Cathedral Park: The Fairy Tale Lives On

If there was one trip I knew for sure I wanted us to do this summer, it was going to Cathedral Park. I remembered it being a magical experience with fairy tale landscapes when we were there four years ago. I also remember that we didn’t end up doing all the hikes we wanted to do and that there was so much more to see. With a five year old and an almost two year old, catching the ride up there seemed ideal.

Alas, every time we called to try to arrange our ride up we were told a different reason why we shouldn’t come up. For early July we were told there was still snow in the campground, for mid July we were told that the bugs would be the worst. We were also warned not to go up during the August long weekend. I started to wonder if this trip was ever going to happen.

Then I came up with a plan. We’d head up there just at the end of the long weekend! This time, when we called to book the ride, there were no more reasons why we shouldn’t go and we were all set.

When we arrived to the parking area we began to wonder if we had mixed up the time because no one else was around. When the jeeps finally showed up we were told that our timing was perfect. At least 60-70 people had gone down that day! The long weekend was indeed crazy.

The kids behaved most of the ride up but towards the end Kai became impatient. I can’t blame him, after spending around five hours in the car. When we finally arrived, a friendly new ranger named Mike was waiting for us. He even helped us by carrying the heaviest backpack, and that way we managed to bring all of our stuff in one go. He also took us to the most beautiful camping spot overlooking the lake and the mountains with beach access straight from our site. We felt like we got the royal treatment. That was not a bad place to call home for the next six nights.

Stone City
We decided we’d start right with what we didn’t end up doing last time – hiking to Stone City. It was good to do it when we were still fresh as it’s the longest hike we ended up doing there. The climb up to the ridge above Glacier Lake was a bit steep but then we were suddenly in beautiful blooming meadows with Glacier Lake just below us. A bit higher we spotted a few mountain goats not too far off. There are plenty of mountain goats hanging out near the campground too, but somehow seeing them in more natural surroundings was more exciting.

Hiking the Rim Trail towards Stone City was incredible and Stone City is unique. It’s an area full of interesting rock formations and boulders of all kinds. Neil and I were pretty tired so we sat in the shade to rest while Gili hiked with sleeping Kai to Smokey the Bear – a place where you can stand at the edge of a cliff with a huge drop off. Neil got his energy back and of course climbed a few boulders before we headed back down.

Back at the campground Neil made friends with an eight year old boy who arrived on that day and seemed like he was looking for a friend to play with. Rory was a true expert on how to make a good camp fire and Neil and he spent hours over the next few days looking for firewood and mountain goat fur and making sure the fire was big and under control.

Lake Swimming
After our big hike to Stone City Neil was a bit spent, so flat and short trails and hanging out at nice lakes were in order. We also knew it was going to get much colder the next day so we took the advantage of the heat to dip in Quiniscoe Lake, right by our campsite which was quite cold as well as Lake of the Woods where the other campground is which was warmer. We also hung the hammock by our tent which provided much entertainment for the kids and too little relaxation opportunities for the adults.

Grim Face
No, we didn’t climb Grimface, a well known mountain in the park… Rather, that’s how we nicknamed our campsite neighbour who decided to change his campsite spot after Kai had a terrible night – he cried for three hours on and off for an unknown reason. That man was very grim in the morning and didn’t say a word to us, while all the other campers were very nice and supportive. When Gili apologized to him he barked that he had a pretty miserable night. I almost felt sorry for him until I remembered it was me who was awake half a night with a crying baby and not him.

In general that day was pretty grim with lots of rain and very cold temperatures. We tried to hike to Ladyslipper Lake but half way through it started raining hard and Neil was very cold and didn’t want to continue. The campfire back at the campground sounded way more tempting than walking out in the rain to an alpine lake and seeing no views.

That same afternoon the campground filled up and we got new neighbours. It was a family of four who hiked up over two days, instead of catching a ride – parents and two boys, like us, but the boys were 21 and 19 and not five and almost two. They kept on looking at us in awe, admiring how we brought two young kids to the backcountry (it was really the jeep that brought them, in this case). They also kept on saying how we reminded them of themselves when their kids were younger. I was inspired to see that their older kids still wanted to hike with them and hoping it would be the case for us too.

Red Mountain
One night our double blowup mattress, which Kai and I use at night, exploded – leaving a long rip that could not be repaired (we tried). Funnily enough, after this Kai’s sleep actually seemed to be improving. Maybe he liked it that I had to be even closer to him because now we shared the width of one narrow mattress instead of our double one.

Either way, the next day we were all more energized, the weather seemed to be improving and we were ready to explore more. We said goodbye to Rory and his family who were going back to North Van on that day. Neil sure enjoyed having an older buddy in camp and they were going back and forth from our campsite to theirs. Another camper commented that this is the best life a child can hope for.

Neil has actually been to Red Mountain before but this time he hiked by himself, with no complaints and no fussing. He also really enjoyed the scrambling part. On the way up we met the friendliest ranger, John Henry. He was replacing a sign up there and in general he takes excellent care of all the trails, postings, and the two campgrounds. He is somewhat of a legend in Cathedral, since he’s been a ranger there for around 35 years. We even remembered him from our last visit, four years ago, when he lent us a tarp on a very rainy day.

We also met the family of four who were camping by us and they really enjoyed seeing Neil hike. The mom even snapped a few photos of us having our summit snacks (a bit lower though to avoid the wind) and then emailed us the pics.

Ladyslipper Lake
Neil decided that Ladyslipper Lake was not a cool enough name so he decided to rename it “Pirate Lake” and that was where we hiked to on our final day in Cathedral. This time it didn’t rain and climbing out of the forest and breaking into the alpine above the lake was spectacular. I was kind of happy we didn’t make it there on the rainy day because it would have been depressing not to be able to see those views. During our break at the lake the kids enjoyed throwing rocks and pouring water with a cup. Kai can do it for hours now and I remember Neil at around the same age doing exactly the same. Neil also enjoyed looking through the binoculars, another luxury we brought since we didn’t need to carry our gear.

Cherries
When we booked the rides to and from Cathedral we thought that in order to maximize our time there we’d book the 9am ride back down on Sunday. After a couple of days we remembered that our kids like to sleep in and we were wondering how we’d ever manage to be ready on time. But when the day came the kids once again proved to us how resilient they are and they had no issues waking up and getting ready fairly quickly. The ride down was uneventful and we got a private jeep for ourselves because of Kai, so we didn’t have to cramp in with the other people in the Unimog.

Back at the car we got ready quickly again and drove out to Keremeos, the closest town to the trailhead. We then discovered that the place to buy fruit was not at the fruit stands on the main road but rather directly from the farmers, on a back street. When we got to the cherry orchid there was a huge pile of cherries. The owners said they will go and pick cherries for us straight from the trees but in the meantime we could take as much as we wanted from that pile, for free. They didn’t have to say it again, as after five full days in the backcountry we all pretty much swallowed those cherries whole. We somehow managed to drive home with about 40 lbs of cherries, 40 lbs of peaches and plums, a huge orange zucchini and a saxophone-like cucumber that kept Kai busy during the drive when he wasn’t sleeping. Again we got stuck in traffic around Chilliwack so we basically had no choice – we had to stop in Abbotsford to add 30 lbs of blueberries to our fruit salad. Finally we were home after a very fruitful and enjoyable trip. Until next time Cathedral!