eating fish on a monday afternoon

I can't think of a better way to spend a monday than paddling on a sweet lake, catching fish, and eating them on an island on the way home.  that's what we did.  here are the pictures chris took.  that's one of his things.

i dig this shot.

1 weekend, lots of adventure

friday and saturday night were full of 4x4ing.  but because it was night, there is a distinct lack of light for good photos.  i certainly tried, but the only ones that turned out were of the aftermath that awaited me in the driveway in the morning.

muddy good times.

skunked at beaver lake

it had been too long since the last time i was canoeing. 6 days. mike and i decided to remedy that by fishing out on beaver lake. we didn't catch any, but we had sweet times.

We hit our regular spots and a few new areas on the way.  i had one on the line that jumped twice and then was gone.  After quite a few hours of fishing, we headed to the island.  maybe the last people there were Kris, Tom, Steve and I.

pulled up in our regular spot

we bought farmer sausage for dinner, but we didn't need it!!!

Saturday. time to get some more miles on the canoe and also put my fishing license to use.

Tom and i loaded up and were on the lake by 10:45. The forestry site was pretty full, but we didn;t need a tent spot, just a parking spot. it was such nice weather it was no surprise there were so many people there, but it did mean there were quite a few boats on the lake.

we paddled to an area we had some success in past years.  i like paddling. 

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.

ice breaking in the new canoe, and the 1st camp of the spring

Now that we have some answers to the ice situation on beaver lake, it was time to break in a new canoe is got (old town tripper, woohoo!!) we'll take this time to dust off the tent and fishing rods as well. so saturday patrick, charlie and i loaded up the 4runner and off we went to beaver lake.


The first this was to break some of the ice on the lake.  the was about 3 inches of ice/slush that we plowed through.  pretty surreal.

ice trails

Then it was time to eat.  steak and potatoes for dinner.  charlie ate well this weekend.

charlie wants some

Beer was flowing and that the pellet gun got a major workout. tents were ready to go, so there was nothing left to do but relax.

evening chill time.

fire roaring and firewood waiting.

We had tons of firewood and comfy spots.  the evening was so awesome.  after a great sleep, the next day was upon us.

breakfast of champions

morning views.

Near the lake, i counted 5 firepits all within 20 meters of each other.  what is wrong with people?  the biggest and ugliest was full of glass and nails and right in the middle of the boat launch.

the fire fire pits of morons gone by

There was a short morning paddle around in another attempt to get some fish. it was a great paddle but an unsuccessful fishing trip.

new canoe

A great way to start off the camping/fishing/canoeing season.  what does next weekend have in store?  hopefully more of the same.  you should come.