return to cherryville and the shuswap river

So the shuswap river at the Cherryville forestry site was so sweet last weekend, we decided to head back again this weekend. This time with tents, food, beverages, and more friends. Toms brother bertie and his wife diane were in from manitoba, and the had staked out a camping spot the night before. When we got there, we wasted no time having a sweet time. We didn't take any photos friday night, so we'll start the photo documenarizint on saturday morning. With a complete breakfast (that means a corona along with eggs, bacon, sausage, and pan fries) at the golf course.

tom and breakfast

Then it was back to the river.  Bertie had spent the day before building this sweet dam.  created some awesome spots to sit and really turned up the rapids.

the dam and our swimming rapids

tom and our camp. I didn't use the fly on my tent the whole weekend.   

bertie and his sweet camping set up

downstream on the shuswap river

the lower picnic spot right by the river

a grand torino and optimus prime were also in attendance.

It was SOOOO sweet.  We saw a bear in the campspot, attended a huge farmers market in cherryville, and christine came to visit on saturday.  As well, it was the weekend of a mad meteor shower, so we were awake watching the show.  The screen tent made it easy to be in bed and watch the stars at the same time.

Crazy plans in the works for next weekend.  You should be there.

twin lakes- aug long weekend

Twin Lakes, just north of Cherryville, has been on the adventure radar for a while. We (Tom, Partick, and I) decided that this would be the time to do it. I picked up the truck on Friday from a mechanic who said he couldn't fix it, tweaked the clutch myself, and we crossed our fingers. an hour from pave,ent and cell service is not the best place to have your truck crap out.

We picked up patrick at 2... a little later than we wanted to leave, but as the saying goes, better late than never. It was a 2 hour drive to the trail head from pat's in Vernon, with the last hour being forestry roads.  We got to the trail at about 4:30 and wasted no time getting moving.

The trail climbed steeply for the first hour.  really steeply.  Then we reached the alpine meadows.

the view north from the 1st meadow

more meadow views

pretty sweet.  i want to go there too.

soon the top was in sight, and what a sight.  there is the mark berger traverse trail.  a 3 day treck along the ridges.  it starts at the same trailhead we used, but keeps on going.

ridges headed south

must be getting close now

the last meadow

pretty sweet vistas

Soon we left the meadows andinto more rocky terrain.  We followed the contours of the ridge and began to see snow fields around us, even though it was 25 degrees.

tom heading through the rock fields

Then, there were the lakes below us.snow and sun and mountains and awesome views of everything.

finally we can see the lakes

this 71 maverick somehow beat us there?

Unfortunately,we couldn't stay much longer.  it was getting dark and we still needed to get back down and find somewhere to camp.  Next time we'll bring our tents.

time to head back down.

patrick heading up from the lakes.

tom and patrick crossing a snow patch

these things were everywhere in the meadows.

We had some sweet views going down.  you don't always see what's behind you until you change directions.

It was pretty dark when we finally decided to set up camp. like "can you set up your tent in the dark" kind of dark. we found a clearing with firewood close by, cooked some food and passed right out. this was what we saw in the morning.

our "camp spot"

The next day we spent at a forestry site near cherryville. There were people, but not too many. We spent the day swimming and drinking beer and eating. I took my phone and camera for a swim as well. they didn't like it.

patrick showing us how to count to 2 in french

shuswap river

Such an epic trip. So much more to see in the area too. We'll be back, earlier in the day and ready to camp in the alpine. You should come. Thanks to tom for some of the great pics.