After a day of wine tasting yesterday, we decided it would be appropriate to enjoy the hiking trails in the Okanagan, so we headed over to the Giant’s Head Mountain Park. There are a number of well marked trails in the park, from “The Grind” (just as hard as it sounds) to the “Friendly Giant”. We were looking for exercise, but we also wanted to enjoy ourselves, so … no surprise here … we went for the Friendly Giant. It was plenty difficult enough for us, but the views, and the vegetation along the way, were stunning. I’ll start with this one, along the trail.

It was mostly clear, but there were a few clouds in the sky, and looking across Okanagan Lake, the shadows on the hills were appealing.

There were flowers…

And trees. I love how the trees in the mountains are often as rugged as the actual mountains.

Some of the trees seem to have had collisions with the mountains.

And some of them are a bit the worse for wear…

Many of the trees are covered in moss, which is beautiful.

Even in death, the trees contribute to the forest, and to the beauty of the hike.

The Friendly Giant was a (reasonably) gentle trail, but we still had stunning views of the rugged rock face of the mountain.

I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan where one of summer’s pleasures was eating fresh Saskatoon berries, straight from the trees. So seeing Saskatoon bushes here, in full bloom, brought back fond memories.

Tomorrow it’s back to Vancouver, but we will definitely be back to the Okanagan.