A VISIT TO TUMBLER RIDGE AREA

We've stopped in Chetwynd to get online for a few minutes before heading to Moberly Lake Provincial Park for tonight.  Our plan is head to my Cousin Judith's in Donnelly, AB tomorrow.  Perhaps we'll have more regular internet while we're there.  Note: Kinuseo Falls are 65 kms south of Tumbler Ridge, BC which is in the north east section of the province.

A wasp nest along a trail

Azouzetta Lake along Hwy 97 in Pine Pass

The Murray River approaching Kinuseo Falls 

The top of the falls

Kinuseo Falls 60 m (197 feet)  It was nearly an hour and a half of very washboard gravel road to reach the falls and it rained like crazy the whole time we were there.

Looking downstream shows a bit of the lousy weather

Next was a walk in to Barbour Falls, again in the rain which finally quit just as we got back to the car

Just a walking in the rain, getting kinda wet

Lots of interesting fungi along the trails

No rain going up to Nesbitt's Knee Falls

Lots of coal mining activity in the area

Qwillim Lake Provincial Park where we spent the past two nights

FIVE DAYS OFFLINE IN WELLS/BARKERVILLE BC

We met Jacquie and Jim at the Lowhee campsite between Wells and Barkerville and spent four days with them exploring the area, geocaching and a bit of gold panning.  Three of the evenings were games nights.  It is amazing how many more hours there are in a day when there is no internet or cell service!

We are currently sitting in a parking lot in Prince George having resupplied the larder.  Next is to find some gas then head north to find a campsite for tonight.  We are heading for the little town of Donnelly, AB to visit my cousin Judith and Doug for a few days.

Wells visitor's center down the muddy channel

Old Timer along the road

City Hall on the left and the community center

Old log house on a Wells back street

We had a couple of dandy thunder storms.  The ground was awash with rain drops bouncing high

We picked lots of wild blueberries

Lots of interesting colours in the local housing

Certainly would be cheerful through the long winter

A different wild huckleberry

Jacquie in an old miner's cabin

One of hundreds of little lakes

This was aptly named Toilet Campsite - there was a newer one hiding in the trees

STARTING A ROAD TRIP

We left the Shuswap this morning and have made it to Lac La Hache this afternoon.  Since it is a very warm afternoon, we are at Big Country Campground so we can run the air conditioner.  Tomorrow we plan to head up to Barkerville.  Jacquie and Jim will meet us there on Monday.  Jim has a new mining claim he wants to explore.  It is in an area that has had a lot of gold taken out in the past so maybe there’s still some left for us to find.

We are hoping to wander our way to northern Alberta after we leave Barkerville.  No timeline for that yet.  We’ll see how things go in Barkerville and then along our way after that.  As a broad (very loose!) plan, later we’ll spend some time in the Rockies then the Kootenays of BC.  We hope to head south across the border along about mid October.

Jim and I went geocaching both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons finding about 40 caches.  Thursday saw us going over the mountains from Shuswap Lake to White Lake on less than ideal old logging roads that were getting overgrown and washed out.  We’re planning to find a few caches in the Barkerville area next week.  There aren’t many and they are fairly far apart.  We may not have much for internet for the next few days.  We'll have to wait and see what there is.

Looking down to Sicamous known as the house boat capital of Canada.  The Canadian Pacific Railway mainline follows the shore on the right and the Trans Canada Highway is that slash in the trees partway up the hillside.

A few miles north of the last picture, we found this view looking further up Shuswap Lake.  All those white dots are large house boats.

WELL, BY GOLLY, WE’RE BACK IN THE SHUSWAP AGAIN!

Aileen got checking the weather forecast and decided she’d like to head back to Jacquie and Jim’s for a couple days before we wander northward.   I think every day in Penticton there was a thunderstorm which always upsets Mitzy.  We had a fairly loud one here this evening so once again Mitzy wasn’t very happy.  Actually she’s hyperventilating on the seat beside me as I write.

We enjoyed more time on the KVR Trail which is where I met a couple young ladies, one from Toronto and the other from Vancouver, who were celebrating the lovely Okanagan summer.  One was trying to photograph the other jumping for joy but I think there was too much shutter lag on the smart phone so I offered to take a few shots with my camera.  I have included one of the shots below.

We had a picnic lunch out at one of the lakeside pullouts yesterday with friend Bev and her Mom, Pearl.  We sat and watched all the different ways of enjoying summer on Okanagan Lake.   A few of the pictures are below.

Looking across Okanagan Lake to Summerland

Freedom Okanagan! was the cry I heard

Storm approaching 

You just never know what you'll see hanging off the back of a boat

Lots of jet skis on the lake

Several waterskiers roared past us

Very popular are any type of inflatable being towed, usually with happy youngsters on board

Kissing clouds

THE MOVE WASN’T SO STEALTHY AFTER ALL!

Aileen and friend Karen in Penticton were trying to plan a surprise 65^th birthday party for our mutual friend Bev.  It was decided I could do my post the other day as long as I didn’t jeopardize the plan, hence the title of my last post.  However, when Bev went to take her Mom for a ride Friday morning, Pearl asked to go see Karen’s grand dogs.  Well, as soon as they turned in the driveway, there’s our motor home front and center!  Game over!  Everyone had a good laugh and we did have a nice birthday supper here at Karen and George’s Saturday evening.  Aileen marinated a couple of pork loins supplied by Karen and George; I grilled them.  Karen did the veggies while Aileen made the dessert.  The wines were a joint effort of Karen, George, Bev and Pearl.

The old Kettle Valley Railroad tracks make for great walking and cycling and the trail crosses just down the block from here so we have used it a bit.  Most of it is away from traffic so rather peaceful.  After breakfast yesterday we headed down Eastside Rd to a farm market we’d been told about.  We checked out a few side roads along the way.  Crossing the highway at Okanagan Falls, we took the Green Lake Rd which was a new one for us.  What a pretty little valley it took us through.  We followed it through to White Lake Rd which brought us back to the highway above OK Falls and not far back to the motor home.

We had thunder and lightning Friday and Saturday so Mitzy has not been a happy camper.  It rained with both as well as some in between so the air is a little fresher after the long dry spell.  The forecast shows another dry spell coming on.  We’re hoping for some clear weather when we head over to the Rockies shortly. 

The bottom end of Okanagan Lake and Penticton waterfront from the KVR Trail

The KVR wanders through vineyards for miles

Looks like a good crop coming on

Looking up Skaha Lake to Penticton which is located on the flat between Skaha and Okanagan Lakes

One of the local marmots we saw in a new subdivision above Skaha Lake

A small vineyard at the end of Green Lake

Green Lake

Flower bed

Artfully arranged old vehicles out in the middle of nowhere

A STEALTH MOVE AWAY FROM THE SHUSWAP

We hit the road yesterday late in the morning.  Our destination?  Well you’ll have to wait til next time to find out.  Not a lot has happened since the last post.  After my big hike up Eagle Pass Mtn., then helping our daughter Bev with some heavy lifting and a couple other things, my back decided to act up which put the damper on a lot of things.  We did end up going to town most days.  July is insurance time for both the car and motor home so I got that taken care of for another year.

We took Aileen’s sewing machine to Vernon last week then went back on Tuesday to retrieve it.  We’d taken our lunch along so took the long way home and found a shady spot near Charcoal Creek to eat.  From there we went down Chase Creek and through Turtle Valley, where we used to live, and out to the highway at Squilax.  I picked up seven geocaches along the way.

 I had some anxious moments one morning when I went to empty the black tank.  When I pulled the valve, nothing happened.  I puzzled over it for quite a while and finally went and found a rubber mallet which I used to create some vibration on the pipe at the valve.  Eventually it worked and there was a great deluge.   Whew!!!!  Who knew a rubber mallet was required dumping equipment?

One day last week we were invited to friends Martin and Myrtle for lunch.   We had a great visit with them.  Martin and Myrtle are still quite involved in my old camera club and Martin still spends lots of time hiking with the outdoor club.  They both square dance regularly so are keeping fit and active.  This benefits them when they go travelling somewhere around the world almost every year.

Another day I went to town by myself to do a bunch of errands.  I went to Bastion Mtn Farm and picked a bucket full of cherries for us to eat.  $1.50 per pound and tastier than buying from the store.  Aileen went to town on her own a few times visiting her friends Donna and Edna and to church.  One Saturday there was a surprise 70^th birthday party for Ted P who I worked with at the mill for years.  He’d had a stroke eight or ten years ago and had to leave work.  He is able to walk at times now but still not too mobile.   It was good to see him again.  His wife has had a quite a time with MS and doesn’t walk at all.  She goes to the same church as Jacquie and Jim which is how I got the invitation.   I got to meet a couple other guys I used to work with as well.  I met all the daughters and the one I knew best, married years ago and lives near Ottawa.  I had a long chat with her husband and a couple days later met them in the mall in town and we had another nice chat.

Tansy is an imported weed but it does put on a nice show.  Many years ago, this was a thriving strawberry farm!

Bastion Mtn and Shuswap Lake

Tappen Valley Farms, Balmoral just west of Salmon Arm

Along Notch Hill Road, Balmoral