Leo's Birthday Roadtrip

 

For Leo's birthday we decided to do one of our favorite activities:  disaster tourism. We headed down to Spences Bridge to travel on Highway 8 which follows the Nicola River to Merritt.  We hadn't been down this highway since it was washed away in the big floods of 2021.

The river valley is much wider now and the road has been relocated, sometimes on the other side of the river.

We stopped at our old favorite campground, N'Kwala recreation site.  The site is officially closed and part of the road has been washed out but the upper area is still accessible and the outhouses are still functional.  A couple of people were camping there, but we moved on. We ate supper at an Indian restaurant in Merritt and camped at 

Connie is not so sure about the giant squirrel with the creepy talons

Monck Provincial  Park on Nicola Lake.  Now for my usual rant about the BC Parks reservation system!  It was the Monday of the Labour Day weekend.  The park was half empty.  The gatehouse was closed but there was a sign saying that reservations were required to the end of September.  However, there were just 4 emergency sites for people travelling through for one night.  

We traveled light and slept in a tent!

Fortunately, we were able to get one of those sites but . . . there were empty lakefront sites we could have stayed in.  What if there were more than 4 parties that showed up?  We are rulebreakers and would have stayed in an empty site but what if a reserved camper arrived late?  It seems like these days BC Parks is all about maximizing revenue and not about encouraging BC citizens to get out and enjoy our parks.

Nevertheless wereally enjoyed our short stay.  We went for a swim and then checked out the trail that goes up the hillside with nice views of the lake.

Bit smoky from the Shetland Wildfire near Spences Bridge

We had to turn around before the end of the trail because it was getting dark.

The next morning I was thrilled to see a pygmy nuthatch, a first for me in BzC, we are more used to seeing these in Arizona.  This is a bird whose range just sneaks into southern BC though I suppose it's expanding its range northward like many other birds thanks to climate change.

No photo, but here is a vesper sparrow.

Just after we left the park we saw this bear run across the road.

Then we took Highway 5a to Kamloops. We didn't think we'd ever driven this road before. It was lovely! It skirts the south side of Nicola Lake past the historic Quilchena ranch and hotel and up a narrow valley to Knutsford.   Actually I would have driven this way with my family when I was a kid.

We saw pelicans in Stump Lake which surprised us since the only pelican colony in BC is in the Chilcotin on Stum Lake (and now Puntzi Lake possibly).  These ones perhaps came from the prairies and are migrating to the coast.

Lunch was at the Coconut in Kamloops and then we drove home. Happy 73rd Birthday Leo!