woke up in a new spot

1 free night. what to do?  how about a quick camp to some new place with Phil? done.

we got there pretty late and i couldn't really get any pictures until morning.  in the middle of the party, patrick, charlie and curtis showed up.  a sweet surprise.

here are some pictures.

tarps, campfires, truck 3 and bikes

 This weekend 4 of us loaded up bikes and camping gear in truck 3 and headed north for some camping and biking.  this was truck 3's maiden adventure, so it was important.

wood (thanks norm) and bikes and sitch.

ryan and christine on clearwater and azure lake. day 1-3

it was time for christine and my annual epic canoe trip.  this year we chose clearwater and azure lake in wells grey park.  not exceptionally far from murtle lake, which we hit up last year and also this year with my dad, bro and kris.

Day 1... in which christine and ryan paddle up clearwater lake.

on the way to pick up our canoe, we couldn't resist the hike to helmcken falls.  its big.  like real big.

helmcken falls.  real big

a weekend on beaver lake

 time to get out the canoes and stuff and head to beaver lake for some dirt camping.  that means we left the tents at home.

big waves and wind.

return to murtle lake

the time was upon me for another sweet canoe trip.  usually i would head to manitoba around now to accomplish this, but this time around, mark and rude dog came to bc.  add kris to the party and you have a party.  4 people, 2 canoes, 4 days, 1 lake.

their plane landed at midnight thursday, and by friday 430 am we were on the way to blue river and murtle lake.

step 1, portage 2.5 km to the lake. 

kris's birthday... in my new (to me) wall tent. yea.

Kris's birthday.  Also, the weekend after i scored a wall tent and stove off the local internet classifides.  Kris's party seemed like an epic time to try the tent.

heading up off the main rd.

whats latin for adventure?

this weekend it was time to check out a new lake.  mike had been talking about it for a month or so, and we believed him that it was cool, now we just needed to experience it for ourselves.

we got prepared for the adventure by opening a keg at mikes on friday night for his birthday.  happy birthday dood.  thanks for the party.

saturday, it was time to get going in the direction of away from it all adventure.

going up bear creek

labour day weekend... no labouring was done.

Sunday.  got monday off and i got friends who want to adventure.  more specifically, tom kris and steve and i decided to head up to beaver lake for the night.  camp in one of my favourite camp spots, do some fishing and some paddling.  all good.

The 1st problem was can i get 2 canoes on the roof of the truck.

2x4s and ratchet straps.  all good here officer.

the twin lakes adventure

after such an epic trip into the monashees and pinnacle lake a few weeks ago, it was time to go again.  this time to twin lakes.  Tom, Patrick and I have been there before, but we didn't have tents or plans to stay the night.

this time, my bro Mark, Kris and I were the intrepid adventurers.  Mark got in Friday night, just in time to party on my deck with some hitchhikers i picked up.  we welcomed mark to my house in proper style... with extra old stock.

Saturday morning Anna dropped off kris, we packed up the truck and off we went.  ok, it wasn't quite that organized, but close.

our goal for the weekend

may long and some dam camping

So this weekend jeff newman decided to return to the okanagan to guest star in the adventures of ryan. he got in thursday night and after work on friday we wasted no time in getting our adventure on.

We headed up to beaver lake rec. site, which was totally full by 6PM. we did not get a spot, and in hind site, we didn;t want one. too busy there. We kept on trucking a bit further down the road to the old rec. site, which have visited a few times before, but never overnight.

The only other group there was a dad and his 2 kinds, and they were pretty cool enough. the space was big enough to share anyway.

crooked lake from the dam

We shot the pellet gun and got a sweet feed on before turning in for one of the best sleeps ever.

Saturday was a bit rainy.  not hard, but light and constant.  we hung around the tent for a bit.  I did some fishing and pulled out a pretty small rainbow.  i let it go.

beaver lake.  the other side of the dam

jeff pondering the spillway

lunch.  porkchops

another group came to fish from the dam.  they didn't have any luck and soon were gone.

the fishermen on the dam

Once it stopped raining, or at least let up quite a bit, we headed off on an explore across the dam.  If i had a quad, i would pretty much live up there.  

the end of beaver lake

an old trail??

Our mine finding skills are quite honed, since we spent a lot of time in beaverdell and on blue grouse.  This old trail looked suspicious with an old pile of rocks.  we checked it out and it was an old mine.  gonna have to do a bit more research into it.

yes, to an old mine!!

Once back from the 2 footed explore, it was time to get in the canoe and head up corrked lake.  I found a fishing rod attached to a bobber that was floating in the middle of the lake.  score.

jeff riding point

the 'vette that came to visit. 

our little set up

After a super sweet saturday and another great sleep in the tent, we got up sunday and lazily got ready to go and packed up.  the drive out was wetter than the drive in, but thats a good thing.

2wd that baby.

What a sweet weekend, and it's not over yet.  stay tuned for more tomorrow.  better yet, come with us.

7 summits and rossland. year 4.

Labour day long weekend only means 1 thing to partick an I... 7 summits poker ride in Rossland. It was our 3rd year doing it together, and my 4th overall.

Things got off to a rough start Saturday morning when we had to switch rental cars. The Avenger was not big enough, so we got a mitsubishi rvr. Not a big deal, but it put us a little late starting. We hit the road like, ... well, like something determined to have a sweet time... whatever that might be.

Our first stop was our ritual pee stop at this crazy blue bridge. We couldn't stop our tradition now, so we stopped. and peed.

71 charger on polson bridge

the valley from the bridge

We got to our campsite and settled in pretty hard.  That evening was pretty chill, just getting set up, having some dinner and doing some shopping.  Getting ready for the next day.  I had to meet a dood to get to the volunteer station at 7:30.  I'd spend the morning there serving chocolate and checking riders in.  The plan was to take off once patrick got there, and we'd finish the ride together.

the fondu station

Once pat arrived, off we went.  It's a 45 minute climb from the station to record ridge, a sweet spot the relax, put on your shin guards and get ready for some fast dusty rocky down parts.

looking back at old glory

from record ridge

another from record ridge

After a short chill at record ridge, its 90% down from there.  fast flowy down.  the kind where you should wipe out a lot but don't, because you are just that awesome.

pat down the trail.  pretty dusty.

We got to the bottom, had the provided celebratory beer, then caught the shuttle back to the festivities at the campsite.  The rest of the evening was spent meeting people, eating and swapping stories.  Really sweet.

The next morning, we laughed at the guy who was puking from his mad hangover while we packed up our car.  Then off. 

the 71 charger was camped right next to us!!

We stopped at Midway at the Kettle Valley Railway Mile Zero museum.  A cool little spot.

KVR mile 0 museum

charlie and i at mile 0

And 1 more stop at the kettle river provincial park, to stretch and pee.

kettle river park

364 days until the next time next year.  We are trying to get more people to come with us, so consider this more than enough notice for you to get time off.

quick trip to beaver lake island

It was time to head out again. just a short trip to beaver lake. tom and i were going to camp at the rec. site, but it was full. that meant we had to head to the island, one of our favourite places. The bugs were bad, but the times were good. no fish this time. Heres the pics.

evening when we got there

just 2 tens this time.  the whole place to ourselves

dusk on beaver lake

the lake was calm.  can't help but be chill.

It was a great little escape.  just what the doctor ordered. 

next weekend = birthday party.  you should come.

may not-long-enough weekend

so what to do may long? well the plan actually started the weekend before, on the beaver lake mission. after seeing the sweet island camp spot, that became our may long goal. tom, patrick and i packed up friday night and headed to the beaver lake rec site. which we found totally full at 7pm when we got there. no worries, we headed to another spot that tom and i saw the weekend before. when we got there, we found the hugest redneck party ever, so we doubled back and found a quiet spot next to a creek. it would do for the night. up went the tens and out came the food and beverages.

the tents in spot 1.  it was cold that night

pat and i in the morning, getting ready to move to the island

saturday morning, we woke up and tom and i took our tents and stuff to our island paradise.  we did some fishing on the way back to camp 1.  i got 2 rainbow trouts.  then i hoped in the truck and pat hoped in the canoe with tom.  I headed to the rec site with the truck and tom and pat headed to the campsite.  then pat came and picked me up from there.  3 people and 1 canoe.  a little weird sometimes, but we made it work.

the road to and from spot 1.

Once we were all on the island, we proceeded to get comfy.

tom, getting comfy.

Shortly after we were all settled, wayne shows up.  what a sweet surprise.  he brought his 2 dogs and the 7 of us (4 people, 3 dogs) we all proceeded to get more comfy.

our spot.  all settled in.

We fished all day, and ate fish too.  I finished with 8 fish.  tom got one too.  Patrick and charlie were fishing in the canoe when i woke up.  calm lake was sweet.

pat, charlie and the "log cabin"

wayne exploring the limits of our kingdom

breakfast was a 3 hour affair.  with bagels, bacon, sausage and of course fish.

wayne manning the frying pan.  he's a good guy to have along.

dog chilling on a log.  looks like he's taking a shit...he's not.

most comfy spot.

A great trip with a great group of adventurers. 

group shot.  me, tom, wayne and patrick

it was raining a little on the paddle back.  not enough to get us wet or dampen the sweet trip.

charlie and patrick on the paddle back

charlie sleeping in my driveway

a little google earth map

11 fish, 2 nights, and about 50km of canoeing later the trip was done.  a great first camp of the year.  and im starting to get the hang of this fishing thing.  More next weekend, i hope.  We got room for more, you should come.