Tuesday and Wednesday, September 8 and 9, 2015 (Tunkwa Provincial Park, Logan Lake, BC)

Tuesday, September 8...time to move on! After 5 months in one spot, it's always worrisome when you pack up the trailer....but all slides went in, jacks and stabilizers went up fine and we pulled out of our spot...so far, so good! The same went for Doug and Sue and their trailer...

After a brake check, lights check...and one final walk-around, we were all set to go!

Doug and Sue headed out of the compound first. Monck Road is very lumpy and we will be taking it very slow in our rig...they are able to go a little faster and also will be making a stop in Merritt, so we will connect with them at the sani-dump in Logan Lake. Our destination today is Tunkwa Provincial Park north of Logan Lake.

It was a cool, rainy travel day. Oh well...it was great to be on the road again! We went by Mamit Lake as we travelled north on highway 97C...

We arrived at the sani-dump five minutes before Doug and Sue. After we both filled up with fresh water, we continued north on Tunkwa Lake Road. Steve loves this house overlooking it's own private little lake...


Wildlife along the side of the road...free range cattle all over the place...

We have ourselves a convoy! Yup...that's Doug and Sue following us...

Shortly after 11:00 a.m., we arrived at Tunkwa Provincial Park. There are three campgrounds within the park...Tunkwa Lake, Leighton Lake and Leighton North. We plan on staying at Leighton North so that Steve can offload the quads...he and Doug just might have to go for a ride while we are here!

Our favourite site, the one we had last year when we were here, was available so we took it and Doug and Sue took the next one...

After getting set up, Doug took Tucker for a walk down to the water...and what did Tucker find to roll in? A dead fish! Oh Tucker! His mom and dad weren't very happy with him...so with a bucket and shampoo, they took Tucker to the water pump. Bath time! "Save me Auntie Dianne!"

After getting our satellite dish set up, Steve went over to give Doug a hand at finding a satellite signal on his...

We woke to a cool day Wednesday but at least some blue sky was making its way through the clouds. Doug and Tucker enjoying the morning sunshine...

Our site...great views of the lake out the back windows...

Steve and I went for a walk around the campground...that's Leighton Campground over there...

We took the trail towards Leighton Campground...

 ...and walked through the campground...

 ...and back. That's our trailer up there on the right...

Wednesday afternoon we all piled into Doug and Sue's truck and drove to Paska Lake. We had spent quite a bit of time there last year and Steve wanted to show it to Doug...as another fishing lake he might want to try sometime. Tucker enjoyed the water!

 Paska Lake campground...

On the way towards Logan Lake we came across this RCMP officer trying to get a cow off the highway...too funny!

Once back at Leighton Lake, Steve and Doug got right to work blowing up their float tubes and getting their rods and gear ready...time to go fishing!

Steve wants to trade in his doughnut for a bigger tube...

Our campground in the distance...

Fish on!!!!

Even though they were both using the same fly, a gold beaded black leech Doug caught 6 fish and Steve only had a couple of strikes. The difference was Steve was using a sinking line and Doug was using a sinking tippet...

 Happy Hour around the campfire!

Complete with a lovely sunset...

Followed by a delicious dinner...steak, baked potatoes, caesar salad and garlic toast...

Topped off with Disaronno Amaretto...

and homemade coffee cake that Sue made...Yum!

 Then it was time to introduce Sue and Doug to Rummikub...

Steve and I won all of the games we played but Sue and Doug caught on easily and I think a re-match tomorrow might be on the agenda!

Tuesday, August 25 to Monday, September 7, 2015 (Monck Provincial Park, Quilchena, BC)

Well, I guess it's about time I hunkered down and worked on getting our blog up-to-date...here we are heading into the middle of September already! I wasn't very motivated to do an update while still at Monck...not much new to report, so I decided to wait until we got to Fort Langley to do a recap. Well, the "recap" ended up being waaaay to long, so I decided to break it down into a few blog posts (okay...five or six? lol)...So here we go...


Life carried on as usual at Monck during our last couple of weeks there. More smoke from wildfires funneled in through the Nicola Valley but it didn't stop folks from getting out and enjoying the lake...



Sunset on the late shift...

Time to start gradually packing up...

One of the campsites had a bear visit during the night...

 ...leaving paw prints on the table as it checked out dishes left out...

 Paw prints on the bear-proof garbage bins...

 More evidence of a bear in the park...

 A very windy day out on the lake...

The campfire ban was lifted and on September 1 we had our first "real" campfire since the ban went into effect last July 3...

Steve's last early shift and time to reflect...

We enjoyed happy hours around a real campfire!

As Steve worked his last few shifts, he took some pictures of what the outside guys have been dealing with over the summer. Most campers are great, but when you have to deal with the mess from those that have no respect for the park or consideration for staff on a daily bases it wears you down by the end of the season. Toilet paper on the bathroom floors...

...garbage left in and around the firepits...

 You wouldn't believe how many rocks and bolders the guys have had to pick up since last April!

Monday, September 7 was our last day of work. We both had the afternoon/evening shift, so we hitched up and were basically all ready to leave first thing in the morning...

 My final shift in the gatehouse...

...and Steve's last shift...Yaah!

On Steve's last shift there were several bears spotted in the park.  He chased this one from the gatehouse and out of loop one...

To celebrate our last night, Doug and Sue had a campfire going when I got off shift at 7:30. Friends of theirs, Mark and Linda, also popped up and joined us for a bit. By the time Steve got off work, he was "a few" drinks behind...but he joined us in a toast to the end of the summer season at Monck Park. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures...sheesh!