West Coast Wonderlust

On the road again...

Over Easter Weekend, Kait and I had the opportunity to get out of Vancouver and head up to the Shuswap located in the interior of British Columbia to visit her parents. On the Thursday after we finished up work around 6:30pm, we got changed out of our swim gear and jumped into the Outlander to start our three and half hour drive East along the Trans-Canada. The weather was wet and grey. It was raining harder than I had seen all year, making it very difficult to see. To add to the fun of driving in that, many of the drivers around us thought that was a great time to be excessively speeding and cutting others off. It was a blast. Once we hit Chilliwack, the rain let up a little but not by much and we made a stop to top up on gas and to refill window wiper fluid. We jumped back on the highway and continued along towards the Coquihalla.

It wasn't long before the weather got worse again and the rain persisted until we reached Merritt where it started steadily easing off. From Merritt to Kamloops, the drive was nice and peaceful and it didn't take long for us to reach Kamloops where we were staying for the night.

Once we reached Kamloops, we made our way to my sister's place to drop off our gear and to shower.

Google Image

We had plans to go out that night to Carlos O'Bryans with my sister Kath and her fiance Devon for some drinks and food. Kait, Kath and Devon had been constantly telling me about "Pachos" ( the waffle fries/nachos for those of you who haven't had them) for weeks before heading down for Easter weekend. To say the least I try them and they were delicious, I plan to go back to get some more some day. If you ever are in Kamloops and are going out to a bar or club, make a stop there and get some pachos. You will not be disappointed.

Pachos. Photo taken off of Google.

Anyway, after we were done at the pub, we retired back to my sister's place for more drinks and some card games. The night ended around 3:30am. The next morning, we all had breakfast together. Kath spoiled us all with pancakes, bacon, eggs, and lots of good fruit. We talked for a while and then around noon, we packed up our stuff and after saying good-bye and headed out.

The Kuli Bear

Storm.

We drove another hour to Salmon Arm and arrived at Kait's parents' place where we received an overwhelming welcome by their dogs. Kait's parents just got a second Alaskan Malamute and named her Storm. She is only about 14 weeks old and they also have a four year old Malamute named Kuli as well as a Jack Russel named Jack. After settling in and talking, we all went into town to deal with some car stuff and to go for a walk with the dogs. The two dogs, Kuli and Storm, are gorgeous and have the most wonderful temperaments, they will cuddle you to death. Anyway, we took them for a walk through McGuire Lake and eventually onto part of the Rotary Trail heading up the hill towards the Tim Hortons.

Osprey scanning the water for some fish.

At McGuire Lake, we got lots of nice photos of ducks, a turtle, and some nice looking birds that were hiding in some plants by the lake. We even got a few shots of an osprey which was flying around looking for some lunch. After several laps around the lake the osprey snagged a big, bright orange fish out of the water and carried it off to its nest. It was really cool to watch. From the lake, we kept walking up the hill along a trail that led to the one of the highschool campuses, which is known as Jackson campus. Kait spend Grade 8-10 in this school. We continued through a tunnel and along the trail up the hill until we reached the Okanagan College's Salmon Arm Campus, which is just across from the Salmon Arm Rec Centre where Kait start her Lifeguarding Career . Another short section of the trail led us to residential streets which we followed to the Tim Hortons nearby where we got lunch. We ended up eating in an ATM booth. We're not weird people, it was just rainy outside and the dog arnt aloud in Tim Hortans especially Kuli, stormy might have gotten away with it because she pretty damn cute.We just wanted to be dry and warm while we ate.

Baby duck swimming past some reed.

Turtle sunbathing.

After our ATM lunch break, we took the same route back down the hill to the college. We stopped there to play around on a group of metal drums before continuing on towards the highschool, back down around McGuire Lake and all the way to the truck. After giving the dogs some water after their long walk we went home and spent the night relaxing around the house and playing with the dogs.

Playing with the pup.

On the Saturday and Sunday, we spent our time visiting some of Kait's extended family, wandering around Salmon Arm, and going to the movie theatre where we saw Transcendence. It was great seeing her family and meeting more of them. Wandering around Salmon Arm was fun too, and we got to see a lot of interesting little shops and some nice cafes. As for Transcendence, it was a very interesting movie. It definitely makes you feel a little less trusting with technology.

Viewpoint from Monday's hike along Adam's River.

On Monday, we went for another hike along Adam's River as well as along a couple beaches on Shuswap Lake. The weather was fairly nice that day, with a mix over overcast and sun. From the parking lot, we made our way along the Wade Road Trail until we hit a fork. From there, we took the River Trail where, as you may have guessed it, we followed the river (Surprised?). The first thing that Kait and I noticed was that the trail and the surrounding forest and bush is much more dry.

We are very used to our Pacific Northwest rainforest where it's nearly always raining and when it isn't, there are usually still puddles and rain droplets all around. The ground is often quite muddy too.

Along Adam's River, the beginning of the trail was bone dry. On the one side, there was a very steep hill mixed with cliffs which led down to the river itself. On the other side, there was a steep hill made up of sand and rock mixed with a few grassy areas and some trees. After the fork though, it was very different. Along the river and the trail, there was a mix of conifer and birch trees with lilies and other plants growing up along the forest floor and as we went along, we found mushrooms growing along many of the birch trees. We followed the trail for a couple of kilometers before heading down to a rocky beach where the dogs played in the water for a few minutes. After that, we made our way back up the the trail and continued following the river upstream until we came up to a nice vantage point with a good view of the river.

We stopped there for some more pictures.

After the vantage point, we only walked another couple hundred metres before turning around to head back to the truck. We decided that we were going to take a short drive to another small trail about 15 minutes away from Adam's River. This particular trail is where the Salmon Run occurs in the fall around Thanksgiving. People from all over the world come to watch this incredible event. Kait has been telling me about the Salmon Run since we met, and this upcoming Fall we have decided to head to Adams River for the Salmon Run. Fortunately it is a dominant year and is predicted to be one of the largest runs yet.

The section of the second trail we hiked was quite short because it is a direct route to the lake.We followed it until it opened up into a beach with a nice view of Shuswap Lake. Once we reached the beach, we didn't walk far but it was still one of the coolest parts of the day. We let the dogs run around in the shallow water for a while before we sat down for a snack.

Before sitting down though, we spotted a brown bear cub.


Lunch Break.

It was just off the beach, probably about 50 or 75 metres away, give or take. Kait grabbed the camera and started snapping off shots of it. The bear noticed us too and got spooked so it turned tail and bolted for the forest. Kait got some good shots of it before it disappeared though. It was a cool experience for me. Living in North Vancouver, I had only seen a black bear once before, and that was through a rifle scope with the bear about a kilometer away while on a hunting trip out by Kelowna. Long story short: it was awesome to see one so close.

Following our snack break, we made our way back to the truck for our final stop of the day. We headed further down the lake toward Scotch Creek and stopped at the provincial park. This is the park Kait spend a lot of her time at when she was a kid. Her parents and sister use to bike ride here frequently. The beach was rocky, but we sat down for a while to rest and gaze out across the lake towards Copper Island . The dogs were pretty tired too, especially little Storm. She decided to hop up on Kait's dad's chest and act all cute and she didn't have to try hard to accomplish that.

Puppy cuddles.

A loon was catching a late afternoon snack out in the water and shortly after it dove under a group of geese flew in for a landing. We hung around in the sun for a half an hour or so before heading home for the day. It was a busy but wonderful day in the Shuswap.

The next day, Kait and I packed up the Outlander and made our way back home to Vancouver.

Our masterpiece.

Other than having to jerry-rig my window wiper back on after the pin holding it in place broke just outside Hope, the ride home was an uneventful one.

It was a fantastic holiday and a needed one too.

-A & K