Sunny and hot. Nice !
We had a vicious squabble this morning. Its effects endured and tainted the entire day.
We left the Yellowjacket Creek Forest Service Recreation Site late this morning and drove back to the town of Valemount. We dumped our black and grey waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank at the sani-dump station behind the Shell service station. We refilled with diesel at the Tempo Fuel Bar, then drove to the real reason we were in Valemount ; to have lunch at Double Diamond Donairs, in Joanne's opinion, the best donairs west of Ottawa, Ontario. < sigh > Closed on Sundays !
We headed south on Hwy. 5. We stopped for a late lunch at Thunder Creek roadside rest area. Lovely little river, likely great for fly fishing ... in a couple of months when the water is not flowing so fast and high. At Clearwater we stopped at the Wells Gray Provincial Park Visitor Information Centre ( at 6 PM ) but they were closed for the day. We turned north and drove about 25 km. into the very large provincial park and stopped for the night at Pyramid Campground.
Monday ; 14th ANNIVERSARY OF RETIREMENT ; exploring northern portion of Wells Gray Provincial Park
Sunny, hot, humid.
We were able to make peace this morning !
We left the Pyramid Campground late this morning and headed north towards Clearwater Campground, the "end of the road" in Wells Gray Provincial Park. We stopped and explored frequently. First stop was Helmcken Falls, probably Wells Gray's best known attraction. Beautiful falls. Made me feel slightly sad though. A Kamloops
( dumbass ) woman lost her life here about a week or so ago when she climbed over the safety fence ( for a better view presumably ), slipped, and fell over the cliff. Later, while viewing Bailey's Chute, I read the story about the engineer named Bailey who was working on the development of the park, and lost his life here in a drowning accident. HMMMM ... death seems to be a recurring theme here !
The hike to view Bailey's Chute ( rapids ) was a fairly long hike through an old growth Cedar, humid rainforest setting. My first difficult hike since cardiac bypass surgery.
I and my bypass grafts did just fine, thank you. Well ... it's possible that I may have had just a few minor twinges of angina. First twinges of angina that I have felt since triple bypass surgery more than eight and a half months ago. Let's keep that information to ourselves, shall we ?
By the way ... as an aside ... a few days ago in a "dollar store" the young female clerk looked at the surgical scar on my left arm ( inside of wrist to inside of elbow ) where the radial artery had been harvested to be used as an arterial bypass graft for my heart, and she asked "what happened to your arm ?" I explained and ... her eyes glazed over, as if I was speaking in tongues or something. HA HA HA !
We explored until reaching the end of the road and Clearwater Lake Campground where we used the sani-dump station to dump our waste holding tanks ... ( HMPH ... five bucks ! ) ... and refilled our freshwater tank. We checked out the two sections of Clearwater Lake Campground and decided we would prefer to return to Pyramid Campground. We drove back to Pyramid Campground, took Ozzie for a leisurely walk around the campground, then sat around our campsite enjoying the lovely weather.
At 6:30 PM I lit a campfire, then cooked supper on it. An ear of corn, wrapped in its own husk, sausages, potatoes and vegetables wrapped in foil, and a large Roma tomato cut in half, stuffed with shredded cheese and Italian seasoning, wrapped in foil, then baked over the fire. I had never cooked an ear of corn over an open fire this way before, and it had a wonderful smoky flavour. MMMMM !
Happy Anniversary, darlin’ ! Hope you liked that wildflower bouquet I picked for you.
( Wild Rose, Dogwood, Lupine, and Fireweed )
Tuesday ; exploring southern portion of Wells Gray Provincial Park, then Clearwater to Latremouille FSRS
Sunny and very hot, temperature 97º F / 36º C. I liked it ! Joanne didn't ! Somewhat like Emma the old cat, Joanne's "window" of ideal temperature is getting smaller and smaller. HA HA HA ! Most of this trip has been much too cold ... for everyone. Now it's too hot ... for some. The temperature was ideal a couple of days ago ... for about an hour and a half. HA HA HA !
This morning we left Pyramid Campground and headed south through Wells Gray Provincial Park back to the town of Clearwater. Along the way we stopped to explore / hike to a couple of scenic waterfalls ; Dawson Falls on the Murtle River and Spahats Falls on Spahats Creek. WHEW ... says Ozzie. He thinks he's too old to be hiking on hot days. We think long hikes in the forest are new to him. It's unlikely that his life with the Watson's involved much hiking. HA HA HA ! Poor Ozzie, we're making fun of him.
We had lunch in the Spahats Falls trailhead parking lot. In Clearwater we went to the Wells Gray Visitor Information Centre and I used their free Wi-Fi for about an hour to retrieve e-mail and post my weekly journal to my blog. A short distance south of Clearwater on Hwy. 5 we stopped at North Thompson Provincial Park and refilled our freshwater tank at their sani-dump station. We continued south on Hwy. 5 to Little Fort, then turned west on Hwy. 24 to get to Latremouille Lake Forest Service Recreation Site ... again. This is where we spent the first night of this trip, eighteen days ago.
After we settled into a secluded site I opened the camper's awning ... for the first time in the four and a half years that we have owned the camper. We rested. I worked on the computer sitting at the picnic table. At 7 PM I lit a campfire and cooked Super Deluxe Dan-O-Campfire Cheeseburgers again. HA HA HA !
Wednesday ; Latremouille Lake FSRS to Kamloops to Harmon Lake FSRS
Sunny and very hot during the day, perfect in the evening !
We left Latremouille Lake late this morning and drove east on Hwy. 24 back to Little Fort. We turned south on Hwy. 5 heading towards Kamloops. We stopped to have lunch at a rest area near McLure. Once in Kamloops we found our way ... not easily ... to Surplus Herby's where we bought what we were unable to find at the Prince George location. Then we found our way ... not easily ... to Superstore to buy a few grocery items and refill the truck with diesel. Last stop in Kamloops was the Visitor Information Centre to use their sani-dump station to dump our waste holding tanks and refill our freshwater tank.
We left Kamloops around 4 PM and headed south on the Coquihalla / Hwy. 5. In the space of about 20 km. we went from 95º F in blazing sun to 61º F in a heavy rain squall. YUP ... ya gotta love the "Highway Thru Hell" ! Blizzard conditions, all the time, winter or summer ! At Merritt we turned east on Hwy. 97C, the "Coquihalla Okanagan Connector". At Kane Harmon Forest Service Road we turned south and drove about 10 km. to Harmon Lake Forest Service Recreation Site, our destination for tonight. There were quite a lot of campers for a "remote wilderness campground".
We rested. I fished, catching a teensy little Rainbow Trout fingerling. I lit our final campfire of this trip and cooked our final supper of this trip on it. < sigh > Home tomorrow ! Late in the evening, sitting around the campfire, lake glassy smooth, mosquitoes brutal, we watched a pair of mated Loons teaching their pair of babies how to dive and fish. < taking a slow, deep breath >
Thursday ; Harmon Lake to home
Sunny and very warm.
This morning before leaving the Harmon Lake Forest Service Recreation Site Joanne wanted to drive around the three sections of campground and check them out. At the last section of campground, on Kane Lake, I had to back up the truck to get turned around. A stump pushed the truck's rear wheel fender flap underneath the tire which then tore the fender flap off, and ripped the wheel well's inner liner as well. < sigh >
I had to do some emergency roadside repairs to be able to continue driving. And now
I have a fairly simple, but also fairly large, remove, repair, and replace project on the wheel well inner liner and the fender flap. Third time in fourteen years I have ripped a fender flap off the truck this way ! < huge sigh >
We drove back to Hwy. 97C, the Coquihalla Okanagan Connector, then drove east to Aspen Grove where we turned south on Hwy. 5A to Princeton. I refilled the truck with diesel at Petro-Canada in Princeton, then we headed east on Crowsnest Hwy. 3, the final leg to home. We stopped to have a late lunch at Bromley Rock Provincial Park. We arrived home around 4 PM.
Emma was VERY glad to be home. She doesn't really like travelling / living in the camper. We did some first aid on Ozzie's bug bites and cysts, then gave him a needed bath.
Friday ; Mostly sunny, warm, windy.
Today was mostly a day of "return home" chores. Joanne did a lot of laundry. I made some phone calls and paid some bills. I did truck preventive maintenance. We went to visit our neighbour / friend Jeanine, mostly because it was time for me to trim her little dog Charlie's nails. We removed the camper off the truck. And I removed the rear wheel well's damaged inner liner. It was easier to remove than I had expected. And now that I have it removed I have a better idea of what must be done, and how, to repair it.
Saturday ; Mix of sun and clouds, warm.
I / Similkameen Trailer Towing was hired today to transport a large trailer from Penticton to the Calgary Stampede next Monday and Tuesday. The client is a food concession operator. The referral was made by a friend / former neighbour. Thank you, Diane.
Joanne did a lot of gardening work on our rock slope / "front yard". We picked Saskatoons. WOW ... great Saskatoon berries this year, plump and sweet. This is about a week earlier than we have ever harvested Saskatoons before. Should be a lot more ready for harvest when we return from the trailer delivery to Calgary. I did some repair work on the truck. I did some replenishment work in the camper. I prepared and marinated a couple of small Rainbow Trout to be "smoked / candied" in the Sun Oven tomorrow. In the evening I worked on computer scans and backup.
DSK
No comments:
Post a Comment