That's enough...
We stand ready to forge the McCloud River, Ralph in his canoe, Georg and Christine in their inflatable river boat and Ken and I in our canoes.
Ken and Ralph haul the boats over a log jam.
Carl gets ready for a little evening campfire in the back yard.
Chris and I start the campfire.
A great ride to the alpine meadows on Yanks Peak.
You don't know who you will run into out in the bush?!?!
Another cool but beautiful sunset over Tatla Lake.
Ken and Gabriel, a member of the Chilcoton Indian Band who gave us a tour for the Pithouse and new medicine bathhouse they are building at Chilco Lake.
Inside the Pithouse where the members hold meetings and ritual ceremonies.
Christine, Georg, Ken and Myself relax and have a snack on a afternoon hike.
As we slowly travel south to the Okanagan Valley we are visiting a few of our favourite spots. We popped back into Carp Lake P.P. to visit Ralph, where we rondez vous'd with Georg and Christine, our friends from Austria that here in Canada visiting for the 11th time, this stay only 6 weeks in duration. Ralph suggested that a canoe/kayak trip down the McCloud River might be a nice way spend an hour or two, 5 hours and about 20 log jams later we arrived back at the campground tired but smiling with a good story to tell.
After Carp Lake it was off to visit Chris and Carl in Likely again... likely story! Ken and I wanted to do a few motorbike rides in this area that we couldn't do in June when we were there because the weather was just too wet, the Likeyly to Barkerville road via Ghost Lake and the Likely to Barkerville trail over Yanks Peak. The road via Ghost Lake was closed due to washouts but managed to make it through the 6 ft ditches and blockades but ended up riding back on the highway through Quesnel because we ran out of time. Two days later we rode Yanks Peak which is really only a gnarly snowmobile trail system, it always amazes me where that KTM can go with Ken at the helm. All I can do during these rides is hang on for dear life! Once again grins and great stories. We hate leaving Chris and Carl's but we will see them soon in the Baja!
Tatla Lake is always on our list of must stops, always lots of good riding and until this stop we thought lots of good fishing. Unfortunately all Ken caught this time around was squaw fish and they were quickly returned to the water. We took a few ride around the area to Chilko Lake and Bluff Lake, took in the Tatla Lake fall fair along with a lot of nice locals selling fresh baking and veggies. Guess who showed up? George and Christine, we had been chasing each other around the Chilcoton and we finally caught up to each other at Tatla Lake. It seemed as good a place as any to enjoy a beer and a warm fire before they headed home to Innsbruck.
Our thought around the fire...isn't it funny how not much more than 100 years ago, chopping wood and living off the land was a daily occurrence-all in a days work, today we go out looking for time away from work so we can...chop wood and live off the land. Hmmm!
If you listen carefully you can probably hear the rain once again falling on the roof our camper. We have had about enough, it is time to head home and get cleaned up, dry out the camper and get the bikes ready for the trip to Mexico. See you there.