Kastle's Journey: August 2015

August 3rd - Wells Gray Provincial Park

July 30 to August 2

While driving around Clearwater I happened to notice a kilometer sign to Wells Gray Park with Helmcken Falls being only 30 minutes away. We'd thought it was much further so we quickly made a change of plans, stopped for a bite of lunch, and then I drove us up to the Falls. The Helmcken Falls have been on Ray's "bucket list" since he was 19 years old so he is thrilled with this opportunity. With the new camera body he was trying different things and had a blast. Of course, learning anything new you do not get it right the first time so more pictures needed.

Happily playing with camera settings!

After looking at the park brochure we made a few extra stops on the way back at Spahat Falls, which is close to the entrance of the park, and Shaden Lookout, breathtaking. I think a lot of bus tours stop at Spahat Falls as this is the only place there is an actual "flush" toilet in the park and there is a vendor there selling ice cream and coffee etc. They have a great viewing platform too. Shaden Lookout is just a little further down the road from Spahat Falls and is a great picnic area with a fantastic view. Ray's phone "pinged" here so we will try to check phone messages from there in a few days.

Shaden Lookout

Spahat Falls

Millennia of lava flow, beautifully coloured

Water seeping from the cliff

Spahat Falls

We decided there is just too many views and photo opportunities left to see and as Ray is limited in the amount of time he can spend at one time, we made the decision to drive up to the park and spend several days so he can shoot to his heart's content instead of carrying on to Highway 24 yet.

The highway coming in is pretty good, all paved, although the bridge coming across the Murtle River gave me some pause as it is single lane and quite tight which includes the "Mushbowl" right below it. Ray did marvelous as usual, driving though.

I just love this picture with the water and rainbow at the Mushbowl

Surprisingly for a provincial park, most of the campsites at the Pyramid Campsite are quite large to fit any size rig. Very limited services, just garbage and pit toilets although they have one hand pump for water. There is one loop they closed off permanently so I guess more visitors go to the Clearwater Campsite, another 23km up the road which includes more services including a sani-dump. At Clearwater Lake boat tours are available, a small cafe and rental canoes for energetic visitors. We will check this out as well and probably move there for a few days for more photo opportunities.

(I drove us up the road to see these campsites a couple of days later but the road is all well-maintained gravel 1 km north of us, so it is just as well we stayed at the Pyramid campsite. All the sites were small and very enclosed with trees and Ray wasn't sure the loop at the end is big enough for us to get around, so definitely not the place for larger rigs.)

Clearwater Lake and River are very pretty. The water is as its name indicates, very clear. We saw quite a few fish jumping in the lake which had Ray salivating some! Osprey falls is where the lake kind of falls down into the Clearwater River. We were not able to get a good shot of it from the lakeside trail. On the way up we stopped at a few picnic sites to view the river as well as the windy road up to the top of Green Mountain to climb up the lookout tower.

Clearwater River at Redspring Picnic Site

Green Mountain Lookout ... even Freya tried to "lookout".

On the way to Clearwater Lake there is also a small lake called Shadow Lake that is very picturesque.

Helmcken Falls are spectacular and only 5km away from the campsite and a one minute walk in. These falls are 141 metres (463 feet) tall and thunder over the edge. During the spring and fall rains they even make the earth vibrate. They have a great viewing platform. All the rock here is from a lava flow millions of years ago and was exposed when one plate shifted below the other plate. Ray went back the next night to take some evening shots.

Helmcken Falls

The mosquitos here are as big as the scenery! The "Off" came out and you have to make sure you are completely covered or they would find the one spot you missed. They are so big, 6 of them could carry you away! When talking with the park operator he said that this park has 24 different species of mosquitos!!!!! He probably is pulling our legs, but a Google indicates 53 species in BC. The temperature is extremely hot out, in the low 30's and as soon as the temperature dropped even a little the swarms came out. By 6pm (generator hours) we would just stay inside with the air running and charge up the batteries as the limited sun exposure is not enough to bring us up to full, therefore exempting us from their feasting.

Dawson Falls are also near the campsite. These falls are an amazing 90 metres wide (295 feet) and 20 metres tall and often compared to the Niagara Falls (minus the volume of water). Ray went and did his own thing and then brought me the next morning to view the falls, spectacular. There was even a rainbow. The following day Ray went to the north lookout (a ten minute walk) for a new perspective. It has been extremely hard to select pictures for the blog as Ray managed to capture so many great ones. What a problem to have eh!

We've decided to stay until Sunday because of this being the long weekend I am sure that the Goose Lake Rec Site probably is full, which is at this point our next destination. There are still a few more places for Ray to take short jaunts to for more pictures anyways. Freya and I will stay at camp and hide in the shade.

Yesterday Ray took me on one of those short jaunts to Baily's Chute and Marcus Falls. I drove us the 15 minutes down the road and off we went on a wonderful walk next to the Clearwater River. Freya thoroughly enjoyed checking out all of the new smells. It was nice and cool walking through the cedar groves.

Fortunately, there were no signs of bears at this time because with the noise of the river they would never hear you ahead of time and you could just come upon them. At Baily's Chute we even managed to see a few salmon trying to jump up the chute, all unsuccessfully. Apparently, they try to go up to spawn but then turn around after not being able to make it and spawn a little ways down river at the "Horseshoe" according to the signage. I cannot get over how blue the water is with the white frothy contrast.

A little further is Marcus Falls. Not as spectacular as Dawson Falls but special nevertheless. The river is just so blue with the whitewater frothing. Very picturesque.

Ray practicing more functions with his camera.

Tomorrow we will move on hopefully. I managed to drop the corian sink cover on top of my toes (wearing open toed sandals) by accident yesterday afternoon. Although nothing is broken, I am pretty bruised up on 3 toes making it difficult to walk so we shall see. I put ice on it immediately so there was not too much bleeding or swelling but I must admit I was beside myself with the pain for a couple of hours before the pain medication kicked in enough that I could stop shaking. Thankfully packing up tomorrow we did not setup too many things outside so it should not be too hard putting it all away. Inside I will probably just throw more things on the bed for the move as we are only going about and hour and a half down the road and all on pavement. (I was much better in the morning ... at least able to walk.)

Ray's playing with his settings

The water is just so clear

August 9th - Goose Lake Recreation Site

We left Wells Gray fairly early Monday morning. Ray and I stopped in Clearwater to fuel up and re-provision with groceries and were on Highway 24 shortly thereafter. We decided to unhitch the car at Little Fort so the coach did not have to tow the car up the 8% grade uphill for 12km or so. We were able to fill up our empty blue jugs with fresh water at the Little Fort Gas Station too. Goose Lake is pretty much at the top of the hill at about 16km. We lucked out as no one was there when we arrived so were able to get into the large grassy site that we had previously picked out. The only downside to this site is that I have to drive back about 7minutes towards Little Fort for cell phone range to check for messages and internet. Oh well. The pullouts have garbage cans though so it works out anyways.

A couple of days later I drove us further down Highway 24 with the car to check out Crystal Lake Forest Service Site and Sheridan Lake Resort. We definitely are at the right spot for us. Crystal Lake has only a couple of sites we would fit in and is a very large lake so it would be difficult for Ray to fish in his floaty boat. Talking with the park operator he said that the fishing has tapered off too. He has decided to spend a little more time here and fish our lake, Latrimoulle Lake, 2km away and maybe Janice Lake which is about 5km away over the next few days as they are smaller lakes and fairly close to where we are camped. The fireban is off in the Cariboo Region, being Crystal Lake but here at Goose we are in the Kamloops Region so the fireban is still on. That's okay, it has been way too hot to contemplate a fire anyways. We arrived back at camp about 1/2 an hour before the thunder started and the rain began. Good thing we already had our outing for the day.

My big toe is still quite a mess 4 days later. Judging by the swelling and pain in the bone I am sure I have cracked it with the force of the counter top dropping. There is no displacement though and I can bend it so having had a broken toe a few times in my younger years I know that there is nothing that they can do for it except keep it iced, elevated and not walk around too much, so here I sit. Day 5 I walked on it for too long and now it is double the size so I definitely will have to sit down more in the next week.

Ray's Adventure Fishing

Ray decided to fish at Latrimoulle Lake Wednesday morning. Here is his story ...

This is a small lake just off Hwy 24 and only a 5 minute drive from Goose Lake. Fishing started out slow, but I managed to release two before I got a good one on. The fish was close to the boat when I noticed this big flash of black and white stripes zoom under the tube. It was a loon after my fish. It chased the fish to the other side of the tube before I got the trout, about an 18", landed. The loon surfaced twenty feet away from the tube and when I released the fish, zoomed after it under the boat. Shortly after that, the wind came up and it was time to come home anyway. Quite the excitement for a short fishing trip.

Here is what the culprit looked like!

There weather here at Goose Lake is quite chilly the past few days, only warming up to about 20C. The sun is out when we get up early in the morning and it seems to cloud up every afternoon, clearing again in the evening. Early morning temps are at 7C. There's been a few thundershowers though in the afternoons and overnight periods. The weather is reported to improve over the weekend which we are looking forward to. The new plan is to move to Peter Hope Lake tomorrow as our son-in-law Jason, is joining us for a week of fishing and arriving on Wednesday with his 2 pooche in tow. It will be a full house. Kristi has a 3 day weekend so she will join us from Kelowna.

We did a drive one of the days to Helen Lake and Lac des Roches.

August 11th - Peter Hope Lake

We left Goose Lake early yesterday morning so we could dump and fill in Kamloops at the Visitors Center and get some groceries before heading out to Peter Hope Lake.

View of the Thompson River from the Visitor's Center. Quite hazy from smoke.

I drove the car grocery shopping and Ray continued on to the Lake where I met up with him an hour later. My broken toe was definitely pretty sore after shopping and driving ... thank goodness for cruise control. Although it is only a 2 hour drive from Goose Lake to Peter Hope Lake, and we were pretty much packed up the day before, Ray was quite tuckered out after a minimal set-up and had to take his pain medication which meant he did not sleep very well. Oh well, a nap might be in order today for him. The beauty of our lifestyle do what you want.

It seemed we came back from autumn temps back into summer as it was only 14 degrees when we left Goose Lake and 28C at Peter Hope Lake.

Today the rest of the outside was set-up including the First-up Shelter to help make some shade as the temps are supposed to be 35C for the next few days. Our son-in-law Jason, arrives tomorrow with his 2 large dogs so I will be quite busy.

August 17th - Jason and Kristi at Peter Hope Lake

A morning visitor to the frog pond a few campsites over from us.

Jason arrived as planned Wednesday with the two dogs, Athena and Zeus, in tow and quickly suited up to try his luck fishing. We watched the dogs closely as Zeus tried to swim out to Jason in his float tube and Athena kept trying to walk down the shore of the lake trying to find him so both dogs got chained up. Not too happy campers. By Friday they were both okay with the whole process. Fortunately the dogs are getting along pretty good, especially as we are all corralled in our motorhome in the evenings.

Kristi arrived from Kelowna Friday night in time for dinner and we had a great couple of days visiting while Jason fished, accompanied by Ray a couple of times. The boys even managed to go to Blue Lake and try their luck unfortunately they were skunked.

Look how clear the lake is.

Although the fishing has not been great, Jason managed to catch 10 fish so far, one being a 14 incher and became Jason's breakfast.

Bad angle for the camera man with Kristi throwing!

Nice one Jason

Kristi headed back to Kelowna for work Sunday afternoon and Jason will follow her home today, Monday. The plan is for him to return Friday as Kristi is working next weekend in Vernon so he might as well come here to fish. Hopefully their house will sell soon in Saskatoon so Jason can permanently move to Kelowna with Kristi.

August 19th - Yup my toe is broken.

Update: My right foot is still swollen after nearly 3 weeks. Kristi told me that because I have inflammation in another spot away from the area that was hit to get it checked out via an x-ray just to make sure that there is no infection of the bone or displacement etc. We drove to the hospital and arrived by 9 am at the Kamloops hospital and I was out at 10:30. The staff were great and very efficient. The x-ray showed 2 fractures at the end of my big toe so yup it is broken but the emerg doc figured the inflammation was just from the bone jamming into the joint and will subside soon. I am to take Ibuphrophen for 5 days and was released after they jabbed me with a tetanus shot. Prognosis on the toe is it will take 4 more weeks before it is fully healed so I am to take it easy until then.

Good thing Jason left Monday afternoon instead of Tuesday morning for Kelowna as the connector was closed at Brenda Mines for a forest fire according to Kristi and he would have had to drive all the way around to get to Kelowna.

August 31st - Kelowna

As we promised Kristi, we would spend the last week with her at the rental house before we went back to Vancouver. Garrett also came up for a visit with us and his friend Kuba. We took him for a tour of Ray's old stomping grounds by the Dilworth Cliffs area.

Ray's house from 11 to 17 years old

Ray remembers climbing up this mountain (no road back then) and staring down at golfers going by

Just beside Garrett's left shoulder you can see the tennis courts where Ray learned to play.

With Kristi off work and rested up we toured through downtown Kelowna.

Next it was off to collect the dogs, who were left at home after some discussion as to howw well they would get along, and go to the dog park. What a park too, many acres along the shoreline.