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!
