Thursday, June 12 to Tuesday, June 17, 2014 (Tamihi Creek Rec Site, Chilliwack, BC)

We're back "on-line"...however, it is going to be short lived, so I'd better get this update done! The areas that we are visiting so far don't have any cell or internet signals...not a great start to my plan of getting back to daily blogs!

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, we spent a good portion of Thursday morning at Starbucks in Chilliwack so that I could hastily put together a blog post. Prior to getting to Starbucks, we stopped and fueled up with diesel, filled the gas containers and got propane. We were hoping to get back out to Tamihi Creek before it started to rain...but no such luck! We stepped out of Starbucks to a downpour...luckily it didn't last long, though.

Once home, we had lunch and then decided to take the quads out for a ride...there are lots of trails in the area. We took an old logging road behind the campground that went way up into the mountains with some great views...too bad it wasn't a clear sunny day!

The campsite is at about 324' and we rode up to 3084'.

 Cultus Lake in the distance...

 Chilliwack River below...

We think this was a Fox...

Looks like they are building a new OHV Staging area just down the road from Tamihi Creek Rec Site...

We had our usual lazy start to the day Friday and then got our butts in gear...after our resistance exercises, breakfast, showers and dishes, we headed out for a hike along the Chilliwack River Valley portion of the Trans Canada Trail ...








A very high and raging Chilliwack River...

The first of many white water rafters we saw during our stay...

A nurse stump...there were lots of these here...

It's a lovely trail that follows the river. We even managed to get a cell and MiFi signal about 20 to 30 minutes walking west along the trail...

After our hike along the TCT and back...5 km, we went for a walk through the campground. There are a lot of reserved sites for the weekend but with the rainy forecast, I wonder how many will cancel.

About 2:00 we decided to go for another quad ride. This time we rode west along the forestry service, which follows the river for just over 2 kms and then heads south up into the mountains. We checked out a few different trails. One trail took us to a gathering spot where the "Right Nuts" ATV Club of Chilliwack had built this shelter...

We went up the mountain, following this trail...the signs say it is Windy Knob Loop but at this point we decided to turn around and go back the way we came. There was no indication how far the "loop" was and our GPS's didn't even show a loop. But we managed to get a signal on our MiFi way up here in the clouds!

We got back just after 4:00...a good couple of hour ride. Steve pulled out the Campfire-In-A-Can and we enjoyed our happy hour outside by the fire.

Saturday morning we headed out shortly after 10:00 for a hike along the TCT...today I had the backpack with our umbrellas and MiFi and iPad. In addition to wanting to check our email, Steve wanted to check on the status of our replacement Olympus camera...Purolator is shipping it to an outlet in Chilliwack. It was another cloudy cool day...with rain in the forecast.

Here are a couple of very nice properties on the other side of the river...








Pig statue in a backyard....

We were back home at about 11:30 where we sat outside for a bit but it was chilly out, so I went inside.

After lunch, Steve went back outside with his camera while I stayed inside baking and staying warm. He took tons of great pictures of rafters and hummingbirds...here are a few...

It started raining at about 2:00 so we spent the rest of the afternoon inside...Steve editing his pictures while I read.

Sunday...Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! We did our resistance exercises and after puttering around for a bit, it was about 11:15 by the time we headed out for our walk along the TCT...and to check our emails/texts.

Back home, we sat outside until it started to rain....so we went inside and read for for most of the afternoon. We thought we'd try a game of Rummikub...it was okay with just the 2 of us playing but it's more fun with 4. The sun actually broke through just after 4:00 so we had a short happy hour outside, before heading back in once the rain started again.

Monday was basically a repeat of yesterday....walk along the TCT, check email, sitting inside reading. By late afternoon, since it wasn't raining, we decided to drive into Chilliwack to pick up my camera...it was waiting for us at the Purolator outlet. After sending back the camera for repairs twice and having it still not fixed, Steve wanted a new camera...not another repair. Well, we ended up with a refurbished one...hope it's okay! We certainly have not been impressed with this Olympus TG-2 camera!

Tuesday was our last full day at Tamihi Creek so we wanted to go for one last quad ride. We headed out at about 11:30.

Just a little creek to cross...the bridge was washed out...

The forecast for today was sunny with cloudy periods...it was more like cloudy with a sunny period late afternoon!

Had to turn around here...

Beautiful wildflowers...

A couple of hours later we were home...and it was time to load the quads...

We were sitting outside relaxing when we noticed these fellows rafting down the river. They stopped and got out at this rock with a chainsaw! Looks like they were trying to cut a log that had gotten hung up on the rock. They were from the Chilliwack Rafting Tour Company clearing their route.

Although the weather wasn't great, we really enjoyed our stay here and will definitely be back....maybe in September when the river is lower and fishing is open. We are continuing east tomorrow...but only a short distance to Sunshine Valley RV Resort, about 14 kms east of Hope, BC on Hwy 3.