed up by the salt in the soil?) and secure a permit to go explore the Fiery Furnace (an awesome maze of canyons in Arches NP that is usually only possible to visit with a guided tour) by ourselves in a few days and watched an interesting video teaching us about the biological soil crust and how to protect it by walking only on sandstone and sandy washes. We then headed to Corona Arch.

Corona Arch is one of the most impressive arch in Southern Utah and is much less crowded since it is outside Arches NP. Reaching it requires a 45-minutes fun romp, mostly on slickrock. Corona is mammoth: 140 ft high, with a span of 335 ft. Bowtie Arch is a bonus sight. It appears that a haywire missile from a passing spacecraft blasted through the back wall of its deep alcove...

You can read the crazy adventure that followed our visit to Corona Arch last time we were here...

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

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Canyonlands NP is covered by wave after wave of deep canyons that have been formed by the currents and tributaries of Utah's Green and Colorado rivers.

We went to the Island-in-the-Sky district of the park and hiked to Mesa Arch. This area sits atop a massive 1500 foot mesa, quite literally an Island in the Sky. From the viewpoint of the arch, we can see over 100 miles, a panoramic view that encompasses thousands of square miles of canyon country.

Last time we hiked here, it was covered in snow. 

Mountain bike track and stormy skies

Since Moab is a pretty popular destination, the nice campgrounds (Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park) are always full. There are lots of RV parks, but they are ugly and expensive. There is also many BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River, but none has decent Internet signal. There is, however, a lot of BLM land around Moab and we found just the perfect spot a mere 5 minutes drive from awesome mountain biking trails and from the entrance of Arches NP.

The kids created their own mountain bike track around our bus and improved their skills. When Mara could not bring herself to do the big jump, her friends rallied around her to comfort her and boost her confidence. It was so very sweet to hear little Ellie tell her: I completely understand how you feel, but I know you can do it. You have to believe in yourself, Mara! These kids. They are seriously amazing. And the relationship they have build in the last 6 months is incredible. 

Then, just after we lit our bonfire, the sky turned grey and thunder started to rumble... Storm skies in the desert are nothing short of spectacular...

We all ran inside to hide from the rain and watch the lightning show. That same morning, the kids spent over an hour looking at a mama jack rabbit and her two babies play nearby. 

Our kids have such a simple childhood. The more they grow, the more their life is different from most 5th and 7th graders. Our girls couldn't care less what they wear, how their hair look or if they have the latest technology. There is no drama in their life, no stress, no pressure to perform. 

We feel very fortunate to be able to offer them such an amazing childhood. And to enjoy all these amazing adventures with them!

Devil's Garden and Double-O Arch, Arches National Park, Moab

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Devil's Garden in Arches National Park leads to Landscape Arch (the longest arch in the world with a 306 feet span). After that, the path becomes a more challenging primitive trail along narrow slickrock fins, requiring some scrambling. This is where the fun begins!

When we arrived at Double-O arch (a hike I did 2 1/2 years ago alone with Aïsha), the kids started working on some bouldering problems (once you start rock climbing, you never look at a rock wall in the same way...) and Jennifer went walking on top of the arch. My legs were wobbly just looking at her. Karl and JF followed, while I happily helped the kids with their rock climbing...

But my friends know me and know I like to push my limits... but that I often need some support to do so. They helped me find my strength and confidence and JF and Karl came with me, while Jennifer snapped some pictures and cheered from down below. It was one of the most amazing view I had seen in my life... Fiery red rock fins fields all around with snow capped mountains in the background... I felt completely exhilarated. And very proud.

Then, the dads led their girls (one by one) over the arch. It was a very touching moment... Our mama's hearts were bursting with love as we looked at them conquer their fears and raise to the challenge.

I did it!!

JF with Mara and Karl with Ellie

Arches National Park is definitely one of my favorite National Park and Moab is just such a fun city with a cool, laid-back vibe. It reminds us of Whitehorse in a way. All those people in biking gear at the grocery store, super friendly staff that walk their talk in the outdoor stores... We could get used to such a place!

Delicate Arch at Sunset

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Watching the sunset at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Moab, is a popular attraction. We joined the crowd in that spectacular natural amphitheater for a moment of grace. Of course, many of the people wanted their photos taken under the arch, while the crowd standing on the other side was shooing them away in order not to have anybody in their pictures. There was a big round of applause when these "gooseneckers" finally got the message and moved out of everybody's sunset shot! We hiked down as night was falling and the bats were waking up. What a fantastic night!

Gooseneck State Park, the Russian Invasion and Monument Valley

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When we left Kanab where we hiked Wire Pass and part of Buckskin Gulch, we drove through Page, AZ, and Monument Valley, up to one of our favorite spot in Utah to spend the night, called Gooseneck State Park. There are about 15 sites there (no reservation possible) along a giant cliff overlooking a U-shape canyon filled with water. We were camped right by the ridge (photos do not do justice to the immensity of that place). 

We were sitting outside looking at the wonderful sunset with our friends and  had started a fire to cook our sweet potatoes while the kids were painting their clay creations (from the clay they had collected at the bottom of Bucksking Gulch), as a bus full of Russian tourists arrived. All of a sudden they were walking all over our campsite (asking our friend to move because she was in the way), looking inside the bus, taking pictures of our kids (our friend had to ask them not to do that!). The kids were so intimidated, they went hiding in the bus. None of them realized they were totally in our space. They did not even really acknowledged us. We felt like real tourist attractions... It was the weirdest thing! We remained in shock for a while after they left. The kids built a rock wall all around the perimeter of our campsite. The Gooseneck Invasion, as we will now refer to it, led to the creation of a new word: goosenecker, as in: don't be such a goosenecker!

As night fell, the kids got the lambskins out and laid on them with pillows and blanket to look at the incredible sky. We could even see that someone had lit a fire down by the river in the canyon. We will remember that night for a long time.

In Slot Canyon Country: Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch

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Entering a slot canyon is a totally unique journey, a journey inward, in the womb of the earth. It’s almost a spiritual journey, completely different from the exhilarating feeling of reaching the summit of a mountain. Walking in this cool dark space, letting your hand drags on the slick walls, you feel reverence and grace. You are invariably led inside yourself.

Wire Pass is a gorge of tilted Navajo sandstone. Log jams high overhead attest of the power and volume of flash floods. From Wire Pass, we arrive at its confluence with Buckskin Gulch. On the right wall after the arch, you can see original Navajo petroglyphs. 

*Buckskin Gulch is the longest continuous slot canyon in the USA. I love what this excellent guidebook says: Canyons are like people. Both are more interesting when scoured to their essence. And the most thoroughly scoured canyon on our planet is Buckskin Gulch.

 

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah

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Rippling arcs of rust-colored sand welcome you as you enter Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Contrasted by blue skies, juniper and pinion pines, and steep red cliffs, the sand from the dunes is really grains of quartz with a hematite coating providing the orange color. The dunes are estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000 years old. 

We boogie boarded down this shifting sea of orange sand and felt like a younger version of ourselves as we walked barefoot in that giant sand box.

Sand Hollow State Park, Utah

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We chose Sand Hollow State Park because it was close to everything: the amazing network of mountain bike trails in Hurricane, the many rock climbling routes in St. George, Snow Canyon State Park and Zion National Park. Little did we know how beautiful this place was with it's turquoise reservoir water and orange cliffs located a mere 5 minute walk from our campsite.

Little did we know too that the "jumping rock" was a favorite spot of the college kids on Spring Break. As we were quietly exploring the cliffs one morning, they arrived en masse,  with cheap beer, tiny bikinis and selfie sticks. They were loud as only self-rightous college kids can be and left piles of trash in their wake... We came back a few days later and filled 3 big black bags of water bottles, broken beer bottles, candy wrappers, sunblock bottles and fast food containers... I can only hope my girls feel a greater connexion to the land when they grow up and treat it with respect. 

Observation Point and other hikes in Zion National Park, Utah

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The wind was howling when the alarm rang at 6:30 on Saturday morning. We had decided to get an early start and beat the crowd on the hike to Observation Point, one of the most scenic hike in Zion National Park. It was an 8 mile hike with a 2100 feet elevation. We had packed lots of food, water and warm clothes the night before and were ready for another exciting adventure. When we got off the shuttle bus, we looked up at the many switchbacks that were cut in the very steep rock wall ahead of us and smiled! We love a challenge! 

We were pretty much alone on the trail as the sun rose in the canyon, illuminating the top of Angels Landing, a hike we had done a few days earlier and that some of us had done again the night before at sunset. We walked into a beautiful canyon and were greeted by the warm morning sun on the other side. We kept on pushing up, switchbacks after switchbacks, mesmerized by the ever changing colors of the rocks. At the top, the view was simply incredible.

As we started going down, we met more and more people. Huffing and puffing, some of them congratulated the kids for their accomplishment. The children kept on skipping to the bottom of the trail, smiling, proud and happy.

During the 5 days we stayed in the park, we hiked many other shorter trails: the River walk that leads to the entrance of the Narrows, a very popular hike in a canyon that require wearing waterproof pants/bibs, socks and shoes, and carrying a big stick to keep your balance in the areas of the canyon where there is more current. The water was at 45 degrees, so going without this equipment was not an option. In the summer, it is possible to do it in sandals and shorts (something we plan to do at some point). We also hiked up to Upper Emerald Pool and down to Lower Emerald Pool (the photo of the little waterfall and chain along the wall is from that hike), as well as to Weeping Rock. It is a fascinating phenomenon that in the limestone rock layer called travertine, a more porous formation, plants grow and water seep through.

Zion is simply a majestic place that one must see (and hike!) in its life to really appreciate it. If you plan to visit and are in shape enough for a moderate to challenging hike, I highly recommend you do Angels Landing and Observation Point for a total Zion experience.

Rock climbing in Green Valley Gap, St. George, Utah

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The view from our climbing spot...

What we are learning is that the best way by far to find out where to go climbing is to visit the local rock climbing/outdoor store. We knew that St. George is the place in the United States where there is the biggest concentration of sport climbing routes, but even after hours of online research and looking through many physical guidebooks at the library, we could not find clear information on what we were looking for. A 30 minute visit at the Desert Rat store and we had found the perfect spot to set two ropes side by side, with a beautiful approach walk, and in a less crowded spot (it is Spring Break here...). While we were there, Mara decided to use her money to buy herself some (pink!) rock climbing shoes (we were all sharing mine)! She was flying up the wall! 

We are already reaching the point where my girls are starting to be stronger (and more confident!) than I am in rock climbing and mountain biking... A great lesson in humility. Needless to say, I am very proud of them and amazed at what they can do!

Zion National Park: Hiking Angels' Landing trail

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Zion National Park is well known and the amount of people in the shuttles (you are not allowed to drive your own vehicle in the park) and on the trails only confirmed its popularity. But of course, there is a good reason for it: it is a spectacular place and the hiking trails are epic. We hiked Angels' Landing, a beautiful steep climb full of switchbacks that leads to a breathtaking viewpoint. But the magnificence of Zion can only truly be appreciated if you keep going after the overlook (not recommended for kids) and take the challenging path to the very top. Once there, you understand why they call it Angels' Landing. It is that grand!

As we started our hike, we met a French-speaking family that was from my hometown! We quickly found out that we had more than our birthplace in common and stuck together for the whole hike, chatting away as old friends. Their two girls quickly grew attached to Mathilde, who loved being in the big sister position. Thanks to the energy of the group, their 3 and 5 yo girls hiked all the way to the overview and back!