Sunday, August 2 to Wednesday, August 12, 2015 (Monck Provincial Park, Quilchena, BC)

Here we are...another work week has gone by! This week we both worked days. Not much different from all the other work days around here in the park. It was very busy over the long weekend...and it continued into the week.

Late Monday afternoon, smoke rolled into the area...apparently from a wildfire burning outside of Merritt. Steve took these pictures...it got so thick you couldn't even see the other side of the lake...



The mountains in the background have disappeared...

Tuesday morning smokey pictures down at the day use area...

Note the blue recycling bin next to this site...too far to walk I guess?!!! Steve also had to grab a shovel to bury the three large holes they dug along the edges of the site.

Thursday Steve got these shots of  'Notcho' and her fawns wandering through the campground to the delight of the campers...

Thursday afternoon, our friends, Earl and Alison arrived for a visit. They are attending a couple of the ATV/BC events this summer and stopped for a visit with us between events.
Happy Hour and burgers around the Campfire-In-A-Can, along with Doug, Sue and their daughter, Carlie...

Friday morning, Steve's sister, Nadine and her husband, Mike came by for a visit. They were on their way home from a family reunion in Saskatchewan. Mike, me, Steve and Nadine...

We sat and chatted for a bit and then went for a walk around the campground. We enjoyed a wonderful couple of hours with them and then they headed off...continuing their journey back to Victoria. It was great seeing them!



We had a relaxing afternoon and then Earl and Alison picked us up and we went into Merritt for dinner at Boston Pizza...

We ended the evening with a few games of Rummikub....Alison won every game; way to go Alison! Think we'll be challenging you again tomorrow night!!

Saturday morning, we headed up to a spot on a gravel road off Monck Park Road where we could off-load the quads...today is ride day! I haven't ridden since Quartzsite...it was great to get back out and explore the area!

In search of the one and only geocache along the road...

Alison found it...she hasn't lost her touch! Actually they have done some power trails over the last couple of weeks, finding just over 800 caches!

A little further up the road, we stopped at a look-out with a spectacular view of the lake...

Earl decided to plant a geocache here...

We explored a number of small lakes in the area. Our map shows no name for this lake...

Wildlife!

Earl and Alison taking in the view of Mab Lake...

Lunch at a hunters campsite on Conant Lake...

This picture was taken last April when Steve and Doug rode up here...

See how low the lake is now...

When Steve and Doug were here last the cabin was locked. Somebody has since broken the lock apart...

Here's another photo from last April...

...and now. That's where we had lunch on the other side...

We wanted to find a different route back so Steve asked Earl to take the lead. Earl has the Montana GPS with a much bigger screen than Steve's GPS so he was better able to see a larger area on the back roads map...

More cattle...

We took a few different trails that were shown to link up with the main road we came in on. The first few no longer existed but Earl eventually found our way back to the main road.

Then we decided to explore another trail that we thought would take us down to the lake and then connect further along the road. The first log blocking the trail was easily moved out of the way but the second one was way too big, so we had to find another way around it going cross country...

We came to a spot where we weren't too sure what was ahead, so Earl continued on to check it out while we waited behind. He went down the trail and then decided to turn around...well...he drove up the side bank to make his turn where he ended up too far off camber so bailed off his quad and next thing he knew, his quad was upside down! Luckily he wasn't hurt other than his pride and a few scrapes on his arm. It was brave of you Earl to happily pose for this picture. :-)

Now came the task of up-righting it! At over 800 lbs it was far too heavy to lift up hill...

With a little manpower and help from his winch, we did it! The only damage was a broken mirror and a few scratches...

I hiked back up to get my quad...and we continued down the fairly steep trail...

We got to a point where it was just too rough and steep to carry on so we decided to turn around. Back up the trail we go...

And of course, we had to go back around the log blocking the road...only 3 wheels on the ground...

Did it! (But I had a rather anxious look on my face! LOL)

Earl and Alison's turn...

After a great ride, it was time to load the quads back up...

Once home, we got cleaned up and headed down to Earl and Alison's campsite (#48...a beautiful spot)...

They cooked a wonderful steak dinner for us...yum! The skies opened up for awhile with quite a bit of rain so we had to move inside...

Then it was time for a Rummikub re-match! This time I won one game...but the rest of the game winning was shared between Earl and Alison. Steve was having a heck of a time most games just trying to get his tiles to total 30 which you need to get out...not his night.

Sunday, it was back to work again...this week, it's afternoon/evenings for us. So after a relaxing start to the day, we walked down to say goodbye to Alison and Earl. They are heading off today...enroute to the next ATV/BC event...the annual Jamboree being held in Greenwood this year.

Monday morning, since we had "played" on our 2 days off, we did our weekly shopping trip into Merritt before starting our afternoon shifts.

Tuesday morning Steve sorted recycling while I did some cleaning around the trailer. We were relaxing inside before getting ready for our shift when there was a frantic knock on the door...it was Doug B. There was a bear in loop one behind sites 10 and 11! He was back up to grab his air-horn. Steve threw on his shoes and went back down with Doug.

Doug gave a few toots with his air horn which initially startled the bear but after that he wasn't too concerned about us. At one point he gave a false charge to warn us to back off. Doug and Steve continued with the air horn, yelling and waving their arms which eventually got him moving. However it was in the wrong direction. Instead of heading out of the park he continued in behind the amphitheatre, the sani dump then behind the compound where we are.

He eventually found his way into a dry creek bed where the fencing didn't go to the ground, finally allowing his escape out of the park. That was close as he was headed into loops 2 and 3 where there was no way out.

Wednesday was another typical day...Steve did more recycling while I did the dishes and worked on this blog update. Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for our afternoon/evening shift.

It was a very hot day with temperatures into the mid 30's (C)/90's (F). I am lucky to be working in an air-conditioned gatehouse...meanwhile, the poor guys are suffering outside in the heat!

And that pretty well brings you up-to-date with life here at Monck Provincial Park. The summer will soon be winding down...hard to believe we're heading into the last couple of weeks of August...