Wild Horse Canyon to Commando Bay (Okanagan Mountain Park)

The hike begins just a 20 minute drive south from our front door. The forecast for Saturday wasn't exactly stellar. As if to drive home the point it began bucketing down just as we were lacing up our boots. Undeterred we deployed Alpine Umbrellas and squelched away from the car.



It's a varied and interesting 10k hike across the park. The main feature is a long towering cliff. You hike along the base for 3 or 4 kilometres. It's not quite a canyon as the name suggests but it's certainly a deep gully. Given the remarkably wet spring we've had here in the Okanagan this made for a very wet section of trail. The blood thirsty mosquitoes and pouring rain didn't leave much time for sightseeing.

After about 3 hours we emerged from the canyon onto a plateau above the lake. It was strange to see this desert setting so wet and green. The smell of moist sage hung in the air.



As the sun came out from behind the clouds we descended down to the lake with steam rising around us from the wet soil.





It was a great time of year to by camping along the lake shore. Normally the lake is teaming with people and noisy boats. We had the place to ourselves.



The next morning we got the tent down just before it starting raining (that was a first) and began the walk back under a light rain.



Not bad for a weekend in town.