We packed the final things in the trailer Sunday morning (July 19), hitched up to the truck and were on our way by 9:30. Rather than take the Island Highway (19A) that follows the coast, to make better time we headed to the Inland Highway, (19) going north.
About 2 hours later we came to our turnoff onto a gravel logging road. Of course, pulling a trailer meant going much slower than highway speeds. The 22km/14 mile long road for the most part wasn't too bad until we came to the last 5 kms before the lake...which is not being maintained. It was a very slow bumpy go, but we finally made it to our destination...a remote lake where we had spent our summer vacations for about 12 years before we retired. It has been 18 years since we have been here and we really wanted to see it again.
The recreation site is no longer maintained and has a small rustic campground with the prime sites being on the waterfront. We were hoping to find a vacant one and upon driving through, we found a few sites available. Of course, we chose what we thought was the best...and it was great!
We got the trailer backed in, unhitched and started our set up. After a quick bite to eat...a rather late lunch...we drove the truck down to the main beach area to off-load the boat. That in itself is a lot of work...getting the boat motor out of the truck, along with all of the other paraphernalia that goes in the boat.
I drove the truck back to our site while Steve took the boat around to our site. By this time, we were hot and tired and ready to relax in the shade with this view...
With all of the trees, Steve wasn't sure if he'd be able to get a Starlink signal. Good thing for the long wire as it ended up being down on the beach...
Steve took a 1:18 minute video...Cheers!
The following 4 days were basically a repeat of each other...Steve out fishing in the morning while I cleaned up and puttered around inside the trailer and finally sitting lakefront with my book and taking in the beauty of the area. We also had extremely hot weather with temperatures (in the shade) up to 35.8 C/96.4F.
Monday (July 20), Steve here...I set out for a morning fish as the low clouds were burning off.
I still didn't have 100% confidence in my motor so fished the bay near the campground. I don't recall ever catching anything on this end of the lake. Normally I fish the far end of the lake which is about a 10-15 minute run in my boat to the river outlet. That's where I know the fish are...
It turned out to be a spectacular morning!
I trolled past Dianne...
Dianne got a couple of photos of me trolling by...
I trolled past the end of the campground then returned fishless...
It was very hot so we decided it was time for float on our new tubes, then a dip. This lake used to be extremely cold but was surprisingly quite bearable...
Tuesday (July 21) Day 2 of fishing. I decided to take a run to the far end of the lake...
Another gorgeous day as I near my destination...
The mouth of the river outlet is just to the right of my rod. We used to go up there to picnic below a beautiful waterfall. I would have to get out of the boat at one shallow spot and pull Princess Di up the river until it got deep again! 😂 It's now so shallow across the front with just a ripple of water going over a gravel bar at its mouth...
I'm in my happy place!
35 second video...
After a great morning it was time to return to the campground...
Later on we took a walk around the campground and checked out some other sites that were empty...
View from the boat launch...
It's another scorcher today so it was time for a float and a dip!
Ahhhh!
I took my drone up...a 1:44 minute video of the lake, as you will see wildfire smoke had moved into our area...
Wednesday (July 22) Day 3 of fishing...
Cool looking clouds as I once again head to the far end of the lake...
1:06 video...
Thursday (July 23) Day 4 and my final day of fishing. These ducks swam out from the mouth of the river...
I don't know the species...
1:06 minute video...
It was time to head back and load up the boat after lunch. There's rain in the forecast for late Friday and Saturday so we are leaving tomorrow, a day early. I really wanted to avoid packing up in the rain and travelling a muddy logging road. 😁
After getting all hot and sweaty loading up the boat and accessories we were hoping to have a final float and swim, but a sudden wind whipped up the lake making the shoreline muddy. We opted for a shower in the trailer instead.
A short 22 second video...
Friday (July25th)...We had an uneventful pack up and an 1 1/2 hour drive out to the highway. The first 5 km took us about 40 minutes! Along the way we spotted three Elk cows, a grouse and a doe...See you at our next destination...Cluxewe Resort!
The first week was pretty routine...nothing special, just our usual morning walks along with errands, shopping, laundry, etc. Weather-wise, it was a mixed bag but mainly cloudy for the most part with a couple of sunny days thrown in. Temperatures were fairly warm.
Sunday (July 5) was actually the sunniest day and hot, with temperatures up to 26C/79F. We decided to go to Brooklyn Creek Park for our walk, taking the trail down to the waterfront. We walked along the waterfront path, and then found a trail taking us back up to the street where our car was parked...
That's Goose Spit in the distance...
Wednesday (July 8) afternoon as I was leaving the park to go for a haircut appointment, these 2 bucks were wandering through...
Thursday morning (July 9) while walking at the Airpark we noticed a bunch of pigeons hanging out on and around this dilapidated plane...
That afternoon, Steve decided to go through his fishing tackle box to figure out what more he needed...of course, a trip to the fishing store followed. I also purchased my Tidal water fishing licence in preparation for our 2 week camping trip at Cluxewe Campground in a couple of weeks.
The following weekend was much more fun! On Saturday morning (July 11), although much cloudier and cooler, we decided to drive up to Campbell River to check out the chainsaw carvings. Our original plan was to attend the music festival up at Mt. Washington but the forecast was 60% chance of rain. The competition was held June 24 to 28 at Frank James Park at Willow Point, in south Campbell River and the carvings are now on display. Some very talented folks out there!
Looks like the fish has got ahold of the bear instead of the other way around...
Rock on!
Whale fluke (tail)...
This is a great idea along the waterfront trail...water taps to fill up water bottles and provide dogs with a place to pee and drink too...😂
Afterwards, we went for a long walk along the waterfront path...
This Turkey Vulture was drying his wings. Two Campbell River to Quadra Island ferries in the distance...
There were another 6 down on the beach...
UGLY!!!!!
After taking a drive further into Campbell River, we turned around and were back on the highway south towards Courtenay and Comox. I had always wanted to check out another brewery in Comox...Rad Brewing, so that's where we headed. I was a little disappointed that a couple of their brews listed on their website were no longer available but all was not lost, we each had a Nitro Red...Beautiful Red Ale highlighting caramel flavours and light malt notes with a hint of roast and light hop profile finishing smooth and creamy on Nitro. It was delicious!
Sunday (July 12) we headed south to Parksville to check out some carvings of a different kind...sand sculptures. The Parksville Beach Festival is in full swing with the Parksville Sand Sculptures Competition.
Unfortunately it not only rained out last night, but some idiots vandalized many of the sculptures, so participants were busy repairing their creations.
Each layer of the face is offset from the top of the head...
Front... Back...
Front... Back...
Front... Back...
Front... Back...
It's amazing how they prevent the sand from crumbling on the top of this one!
Looking through the eye above...
In the centre is a bulldozer knocking out the bricks...
Front... Back...
This one still appeared damaged...
Again, so many talented people out there! Master sculptors from all around the world apply to participate in Parksville’s annual competition each year. Other than Canadian sculpturers, there were several from the Netherlands, one each from Belgium, the USA, and Australia.
Steve took a 48 second video of the Parksville Beach...
After taking advantage of the "$10 Meal Deal" at Dairy Queen (how can you pass up a cheese burger, fries, drink and mini blizzard for that price?), we decided to go inland and check out Coombs. We started at Coombs Village Shopping Mall. There are a collection of touristy shops...
The following 3 photos are not even half of the wood carvings there...
With the main attraction being the Old Country Market with goats on the roof....
It was wall to wall people inside this very unique store...
A great day...and weekend!
Monday morning (July 13) we were out just before 7:30 to pick up our little trailer from storage and take it to Courtenay RV Solutions to have the brakes and bearings checked.
After dropping it off we went for a walk at the airpark and saw this float plane taxiing down the river to the inlet where he could take off...
Tuesday morning (July 14) Steve received a call from Courtenay RV Solutions to say the trailer was ready. The brakes and bearings looked good but found the tires had some cracks starting and recommended replacing them sooner than later especially if we are going on a trip.
Steve knew it was time to replace them but was hoping to wait until next year, but decided with that report, we had better do it now. So after picking the trailer up, we headed to Whitehall Tires and had 4 new tires installed...
Once that was done, we brought the trailer back to our site to start getting it ready for our 3 week camping trip...we leave Sunday. A close-up look at the new tires after we parked the trailer in our site...
A rare beautiful sunset to end the day...
We really wanted to go up Mt. Washington and hike Paradise Meadows sometime this summer, so with our time running out, we decided to go Wednesday (July 15).
We arrived at the parking lot just before 10:00 and headed off. Such a beautiful sunny day! Good thing we are walking in the morning as it's supposed to be a hot one today (and it was...with temps in Courtenay up to 29C/84F).
Trailhead information Centre...
This is our most favourite hike in all of the Comox Valley...
We sat down on a bench for a rest and were joined by a couple of birds that landed on a branch right in front of us...likely hoping for a snack. So sorry, we have nothing for you and even if we did, there are a number of signs saying to not feed them. This is a Whiskey-Jack...
And a Steller's Jay...
Always love hiking the Paradise Meadows Loop...a great 5 km hike! We missed most of the flowers though...the meadows are covered with wild flowers in the spring.
The next few days we were busy preparing for our camping trip. It started off slowly, organizing and shopping but by Saturday we were in full swing.
Friday morning (July 17) we had the biggest thunderstorm that we have ever seen here roll through. Thunder and lightning is quite rare here on Vancouver Island...occuring occasionally, but definitely not to the magnitude we experienced. There were hundreds of lightning strikes recorded in the Comox valley and southern BC that brought flash flooding and left multiple homes damaged by direct strikes. A teenage boy laying in bed felt an electrical jolt when their house was hit causing a roof fire. Five wildfires were started on Vancouver Island. We saw one lightning flash then had an immediate boom shaking our trailer that made me jump. I grew up on the prairies and thunderstorms are quite common in the summer...and I used to love them! So needless to say, I was in my glory finally experiencing it here. The downpour that followed was amazing! We definitely needed the rain as we are in stage 3 water conservation here.
Steve took a short 9 second video of the downpour...
Saturday morning (July 18) we met Earl and Allison for breakfast at 9:00 and then after that we had a very busy day packing...Steve the truck and me the trailer. By 2:30 we had basically done all that we could, so it was time for a little relaxation before going to the Gladstone Brewery...our last time for at least 3 weeks.
We leave tomorrow...stay tuned to hear about our camping adventures!
