eureka. were we camped in a fire tower

turns out we had 3 days for an epic adventure, so wayne, mary kris cruise and i headed up to this cool spot we heard about.  We originally had plans to return to twin lakes, but that fell through.  this was a worthy replacement.

we could see tiwn lakes, and the pinnacles.  

we got bored this weekend

This weekend it was time to make more woodchips, and boards.

Saturday, Kris and i headed up to the wood storage facility up postil and got the chainsaw all set up.

1st cut

Our mission this time was to make a sweet post.  pretty much the same procedure as boards, just wider cuts. 

cutting up the post

another truck sunday to celebrate autumn

so its the first day of fall. how to commemorate it? how about 4x4ing up a sweet trail with kris, a chainsaw and a dog? off we went.

where we rung in autumn

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.

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.

sunday ice recon at beaver lake

is the ice off at beaver lake? can we fish there yet? can we canoe? can we even drive in to the site? inquiring minds wanted to know. so mike and i went to find out on sunday evening.

but the most pressing question is...  can i use a golf ball on my clutch cylinder since the original became a mushy chunk of rubber?  Well... yes you can.

my new clutch cylinder lid. 

one the clutch was sorted out, it was time to answer the other questions.

the road into beaver lake site

The road in was a little snowy.  nothing major.  so in we went.

the ice.  still there.

The ice is still there.  about 15 feet of clear water along the shore.  pretty much the same schedule as last year.  i checked last years blog posts, and maybe we are a little ahead this year.  a little.

truck and fire shot

had a fire, shot some guns.  good times.

found a MIA soldier from last time

Mike also had a ping pong ball full of gunpowder. we used it to thin the troops a bit.

I think a camping trip is in order. next weekend we are gonna set up some tents here and try some very early season fishing. might bring the canoe. you should come.

saturday in 4wd

What started off as 5 or 6 of us heading out to get firewood turned into james, his girlfriend christine, and I heading out to cook smokies and get stuck. everyone else bailed on the adventure. we were packed and ready, so we went anyway.

which way? was often the question

We headed up farmers and bata towards james lake.  there were tracks from a few weeks ago, but we got to break in the fresh snow.  good times.  the snow got pretty deep and groovy, but we did well.  4wd all the way.

fresh snow for us.

james's turn to lead.

we kept following this trail until we got to this water crossing.  it was 14 degrees in town, and sunny and about 8 or 9 in the mountains.  there was lots of snow, but also lots of water.

the small hole

the big hole

after james had a run at it, got stuck and then the toyota pulled out the jeep, we decided this was the turn around spot.  we got a fire going, and ate some dogs.  Some other guys in big jeeps came by while we were setting up, so we watched them get stuck in the hole too.  i didn't feel so bad that we couldn't make it through after i saw jeeps with 40 inch tires not make it.

 Here is james having a go at the hole.

eating sausage.  christine got the fire going sweetly.

time to go down

The drive down was sweet as well.  no pulling or getting stuck, just window open sunny snow driving.  one of my favourite kinds of driving.

from postil rd.  okanagan lake

So the day was not as originally planned, but pretty awesome anyway.  can't wait for tomorrow's adventure.

a saturday trip up spion kopje

a nice sunny saturday morning. tom and i decided to hike up spion kopje near my house. not much to say. nice trail, not many people. hailstorm on the way down.

good times.

i can see my house.

They are thinking about turning this area into a park.  that would keep the dirt bikes off it, and more importantly, keep the crazy development of houses at the bottom at bay.

tom on the ridge.

we were below the snow line, but not by much, as you can tell from the mountains across the lake.

on the way down.  okanagan lake on the right, wood lake on the left.  my house in the middle.

Adventures don't need to have 4wd.  another good weekend in the books. 

overnight at oyama lake

long weekend time. pat, charlie and i packed our tents and headed up to oyama lake to do some winter camping and ice fishing.  the truck was full, and we were ready for anything...

the road up to oyama lake

the hole into oyama lake

as usual, we didn't catch any fish that evening, but we had a great time.  soon it was time to start thinking about setting up the tents.

pat trying for dinner.

hi charlie

After messing around on the lake for a few hours, it was time to set up the tents, but not before a walk through the resort.  on the way through, we ran into jordie, who we met last st. patricks day.  we told him we were going to stay in some tents to which he replied "why don't you stay in one of the cabins?"  but with more slurring of the speech.  so we did.

pat getting the fire going in the cabin

We slept warm and well in the cabin.  so well, we were up on the lake at 8 am for more ice fishing.

sunrise on oyama lake

the resort from our ice holes.

We left without fish, but had a mega blast regardless.  might head back to the cabin next week, if you want to come.