Well it took forty days but I am finally living the way I thought the entire trip would be: Camped in a forested campground adjacent to a lake, with miles and miles of hiking surrounding me. It is my second idyllic spot in a week, so naturally I am in Naturally Beautiful British Columbia. The moment I pulled away from the border patrol I felt like the country reached up from deep underground and enveloped me in a giant hug. The one place, other than inside Beagle, where I have always felt at home.
Some of you know that I was born here (Kelowna) but not many
know that I spent every summer for eight years (my formative years I like to
call them) at my Grandparent’s cabin on Shuswap Lake. That’s where I grew into my love of being
outside, the smell of a lake after rain, the enveloping quiet of tall trees and
the mesmerizing motion of a river filled with bright red salmon. As well as my love for being alone: After mandatory morning chores with Granny
which ended by making lunch for my brothers and Grandpa (who had been out building
cabins), I was free for the day. I would
walk down to the lake and swim and sun and repeat until I became old enough to
work at the local café. And that’s where
I learned how to make a martini. At
fifteen. But I digress…
This morning I woke to the wonderful sound of rain on Beagle’s
roof in Gladstone Provincial Park on the shores of Christina Lake. It was moving day so I waited for a break in
the downpour to hitch up Beagle and grabbed it at ten o’clock. Gladstone, being my first Provincial Park in
BC, set the bar quite high: The pitches
were well placed for privacy, with packed gravel (convenient for draining away
all the rain) with a dog beach area along the lakeshore and access to miles of
hiking trails. (Pictured above.)
It was a much-needed break after my trials to get up here. When the camp host remarked that I was “totally
bad-ass” for doing this all on my own, I replied, “Sometimes it’s just bad.” You
all know what it took and know how grateful I am to have courage, but on this
trip I learned that I also have perseverance. (Who knew?) I simply refused to give up.
And now you find me at Champion Lakes, the nearest Provincial
Park to my dear cousin in Trail. (The BC
Parks website was so easy to use I decided to do the Canadian portion of this
trip completely in Provincial Parks.)
The rain has been off and on since we arrived but I managed to get out
for a few miles’ worth of walking, appreciating the smell of wet pine needles while
keeping an eye out for the resident moose and her calf. After the walks,
the Noses and I huddled back inside Beagle enjoying the sound of rain
on the roof, the taste of chamomile and honey tea, the feel of warm fleece
slippers, and the sight of absolutely nothing but tall pine trees out every one
of Beagle’s windows.
And there are a lot of windows, eh?
-K
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