News & Photos - September 2008


September in the Mountains
Current Location: Site 9, Lucerne Campground, Mount Robson Prov. Park, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 1-2, 2008
Services: None; Cost: $15.00; Nights: 1

“ Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.
- Benjamin Disraeli 		”

It's hard to believe that it's September already! August went by so quickly. Now that the Labour Day weekend is over, the campgrounds are much quieter, and the nights are cooler.

Lucerne is a small campground on Yellowhead Lake, high in the Rockies near the B.C./Alberta border (which follows the continental divide in the southern part of the province). Surprisingly, this is where the Fraser River has its headwaters — a long way from its outlet at Vancouver.

I was very surprised to read that almost no B.C. Provincial Parks have serviced campgrounds. It appears that in this province, only commercial campgrounds provide hookups for their campers. Fortunately, I have a can of gasoline for my generator, so I should be fine here for a while.





Head in the Clouds
Current Location: Site 111, Robson Meadows Campground, Mount Robson Prov. Park, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 2-4, 2008
Services: None; Cost: $19.00; Nights: 2

On the second morning here, the top of Mount Robson (the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies) was visible from the Visitor Center parking lot. Oddly, this is not the highest mountain in British Columbia (that's Mount Fairweather, on the Alaska border and not considered part of the Rockies), nor the highest mountain in Canada (that's Mount Logan in the Yukon, in the Saint Elias Range). Unfortunately, the weather here wasn't good enough to do much hiking. Since I haven't had electrical hookups for 3 days, I need to move on.



Falls on the Fraser
Current Location: Site 36, Canoe River Campground, Valemount, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 4-7, 2008
Services: E/W; Cost: $25.00; Nights: 3

Rearguard Falls Prov. Park is a small park based around a waterfalls on the Fraser River; it's an easy 10 minute walk in from the highway. As with all the rivers around here, it's fed by glaciers, so it's a beautiful turquoise colour.

Valemount is a good stop for gasoline and groceries; there won't be any more towns to the south until Clearwater. I managed to get one of the best campsites here — it's right on the Canoe River. Unfortunately, due to the way that the site is oriented, the river is behind my trailer, so I can't see it from inside.





Exploring the Back Roads
Current Location: Site 16, Blue River Campground, Blue River, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 7-9, 2008
Services: E/WiFi($); Cost: $25.20; Nights: 2

The main access into Wells Gray Prov. Park is from Clearwater to the south, but there are smaller accesses from the west (Mahood Lake) and east (Murtle Lake). This campground is right on the mountain road into Murtle Lake, which is North America's largest canoe-only lake (no motorboats permitted). Perhaps due to its large undeveloped area and scenic beauty, this park is very popular with German tourists, who flock here each year. This area gets so many Germans that several of the more important road signs are in English and German!

Outside of the park, several small Forest Service campsites are hidden among the mountains. These are generally accessed via unmarked logging roads, which are only maintained to “wilderness road” standards. As such, they are narrow, have steep grades, sharp corners and no guardrails. I have explored a few by truck (including the ones into North Canoe and Mystery Lake campsites), but none are suitable for pulling a trailer.



Murtle Lake campsite


Road to Murtle Lake (22 km)


Mystery Lake Forest Service
campsite, approx. 12 km in
from the highway

Exploring Wells-Gray Prov. Park
Current Location: Site 3, Helmcken Falls Lodge Campground, Clearwater, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 9-13, 2008
Services: E/W; Cost: $15.75; Nights: 4

At only $15 per night, I couldn't turn this place down! Besides, the welcoming committee (two dogs, at least four cats, and about 10 horses) were rather friendly. I'm surrounded by Wells-Gray Prov. Park on three sides; just a small strip along the highway is private land, including this campground. This place is combination of a lodge, an overpriced restaurant, a campground and an outfitting service for horseback riding and whitewater rafting in the park.

At 540,000 hectares, the park itself is the fourth largest provincial park in B.C. Similar to Algonquin Prov. Park, it has a vehicle-accessible “front country”, and a canoe-accessible “back country”. It's got plenty of fishing, waterfalls (including the world-famous Helmcken Falls, approximately 3 times the height of Niagara Falls) and canoeing opportunities.

On the second evening, I was inside when I heard a thundering roar outside! Somehow, the horses had managed to knock over part of the flimsy electric fence surrounding their yard, and were enjoying their freedom by galloping around the campground. All the campers gathered outside to watch as the horses slowly settled down and started grazing on the fresh grass surrounding the RVs. Eventually, the owners arrived, and managed to corral all the horses back in their yard. It was certainly the highlight of the evening, both for the campers and for the horses!

In other news, there is a mouse in the trailer. I've noticed droppings under the sink, and Smudge has been running around during the night (unsuccessfully, since the mouse has lots of cabinets to hide under). So, I bought four mouse traps, baited them with peanut butter (which works better than cheese), and waited. For the last two mornings, I have found that the peanut butter was gone from all four traps, yet none of them had been triggered. I guess the mouse is outsmarting both Smudge and myself!





McDiarmid Falls


Moul Falls



Dawson Falls






The “Mush Bowl”


Helmcken Falls




Bailey's Chute






Spahats Falls




Where the Rivers Meet
Current Location: Site 23, North Thompson River Prov. Park, Clearwater, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 13-14, 2008
Services: None; Cost: $15.00; Nights: 1

This is a small provincial park at the confluence of the North Thompson and Clearwater rivers (the Clearwater flows south from Wells Gray Prov. Park). As it's further from Wells Gray than most other campgrounds in the area, it's not heavily used. I was able to get a very nice campsite right on the North Thompson River, just downstream from where the two rivers merge.
Laundry Stop
Current Location: Site 36, DeeJay RV Park and Campground, Barrière, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 14-16, 2008
Services: E/W; Cost: $25.20; Nights: 2

This is just a small stop along the way, to catch up on laundry. Although I drove around town, I couldn't find anything worth photographing.

Canada's Desert
Current Location: Site 11, Paul Lake Prov. Park, Kamloops, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 16-18, 2008
Services: None; Cost: Free?; Nights: 2

No, I'm not in Nevada or the Sahara, but it seems very close. This is a hot (27°C tomorrow!), dry desert, with very little vegetation. The snow-capped mountains to the north have faded away into barren hills, covered with the occasional sage brush and half-dead pine tree. Kamloops is located where the North and South Thompson Rivers join; the Thompson flows south-west from here to where it merges into the Fraser River at Lytton. I'll be heading east, then south to the Okanagan Valley via Highway 97.

This park doesn't have a self-serve fee station or camping prices posted, nor has a campground attendant visited to collect money and issue a permit. Driving around the campground, I see that none of the other campers have a permit displayed either. I'm not sure if they intend to not collect fees this time of year, or whether someone isn't doing his job, but it appears that everyone here gets to stay for free!







Convenient But Noisy
Current Location: Site 4, Silver Sage Trailer Park, Kamloops, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 18-19, 2008
Services: E/W; Cost: $25.00; Nights: 1

This campground seemed ideal — right on the South Thompson River, and only 1 km from downtown! Unfortunately, it's in an ugly industrial area near an old wooden trestle bridge which rumbles when each vehicle crosses it, and it's across the river from the CPR rail yard, which runs all night. I'll stay here only one night — long enough to get groceries.
At the junction of the North and South Thompson Rivers

Further Along the River
Current Location: Site 60, Kamloops RV Park, Campbell Creek, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 19-20, 2008
Services: E/W/S/WiFi($); Cost: $28.80 (Club discount: 10%); Nights: 1

This campground isn't much better than the last; the narrow valley means that the river, campground, highway and rail lines all have to run close to each other. Still, it gives me one last opportunity to explore the Kamloops area. The city itself seems prosperous, with many large homes built up on the sides of the mountains. Almost every one gets a stunning view over the valley!





Okanagan Valley
Current Location: Site 6, Swan Lake RV Park & Campground, Vernon, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 20-23, 2008
Services: E/W; Cost: $28.35; Nights: 3

Vernon is at the north end of the Okanagan Valley; it has hot, dry weather similar to Kamloops, and most farms need irrigation. However, it seems that September is the rainy season; it has drizzled (not really enough to get anything wet) for the last day or two. Once again, I'm at a commercial campground, as the Forest Service sites are too small for a trailer, and the provincial park campgrounds cost $24 for an unserviced campsite.



Falls on Shorts Creek
(Fintry Prov. Park)


Okanagan Lake


BX Falls
Swan Lake

Fish, But No Peaches Yet
Current Location: Site 17, Todd's RV & Camping, Peachland, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 23-25, 2008
Services: E/W/WiFi($); Cost: $31.50; Nights: 2

Just an hour's drive south of Vernon, the weather seems about 3°C warmer, including the forecasts for the next few days. Although there are lots of orchards around, the only fruit stand in town was closed.

There are several hiking trails in the area, including three inter-connected trails (Stave Pipe, Trepanier and Pincushion Mountain) in the hills west of town. There is also a short trail into Hardy Falls, where Kokanee Salmon spawn in early autumn.



Former town water supply via
wire-wrapped wooden pipe




Okanagan Mountain Prov. Park



Kokanee Salmon at Hardy Falls




Trails, Trees and Trestles
Current Location: Site 36, Sun & Sand RV Park, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 25-30, 2008
Services: E/W/S/WiFi($); Cost: $26.25; Nights: 5

Although their campsites are very small, the off-season rates here are reasonable at $20 for a back-in site, or $25 for a fully-serviced site right on the beach! As with most campgrounds in this dry region, there is an irrigation system to water the grass between campsites, and the hills are barren except for the occasional sage bush.

There are several good hiking trails in the Kelowna area, including the Scenic Canyon Regional Park (which follows the Mission Creek into town) and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail. A large wildfire in 2003 destroyed many of the wooden trestles along this trail. A large effort to rebuild them finished in early 2008, and it is now possible to walk along the former railbed over 18 trestles and two tunnels.



Scenic Canyon Park


Kelowna


Kettle Valley Rail Trail













River at Okanagan Falls
Kelowna

Beware of Beggars
Current Location: Site 131, Nk'Mip Campground & RV Resort, Osoyoos, British Columbia
Dates: Sep 30-Oct 3, 2008
Services: E/W/WiFi; Cost: $29.40; Nights: 3

This is a large, well-run year-round campground just north of the USA border on the south-east side of Osoyoos Lake. Although the signs at the park read, “you are in rattlesnake country”, the only wildlife that I saw were some very tame squirrels and ducks that begged for peanuts. The one mallard in particular ate right from my hand, and wanted to jump in my lap to get closer to the food. As always, Smudge watched intently from just inside the trailer door, wishing he would be served “Chunks of Squirrel in Gravy” for dinner. Sadly, he had to eat tuna and salmon (and the occasional dolphin) instead. While in town, I was able to get another two month's worth of Mouse's thyroid pills.

As this is the southern-most part of the Okanagan Valley in Canada, there are several parks that are open for snowbirds who wish to stay in Canada for the winter. I visited 6 parks, to find out their rates and see which I would like. It's probable that I'll over-winter in this area, as everyone agrees that Vancouver Island has too much rain. Although this park is quite nice, its rates are the highest of the 6, so I will likely be at a park in Oliver (a half hour north) instead.






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