saturday in the 4runner, and out of it.

saturday is here. what to do? a few options presented themselves, and we ended up in the truck heading up beaver lake road. knowing the rec sites would all be pretty crazy busy, we headed up a little trail towards some of the more little known rec sites. they were busy too. but we stayed anyway.

flyfish lakes #2

cutting wood on beaver lake road.

Had some time and the need today to cut some firewood. Donald came too. we packed up the truck with implements of adventure and headed up beaver lake road.

the advancing army

Even though there was no snow in the valley, the mountains are still a winter wonderland.  wood was going to involve a trudge through some deep snoe unless we found a primo log that somehow fell off a random logging truck.

lots of snow still.  and random minty firewood

behold!!! a sweet random log that looks like it fell off a logging truck.  that will do nicely.

the road up

wood, chainsaw, pelletgun, 4x4.  this picture has it all

We shot the gun, sawed until the truck was full and headed down.  it was warm enough that we didn't bother lighting a fire.  and we had nothing to cook anyway.  the firewood pile is good to go a for a bit.  can't wait for the next adventure.

oyama and beaver, in white.

Sunday... time for the church of 4 low. I called up James, a dood i met on the toy run, and we met up at the bottom of oyama rd. It was pretty cloudy but not too cold. It snowed all night, so this promised to be a pretty white adventure. not like white power, but snowy i mean.

We headed up oyama lake rd, past km 6, where truck 1 was last seen rubber side down. we paused for a moment of silence.

Then up to oyama lake resort. The lake was frozen over, but probably not frozen solid. there was a dood fishing on the ice about 10 feet from shore, but we stayed on solid ground.

oyama lake from the rec. site.

ice fishing time soon.  very soon.

Then we hopped back in the trucks and began the snowy road to beaver lake.  it was pretty much 2nd gear and 4x4 the whole way, stopping in strategic spots only.  If you stopped in the soft stuff, it might get dodgy.  about 12-18 inches of fresh pow pow.

following james along king edward rd.

winter was full on.

We stopped a few times to check out maps and talk about how awesome we were, but other than that, spent most of the time in our trucks.

don't go that way.

This was the same road we met bob on last weekend.  crazy how a week can change a road.

final stop before heading down.

I still got the firewood from this weekend in my truck, so i think we'll head out and burn it next weekend.  you should come.

first snow

It was snowing sunday morning. not at my house, but i could see it falling in the mountains. since i never took the winter tires off my truck, might as well go get them white. the snow started falling on the truck about 15 minutes up from my place. mike lau and i were pumped. fishing gear and pellet guns in the truck, and we both had long underwear on.

doreen lake.  same view as last week, just whiter

parked on the way up

we decided to head back to aberdeen lake.  we didn't really give it a good explore last weekend, so we went back this weekend to take care of unfinished business.  we drove almost completely around the lake and ended up at a sweet little camp spot.  it was sweeter after we put the old tires littering the site into the back of the truck for a proper removal.

finally settled at a sweet spot on aberdeen lake

Needless to say, it was a little chilly.  the roaring fire really helped.  we fished (mike got 2) and shot some guns and generally dominated the situation. 

mike casting into aberdeen lake

On the way down, we decided to take the awesome way.  its a trail we'd done before, and this was the perfect time of year to do it... so we did.

the trail down was a bit wet in places.

We stopped for firewood near beaver lake, and headed back home.  another solid week.  why weren't you there?  really.  i want to know.  you can come next weekend.  should be good.

thankful for 2 wheels and 4

The Sunday of a 3 day long weekend seems like the perfect time for an adventure, so thats what we did. Pat, Charlie and I piled our bikes (not charlie's bike...he's a dog and can't ride a bike yet) into the truck and headed up beaver lake road. destination: high rim trail. This is a part of the trail i've been on a few times, and also the part of the trail the Herman the Adventurous mouse started his journey in the geocache christine and i placed.

We unpacked everything and immediately got riding.   Weird that i had no recollection of the long uphill right at the beginning.  Once we got to the level top part, it was hard smooth single track.  good times.  We chilled out in a meadow that overlooked the central okanagan pretty awesomely.

the sweet singletrack through the meadows.

stopping for some pictures (and a beer)

okanagan lake in the back, duck lake in the front.

sweet okanagan day.  20 degrees.

The spot we stopped also happened to be in wrinkly face cliffs provincial park.  A place i can see from my living room window.  Cool to be ion the top of it looking down, instead of the other way around.
 

patrick chilling atop the cliff.

And, wouldn't you know it, we stumbled upon a 1971 plymouth gtx.  Stopped for some pics with it.

patrict and the gtx

hope the owner doesn't come find us messing with his car

after our break we got back on and kept on keeping on up the trail.  Patrick uttered the words "looks like this is where the shit starts" referring to fallen logs and more pointy rocks.  at that exact moment, i got a flat tire.  the shit did start there.

a little flat repair.

After fixing the flat, it was time to turn around.  there was a campfire to be had and some green army guys that we needed to shoot with the pellet gun.  so we returned to the truck and quickly found a close place to have a fire.

there are 7 army guys hiding in this picture

We spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening shooting and generally relaxing around.  good times.

It's starting to get colder here.  freezing at night and stuff.  not sure how many biking adventures we can have before we trade the bikes for snowshoes.  I'll obviously let you know.

Or... come for a first hand experience yourself sometime.  we got room.

the paddle around dee lake

Dee lake is at the top of the beaver/crooked/deer/island/dee lake chain. i'd paddled them all except dee. saturday was the day to change that. Christine and i packed up the truck and headed up beaver lake rd to island lake. there we took off the canoe, hopped in and got to it. heres the photographic evidence...

through the channel between island lake and dee lake.  dee lake resort.

into dee lake

this island put the island into island lake

the island campspot.  menatl note to self... go here with a tent

christine checking out the island

good camping views

looking towards the island lake rec. site.

It was a sweet little day trip.  good roads (though bumpy enough to rattle off the front license plate it turns out).  we'll be back.  maybe ice fishing??  definately camping on that island.

an adventure with dad

since we had spent the last 2 days in a truck driving from manitoba, smelling each others pizza hut farts, it was time for a short, mid-week adventure. outside of the small closed cab of a ford f-150. it had to be somewhere kinda close, not too crazy, and cool. beaver lake rd it is.

1st stop, high rim trail.  we headed south from beaver lake rd, on the part of the trail that tom and i snowshoed on.  pretty cool.  we saw a bear.  after about 5 km, it got pretty muddy, so we turned around.

vernon creek.  before it gets contaminated by civilization

trail workers bridge across vernon creek.

Next stop, beaver lake forestry rec. site.  we ate smokies and explored around, and schpitzeered all afternoon.  good times.  not a cloud in the sky.

rude dog at beaver lake. 

Next we took echo lake rd to king edward and into specs lake.  a spot mike and i have camped before.  a helicopter came and hovered about 3 meters off the lake.  not sure why, but it was cool.

the site at specs lake.

then it was on to oyama lake.  a short stop there to look around, then down oyama lake rd. to civilization. 

the oyama/wood lake land bridge from the viewpoint on oyama lake rd.

It was a solid adventure by all accounts.  thanks to dad for indulging some 4x4ing.  hope we can do it again soon.