Vancouver to The Okanagan

We finished our visit with Josie about a week ago. We spent our final weekend together exploring Commercial Drive, hiking in Lynn Valley and enjoying a free concert. The City of Vancouver is 125 years old this year and to celebrate, the city is funding all kinds of fun, free public events.  On Saturday night, we saw “The New Pornographers” and ate corn on the cob in Stanley Park. The weekend weather was beautiful, and since it was a free event, everyone and their brother was there. It was a bit of a challenge negotiating travel to the packed park. We walked from the sea bus (yup, there is a passenger ferry as part of the public transit in Vancouver) to the park, about a 40 minute walk. The city did offer a free shuttle but the wait would have been more than 40 minutes; so we walked amongst the crowd, like a herd of well trained sheep. After the performance we caught the free shuttle back to the sea bus terminal. It was a fun show.

At the New Pornographers free concert

We spent Sunday soaking up eachothers’ company.  We went to the farmers market, bought groceries and more yummy local suds. We passed the evening away by making maki rolls and playing Make n’ Break.

From Vancouver we drove about four hours to Manning Provincial Park in south central BC. We were shocked by the remoteness of southern British Columbia. The area is densely forested mountains and towns spaced hundreds of kilometers apart – it was important to fill up when fuel was available. Our campsite was again nestled in the mountains and backed onto a fast moving river. It rained in the evening so we cozied up in the back of the truck and read “The Long Walk”.  

Next, it was onto Princeton and Keremos. Keremos is the fruit stand capital of Canada and we got our fill of delicious fresh fruit and veggies. We got a ‘primitive camping’ recommendation at the visitors centre. Using some sketchy directions we found our way to Tunnel Mountain Forest Service Campground (there were 3 sites) along the Ashnola River. Our campsite was surrounded by Saskatoon Berries and we saw many lovely birds enjoying the ripening fruits. We ate some too but found them seedy and time consuming to eat. We did however add them to our gin and tonics in the evening.

We stayed here for two nights enjoying the serenity of the valley. On our second day, we had horizontal showers in the frigid Ashnola and dried off in the heat of the day on a perfectly shaped lawn chair rock. Later in the day we worked some more at our bow-drill fire starting technique. It was a success all the way round! Both of us got our tinder to flame up. What a thrill!

From here we drove back through Keremos, got more fruit and veggies (and delish homemade pakora) and drove to Okanagan Lake Provincial Park. On the way we stopped at the Penticton Public Library. The Okanagan Valley is a beautiful place. The mountains surround pristine looking lakes and there is more fruit than you can shake a stick at. We have eaten more cherries than is probably healthy, but they are so damn good!

While playing with Rora at our campsite in the Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, we roused our neighbour from his afternoon nap. He unfolded himself from his tent, sent out the peace sign and coolly strolled over to our table. We had an introductory conversation about our trips and when we asked how long he was on the road for, he shrugged and said, “I don’t know, whatever”. Amazing. We were immediately captivated by his chill vibes and friendly persona. We invited him to join us for dinner and he warmly accepted. Glen is a professional hockey coach, currently traveling around the west coast on his beautiful BMW touring motorcycle. We spent the night sharing stories and international experiences. Glen was a super cool guy we enjoyed his company immensely. In the morning we invited him for breakfast and we started our day with fresh cherry crisp and hot coffee.  It was a great experience and we hope we’ll cross paths with him again one day.

After our second free shower at Okanagan Lake PP we hit the road and headed for Peachland. This was another lovely little community along the same lake. We passed the day away checking out shops, hiking to Pincushion Mountain, eating lunch on a patio and searching the waters for Ogopogo (Okanagan’s version of the Loch Ness).  

Yesterday we drove from Peachland in the warm and sunny valley back west into the rain. It was an uneventful travel day. Tomorrow Brad starts his canoe certification course so we will be in the Maple Ridge/ Vancouver area for the week. In a week’s time we will be making the final trek north, up to Dawson Creek through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.