Hiking around Kelowna area - anyone done this?

[Tootsie]

I wasn't sure where to post this - under Entertainment, Health ???? Anyway - here goes:

Every spring & fall year we get a brochure in our mailbox offering continued education - it's a brochure offering all kinds of things you can enroll in - computer courses, photography courses, CPR courses, artsy/crafty things, etc. Usually taught at local schools.There was always a section offering local day-long guided hikes which I haven't seen for a long time. I remember one particular hike which started somewhere on Westside Rd. north of Lake Okanagan Resort but before Fintry. They say there's a plateau where photography nuts just love - you can see (from that side of the lake) Kelowna to Vernon (lookings towards McKinley Landing, Okanagan Centre, Carrs Landing, etc.). I also remember they said there's some old cabins & gravestones up around there too.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? I've always wanted to find this place but never found out how to access it.

Thanks !

[zzontar]

I haven't heard of that plateau but it sounds nice... the falls by Fintry are pretty spectacular in the spring if you're ever around there.

[nellietheelephant]

I wasn't sure where to post this - under Entertainment, Health ???? Anyway - here goes:

Every spring & fall year we get a brochure in our mailbox offering continued education - it's a brochure offering all kinds of things you can enroll in - computer courses, photography courses, CPR courses, artsy/crafty things, etc. Usually taught at local schools.There was always a section offering local day-long guided hikes which I haven't seen for a long time. I remember one particular hike which started somewhere on Westside Rd. north of Lake Okanagan Resort but before Fintry. They say there's a plateau where photography nuts just love - you can see (from that side of the lake) Kelowna to Vernon (lookings towards McKinley Landing, Okanagan Centre, Carrs Landing, etc.). I also remember they said there's some old cabins & gravestones up around there too.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? I've always wanted to find this place but never found out how to access it.

Thanks !

That was planned through the Parkinson Rec Centre.
The guide was the lady who owned the outdoors store on Hwy 97 near Chowtown.
Call the Rec Centre - they will be able to tell you or put you in touch with the guide.

Hope this helps

Nellie

[Relentless]

I think Linda from Outdoor Adventure Gear is the person you need to speak with

[nellietheelephant]

I think Linda from Outdoor Adventure Gear is the person you need to speak with

Yep - that's who I was thinking of.
My memory is really good, but quite short

Nellie (Who said an elephant never forgets?)

[hampster1]

are you talking about blue gross mtn? your description pretty much pin points it down to that. MY personal fav spot in all of the okanogan! take all my tourist friends there great dirtbiking. if you dont know how to get there though it can be a lil tricky to explain.

[OffRoad]

It sounds more like Terrace Mountain. A Backroads Mapbook will show a lot of the trails.

[UhHuhYeahSure]

First the view...as mentioned both Terrace Mountain and Blue Grouse have great views. Terrace is north of Lake Okanagan Resort and has a road to the top as it had a Forest Service fire lookout there until it burned years ago. Blue Grouse does not have a great view north so I assume it is Terrace Mtn you are thinking about.

To get to Terrace Mtn, turn north off Bear Creek Main at km 13 onto Esperon Main. Terrace Mtn road is on the right at about km 20...just before the reservoir.

The cabins and grave are at Stocks Meadow. Reverand Stocks grave is 10 metres off the Terrace Main road (turn at the gravel pit at the log sort yard on Bear Creek main (+/-km 7) and go about 10 kms) just to the left of a gate on what appears to be a rural driveway. The gate leads to a collection of about 8 funky 1970s cabins built out of logs and scrap material scavenged by hippies who established a commune of sorts there.

Rev. Stocks was a missionary from Fintry who established a camp there in the early 1900s. He died in 1916 at the age of 61. Some of the foundations of the original buildings can be discerned with difficulty as some of the hippie shacks used the original log buildings. Some people refer to the site erroneously as the Fintry High Farm, currently owned by the Oake family.

The two lots there are owned under two seperate names with Calgary addresses (2004). It is private property and is posted. In 2004, a clinically diagnosed bi-polar young man (I've spoken with him in the cabin he was occupying) was living there (squatting) with the blessings of the owners as a no charge caretaker. He is generally harmless. But I'd respect the signs in any case. If you do trespass, he was in the house at the top of the hill to the left before you reach the large workshop/shed. You might want to let him know you are there....just in case.

[quicksilver8]

This is so neat! I used to live up at Stocks Meadows. In fact, I even got married there.
I moved up there in 1990 and lived in the 't p house'. It was built by a white fellow named 'Yellow Bear', he taught native spirituality. Yellow Bear made really cool wood carvings in the house.
One of my neighbors up there was the youngest playwright in Canada at the time of our residence. Okanagan Magazine came up there to interview him, they took pictures of him holding onto a wooden carved penis that was holding up a book shelf in my sun nook. The stairway railing was a long curvy 2-headed snake. It was a very unique house, I loved it. Unfortunately is was overrun by carpenter ants and mice.
Everyone who lived there hauled water from a pipe coming out of a small creek, beside the sauna. We chopped wood and carried water, there was no electricity or cell phones. It was quiet country living.
It sure was an interesting experience, one of many who shaped who I am today.

[logman]

I was there around 1990. It was quite a cool little cummunity. I know of the Teepee house and the carvings. Some of the carvings are still there. I was back up there during the terrace mountain fire. Many of the structures are still there and 1 was still being lived in. Luckily the fire spared the place(not by much). I actually left a note in the mailbox when we got chased out of the area by fire.

[logman]

Maybe it was you Quicksilver. We picked up some hitchhikers on Westside road that were heading up there back around 1990. We spent a great day up there. Toured around all the cabins.Even the suana! We were driving a VW van. Too funny! I have photos from that day somewhere!

[thekid]

Ive been to the site a few times, i love places like it.

I would love some more info on the buildings and what they were used for.
It looks like someone is living there at the moment.. met a lady named raven last time i was up there

a place like this needs to be respected

quicksilver could you give me some info? it could be in a pm

[westsidegeek]

Stock's meadow:
Around the early to mid seventies, 40 acres of this original 160 parcel was purchased by a Peter Legere, on behalf of himself and 5 other people(partners) he originally met in Hope, BC one summer at a small craft shop just across the Fraser River bridge called The Shire. Since Peter was the only one who had a legitmate job at the time, it was planned that he would buy the property under his name temporarily, and sign it over to the Co-Op later. The original intent of the group was to file and get set up as a co-op, which never happened. Many of the group resettled in Kelowna, and as time passed, some of the "partial" owners gave tacit permission to others to "settle" on the parcel. The last time I saw 'Stocks Meadow Co-Operative' ( as it was to be called), the original Stock's built cabin was still standing although very dilapidated, as was a smaller cabin close to it. Both were very near the creek and the smaller cabin was thought to have been used as an "Ice House" for food storage. The stream was fed from a small pond, expertly damned by an enterprising beaver family. I did spend almost a full winter up there. The winters in this small "valley" were very long and severe. Some of the old timers I spoke with back in the seventies figured the climate in the area was anywhere from 1-2 weeks behind Kelowna's. That small lake was also a breeding ground for very large and voracious mosquitos, which made it difficult to actually live on the parcel, unless the lake was undammed and allowed to naturally drain the area. Not sure if this ever happened, however none of the original group would have allowed the original log buildings to be razed!

I recall felling about 20 or so trees in a small clearing, and hauling them to a landing about 100 feet away to season. When I came back in early spring (mid '70s), I found that some opportunistic thieves sawed all of the logs into firewood, and hauled the entire lot away. That scuttled my then plans to build a small cabin on the property. I must say, though, it is a very remote location, especially in winter, and very cold. It would take some hardy individuals to live up there year round. I say this having worked for the BC Forestry in their reforestation division for a while, so I know what living in the bush means ( meant). In any case, glad to see that the reverend is still peacefully watching over his homestead. Just a bit of background on "Stock's Meadow"...at least what I know and experienced.

[laosinger]

I'm reading this forum and chuckling. I lived at Stock's Meadows (or as one of the kids called it "Snocks Meadows" for several years. Yes. You're right. It could get very cold. One winter, it was 40 below for about a week. Sure made me appreciate central heating. On the other hand, it was so good for the body and spirit to have my daily warmth be a direct outcome of whether I got out there and chopped the wood. Good times and bad, this place will always be part of my dream landscape.

[Relentless]

I was really disappointed, someone stole the carvings and there still is a guy living in the house in the back!