Exploring Cawston: Mountain Climbing

Cawston is a small town in the narrow Similkameen valley with a population of about 1000. Cawston is located 8km west of Keremeos and 40 km east of Osoyoos on the Crowsnest Highway 3. There is an elementary school, a post office, a grocery store, a mechanic shop, a community center and a corner store in town. The valley is surrounded by barren mountains and filled to the brim with fruit trees, ground crops and farm animals. I would definitely consider this another one of British Columbia's spectacular landscapes and look forward to living here for the next six months.

Since arriving, I have had my mind set on summitting one of the many mountains that enclose the valley. Today Bonnie, Manon, Kirsten and I accomplished this goal. At 10.30 am we started our journey by cycling up Daly Drive to the trail head. Though all the trail heads say 'private property' or 'no trespassing', we have been advised that we should just ignore these signs. So we hopped off our bikes, led them up the trail 100 metres, and locked them to an old wooden fence. Our initial destination was a waterfall up the Barcello Canyon which is supposed to be about a 45 minute hike.



Since it is spring time, you can still see patches of snow on the tops of the mountains here (or if you look in the distance you can see full fledged glaciers). This means that the creek that divides the canyon though small was running high and fast. As we hiked up the trail, we had to cross the creek on several occasions. Having long legs (and quite a bit of practice as a child) jumping across creeks, I was luckily able to jump across on certain parts, but for a good portion of the crossings, we did have to be creative finding crossings using branches or trees that had fallen across the waterway. By then end of the day though, I think each of us had feet that were a little bit wet if not completely drenched.

We did reach the waterfall in relatively good time. It appears that both Kirsten and Manon's fascination for natural remedies, holistic cooking and gardening extend into the wilderness. Consequently, my fast paced ascent (needed to get a 'good burn' going) was miles ahead of my companions - they were like children in a candy store with every new flower, herb or tree we came across. So we made a deal, on the way up would be exercise, and on the way down it would be plant biology time.

The waterfall was impressive by my standards. You could hike up under the waterfall in a cavernous space to watch the water fall heavily in front of you, feel the mist on your face and hear the thunderous noise of the rapids passing over. I then crawled out the other side of the waterfall to go to see from where the water was coming. The girls followed. Pleased with our success so far, we stopped to have a relatively poor mans lunch consisting of a chocolate bar, almonds, some apple chips and some home made carrot cake. We got to enjoy the food with a relatively nice vista of the valley below.

After recharging, I proposed that we continue to the top of whichever mountain we were currently on and luckily the ladies were up for it. This is where the trek got a little bit more tricky. We found a peak that was relatively open so that we could see our destination - it is important to note that because the valley is so dry and warm, most of the hilltops are primarily covered in low brush, grasses, and flowers that can survive under these conditions and at high altitudes. In addition, the mountain range is extremely rocky (which will hopefully prove useful for my rock climbing ambitions), and therefore doesn't support much plant life.

The climb up was certainly challenging. We had to zig zag up the mountain trying not to cause a rock slide or to even loosen a rock that could tumble down and hit one of our team members in the head. I think one of the best peaces of advice for the day was 'to follow the poop' - basically what this meant was to follow the piles of deer poop up the mountain because the deer usually took the easiest or at least the most travelled paths up. For the most part, 'following the poop' worked well.




The summit was well worth it. We had a beautiful view of Cawston and the valley below, the winding Similkameen river and the mountains extending far into the distance. We were 1100 metres above sea level.

On the way down, as promised, was biology time. Here is a summary of the plants I learned about and their medicinal properties:

Mullein - This plant is a green ground plant in it's first year, and then blossoms into a 4-8 foot tall flower in its second year. You can use the flower of the mullein to make a tincture that helps with ear infections and a tea with the leaves of the plant in its first year can be used to help with lung health. It is a toner and expecterant - which means you'll cough up all that goopy goodness in your lungs when sick. The leaves are very soft, and often used as 'hiker's toilet paper', though Kirsten wasn't happy about this fact nor the name.

Oregon grape - Once I learned how to recognize this plant, I could see it everywhere. The roots can be scraped to expose the yellow bark on the inside which can be used as an antibiotic, as a yellow dye, and as a tooth brush. The small blue berries can also be used to make jams if you can collect enough of them.

Wild sage - This plant was the first thing I smelled once we were beyond the 'Private Property' sign in Cawston. The wild sage bushes covered the entire landscape and is probably the most common plant in this area. The sage, in my opinion, also has a slight orange odour to it which I found particularly pleasant.

Interior Douglas Fir - Although much smaller than the trees we were seeing in Haida Gwaii, it was nice to be shaded from the sun by the douglas firs on our hike and to smell their orange scented needles when crushing them between our fingers.

Stinging nettle - Everything I have ever learned about stinging nettle is to avoid this plant because it stings you - hence the name. But today I was proved wrong. The stinging nettle probably hat the most uses of any plant we learned about today. First, if you rub the stem and leaves, you can eat it raw - the plant tastes grassy but sweet. Then, you can cook it like any other green, you can dry it for tea, or you can grind it up and put it on a cut to stop bleeding. The stinging nettle is high in iron, so very good for women, and is a hemostat which is why it is good for cuts and internal bleeding. Ladies, get some of this to use like raspberry leaf for cramps.

At the end of the day, we made a quick stop to the local honey shop (where you can get 1.00lb of honey for $3.00) and to the Similkameen river, before having to race home because it had started to rain.

Today was a satisfying day.