Paska Lake Part 2

Saturday, September 2nd continued:

Messaged our friends Steve and Dianne and set up going over to see them today at Tunkwa, in between their cleaning outhouse duties. First we stopped at the sani-dump in Logan Lake to get rid of our garbage and refill our water jugs. We decided to get a bite to eat at the Logan Lake Hotel Cafe. We both had the beef dip, in house made ... not too bad. Arrived at Tunkwa about 12:30 to have our visit. They are staying "in the compound". Took us a little bit to find it but I said they have power so we just followed the power lines. It was great seeing both of them again. It sure is windy at Tunkwa though.

Freya enjoyed putting the run on the chipmunks around their trailer they are inundated with. Steve asked if Freya could stay! The next time we will be able to catch up will be down south, either in Utah or Arizona. They leave 2 weeks after us and have some "must see things" on their list that is different from us.

Picture from Dianne

We left at about 2:45 and stopped to pick up a few groceries and then back to camp to relax on the beach for a couple of hours. Ray took out his guitar for a short practice.  After a long absence he needs to toughen up his fingers again.

Another lovely day.

Sunday, September 3rd

I woke up at 2:30 am to close the windows ... even the dog was cold, sleeping in the bathroom away from open windows. Noticed that it smelled like smoke, so took a look out all of our windows to make sure I did not see any "glowing" in the sky. Nope, the wind must of changed and we are getting smoke from the Washington State fires. We've been fortunate this is only the second day there is smokey skies in 8 days of being here. Our friends at Tunkwa and Logan Lake experienced quite a few smokey days this summer.

Both of us were up at 6 am to the coldest morning yet. 2.8 C. Burrr. Ray turned on the Big Buddy Heater and climbed back into bed for 10 minutes before getting up again. Slight breeze on the lake so no hurry to get out fishing. We sure have a temperature differential being up 4950 feet elevation. 30 C in the day and 2.8 C overnight. Freya does not know whether to shed or grow more hair! lol

Ray was out on the water by 8 am and I mosied out there about 9 am. Neither os were having very much luck. About 10 am, I spoke to a gentleman in a kayak and he said he was using a "bumble bee" and was catching quite a few fish. He kindly gave me one and I immediately went back to shore and had Ray tie it onto my line. The guy gave me some pointers on how to troll properly in the kayak as well. Went back out onto the lake and within 20 minutes had 2 fish caught and into the boat. Wow. Thank you. I was tired of paddling after 2 hours so I passed my  rod over to Ray and he carried on fishing. He managed to land 6 fish, 4 of them on the new fly. So a bonus day.

The rest of the afternoon found me floating on my lounger in the lake and Ray relaxing reading his Kindle.

I threw out my anchor so I just stay in one place.

A stellar day. Pretty hot about 30 C. We had leftovers for dinner so an easy night for me. The campsite is slowly starting to empty out as some people took Friday off instead of Monday. It will be nice tomorrow afternoon when we will be mostly by ourselves.

Here's a couple pictures of our site from the lake.

Love this spot with it's private beach.

See the smokey skies.

Monday, September 4th

Up at 6 am, another cool 3C and smokey morning. Hopefully the wind takes the smoke away again today. A little breeze on the lake so we shall see around 8 am if we can go fishing or not. My arms were quite sore last night from all of the paddling/trolling but after some Voltarin and Naproxen last night I was fine this morning.

By 8:15, 3 groups have people have left. Need to get all those kids home to get ready for school tomorrow! Yeah! See ya later! Goodbye! Ha Ha Ha. I remember those days.

Ray went out to fish in the morning. He had a great time and his final total was 7. One he caught just coming back to shore.

Big full moon reflecting on the water this evening. Still quite smokey out. I am sure noticing it with my breathing. The high altitude with the smoke and I am weasing pretty good.

Tuesday, September 5th

Still very smokey skies. Bright orange sunrise in almost the same spot the moon rose last night. It was actually much redder than the picture shows. By the time we got the camera out to take a picture the sun had risen in the sky. Not much difference between morning and night!

Last day to fish as tomorrow is packup day. We are also going into Logan Lake to meet up with Dianne and Steve for lunch at the Pick and Shovel Pub. Great seeing them again.

Picture by Steve

Once we were back at camp Ray and I started washing our "floaty boats" in preparation for packing away tomorrow. We also received a call from Paul and Giselle ... our Fedex Package arrived. I was going to go back into Logan Lake to get it but they decided to come to the lake for a drive. Noted that we only got 1 of two packages ... fortunately it was the LNB to try out.

After a great visit with the Owens and serving them dessert, they headed out at 5 pm. Ray promptly got up on the roof to change out the LNB. It did not work. So now we will have to get a technician. Whether that is in Kamloops or Calgary is yet to be decided. After phoning Fedex our other package is slated for arrival tomorrow thankfully. It is new shielded cable which we know need replacing but that will not fix our current problem. Called Fedex and they assured me that the other package will be delivered tomorrow. Fingers Crossed.

Today the smoke is so thick it is like it is dusk all day. See how empty the campsite is and how gloomy it looks! Hopefully it will clear some tomorrow. There are only 5 other campers here besides us.

Wednesday, September 6th

Last day at Paska Lake. Another gloomy, smokey morning. The smokiest yet. We spent the morning packing up all of our outside stuff, the boats etc. and then will drive back into Logan Lake to pick up the last package from our friends Paul and Giselle. It sure has been a nice 12 days just relaxing and fishing but now after Kamloops, the start of our adventure for this year. Checking out the drive ahead after Banff, it looks like Waterton Lakes will be struck off the list due to wildfires in the area. The whole park is closed down other than the Townsite so probably not worth the trip.

Had a call into a mobile repair shop in Kamloops to see if they can see us tomorrow and possibly fix our satellite dish problem. Their answer is they are booking 2 weeks out but he thinks it would be a "cabling" problem. Well, we should get the new cables today so we will try. Sucks not having any TV for the past 2 weeks. You certainly get tired of just reading books. Ray will have to try the new cables tomorrow and see if that really is the problem. Other than that if it does not work I guess we will have to make an appointment in advance in Calgary.

We ran into Logan Lake at 2:30 hoping that the package would be delivered like yesterday ... but nope, left at 3:45 and gave up. Will have to run in Logan Lake tomorrow am before we leave camp I guess.

WEllll .... our second package is now on it's way to Williams Lake!!! The idiots missorted the package!  Had Fedex change the address to Kamloops RV Park for next 2 days ... hopefully it catches up with us.