Our First Visitor

In the 15 or so years Ken and I have been coming to Baja and enjoying the winters I can not remember one when friends or family have come to visit us and see what keeps us coming back year after year.  Well this year Shari, Ken's sister came for a 10 day visit and I hope we instilled in her mind a place and time that was fun as well as interesting and she "gets it"...the reason we keep coming back year after year.  

FYI, Horizon flys into Loreto via LA everyday (and WestJet starts flying non-stop from Calgary in Jan).  The Trupui resort, located 2 km from our beach rents a apartment that sleeps up to 8 for $350 US per week and is pretty darn comfortable.  Oh ya!  and happy hour starts every day at 5 pm and there is always an extra lawn chair with a great view of the Sea of Cortez. 

Ken and Shari, overlooking Agua Verde...what a view.  We just don't tire of it.

Shari and I got out a spoting scope to take a closer look at how the other guys live...I think they were looking back to see how good we have it on the beach!

 

Shari got the hang of SUP right away and had a beautiful afternoon to give it a try.

We took a trip in the Zodiac around Danzante Island and enjoyed the view after a short hike to the top of a hill.

Captain Ken (the tour guide) and Shari.

A walk up Steinback canyon was a good morning of exercise and as picturesque as always.

No tour of Loreto would be complete without a trip up to San Javier and a look at the 100 year old olive tree.

A sad day when we all joined for happy hour to say good bye to Shari.  Although she flew out the next afternoon we would carry on the tradition for the continuation of the winter season.

Another Day

Just the beginning of another day in Baja!!

6:15 and Ken is heading out fishing.  A dirty job but someone has to bring home dinner!

And  I settle down with a cup of coffee and enjoy the beginning of abrand new day.

The Trip to Baja 2014

Here we have been on the beach for over a week (oops, now it is actually 3 weeks on the beach...time flys) and I still haven't got around to telling you about our trip down to Mexico from Canada.  It was anything but uneventful, but in a good way.  We took the long way around, visiting friends, via Wyoming, New Mexico and finally Arizona before crossing the border into Baja, Mexico.

Our first stop in Wyoming was to visit John and Ingrid at home in Alto, we usually see them in Comitan on the Baja but it was nice to see their beautiful home situated at the foot of the Grand Tetons.  Both are retired from the airlines and still fly their own Beachcraft Bonanza V35 so we flew to Montana and back for lunch.  What a treat!  Ken had a smile a mile wide when John gave him a ride to the airport in his Porshe,  Ken was remembering his Porshe days.

After a couple days with John and Ingrid we traveled south to Bernalillo, New Mexico where Jay and Diane found a nice little corner on their property  where we could park our rig and enjoy some of the sights (and food) in their area.  New Mexico does have some good and spicy fare!  There really is nothing like the flavour of New Mexican chilis.  While John and Ingrid have a couple horses, Jay and Diane have four pack mules in their back pastures.  They use them for packing into the wilderness and hunting, boy they are adventuresome!  We look forward to their company on the beach this year, at Rattlesnake, and a friendly game of bocci or two.

Once in Arizona we found ourselves at Chino Valley and at the home of fellow biking enthusiast  Don Short where we rondez vous'd with Carl and the three of them did a little dirt biking before the flood rains came and drove them home.  I on the other hand had the common sense to stay at home in the first place.  Stop two in Arizona was at Chris and Carls place in Yuma.  It is always good to visit them and also a convenient place to get our Mexician visas and our first taco of the season from our favourite taco stand in Algadonas.   

Once again this year, we travelled highway 5 down through San Felipe and Coco's Corner on our way to the beach.  This year however we crossed at San Luis Rio Colorado and took the toll road #2 to the south of Mexicali and then caught the #5, way easier and it only cost us 62 pesos.  What a deal and way less of a headache than driving through Mexicali.   We only spent one night on the road at Rosarito  and where on the beach at Rattlesnake by 4:00pm just in time for happy hour, and that was even giving us time to get fuel and propane.

Now we are all set up.  The beach at our doorstep.  The Zodiac, paddleboard and kayak in the water.  The bikes are full and ready to go.

 

Myself with John and Ingrid, and Ken in front of John's plane.

 

John and Ingrid toys!

The Grand Tetons.

The view of the Grand Tetons during or flight to lunch with John and Ingrid.

Just some beautiful scenery along the way.

A little off road riding around Moab, 

The sun sets on the hills around Moab makes the rock come alive with magnificent red colors.

The streets of Vermillion are lined with petunias.

Just more beautiful roadside scenery.

The tracks with Palomas Peak in the background, a very pretty sight from Bernilillo.

The streets of Santa Fe are a showplace for the famous New Mexican chili.

At the Santa Fe farmers market they sell vegetables that have not been treated badly...Cage Free Tomatoes.

Happy Hour with Jay and Diane at the Hyatt in Bernillio.

This food at this place was Udderly Delicious!  Lots and lots of famous people have dinned here including the last three presidents.

Dog-gone-it let's get going.  Don and Carl are ready to take Ken on a little bike ride.

Well that about rounds it up for the drive down and chances are it may be a few months before you hear from us again...it's busy on the beach!   Really!!1

Summer Just Goes On and On

Looking down Adams Lake on one of the "nice days" while we camped during the September long weekend.  The water was like glass, Ron's Kingfisher was in the water with the fishermen on board, I am taking advantage of the calm day to kayak and the Bush Creek campground is in the background.

One weekend we camped with my parents at Davis Lake, just off the Old Colemount Rd, the campground was great but the fishing sucked.  While camped there we did a nice motorbike ride via Old Colemount Rd to Brookmere, across to the Coquihalla, down the Coldwater valley and back to our campground on the Kane and Voight Valley forrestry roads.  A great ride that took about 2 hours.

Ken's happy being on anything with a motor.  The Sea-doo felt a little weird when you're used to a motorbike but fun all the same.

Sue and John rented a cabin on Okanagan Lake for a week in September and invited us for a night.  What a treat riding the Sea-doos and having a weinny roast on the beach.  The view down the lake at night, looking north to Vernon, was nice and a little different than what we were used to.

One of my favourite rides around Kelowna is the KVR-Chute Lake road that runs from Kelowna to Naramata/Penticton.  Gerry joined us one day for the ride which ended up with us visiting Shaun and Iris in Summerland, what a great day, what a great view!

Naramata is home to a whole lot of wineries with some award winning wines.  Unfortunately while on the bike we couldn't take in the wine tasting but the view of Naramata Bench was beautiful just the same.

We were so lucky the weather held out for us into the end of September.  We decided to take a road trip to Oregon, Ken on the Tenere and I was on my KLR.  Along the way, in Yakima we stopped at a restaurant for Tamales, yum yum I can't wait to get to Mexico.

 

Mt Jefferson off in the distance as seen from the Deschutes campground in The Cove Palisades State Park.

Looking at the Deschutes River down from a ridge on the Tamalau Trail above our campsite at The Cove Palisades.  A spectacular view and a great 7 mile hike along the plateau.

The viewpoint at the summit of the McKenzie Pass between Sisters and McKenzie Bridge on Hwy 242, a must for bikers.  The pass is totally volcanic stone from the Belknap Crater and the road snakes through the lava field, warning don't try this road in a large RV.

We met Brian and Sandi at McKenzie Bridge, we were tenting and they were with their Tiny Trailer "Miss Piggy".  Brian fabricated the trailer with parts from 11 cars, 5 trucks and 2 motorcycles.  Sandy made a mean meatloaf in her Dutch Oven...my favorite!

We drove and camped along the scenic Deschutes River.  The ride was very picturesque but the trains were a little loud during the night.

The pleasant view of Hwy 97 running along side the Columbia River.

 

Wild Horses Monument (or its real name is Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies) overlooks the Columbia River.   The monument is made of steel and started in 1989 but is still a work in progress.  Next time we pass by I'm walking to the top of the ridge.

We timed our trip to Oakridge perfectly, it just so happened that Mike and Hortensia were entered in a pie making contest.  I couldn't help myself and had to enter as well. I made a Tailwind Chili Pie and Hortensia made a Coconut Cheesecake (she walked away with first prize in the creme category).  The best part was after all the pies were judged we got to eat them all, and there must have been about 15 to sample.  

What a summer, lots of camping and fishing while traveling the B.C. northern interior.  Lots of visiting with friends and family.  However, while I am writing up this post on Oct 6th the weather has turned cool and it trying to rain.  Ken is loading the trailer and then I'll finish up laundry and shopping...it is time to head south.  It is time to head to the Baja for the winter.

SUP...paddle-board adventure

Well, I can cross that off my bucket-list.  The day after my 54th, Sharon, my sister, and I SUP'ed across Okanagan Lake, around Rattlesnake Island and back to Peachland, about 5.5 km in around 1.5 hours.  We didn't break any records but we made it without breaking much of a sweat and grinning all the way...not bad for a couple of rookies!

Ready, set, go.  Me with my blowup XTERRA and Sharon with her solid VESL.  Ready and rareing to go at 10 am before the boats got out on the lake and the winds started to pick up.

           

The lake was like glass.  We couldn't have asked for a better day.  There was still a little smoke in the air from all the forrest fires but it cleared enough that we could at least see Rattlesnake Island across the lake.

      

Dad and Ken made a morning of it, fishing along side us.  Our technical support. 

Wanted: a breath of fresh air

Back in the Okanagan, a busy, busy, busy place.  While we love Westbank we already miss the slower pace of northern B.C. not to mention the clean air where the smoke from fires in the States has not drifted.

Sunday, August 22nd, not a cloud in the sky, at the beach in Peachland, or at least you can't see one...or the sun or the lake for that matter!

Perkins Peak-You Have To Do This Hike

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/Lt60xMzEofk

 

What musical little birds!

These little birds woke us up early and kept us up late.  We really didn't mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noG8WJtajhk

A Fishing We Will Go!

What a summer, with mostly warm and sunny weather we have been living the life of Reilly.  We wanted to visit Linda and Al in Smithers to help celebrate their birthdays (39 again) and that gave us a good excuse to explore some of the northern B.C. territory that we always seen to be 'driving thru' to get somewhere else.  With no obligations except Linda's and Al's birthday celebration on July 11th we started looking at our B.C. Backroads Mapbooks and discovered one thing, we still had a lot to see.

Our first stop was Hyas Lake, above Chase, a beautiful rec site that Ken's brother Ron introduced us to.  Wow, went for a weekend and stayed for a week...even after Ron, Roseanne and Mercedes left we stayed on.  This campsite was close to Kamloops so after pulling up camp we stopped in at  Len and Heather's house and had a great visit with them.

With weather still beautiful we headed north a little to Greenie Lake just out of Lac La Hache. A pay rec site but for $12 it was nice and clean and paved right to the park entrance.  Ken caught fish and I did more kayaking, we even pedaled our mountian bikes down the 12 km to town for an icecream cone and back.

Time was running out, the party at Al and Linda's was approaching fast so we high-tailed it to Smithers.  A week with Al and Linda's... party's, visiting and just enjoying good friends and good food. Good mountain biking around their area too.

You know, we had been to this area of B.C. before but never spent much time so we decided to camp around northern B.C. for the duration of the summer.  From here on I could start a running commentary of our daily routines and places that we visited but let me just say this about that...camping, fishing, kayaking, a little hiking and more fishing.  Instead, I have decided to make a list of the campsites we stayed at, how long we stayed and what we rated them (out of 10).

Here it goes from the top:

- 6 nights at Hyas Lake Rec Site.  8/10, the score would be higher except for the resort (next door to campsite) running 24/7.

- 7 nights at Greeny Lake Rec Site.  9/10, the water had a lot of algae but the campsite was as good as a provincial park.

-1 night in the seniors parking lot in Vanderhoof beside the Nechako River  Bird Sanctuary.  8/10, better than Walmart.

-  6 nights at Bear Island Rec Site on Babine Lake.  10/10...wow and we had the best site  and all to ourselves.

-2 nights at Takysie Lake Rec Site.  7/10, a good place to do some rides and check out the area.

-2 nights at the Alcan campsite on Oosta Lake.  8/10,  the best sites were taken up by people who stay the entire summer but the most site were great with cut grass, running water, and wood supplied.  Unfortunately Ootsa Lake is full off wood debris from the Kenny Dam so we couldn't put the Zodiac in the water.

-2 nights at Lund Lake Rec Site.  10/10, what a beautiful setting and good berry picking and good fishing for small trout.

-6 nights at West Francois Lake Rec Site.  10/10,  our favourite  site over-all, with the picturesque Nadina Mt in the background.  The rainbow trout just wouldn't stay off Ken's line.  We even tried our hand at smoking and canning (6 hrs over an open fire).

-1 night at the Burns Lake Municipal Campsite.  8/10, what can you say it's free and close to everything we needed to restock.

- 4 nights at Petersons Beach Rec Site on Fraser Lake.  7/10,  a nice site but crappy fishing.  Ken bought his new 9.9 Yamaha motor for the Zodiac and we got in a nice hike to the top of Fraser Mt.

 

-2 nights at Sawmill Point in Francois Lake Provincial Park on the east end of Francois Lake.  9/10,  a free site in a Provincial Park, we camped right on the water beside the boat launch.  Ken could have stayed longer...he made another smoker, we are getting the hang of it.

 

-1 night at Dugan Lake Rec Site.  7/10, it must have been a Provincial Park at one time.  The long timers once again take all the  good sites  and the sites are not right on the water.  

-4 nights at the Gwe da Ts lh Provincial Park Campsite on Chilko Lake.  9/10, $18 was a little steep for a site that had little to offer but a magnificent setting.  The parks need to do a little better job preparing the sites.  We were wowed when a grizzly bear walked right through our campsite, within 10 metres of us (Ken and Ron also saw a mom and 2 cubs, twice while out fishing).  I did a great hike to the top of Tullin Mt with views of Chilko Lake, Coastal Range and the surrounding area.

-4 nights at Cochin Lake Rec Site.  8/10, great fishing.

That's it a fishing-full-camping-packed summer...so far.

The dock at Hyas Lake needs a little TLC but it still serves the purpose for boats and is a great place to sit and enjoy a morning coffee.

The moon rising over Greeny Lake.

A curious otter checks us out!

Shiners (little fish) nibble on Ken's legs (actually on his dry and dead skin), people pay good money to have this beauty treatment done...

A healthy lake with lots of fish always has a loon or two, I love to hear their call.

While in Smithers we did a bit of mountian-biking.  Smithers has lots of trails with something for all skill levels, the trails we took left right from Linda's back door.

The Kispiox River, north of Smither.

Linda and I (and Ken) out for a day site-seeing around Smithers.

Totem poles in Kispiox.

The water of Babine Lake is like glass, Ken had better get out there fishing!

A Burbot or fresh water ling cod...good eating (the best as far as I'm concerned).

Lake trout, another of our favourites, Ken caught them all!

A warm, sunny and grassy camping spot at Takysie Lake.

Lund Lake, a smallish lake with a beautiful grassy knoll as a backdrop for the campsite.  Who knew the north had so many open grasslands cleared by the pioneers.  Lots of large ranches lay amongst the many lakes and rivers.

Believe it or not the fire lookout at the top of Verdun Mountain is one of the few that is still manned (in this case womaned) and she still uses an Osborne fire finder to pin-point the exact location of forest fires.

A bountiful season for wild berries!  Wild raspberries, huckelberries and a jar of homemade saskatoon jam (cooked over the open fire).  "Living off the land" as Ken would say.

A paddle in my Kayak up the Nadina River with water so still the reflection is like glass...

and so clear you can see river grass under the water.

What a view from our campsite at West Francois Lake.  Nadina Mountain, an extinct volcano sits off in the distance.  While camped at West Francois Ken and I did a bike ride along the base of the mountian...when he wasn't fishing!

A beautiful little buck.

A very large family of grebes, or maybe a grebie daycare, either way there were a lot of them.

No fire ban up north.  Ken caught so many fish we smoked some at West Francois Lake, using dry Alder, the fire pit and the top off our bbq.

We took a hike up Fraser Mountian to a microwave station, the route had great views of the surrounding area.

Another of Ken's smokers (what else can you do when you catch your limit every day).  This time he dug out a spot in the ground in which to build the fire from Alder and once again used the bbq lid for the top.  O.K. this method works great but may we do have to invest in a real smoker before Baja this winter!

Ken's brother, Ron joined us for a week or so camping at Chilko Lake and Cochin Lake.  At Gwe da Ts lh Provincial Park we got a nice site right on the water at Chilko Lake.  Behind the campsite you can see Tullin Mountain 

 

Ron brought his fishing boat, more than convenient when you are on a lake the size of Chilko.

Ken's happy with his catch of a rainbow trout, it's a beaut!

While the boys were fishing I took a hike with a German couple, Annetta and Mathis, to the top of Tullin Mountain, a good 3 hours up and 2 1/2 down, but what a view of Chilko Lake.  We brought along the bear-spray, just in case.  A hefty grizzly walked through the campground the day before ou hike, the salmon are just arriving up the Chilko river and the bears are all hungry.

Our campsite was located directly below the mountain, just across from the little peninsula.  Check out the colour of that lake!

A 'long' look down Chilko Lake with the snow capped Pantheon Range off in the distance.

Ron and Ken at Cochin Lake, showing off their catch of the day.

I think this hike to the top (nearly) of Perkins Peak had to be one of the most breathtaking views we have seen yet...One Eye Lake down below and surrounded by the Patheon Range and not to mention blue skyup above.

Ken was able to ride the KTM up about half of the trail to about 6200 ft leaving us only about 1000 ft left to hike.  Can you find Ken in this photo?  It's very tricky!