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.

saturday to aberdeen

Saturday... why not go on an adventure. a well rounded adventure that includes, but is not limited to the following; 4x4ing, fishing, canoeing, pelletguns, campfires and exploration. so thats what we did. packed up the truck with mike lau and headed up beaver lake rd. to aberdeen lake. i'd never been there before, so thats always sweet. the weather was threatening rain, but we headed out anyway, and 75% of the day was rain free.

after beaver lake rd, we took some of the roads less traveled by.  the first one was a trail that tom and i had been on before.  a short trail from beaver lake rd. to haddo lake.

up the road to haddo lake

the haddo lake dam

After leaving the haddo lake dam, it was time to hit some new trails.we randomly arrived at the haddo lake rec site.  a small little site that is certainly worth a visit in the future.

the rec. site.  a big rv was there, but i left it out of the picture

Then towards aberdeen lake. some of the roads were a little rough, and i'm not sure how we would have found our way without the backroads map book on the gps. best invention ever.  We got to the dam at the bottom of aberdeen lake and decided that was the place to chill.  We lit a fire and out came the pellet guns.  good times were had.

mike in the rain, by the fire, near the lake, with a bag.

we got into the canoe to try for some fish, but we were only on the lake for 25 minutes before the spitting rain turned to pouring rain and headed back to the shelter of the trees.

no trip is totally complete without a random drive by from a random car. here's  a bmw that rally'd by. 

About 5 o'clock it was time to make our way back out. we tok a few new roads and ended up back at beaver lake rd. without too much trouble.

and the road gets a little smaller

we stopped quiclky at doreen lake to check it out. we had been there before, but we felt we needed to check it out again. we also stopped at a random slash pile to cut a bit more firewood. can't get enough of that wonderful stuff.

doreen lake rec. site.

It was another successful weekend of missioning. there is still maybe one or two canoe trips left before fishing involves an ice auger. you should come. it'll be fun...

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.