Camping at Horsefly Lake Provincial Park

 We camped for 3 days att Horsefly Lake Provincial Parkwith 2 other couples.  It was fairly smoky but we managed to have a good time.

We hiked up the short trail to the viewpoint.

Pretty smoky

We saw this Orchid on the trail:

We also paddled down the Little Horsefly River into Little Horsefly Lake,

Margaret goes under the bridge

Where We saw a group of 30 merganser ducklings. The river and the lake are perfectly clear with a nice pebbled bottom (good for spawning salmon) so we could see fish swimming underneath us.  There's not much current so it was easy to paddle back upstream.

Meanwhile Leo was paddling down the Horsefly River with Kelly, who was celebrating his 51st birthday, and his family.  Later they brought cheesecake to celebrate!

Kelly and family with the cake.

It was delicious.

We also got a few refreshing swims in.  Despite the hotspell, Horsefly Lake is not yet bathtub warm like some other local lakes.  It's a big lake.

Lastly, the standard shot of the trailer we take everywhere we camp.

We lucked out and there were three unreserved campsites in a row available when we arrived.  The campsites here are smaller and closer together than is usual for a provincial park.  We were glad we were butted up against friends.  There's also overflow camping in a parking lot which is useful information if you're traveling without reservations.  One thing that annoys us is the prime lakeside sites are always reservation only sites now.  You can camp in unoccupied ones for one night but you may have to vacate the next day.

Before and After

Before

After

And After

Before

After

I finished painting our trailers walls.  It was a big job; there's a lot more taping to do than in your house plus removing the very 80s wallpaper border with its stubborn adhesive and priming the vinyl wallpaper and laminate surfaces.  Because the walls were so dark I put on  two layers of primer and then 2 layers of paint.

It's a lot brighter inside with the new paint job.

 

Messing Around in Boats

 

Been escaping the heat by paddling and swimming around the Cariboo. On July 1st we drove out to Chimney Lake.

It was very busy with people camping and picnicking on the long weekend.

A few days later Syb and Dave stopped by and we went out to Felker Lake for a paddle and swim.

Same view, different lake

Felker was a better paddle as the rec site is near the inlet and we were able to paddle up the creek a ways.

Felker Lake was bathtub warm with no cold layer underneath.  

By the time we left the sun was setting.

Spectacular sunset thanks to wildfire smoke.  That's a raft of Canada geese and goslings coming in to shore.

Last week we paddled the Horsefly.  After the record breaking hotspell, the river was very warm. (The record breaking is over, but the hotspell continues as do the wildfires.) Bad for the fish, but great for all the tubers going down the river.  Great day!

Trip to Smithers

 

We made a short visit up to Smithers to see my mom.  One day we walked down to the Bulkley River.

Lupines were in flower

As were violets and geraniums.

We got home just in time for the big heat dome event with record breaking temperatures.  We had 43 Celsius in the shade on our backyard  thermometer, previously the highest I'd seen was 37 degrees.  And of course the fires began and the town of Lytton burned down after breaking the all-time Canadian record.  49.6 Celsius!  Scary.

Which made us very worried here after being a fire hotspot in 2017.  Mercifully, we've had no big fires yet,gg and the smoke has been pretty moderate as well so far.

We're relieved to be down to 30 degree temperatures now which is hot enough, and hoping for some rain soon.

The rest of June

 

We had lots of rain in May So the flower gardens are looking good this year.  Here's a bouquet of spread and cornflowers:

We walked out at Mission Road several times.  The bobolinks were everywhere, but no photos.

Lovely day on Mission Road

The irises were looking good this year too:

Lastly we had the ALS walk in late June.  Covid regulations were loosened just in time so the virtual walk was changed to a low-key actual walk.  We just squeaked in under the 50 person maximum.

 

Circle Tour of Scout Island Marsh

In June we walked around the marsh at Scout Island by taking a little used trail that was flooded earlier in the year.

Some geraniums were growing along the causeway.

Lots of duck families were hiding out on this side of the marsh.

A female wood duck with her ducklings

In the little settling pond behind the water store there was a goldeneye with her ducklings.

The ducklings were already diving for food.

Also a blue-winged teal with her young:

And mallards

We had to climb up the steep embankment to the Hwy 20 bridge

to get to the walkway through the R.L. Cotton site, where we saw bright pink roses

And Leo got a great shot of this clay colored sparrow.

We stopped for a photo of me in the midst of the flowering mustard

before we crossed the new bridge back to Scout Island.