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Strike your Colours Okanagan Recreation

Okanagan Recreation

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A digital publication dedicated to self-propelled outdoor recreation in the Okanagan, Similkameen and Shuswap region of British Columbia.

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Page 1: Okanagan Recreation

Strike your Colours

Okanagan Recreation

Page 2: Okanagan Recreation

Tick season is upon us again, brought home by a recent

hike in Okanagan Mountain Park. On that long (22 km) hike

I found three ticks on me, a number that was matched by most of the other hikers that day.

Ticks seem to prefer Okanagan Mountain Park, and it was there, two years ago that I was bodily assaulted by a tick.

It may not have attacked me on the mountain, but it was there that I picked up my most notori-ous tick. I broke many tick rules that day, the first being that I neglected to do a serious search for ticks when I got home.

I don’t really remember what I did, but as per usual I went to bed quite late – about 2 a.m. I took my shirt off in the bathroom and as I went to turn off the light I saw a red spot in the upper left of my back. You know the spot that it is almost im-possible to reach without a lot of body contortions

and arm twisting.I bent closer to inspect in the mirror and indeed,

there she was. One of the eight legged trespassers had not only caught a ride, but decided I was tasty enough to suck blood from. Her body was far from fully engorged, as I had seen in some photos, but she was also a good deal fatter and rounder than the flat creatures I have flicked from my clothing with great difficulty.

I had been warned about ticks, but I’m not much of a worrier and didn’t really think about it too much. I’m also not that worried about bugs and insects (or members of the arachnid family), but I did decide her decision to ingest part of my bodily fluids had gone beyond the boundaries of proper etiquette.

More accurately I can live with any creature that doesn’t try to make a meal of me – beyond that it’s survival of the fittest.

The cunning little creature

2 Okanagan Recreation

Feeling Ticked OnEditor’s Rant

See Ticked page 4

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Page 3: Okanagan Recreation

5 Going Downhill FastIf you’ve never tried ziplining consider a visit to Peachland’s ZipZone

In this issue

Okanagan Recreation is published six times a year and dis-tributed via e-mail to hundreds of active subscribers in the Okanagan, Shuswap and Similkameen valleys.

Publisher & Editor: Devon Brooks [email protected]

[email protected]

Advertisers please send inquiries to Duncan Banks: [email protected] or call 250-488-1423.

Comments or questions on this issue or anything you would like to see in the future should be sent to:

[email protected]

Subscriptions: To receive this publication at no cost send a note to [email protected]

Departments

Cover photo by Janna LeslieMountain Ladyslippers

Health Column - Oh, the pain, the pain…….……16

Wild Flowers Seed Packets- Can you trust them?.21

Turning 40 - That’s good for Kumsheen Rafting.23

17

14

6 Her Crutch

Everything else gets a redesign these days, so why not crutches, asked Roseanne van Ee after a little emergency surgery

Dog Days

If you’re revving up for some seri-ous outdoor exer-cise this summer don’t forget your dog can benefit too

Terrible Tick Traumas

The terrible truth about ticks like you have never read before. We promise.

8 Part of Nature’s Visual BountySometimes we’re so busy going somewhere out-doors that we forget to stop and, well, you know.

Okanagan Recreation 3

Okanagan Recreation

Table of Contents

Page 4: Okanagan Recreation

had picked the most inaccessible spot on my body. To remove her, not having properly reviewed the literature, I decided to try the “hot pin” method. I had read if you heat up a pin and jab the creature, she will release to get away from the heat.

There are some drawbacks to the method, especially in this case. Using a candle flame to heat up the needle I then tried to induce her to leave. Unfortu-nately, seated at an odd angle on the bathroom counter, using a mirror to navigate a hot needle to scare off the miniature vam-pire on my back involved much stabbing of said hot needle into my own flesh. Mostly I scared me and not the tick.

My consolation was cauteriz-ing the wound with each stab. Eventually, after painful trial and error I honed in on my tar-get.

This is when I learned what a

dismal failure the hot needle ap-proach is. When the needle final-ly reached the tick, it was clearly unpleasant. The creature would pivot her body away from the hot needle, but she would not let go.

With increasing vehemence I repeated the procedure: heat up the needle, stab her with it. Eventually I succeeded in liter-ally cooking the creature. It no longer moved at all even when the red-hot needle went right into her blackened little body. Like a zombie bulldog howev-er, she never gave up, even in death. Her little body was char-coal, but the mouth part was still firmly attached.

It was now 2:30 a.m. and I con-cluded the only thing to do was dig her out with my pen knife. Admitting my shortcomings in digging holes in my back with any degree of accuracy, I decid-ed it was time to call in my wife, Pamela.

Pamela is of the squeamish

variety when it comes to small insects. I can now attest to the fact that one of her favourite ac-tivities is NOT to be woken up at 2:30 am from a dead sleep with a request that she wield a sharp instrument to excavate a now dead creepy-crawly from my flesh.

I think it is also a testament to my absolute trust that I gave a sleep-deprived, and somewhat irritated woman, a sharp knife to use on me, but wisely felt that the less said about anything, the better. In the end she applied her delicate touch and luckily for me I appear to have suffered no ill effects from her handiwork or anything the tick was carrying.

I also make more of an effort to do a tick search during the daylight hours. While I don’t want to seem bitter about the tick, which was only doing what ticks do, I have to admit that be-fore I fricasseed that tick, I hope my o-type blood left a bad taste in her mouth.

4 Okanagan Recreation Trail Mix

Ticked from page 2

Trail listings support new Trail Alliance

Long time hiker, author and outdoor enthusiast

Andrew Drouin is pitching the www.sweetsingletrack.ca website as the primary fund raiser for the newly forming South Okanagan Trail Alliance.

Accessing the full database on trails costs only $10 and pro-vides information on 57 trails in the area. Users can access the information as text with an im-age and photo on the website or download a gpx file for a GPS unit. The same information is

also available in a book avail-able at bookstores in the Pentic-ton area.

Drouin also gave a talk just as this magazine was being put to-gether on the state of trails in the Okanagan-Similkameen. The press release stated: “Andrew’s presentation will touch on the history of single-track trails in the South Okanagan, begin-ning with the First Nations peo-ple. It’ll describe how wildlife, cattle, motorcycle riders, hikers and cyclists have created a spi-

der-web of trails throughout the valley. The talk will also touch on current land-access issues and trail building/maintenance efforts.”

The South Okanagan Trail Al-liance details the plans and cur-rent trail projects of this new group for hikers, bikers and equestrians.

Full information on the Alli-ance and what it hopes to achieve is available at www.southokana-gantrailalliance.com.

Page 5: Okanagan Recreation

By Devon Brooks

What is it with the fas-cination people have

for falling from heights?As if skydiving and ballooning

wasn’t enough, within the last half century we’ve added hang gliding, parasailing, base jump-ing and then there’s ziplining.

Personally, I think it all goes back to the dreams we have about flying.

Ziplining has arrived in the Okanagan simultaneously at Oyama and Peachland, so I thought I’d have a chat with Josh Sears, operations man-ager and partner at ZipZone in Peachland.

ZipZone is one of 10 ziplines in British Columbia, but ZipZone claims the highest ziplines in North America.

Perhaps it depends on how one defines what “highest” means because other zipline compa-nies, like New York Zipline Ad-ventures, claims riders are sit-ting 600 feet above the valley floor compared to ZipZone’s 381 feet of vertical on the ‘Hang Time’ line.

Nonetheless, height is only one measure of a zipline. There’s speed of travel, the length of the line and time in the air.

“The fastest speed is 90 kph,” Sears says, “but we designed this course for the view so we try to give the maximum hang time.” The longest ride, down the can-yon stretches for 1,800 feet.

Sears says 2011, their first year in operation, saw 9,000 guests take the plunge. This year they are hoping to better that number

by 2,000, but as you would ex-pect the tough-est part is to persuade people to strap them-selves in for the first ride.

He observes, “We have two kinds of guests: the gung-ho and the scared ones who want to get it over with.”

Either way, that takes us back to the ques-tion of what is it that compels us to strap our-selves in to vari-

ous devices that plunge willy-nilly across the sky?

Unlike other sky sports there is a small, gentle training line at Zip Zone so that the nervous first comer can give it a try a mere five feet off the ground.

Sears, who mountain bikes and paraglides in his spare time, says in their first season they tried to tell nervous guests about safety features to reassure them. De-spite the numbers (guide wires are rated to carry 5,000 lbs, sup-port beams anchoring them are rated for 100,000 lbs) delaying just makes nervous people more nervous.

Sears spends

Okanagan Recreation 5Zip Lining

Josh Sears,operations manager at ZipZonePhotos by Devon Brooks.

Going Downhill...Fast

Cont. next page

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Okanagan Recreation 6 Gear Talk

The World’s Most Amazing Crutches Saved my Snowshoe

Tours

This trial run allows staff to train and provides a non-threatening run for anxious be-ginners Photos by Devon Brooks

quite a bit of time sharing infor-mation about back ups and back ups to the back ups. He calls himself a “safety-Nazi.” “We are built, or overbuilt, to American standards, the toughest in the world.”

No one is ever forced to ride of course, but, adds Sears, no one who completed the first ride has ever asked for the available quad ride back to base camp.

After completing the six ziplines in a couple of hours, guests, or those who can’t bring themselves to give ziplining a chance, can wander the First Na-tions interpretive walk and try to beat a multitude of puzzles in the puzzlearium.

But they should try it. It’s the safest way to go downhill quickly and maybe, just maybe remind you of the good dreams

where you can fly like a bird.

If you go: Address: 8 km up Princ-

eton Avenue (west of the lights at the junction with Hwy 97; the last couple of kilometres on a dirt road)

Cost: $99 age 15 and up; $79 age 7-14 (ask about night rides with glow sticks, by reservation only - minimum four people, each $149 - taxes not included)

Restrictions: Anyone under the age of 19 must be accom-panied by an adult; maximum weight - 275 lbs, minimum weight - 70 lbs

Website: www.zipzone.caHours of operation: 9 am to

4 pm but reservations are rec-ommended (a trip takes two to three hours), operations run from June to October

The night I was released from hospital after emergency

surgery on my knee, I Googled “snowshoeing with crutches” – and zang! A company called SideStix showed up followed by a video list of crutching snowshoers exploring Coastal Mountain ridges and creeks.

I threw my head back, “What? Is this for real?” Maybe that rem-nant of morphine from the knee operation was playing on my hopes, fears and imagination.

I scanned through videos and stories of athletes and outdoor enthusiasts snowshoeing, hik-ing, playing soccer and more from Italy, South Africa, the U.S. and other countries.

I skeptically wondered where they were from as I clicked through contacts and was aston-ished to learn they’re a Sechelt, B.C. product. OMG, this is so B.C.!” I laughed. So I watched their Dragon’s Den pitch (www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/2011/11/sidestix.html).

I started dreaming of crutch-ing through the snow-ghost for-est of Silver Star, then imagining all the walking compromised people who could now get out and explore the magical, winter wonderland that so many others love. This is an adaptive snow

Page 7: Okanagan Recreation

sport revolution!The SideStix arrived with custom fitted sections,

impressive with leather padded cuffs, revolution-ary shock absorbers, lightweight, durable poly-carbonate poles and articulating foot pads with attachments for outdoor adventures on dirt, snow, sand or up mountains.

On my birthday, I initiated them in town. At the first stop, I strode up to Canadian Tire’s au-tomotive department where a young lady lean-ing against the counter asked, “Aren’t your hips sore?”

“No, why?” I replied, bewildered. She lifted her cane and said she couldn’t stand using crutches anymore. She admired the SideStix, but said she’s almost healed now, but she would have to recover from the crutches and cane. Whoa!

Next up to the “Star” for on-snow testing. Ex-changing the walking pads for the snowshoe at-tachments was a breeze. The attachments even slid out with an airlock. I dropped the lime green,

eight-inch round, saw-toothed snowshoe attach-ments on the snow while a man and his son looked on in amazement, but when I added the poles and crutched off, they were gob-smacked.

I say, “If you can walk, you can snowshoe.” Peo-ple with all kinds of challenges have come on the Snowshoe Tours at Silver Star over the years in-cluding blind, deaf, very arthritic, cerebral palsy, all kinds of upper body and arm injuries and no toes, but never anyone with walking mobility is-sues like mine.

SideStix opens up whole new outdoor recre-ation opportunities for a huge group of people. While guiding with the Stix, guests imagined their friends and relatives with mobility challenges get-ting out on adventures. Besides amputees, I heard about people with polio, degenerative knees and hips, muscular dystrophy, knee operations and more who can make use of these.

Actually, I find using them is like walking a dog – people stop in their tracks, ask lots of questions and swap stories.

They saved me from hanging around the house during this recovery and sped up my rehab. They’re so comfortable and fun to use.

As a mature woman long past being ‘cool,’ I have to admit I loved the teenage boys who saw me snowshoeing at the resort and remarked, “Cool equipment!”

These young, local skiers and snowboarders are fascinated with adaptive snow sport ‘gadgets.’

Another adopter of cool equipment is Josh Dueck, a gutsy Paralympic freestyle and trick sit-skier from Silver Star idolized for breaking adap-tive skiing boundaries.

Now I’m hiking with the Stix. They feel great, but it’s too bad I’m recovering so well. I’d love to try them on mountain trails or playing on sand this summer. I’m going to miss them.

See www.sidestix.com.Roseanne Van Ee is an interpretive naturalist with

an enthusiastic passion for outdoor adventures. Her extensive knowledge of the local wildlife, flora, ecology and history is combined with an eager desire to guide highly enjoyable and adventurous award-winning tours. See www.OutdoorDiscoveries.com or follow her adventures on www.facebook.com/outdoordiscov-eries.

Okanagan Recreation 7Adaptive Equipment

Page 8: Okanagan Recreation

8 Okanagan Recreation Cover Feature

Spring Glories

Page 9: Okanagan Recreation

We were overwhelmed with how many of you

sent in photos to our request for shots of spring flowers.

Many people identified their pictures, a few did not. I can’t profess to be a flow-er expert, and occasionally some of you disagreed on what to call a flower. Even the books don’t always agree on what the common name is. While Latin names are more precise, most of us don’t know the Latin name and will certainly not re-member to identify them that way.

Using the names you sent in, a visual comparison of photographs and the book,

Plants of Southern Interior British Colum-bia, as my guide, I have given names to all the flowers sent in (unless it was a picture of many flowers in a meadow).

Needless to say, if some of them are wrong, I am responsible, not the photographer.

A note – with the embarrassment of riches of great photographs sent in, I couldn’t be-gin to show all the great images I did receive so while there are quite a few in this issue, you’ll find another bunch on our website.

Special thanks to Terry Trager, Tania Simpson, Richard Washington, Peter Courtenay, Paul Phillips, Neal Swett, Lisa Scott, Kelley Cook, Janna Leslie, Harold Sellers, Glenn Kohaly, Fran Clyde, E&C Schneider, Dev Fraser and Danie Brooks for their contributions.

Thanks again.Devon Brooks, editor/publisher

Okanagan Recreation 9Spring Flowers

Cont. next page

Photos this page Full page left - Hookers Fairybell - photo by Tania Simpson This page top - Brittle Prickly Pear Cactus - photo by Richard Wash-ington This page bottom - Scarlet Gilia - photo by Paul Phillips

Page 10: Okanagan Recreation

10 Okanagan Recreation Cover Feature

Above left - Yellow Bells - photo by E&C Schneider Above right - Sagebrush Buttercup - photo by E&C Schneider

Page 11: Okanagan Recreation

Okanagan Recreation 11Spring Flowers

Kinnickinnick shrub flowers - photo by Lisa Scott

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12 Okanagan Recreation Cover Feature

Top left - extreme close up of Long-leaved Daisy - photo by Lisa ScottTop right - Tiger Lily - photo by Paul Phillips Bottom - Pushing up through the snow - photo by Kelley Cook

Page 13: Okanagan Recreation

Okanagan Recreation 13Spring Flowers

Left, this page - Indian Paintbrush - photo by Tania Simpson.Top right - Fran Clyde in American Vetch

Lower right - Chocolate Lily by Harold Sellers

Page 14: Okanagan Recreation

14 Okanagan Recreation Dog Conditioning

Dog DaysBy Devon Brooks

The winter’s over and if you’re one of those people

who can’t wait for the snow to be gone, it’s time to get back

out into the outdoors

and stretch a little.If you’re also a dog owner

you’ll want to be sharing some quality time with Fido, but Shelly Korobanik, the owner of Pooch Partners in Vernon, has

some advice and some warn-ings before both of you head

out into the woods.Being very aware of

our own comfort, she says none of us would set

on a 20 kilometre hike if we hadn’t been active, but too many people expect

their dogs will be fine. She says, plaintively, “Your

dog will keep going as long as they can.”

Korobanik adds, “If you know you’re go-ing for a long hike

you would con-dition yourself. Then you need to do the same for your dog.”

Since a dog won’t com-plain, it’s up to the owner to consid-

er their physical

condi-tion. Be-sides seeing

whether your dog is overweight just by looking, consider how often they get out and for how long. “There are so many over-weight dogs out there it makes me sad,” she says.

Soft pads on your dog’s paws are one sign. Korobanik ex-plains, “If your dog’s pads are soft because they haven’t been out enough, you need to be aware of that.”

Korobanik is a personal trainer and she decided to incorporate that line of business with her other passion – dogs.

She offers a range of training activities for owners and their pets. For dogs the preferred method is the “pull,” which is going for a walk with their be-loved master while the dog drags a tire behind them. If a dog is out of shape then they need to start easy, so at first she recommends they just have a chain dangling behind.

As they strengthen, she starts giving them tires to pull, relative to their size. “It’s not a race; it’s just a fun event to get everybody out with their dogs.”

Korobanik says there is anoth-er benefit to the exercise, beyond the physical workout. Working out with their owner builds the confidence of the dogs. Many dogs suffer from being shy and a lack of confidence.

Korobanik has noted a change in behaviour with some of the dogs she has trained, and so has their

Page 15: Okanagan Recreation

owners.Once the animal is in shape

the biggest considerations when taking them our are safety con-cerns.

In Kalamalka Park where she frequently walks she sees many dogs off leash, in contradiction to park rules, and it annoys her.

No matter how friendly the owner thinks their dog is, there are people who are nervous around animals and it is rude, not to mention illegal, for your pet to run around loose.

Then there are safety issues. Having seen several rattle snakes on the walkways she always has her dog on a leash.

“My dogs get lots of exercise. It’s fine on a leash – I don’t know why people think they’re unhap-py on a leash, but dogs are very

happy just to be around you.”Whether in a park or not, she

believes owners run consider-able risk when their pets aren’t on a leash. “When people tell me their dog always comes no mat-ter what the distraction is, I don’t believe them. At some point, de-pending upon your dog, they’ll go after them.”

Dogs are pack animals and while there are many stories of dogs that have protected own-ers from, or at least alerted them to the presence of wild animals, dogs can still bolt in pursuit of an animal. If the wild beast turns on the dog, your loving pet may hightail it back to the leader of the pack to deal with the threat.

You are the leader of the pack.Obedience training and prac-

tice are the key if you do go into the back country with your dog off leash. While nothing is ever 100% full proof, patient training with an animal will increase the chance of a happy ending when

something tempts your pet.As Korobanik points out,

“When we’re outside we’re in their territory and we should be respecting them [wild animals]. It’s a privilege to be out there.”

Points to Consider before taking your Dog Out

• A leash means more safety• Respect the environment• Conditioning for the dog –

health & heart benefits• Conditioning for the owner –

same benefits• Building the bond with your

dog• Conditioning builds confi-

dence in the dog (less shy and nervous)

• Your dog shouldn’t be al-lowed to chase any wildlife

• A bear bell will help prevent wildlife surprises

• Put a tag with your phone number on the dog collar

• Being off leash in a park is il-legal

Okanagan Recreation 15Pet Safety

The dogs are dragging these tires, small or large, for training purposes. The routines build muscle and confidence.

Photo by Shelly Korobanik

Kelley Cook of Princeton loves to take his dog, a Karelian Bear Dog, ‘Feral’ outdoorsPhoto by Kelley Cook

Page 16: Okanagan Recreation

16 Okanagan Recreation Health & Fitness

ThePain Paradox Does the old saying, “No

pain, no gain” suggest that pain is good? When-ever we experience pain, we immediately think it

is a bad thing, but pain is your body’s way of warning us that something might be up.

“Good” pain doesn’t stay too long. You get it from having a hard workout, a long run or when you have just started to do an exercise or sport you haven’t done in a while. That pain is completely necessary for the improvement of performance as well as physical appearance.

This pain should be short lived however and is completely normal to experience during your workout and for some time after. It begins within a few hours of the workout and peaks about two days after; it is called delayed onset muscle sore-ness.

This can also be experienced with a deep sports massage, as the muscles get an aggressive work over. Whenever you are retraining muscles or building muscles you will experience tenderness and some pain, so remember this is normal.

Many people who have just started to work out after a fairly inactive lifestyle stop immediately they feel pain or discomfort.

I believe this is wrong. If you are asking your muscles to perform af-

ter long periods of not doing anything, they will respond and not in a necessarily nice way. While you will feel some degree of pain it isn’t bad, it’s a response. It’s up to you to work through that while your muscles learn to work again.

The more you take note of how your body feels over time, the more you will understand the signs it gives you. You will figure out your body is an amazing, responsive creation that tells you what is going on, but you have to learn how to listen.

Pain becomes “bad” or abnormal, or at least something to look closer at when there is:

• Pain for an extended time that doesn’t go away with rest

• Immediate and massive swelling at the loca-tion of the injury

• Sleep interference• Interference with normal activity outside

sports, such as walking• Reoccurring, constant or increasing discom-

fort over time.• Weakness for an extended period• Any tingling or numbness accompanied by

pain• Inability to move the fingers or toes• Discolouration turning the injury black and

blueIf you are experiencing any of the above its time

to see your doctor and get treatment. By listen-ing to what your body is saying (or sometimes yelling), you are helping yourself immensely. Re-member though, if you are just new to the fitness

lifestyle don’t use any little ache or pain to stop getting healthier and happier! That would be the “good” pain that we are talking about, and “good” pain reminds us we are alive.

Dallas Sharples-Roshinsky was trained at an Ameri-can Massage Therapy School in Costa Rica. She also has extensive training and experience in fitness, coaching, holistic health medicine and sports nutrition. Dallas is an avid runner, hiker and biker. She works with sports injuries at her practice in the Okanagan Acupunc-ture Centre in Kelowna, B.C.

Page 17: Okanagan Recreation

By Devon BrooksThe Tick Crowd

There are more than 20 spe-cies of tick in British Co-

lumbia, but only three bite hu-mans – usually. If the others are hungry enough they may chow down if that’s all they can find, but they have to be really, really desperate. No offence.

Ticks commonly found in the interior of B.C. include the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Derma-centor andersoni), and is most frequently encountered from March to June in areas where their favourite foods (deer, cat-tle, sheep, dogs) can be found. This tick is reddish-brown, but the female has a white “shield” marking near the front. Unlike mosquitoes both sexes can de-cide to make a meal out of you.

If momma is the tick who sucks a precious drop of your blood, once sated (her normally flat trim body will swell up like a miniature balloon), she’ll drop to the ground and lay several thousand eggs.

Several thousand! You may well find the idea of ticks rather repulsive, but if nothing else you have to admire that incredible feat of gestation.

Another B.C. tick variety, the Western Black-legged Tick (Ixodes pacificus) likes a warm, moister environment so you’ll see none of them hereabouts, but Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the mainland coast as far in as Boston Bar is where they’ll be hiding out.

Most other ticks have special-ized prey, like birds, ground-hogs, squirrels and rabbits. The Winter Tick prefers dogs, cattle, horses, moose and cattle. They will jump on to humans, but most times will quickly jump off, disgusted with the menu on offer.

The Ambush The tick lies in wait for its un-

suspecting prey (you, deer, etc.) at the top of a grass blade or on a low shrub. As you brush past they’ll try to grab hold or make a mighty leap, like a lion on the veldt, but somehow it seems less majestic than what we see in old National Geographic documenta-ries.

Once on your body their natu-ral tendency is to climb (presum-ably because the juiciest parts on a deer are not its knobbly knees). Since they are dedicated and proficient climbers you’re most likely to find the tick once they are on or about your main torso, leading many people to incor-rectly assume they drop from trees.

Don’t PanicYou see a multi-legged inter-

loper on your person, just as likely under your clothes as on the top, you may think your goose is cooked a là the dreaded lyme disease.

First question: is this a tick or just a passenger that mistook you for the Okanagan Moun-tain Express (that is, a conve-

nient ride)? I gave you a quick description above of the Rocky Mountain Tick, but to start, ob-serve whether the interloper has six legs or eight. If six, unless it was involved in a terrible car accident as a nymph and lost a couple of legs, it’s an insect. No worries.

If it has eight legs, and it’s as thin as a piece of paper, and de-terminedly crawling upward, you likely have a bonafide tick.

If it’s moving, you’re still fine because it hasn’t snacked yet. Once it starts to feed it won’t stop feeding for any known rea-son under the sun.

Moving on to the worst case scenario where you find the tick late that night, imbedded in your hide and swollen with a couple of drops of your precious blood,

Okanagan Recreation 17Battling Bloodsuckers

Cont. next page

Tick Truths

Rocky Mountain Wood Tick before dinner (see next page for a view afterward)

Photo by Devon Brooks

Page 18: Okanagan Recreation

the BC Medical Journal has some reassuring information.

From 1993 to 1996, 10,056 ticks were tested by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and only 0.40% carried lyme disease. In a further study of 8,602 ticks from 1997 to 2007 the BCCDC found only 30 ticks had lyme disease pathogens. In the latter study that is an infection rate of 0.35% meaning if you are bitten by 10,000 ticks only 35 of them would carry (statistically speak-ing) lyme disease. If you are bitten by 10,000 ticks it’s only because you’re tied down and staked out in a field on top of a tick hatchery, which is an ex-ceedingly rare form of execution carried out only in Antarctica.

It is possible that there might be more ticks with the disease now than 10 years ago, but there is no evidence or reason to sup-pose that is true.

If you are feeling tingly and

crawly all over, try to reassure yourself that it is most likely just your imagination running wild (but what the heck, give yourself a quick, visual once over to reas-sure yourself that you’re just los-ing your mind, and you’re still tick free.)

Tick Avoidance TipsTick encounters are a little like

unplanned sex. Better to avoid the exchange of bodily fluids than to try and treat unintended consequences afterward. For-tunately, there are many things you can do.

1) Wear light coloured clothing so ticks are more easily spotted.

2) Tuck your shirt into your pants and your pant legs into socks.

3) Long sleeved pants, shirts and hat can reduce your skin ex-posure. If you wear zip-off hik-ing pants ticks will tend to crawl

underneath the flap covering the zipper, so the zipper acts like kind of a tick trap as they work their way upward.

4) When you reach your auto-mobile after a long walk inspect your clothing for ticks before you get in. If they jump off enroute while you’re driving home, they may decide to jump back on you the next time you head for the grocery store, being unsatisfied with the meal your upholstery makes.

5) If you’re the type to hike with your dog, remember Fido’s fur is a perfect haven for ticks and Fido is a preferred cut over yourself anyway. Have a good long look through your dog’s fur.

6) When you get home have a nice, hot shower or a long bath. Find out if ticks can do the dog paddle.

7) Putting your clothes into a dryer at high heat for 30 minutes will kill ticks hiding in the folds of your favourite sweater (if it’s your favourite wool sweater, this will have predictably bad results for your wardrobe options).

Final Note:Overall the chances of you

getting lyme disease are very, very small. Having said that, the chances of winning a multimil-lion dollar lottery are exceed-ingly small, but every month somebody does just that. Don’t drive yourself into a frenzy over ticks, but do take sensible pre-cautions, especially during the spring when ticks populations are greatest.

18 Okanagan Recreation Tick Truths

This tick is not one of those found in this region, but it does give an idea of what a blood-gorged tick looks like (size of a small raisin) Photo by 123Stock Photos

Page 19: Okanagan Recreation

Next Issue•

Wilderness First Aid

Values of the Wilderness Tourism Association

Trail Building

Okanagan Recreation 19Trail Mix

Shuswap’s Trail Building Projects

The most effective trail alli-ance in our region continues

to build on various strengths to the benefit of their community.

With some funding from the Western Economic Diversifica-tion Canada and the Southern Interior Development Initia-tive Trust the group is creating an online environmental trail screening process to help trail developers across the province collect and share information needed for sustainable trail de-velopment.

The Shuswap Trail Alliance reports, “The need for more ro-bust environmental guidelines and trail monitoring plans grew out of early discussions with regional leadership, including Secwepemc Nation leaders who were clear – before approving new trail infrastructure, they wanted to see clear evidence there was a commitment to im-proving how existing trails were being managed. Trails that were the cause of increased erosion

and impacts to the environment were pointed to as examples, es-pecially at locations like creek crossings.”

The Shuswap Trail Alliance coordinator, Phil McIntyre-Paul says it is about recognizing the impact everyone has when they go out walking, biking or any-thing else on a wilderness trail. The goal is “to develop environ-mental trail monitoring plans for every major trail system in the region, and to see the tool ap-plied to new trail projects being considered for development.”

A separate undertaking of the Shuswap Trail Alliance is the running of the Second Annual ‘Workshop in the Woods’ on April 19 to 20. This workshop is for people who want to learn about proper trail building and maintenance. The workshop costs $45 and those interested should contact Carmen Massey at 250-835-8766 or [email protected].

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Page 20: Okanagan Recreation

20 Okanagan Recreation Trail Mix

Nature Conservancy pushes Elkink South Block

Whether the two senior governments ever agree on the creation of the South Okana-

gan-Similkameen National park or not various groups, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada, continue to fight for preservation of rare Okanagan grasslands. Along the U.S. border, near Osoyoos two parcels known as the Sagebrush Slopes and Sparrow Grasslands properties are already conservation areas. Between them is a parcel of land known as the Elkink South Block, which is up for sale. Preserving this 743 ha (1,836 acre) parcel will cost $4.4 million, not only for the purchase price, but development and stewardship funds. So far $2.9 million has been raised, but the other $1.5 million must be raised by June 1, 2013.

Those interested in supporting this project are urged to contact the Nature Conservancy by call-ing 1-888-404-8428 or by e-mail to [email protected]. More information is available online at http://www.natureconservancy.ca. View from the Elkink South Block

Page 21: Okanagan Recreation

Wildflower mixes are becoming increas-ingly popular, and can be purchased

off the seed rack, through mail order cata-logues or through the Internet. They are very common in souvenir and gift shops.

These packets are sold by seed companies eager to capitalize on new product lines and by various nonprofit organizations as fundraisers. Greeting cards with embedded seeds are appearing more and more frequently. Since wildflower seeds are readily available and many people take them at face value, it is incumbent on those of us who are concerned about the ongoing introduction of in-vasive plants, to speak out about the hazards of these seed packets.

People are drawn to wildflower mixes for a va-riety of reasons. Some are looking to add color to their yards. Others want ground cover, sometimes as an alternative to a lawn. Native plant enthusi-asts may plant wildflower mixes out of a desire to propagate native plants, while others are inter-ested in site restoration. Your success with a given wildflower mix will depend on your initial goal and expectations. However, bear in mind “wild-flower” is not the same as “native plant.”

There are three main problems with wildflower mixes.

The first is the assumption of many purchasers that a packet of “wildflower seeds” contains seeds native to the local area or at least, in our case, na-tive to the Pacific Northwest. In fact this is usually not the case. Most plants are wild somewhere (un-less they are a horticultural development), so call-ing these “wildflower” seeds is not really a mis-nomer, but it is misleading to buyers who want to bring local nature back to their gardens.

The second problem is that in most cases, wild-flower seed packets do not list the species they contain or they only list common names and not Latin names. There is always the chance that they contain invasive species and possibly even nox-ious weeds.

Thirdly, pictures of fields of brilliantly coloured blossoms of a variety of species may fool purchas-ers. Trials done in Alberta using a number of dif-ferent seed packets showed only a few species are likely to germinate.

It is important to know exactly what is contained in the seed packet. Common names are not good enough. As one example, the common name Blue-bells can mean Campanula rotundifolia in one re-gion, Mertensia species in another region and Hy-acinthoides nonscripta in yet another region. The “daisy” is another good example of the confusion caused by common names. There are dozens of species that go by the name daisy. Some ‘daisies,’ such as scentless chamomile (Matricaria perforata) and ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), are in-vasive species.

Other species I would classify as invasive plants that commonly show up in wildflower mixes in-clude baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata), knap-weed species (Centaurea, particularly bighead knapweed = lemon fluff) and blueweed (Echium vulgare).

An Internet search of wildflower mixes that at-tract butterflies revealed yellow or common toad-flax (Linaria vulgaris), hound’s-tongue (Cynoglos-sum officinale), St. John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum) and pur-

Okanagan Recreation 21Invasive Species

Cont. next pageBaby’s breath – lovely in a bouquet, but don’t plant this invasive species Photo by Lisa Scott

The Perils of Wildflower Seed Mixes

Page 22: Okanagan Recreation

22 Okanagan Recreation Invasive Species

ple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) as common components of the mix. In poor quality mixes, in-vasive plants may also occur as contaminants.

As a service to their customers, some seed companies indicate provincial and state level restric-tions for their products, but do not have the capacity to indicate those species designated as re-gionally noxious.

Companies that export world-wide argue it is a significant challenge to remain current with all weed legislation. While many understand the concern, they suggest it is the customer’s re-sponsibility to know the laws of their locality.

Under current legislation, the provincial government can-

not prohibit the sale of plants from out-of-province. Proposed changes to the BC Weed Control Act regulation will address only portions of this challenge. This leaves education and encour-aging everyone to make good choices.

So, here are some guidelines for the purchase and use of wild-flower seed mixes:

• First and foremost, avoid purchasing wildflower mixes unless you are buying from a reputable plant nursery that has collected seed locally. Otherwise, these mixes usually contain spe-cies that are native to Europe or other parts of North America, but not B.C.

• Check the species list to make sure you are planting spe-cies you want. If the mixture does not have a list, request one from the seed company. Seed companies can also provide seed test reports that will help iden-tify seed contaminants.

• If you chose to grow a wild-flower seed mix, contain the plants until you know what you’ve got. This will make it possible for you to eradicate any undesirable plants that appear.

• When you discard plants at the end of the growing season, be careful where you place your garden waste. Too often we see a gradual invasion of a garden species into natural areas when yard waste gets thrown over the fence or put into the compost bin.

Lisa Scott is a professional biolo-gist based in Summerland. She has been the Coordinator of the South Okanagan-Similkameen Invasive Plant Society since its inception in

1996. Lisa founded the Summer-land Environmental Science Group in 2007. In her spare time, Lisa en-joys photography, hiking, camping and spending time with her family. She can be reached at [email protected]’s Note:

We attempted to find some wild flower seed packets that are compatible with the south-ern interior of British Columbia. We checked for advice from one local nursery, who referred us to a Vancouver-based company, but the company spokesperson admitted they aren’t sure every seed within their packets are na-tive to the interior.

Another Ontario-based com-pany looks great on screen, of-fering Latin names for all spe-cies and, they claimed all seeds in their wild flower package are native to British Columbia.

We forwarded the list of those plants to the author, Lisa Scott and asked her opinion.

Her reply:“Very few of these are native to

the Okanagan and I really question if they are even native to B.C. To be honest, I have personally NEVER see a wildflower mix that is truly native to BC. What I have seen, are packets of seeds of ONE species that IS native (e.g. lupine, columbine).

If one was to buy these seeds pack-ets, and the plants grow in similar habitats and conditions, then you could create your own mix.

So for now I would suggest avoid-ing the wildflower mixes altogether and sticking with small plugs of na-tive plants. Native flower seed mix-es are truly a business opportunity in the waiting.”

Yellow toadflax is wild flower seed you should never plant in this region

Photo by Lisa Scott

Page 23: Okanagan Recreation

Okanagan Recreation 23Whitewater Rafting

By Bernie Fandrich

Bernie’s Raft Rides started humbly in 1973, with a few paddles, a small, dusty travel trailer

parked on the side of the highway at Spences Bridge, and a raft perched on top of my Volkswagen van.

Full of optimism, I printed brochures and dis-tributed them up the Thompson Canyon. For $8 “an experienced oarsman” would take rafters for the “thrill of a lifetime.” I sat back, baking on the asphalt, and waited for my millions to flood in.

They did not. I waited a week and no one came to run the Thompson River with me.

I reasoned that $8 was too expensive for an hour of excitement so I attached a bold “Reduced Rates” banner across my 4 x 8 foot sign, slashing my fares in half. Before another week was over, I lured my first clients into my raft, earning $12. Finally, I was on my way to unknown riches.

Krazy ArpatIt was shortly after this first commercial success

that I met Krazy Arpat. Arpat Schneider was a gregarious storyteller

who lived on the edge so he could regale people with tales of his adventures. A couple years ear-lier, inspired by an account of a British expedi-tion that had made a recent descent of the Fraser, Arpat bought himself a 14-foot Canova inflatable

sport boat. He was unable to find anyone reckless enough to run the Fraser with him, so he tried it alone.

Lanky and wiry, Arpat pulled over to the side of the road with his raft in tow and began to tell me of his time on the Fraser. With thick, coke bottle glasses and short brown hair, Arpat laughed about his misadventures, his smile so wide that the sun glistened off his braces.

He told a mesmerizing story, slapping his thighs in mirth about his own manic times. Before long, Krazy Arpat and I decided that we should run the length of the Thompson in my Avon. I had not yet been down the lower river and was keen to go.

First Trip through Devil’s GorgeI recruited several Lytton friends and we

launched mid-afternoon, slipping down the river and bouncing from rapid to rapid.

When we entered the Jaws of Death, the bot-tom fell out of my world as we plunged eight feet down. Looking up, on that hot, hot day, I could see the sun shining through the crest of the wave. A huge, towering wall of water surged above us, smashing in to our raft and flooding it instantly. It struck with such force that I didn’t know whether we had flipped or crashed or whether we’d been jettisoned into the river itself.

Suddenly, crazily, we popped through the other side. The raft was awash, but we

When in the “Jaws of Death” it’s Sink or Swim

Maiden voyage of Bernie’s Raft Rides - circa 1973Photos contributed

Cont. next page

Page 24: Okanagan Recreation

Okanagan Recreation 24Kumsheen Anniversary

were intact and right side up.We had conquered the Jaws of Death.It felt wonderful and from that day forward, I

was hooked on whitewater.I quickly discovered rafting is an inherently risky

business and in 1974, Bernie’s Raft Rides became Kumsheen Raft Adventures Ltd.

It was a seminal year. I had accepted a job as a communications instructor at Langara College and now had a means to grow the business. At Langara, I had the best of both worlds. I enjoyed teaching, and could spend my spare time and money building my rafting business.

I poured the proceeds from each summer back into the business, expanding my fleet, purchasing land and preparing for the future.

Four decades later, Kumsheen and I have both

matured but I’m just as passionate about the Thompson now as I was that first summer in 1973.

To commemorate 40 years of epic river rafting, I wrote British Columbia’s Majestic Thompson River, a fascinating story of the Thompson River Valley from Savona to Lytton and the story of Kumsheen Rafting Resort. The book is available at www.kumsheen.com/majestic.

Bernie Fandrich, a pioneer of the whitewa-ter rafting industry in Canada, has a pas-

sionate relationship with the Thompson that began in 1973. A former university instructor and co-author of an earlier Thompson River guidebook, Bernie and his family continue to share the river’s rapids and stories with enthu-siasts of all ages at his Kumsheen Rafting Re-sort (www.kumsheen.com) near Lytton, BC.

For four decades, Fandrich has studied the histo-ry and the natural history of the Thompson River Valley. From the flora and fauna to the geological landforms, his expertise is exposed in his second book, British Columbia’s Majestic Thompson River.

At three presentations in the south Okanagan, Fandrich will give some stories from his new book; anecdotes drawn from personal experiences pioneering the whitewater rafting industry and running the rapids of a great river and some fas-cinating historical and natural history details that contribute to the greatness of the Thompson River.

He will read some snippets from the book, show photos of the river and will relate some personal stories with the objective of entertaining, inspir-

ing, and informing the audience.By the time you read this Fandrich’s only re-

maining show will be: April 25, 7:00 pm for the South Okanagan Naturalist Society in the United Church basement in Penticton.

Thompson no “Ordinary” River

Page 25: Okanagan Recreation

Next issue out June 2013

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