In April of 2016 Joy and I had an opportunity to take a short holiday in the Oliver, BC area. We’d visit wineries, eat good food and just plain relax as we explored the wine country of this beautiful part of the Okanagan Valley.
We both love the out-of-doors and never miss an opportunity to experience the open air of where ever we’re visiting. When we asked locally about a good hike, universally we were told of McIntyre Bluff. It was easy for anyone to tell us just where McIntyre Bluff is, they’d just point. It’s an obvious monolith of rock at the east end of the town.
An hour and a half hiking on a well evident trail took us to the top. It’s one of those hikes where just about every step is up, some steeper than others. Were we there in the heat of the summer we’d be looking for rattlesnakes along the way. Even though it was a warm day, they weren’t really of concern at this time of year. Still, I had my eyes and ears on alert.
The top of the Bluff provides an immediate reward for the hiker. We’d been visiting wineries all up the valley between Oliver and Osoyoos for the past few days and now, from this lofty vantage point, we could see in one majestic panorama where we’d been for the last three days.
I explored the summit further and walked around the ridge of the Bluff. That’s when I spotted Vaseaux Lake and the thread of the highway just about a thousand feet below. Framing the image was yet another tenacious tree. Such singular trees always speak to me in some very personal way. Gripping the rock virtually on the edge of the precipice, the painting was immediately evident to me. It seems I’m drawn to such images over the years. The tenacity and defiance of these solitary trees seems to speak of a “personality” of these individuals. That’s how I look at them; they are almost individuals. Apart from the crowd, alone to face the elements, these loners take a stand and somehow make it. This particular tree is fighting I can see, as evidenced its brown needles. I’m hoping that’s just temporary bruising from its recent winter battles against the elements.
As we’re in wine country, it struck me that “The Tree At The Top” would be a perfect place to bring one of those bottles of wine from the valley far below. There in the meager shade provided by this loner at the edge of the cliff, to open that wine and to toast the wonderful valley below would be a magical way to celebrate an Oliver holiday. We had no wine with us that day but from my vantage point on top of McIntyre Bluff “Here’s to the Okanagan Valley of Oliver, BC”.
