Rocky Mountain Retreat 2008
Heading Home
Aug 27 - Now that we have been to all of the Rockies National Parks it is time to start making the run home. Back through the prairies, past the windfarm, and back through Crowsnest Pass.
It's a long drive to Creston, which seems like a good midway place to stop, but there is only 2 lousy RV sites near the town. We would have had a nicer campsite in the Walmart parking lot.
So we only stay in Creston long enough to see the Columbia Brewery, home of the golden refreshing Kokanee Beer, and their famous Sasquatch mascot, then book out of there.
We think we ay have found a nice campground off the main highway, but as we pull in, we are driving over oddly painted rocks, and there is little figurines and unicorns placed all around a shambles of a house... this is a campsite? We can't get out of there fast enough, get some gas in Salmo, and decide that a Provincial campground is the way to go, even though it's getting late.
Just outside of Fruitvale is the signs for Champion Lakes, it's a 10 kilometer drive up a winding mountain road. We have our fingers crossed that there will be a campsite available, and start scoping out potential parking areas off the side of the road. We pass a couple deer on the way up to the campground, and now fully understand where the "Deer in headlights" phrase comes from.
Our fears of every campsite being full ended as soon as we got into the campground, it's empty. Of 100 sites, there is only 3 or 4 other people camping here. The ranger tells us that after the second week of August it clears out. Too bad, it's a beautiful campground, loads of trees, lots of privacy, and a very warm lake, so warm there is steam rising as we check out the beach area.
As the sun goes down, we try to make friends with the local squirrels, but they are very shy, there must be more critter BBQ in the Kootenays than there was in the National Parks. We decide that if it's nice in the morning, we will stay here an extra night, if not we'll head for Osoyoos. While I am cooking dinner it starts to rain... well I guess that's the decider.
Aug 28 - In the morning we wake up to a light drizzle, but decide we need to check out Champion Lakes before we leave. Champion Lakes is 3 small, the main lake with the beach is Third Lake, and it is a short hike to Second Lake. Not quite as beach worthy as Third lake, but trout are jumping.
There is a sign that says "First Lake Portage Trail" and assume it must be an easy walk if you are expected to carry a canoe on your back to get there. There is also a sign taped up stating "A Cow Moose and two calves have been seen grazing at First lake, be cautious and respectful". You can't put up a sign like that and not expect us to want to see them, so off we go, hiking to First Lake.
There is no way I could have carried a canoe on this trail, it winds through the trees, up steep slopes, down steep slopes, and across rickety bridges. 40 minutes later we arrive at the lake, and an "End of Trail" sign... Nice! No Moose, no calves, actually no animals of any kind, the forest is silent. We rest a bit, and start heading back, just a little disappointed, but it was still nice.
After working up a good sweat hiking back to our truck, we cool off a bit, and hit the road.
A mandatory stop as we pass through Trail is the Village of Warfield 'Jewel of the Kootenays'. I find it a bit odd that Highway signs are specifically telling me which way to go. Warfield - turn left.
The weather couldn't quite decide what it wanted to do, sunny, cloudy, raining... by the time we stopped at Christina Lake, I had to make an executive decision to go for a swim and have some lunch. The lake was beautiful, and there was only 8 people on the entire beach. Just as we go for a swim the clouds come in, so it is a little cool, best to dry off and head to warmer weather.
The temperatures steadily climb as we start to near Osoyoos, as we look down onto the lake before making our way into the town, we start to wonder how many campsites there may be on the Thursday night of a Labour day long weekend. No problem, Champion Lakes was empty.
A strange new sight as you come down the hill into Osoyoos is a series of bronze statues, each depicting a local creature of the area, and matching street names for a new housing complex that is being put in. Only the cougar is painted, but the Sasquatch is the most popular, when we finally stop we hear stories of people constantly attaching a case of Kokanee beer to his hand.
To our shock all the Osoyoos campsites are full, even the walmart parking lot style ones, so we head north towards Penticton. After many stops we find a nice overlook at Camp-a-Long campground just outside Penticton. It's an open untreed site, but you can't beat the view.
We headed into Penticton to visited some old family friends, and returned to a camper full of fruit flies. After a mad bash fest that created an interesting speckle pattern on the ceiling of the camper, we turned out the lights and went to sleep, on the warmest night of our trip.
Aug 29 - After a morning of sitting in the sun overlooking the lake, the rains came again. So we packed up and headed for home... Stone Temple Pilots were playing tomorrow night anyways.
We weren't quite finished with our wildlife, as we entered Keremeos, I spotted a bear peaking over the hillside. We would have to make a stop to load up on fruit and cider.
As always, it is madness in Hope, huge lineups everywhere, 20 minutes for Gas, gotta top up. 1 hour for McDonalds, I don't think so, so we made sandwiches in the camper before leaving.
The National Parks of the Canadian Rockies are always a sure bet if you want to get away from it all. Back to the wild, do some camping, see some critters, and this trip would not disappoint with a mix of old locations and new locations... besides a little rain isn't so bad. Even though we probably could have done an all-inclusive with the amount we paid for gas, our carbon footprint was balanced by camping fees, national park and campfire permits... seems fair to me.