Steve's Blog Review - 2012 PART 2 of 4

2012 Blog Review Part 2 of 4

If you missed my 2010- 2012 Part 1 Blog Reviews go to the header at the top of the page

June 20th-26th

Finally on the move again we started off at the Maple Bay Campground at Cultus Lake Provincial Park in the Fraser Valley...

I caught and lost a fish the day before...no luck for Dianne...

We had a hell of a thunder and lightening storm with hail and heavy rain which had us quite concerned being amongst the tall trees...

New friends Neil and Lisa we had met at Fort Camping in Fort Langley stopped by for a visit. They were work camping at the Thousand Trails Resort just up the road...

We did a day trip to the very beautiful Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park. The campground at the time seemed to be more conducive to smaller rigs. Hiking is very popular here...

June 27th-July 3rd

We attended the ATVBC Poker Run based at the rodeo grounds in Merritt...

This picture reminds me of Barb Nelson of Jim and Barb's RV Adventure...

Lunch break while exploring the area before the Poker Run begins...

We had an ATV rodeo which had 5 events you could enter. The first event was Polo where you had to hit a ball with a mallet around 3 barrels while driving your quad in a figure 8...this is Sue...

We entered the Blind Faith event where I'm blind folded and Dianne has to direct me around 3 barrels. (She really enjoys telling me where to go...if you know what I mean...LOL!) I thought I was moving at a fair speed but apparently I was hardly moving. What a blast...we came in 3rd and won a bug zapper!

My Elk hunting partner Don, flying thru the obstacle course over a log...

Once completed he had to eat a dangling mustard covered wiener...LOL! What a fun event!

Let the Poker Ride begin!

Dianne picking a card for her poker hand from Al 

Some choose going around the muddy water while others head for it...

This young fellow liked to tempt fait by doing this as well as many cat walks. The town of Merritt below...

Directors at the time, Doug, Ralph, and President Zan with the raffle prize behind them. A Can-Am 400 and no we didn't win :(

We had a blast and could hardly wait for the next event...the ATV GPS run at Three Valley Gap near Revelstoke...

July 3rd-9th

Sheridan Lake Resort, Lone Butte...located on the fishing highway 24 known for it's countless lakes...

I had tried to drive the truck to the boat launch and got stuck. It doesn't look like it but there is an incline to the road which wouldn't let me proceed. There had been a lot of rain here the day before so I left a couple of very deep ruts. I decided to offload the boat here, then one of the ropes broke...geez!

Sheridan Lake is a world class fishing lake with rainbows in excess of 10 lbs but is also known to be a moody lake. It was moody for me but I did catch a 14" trout and failed to get a picture...

We explored some other areas to see if there were any other campgrounds one of which was

Bridge Lake Provincial Park that had narrow roads with too many tree branches and small sites for a rig our size...

We met up with Ralph and Sheila that live nearby at Deka Lake for a ride. They are members of the Quad Squad South Cariboo ATV Club. We were doing a 49 km steak dinner ride today to café in 70 Mile House.

We passed by a Beaver Lodge... 

While trying to avoid a water puddle Frank didn't notice the large branch ahead and ran into it driving it between his frame and axle. It took pounding it with a large rock and using Mario's winch to finally free it...

Steak dinner all around!

Dusty ride back! We had a great time and met some new people...

On another outing on Sheridan Lake I spotted some deer on one of the islands...

I caught a 22" rainbow trout!

Ralph and Sheila stopped by for a visit. We were following them the next day to the ATV GPS Run at Three Valley Gap near Revelstoke...

July 10th-17th

We passed a large burn area along the North Thompson River near Barriere as we head to Three Valley Gap, near Revelstoke for the ATV GPS run...

There's an upper and a lower gravel pit to choose from. We chose the lower...

It was an extremely hot day...36C/97F in the shade so later in the day some of us went for a ride and got a fabulous view of the Three Valley Lake Chateau and Ghost Town...

The following day another exploratory ride...

Fabulous views!

Mario, Dianne and I went together to buy our GPS hands, 3 cards for a total of 12 markers to find. We had never done this type of event before so it was great to have Mario show us the ropes...

We travelled 56 km/35 miles to our furthest marker, recorded it, then checked the coordinates for the next one as we worked our way back...

We found another in this old log cabin...

Mario taking in the view. He lives in Powell River and seems to ride darn near every day of the year posting lots of beautiful photos of his area. In the winter he removes the tires and installs tracks...who needs a snowmobile!

Our event organizer Three Valley Al with the event trophy.  Ralph and Sheila won first place of $150 as well as second place for a night at the Three Valley Lake Chateau! They will have their names engraved on the trophy... 

Mario won a digital version of the BC Backroads Map Book and Dianne won a baseball hat...

I won a Can-Am vest but own a Yamaha! When the rain started I had another use for it...

With the event over many of us stayed and explored more areas...

We were now the only ones left and wanted to check out Three Valley Lake Chateau and Ghost Town...

Heritage Ghost Town...

In the Carriage House...

The Railway Roundhouse was pretty cool...

This is the business car that former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1982 gave the middle finger to picketers in Salmon Arm...

Antique Car Museum. Three Valley Chateau and Heritage Ghost Town was much more than we had expected and is definitely a must see if you're passing by... 

July 18th-25th

Herald Provincial Park, Shuswap Lake near Salmon Arm

With the lake so high there wasn't much of a beach...

There are some very scenic hiking trails here...

Dianne on the bridge...

This is Margaret Falls. Apparently there is a small cave behind the falls and this guy watches his buddy enter the falls...

It wasn't long before he was back out... crazy!!

From another trail we got a great view of the campground and lake below...

Shuswap Lake is huge 

Ahhh!

Final hike...

Busy day at the beach...

July 26th-28th

Hitch'N Rail Resort on Hefley Lake

I had seen this lake on a fishing show and wanted to give it a try. Also my former co-workers Gunter and Eileen from Pacific Controls Ltd., head office in Vancouver, have a house here overlooking the lake. Gunter was the boss man and Eileen was the company accountant. They retired about 9 years before we did.

Motorized rafts seem to be a thing here...

They picked us up the next day for a tour around their area. They took us to Sun Peaks Resort

The ski hill...

Being summertime the village was fairly quiet...

We went to their very beautiful home and got the grand tour. As a wine drinker Dianne was very impressed with the wine cellar!

They gave us the grand tour of the lake on their motorized raft...adult bevvy's and appies included!

We finished off a perfect day with a delicious dinner. It was great seeing them after so many years...

I did get out fishing the following day but had no luck. Earlier I had passed under an Eagle perched above me with a couple of Eaglets.  

When this guy caught his fish the Eagle swooped down to get it. Knowing she had babies he killed the fish and thru it back into the water. Within seconds she swooped down again and grabbed it.

This was very cool to watch!

The party raft...

July 29th-August 7th

We moved onto Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park which is located between Kamloops and Merritt

We had chosen an open area up on the hill for solar, satellite reception, and the view. Due to a pine beetle infestation a large portion of the park had been logged but the sites along the waterfront were heavily treed. While here we got a little work done, did a lot of hiking and biking exploring the surrounding area. With the heat of the summer and the lake being shallow I'd heard the fishing wasn't great so didn't bother launching the boat. 

Fireweed in bloom...

August 8th-12th

I'm in my glory as we camped for a few days at the home of Canada's largest air show...the

 Abbottsford International Air Show

RCAF CF-18 Hornet

Canadian Search and Rescue Buffalo...

Spitfire

P51-Mustang

RCAF Snow Birds Air Demonstration Team...

World's fastest school bus...

Worlds only jet powered outhouse...

We had an issue with our neighbours. Full story on the blog...

Web Album of Abbotsford 50th Anniversary International Air Show

August 13th to September 4th

Back to North Saanich (Victoria) on Vancouver Island  for a wedding, family and friend visits, and the dreaded and stressful cleaning out, disposing of, and garage sale of my dads household belongings and moving him into a independent living facility.

We met our son's beautiful new girlfriend and now wife Angela...

Attended the outdoor wedding of Dianne's niece Vanessa here with dad Dwight...

Visited my sister Nadine and brother in-law Mike. Their daughter Amanda, me, Mike, my brother Dave, my son Rob...

Rob's wife Angie, my nephew Matthew and Nadine

We went up island to meet long time family friends of my parents for breakfast...Doreen and Gerry along with my brother Dave and his girlfriend at the time Kerry, now his wife. They were visiting from Thompson, Manitoba...

Dad treated the family to dinner as a thank-you for all the hard work everyone has done...going around the table from left to right...Rob, my dad Steve Sr., Dave, Kerry, Dianne, me, Amanda, Matthew, Mike, Nadine, Sylvia and Angie...

We went to dinner at Milestones overlooking the inner harbour with long time friends Rob and Nancy. Rob and I have been buddies since grade 8... 

That's a wrap of my 2012 Blog Review Part 2 of 4