Thursday, May 18 to Tuesday, May 30, 2017 (Tunkwa Provinicial Park, Logan Lake, BC)

Again, I am way behind on our blog updates but we've had a very weak WiFi signal here the past couple of weeks, not to mention being pretty darned busy...so I'll do a quick overview of our days.

The May long weekend is always the busiest weekend for Tunkwa Provincial Park...folks anxious to get back out in nature after a long winter, or the great fishing?...a combination of both I would imagine. The campers actually start rolling in early in the week so come Friday, all three campgrounds are jammed packed.

Thursday, Doug took Steve out to show him how to "shock" the water pumps...something that has to be done once a month...

Hugh taking a camper's boat down to the boat launch (just another "service" offered here!)...very handy for folks arriving in a truck/camper or motorhome towing their boat...

There is a stream that runs between Leighton Campground and North Leighton Campground...the water is really high and rushing this year...

You can stand on the foot bridge and see the fish below in the water...

Also lots of waterfoul...

My responsibility for the long weekend was cleaning outhouses...all 24 of them (16 at Tunkwa, and 4 at each of the 2 Leighton Lake campgrounds). For the long weekend, they had to be done 3 times per day (around 9 a.m., 3:00 and then one final check at around 7:00). Steve helped me with the first round each morning and then went onto other duties, had a break and then did evening security, making sure that all of the campers behaved themselves.

Campers on the spit...

Putting the dock in at the day use area...

 

Friday morning, a couple of fellows from the Logan Lake RCMP detachment came out and off-loaded their quads...

They took a ride through the campgrounds (always good to have a police presence on a very busy long weekend)...and then went out to patrol some of the trails...

The day didn't end so well for one of them, though...on his way out of the service yard, he got stuck. So much water around this spring...and the yard has it's fair share! Very boggy! Hugh managed to pull him out with his 4x4 truck...

On our Saturday morning round of doing outhouses, Steve took some pictures to show just how busy the campgrounds are. One thing that is unique in this park is that there are numerous sites, in all campgrounds, that have 2, 3 or 4 picnic tables allowing for groups of campers to camp together. It's amazing how many RV's can fit in together on the big grassy fields.

The next two pictures are at North Leighton campground...the one that allows ATV's and also has a staging area and a corridor through the park allowing access the trails...

Now we're at Tunkwa campground...

Lots of groups here too.

After we had finished cleaning all of the outhouses, we made a trip over to the day use area on the other side of Tunkwa Lake. There is a dedicated day use only area, as well as day use areas at Tunkwa and Leighton campgrounds. We have to empty the garbage and clean the one outhouse (this is done 3 times per week). Look at all those RV's on the other side of the lake...

Close up of Tunkwa campground looking from the day use area...

Steve taking pictures while I clean the outhouse (see the park truck and outhouse on the left?)...

Tunkwa Lake Resort (there is a private resort as well as some private cabins surrounded by provincial park property)...

Entrance into Tunkwa campground...

We just returned from the day use area across the lake...

Just before 1:00 everyone gathered at the tent in the compound for lunch...Sue had made a big pot of chili...



From left, going around...Volunteers, Barb and Brian (from Leighton Lake) and Hugh; Doug, me and Sue...

A delicious lunch...chili, salad and buns...yum! Thanks guys!

The campers had wonderful weather this May long weekend...quite a change from last year when it poured all weekend!

Every year a group from the Croatian Fish and Game Club come up from the lower mainland. They like to sing into the wee hours after a day of fishing, and also feed some of the staff here with lamb, pork, turkey, chicken and desert...

We had over 300 RV's in the three campgrounds for the holiday long weekend...

Monday the campers started packing up and heading home...lots of firewood is left behind. Steve and Doug had to separate out all the bad wood from the good to throw on the burning pile...

 As most were leaving, a couple of rigs arrived at the horse corral site in North Leighton campground. There are two horse campsites...one here and one at Tunkwa campground.

 Leighton Lake is so calm...

The campground is slowly clearing out...

 After a very busy day of cleaning outhouses and sites, we managed to find some shade and relax...

Steve and I enjoyed a cocktail (or 2) and toasted our 35th Wedding Anniversary...

Tuesdays Doug and Sue have a day off (LOL) and leave the park in our hands and head into Kamloops to run a zillion errands, both for the park and personal. The predicted storm has arrived...it was a very windy day on the lake ...look at those whitecaps! No fishers out there today!

The wind wasn't as bad at North Leighton and only one RV left on the waterfront...

 A mountain of recycling left to sort from the campers...

Well...all that wind we had yesterday brought a major change in the weather today...we woke up to snow Wednesday (24th)! We went from temperatures in the high 20's C (80's F)...to snow!

Wednesday is our day off...and our turn to drive into Kamloops. I took this picture as we were leaving the compound...look at the fresh snow on the mountains...

 Trees down from the storm as we near Logan Lake...

And when we hit the highway...snow!

After a busy day shopping (and going out for an Anniversary lunch), we headed home. Thankfully, the snow was gone!

I cooked dinner that night for Sue's birthday. The prime rib roast turned out good (maybe a little too "pink" for some)...we even had birthday cake but unfortunately the picture of Sue blowing out the candles was blurry. Happy Birthday, Sue! Wishing you many, many more! xo

Thursday after our 4 hour work day, we went into Logan Lake. I had a parcel to pick up at the post office and we also needed some fast WiFi...so we went to the Black Bull Pub, had a beer and got on-line.

For dinner that night, Sue and Doug drove into Logan Lake to pick up pizza. The original plan had been to have it Tuesday night...a treat for everyone to celebrate the end of a busy long weekend. Unfortunately, the pizza place was closed Tuesday...so they changed it to Thursday instead. Notice that I was first in line to get my slice before the others...LOL

Friday, Steve and I painted some outhouses...

Saturday was another day off for us. Steve managed to get out fishing...

It was a beautiful hot day with no breeze...

Steve lost a couple and caught a couple, a 12" and a 14". Apparently 10 lb trout have been caught here...

While he was doing that, I got some much needed housework done.

After a morning out in the boat fishing, Steve decided to off-load the quads...

We get our quads serviced at GA Checkpoint Yamaha in Abbotsford and they detailed them, making them look brand new!

Sunday and Monday, for the most part, was spent scraping and wire brushing picnic tables at Tunkwa campground then painting them. We won't get to them all but weather permitting, we hope to get those that need it the most done...

The tables are supposed to be replaced next year so we're just putting some lipstick on them!

 Ta da! Done!

Steve took a break from painting to take a picture of the waterfall into Leighton Lake. If you look to the left you can just barely see Tunkwa Lake that flows into Leighton Lake. These are man made lakes...

Tuesday again...and Doug and Sue head into Kamloops. I was in charge of cleaning all of the outhouses, while Steve went with Brian to drop garbage off at the dump just outside of Logan Lake. They had to make a couple of trips, plus gas up the trucks and gas cans. On one of the trips, Steve snapped a picture of the work being done at the junction of highway 97C and Tunkwa Lake Road...there had been a lot of water damage from winter storms so they had to install a much larger culvert at the intersection...

Well, that's it for now...and it pretty well brings us up-to-date...well almost. Tomorrow is our day off and we are heading out on the quads...stay tuned for that!