Illal Meadows - Part Deux (July 13-15, 2012)

Our second camping trip this season.  This one was much more successful than the first!

Theme: mosquitoes.

We headed out towards the Coquihalla Summit area to revisit our favourite camping spot from last year: Illal Meadows.  We headed there after work on Friday (the 13th!! - eek!!) and camped about 2 km in from the trailhead.  There was a family at the end of the road where we camped last time who had a flat tire from trying to drive up the first part of the trail (which is actually an over-grown road).  Luckily we were able to help them with our tire iron!  For some reason the one that came with his truck didn't match the bolts (...GM ...).

Anyhoo, the place we found to camp was much nicer! No pictures of it though...  The following is from the hike up.  It was nice to have had the 2 km shaved off from Friday night.  It was quite the climb up.  I don't seem to have much tolerance for backpacking this year!!  I must be getting old...

I was happy to drop pack when we finally reached our chosen campsite.  We also had to dry everything out from the rain the previous night.  It thunderstormed like neither of us had ever seen before!!  It must have lasted 6 hours plus!  It just doesn't do that in Ontario!

The view was simply stunning.  The pointy peak is Jim Kelly Mountain.  It is beyond photogentic!

 We camped right near the snow, but our campsite was nice and dry.

We had a very pleasant afternoon but the bugs were terrible!  We forewent sunscreen for bug spray and I had the burn to show for it (pharmacist moment: bug spray actually inactivates the SPF-providing chemicals in sunscreen - you must apply your sunscreen at least 15 minutes before spraying yourself down with bug spray or else it isn't as effective.  This is why you can no longer buy sunscreen + bugs spray products!). 

Anyhoo, I digress.  The afternoon was lovely, the view was incredible.

Camping isn't all fun and games though!  You have chores to do as well!

Pumping water:

Cooking dinner (I liked this picture, but I am actually cooking - notice the pot to my right):

Hanging up the food:

 

Remi is beyond proud of his new "Bear-hang Technology" (his words).  Notice the pulley system!!

And of course our fearless side kick looks on...  Looking good but generally useless ;)

We always make time for naps though ;)

That evening we had a crazy wind storm.  We've been up to Illal Meadows before (as mentioned) and it was windy the entire time!  It blew in one direction for two days straight and then turned around and blew the other way!  I have concluded the following: it is always windy up 
there.  Needless to say, I was up all night listening to the tent make an absolute racket in the wind.

The following morning we awoke to rain.  This happens so often on camping trips!!  Here are some photos.

 

 

 

 Maggie was also not impressed and had her classic "WHERE IS MY WARM, DRY BED?!" look.

 So we got the heck out of there!

Had to take our boots off to cross the river at the bottom - fighting off rain and a horrendous mosquito onslaught...

And that's that one!  We won't be camping for a while.  I work this coming weekend and am heading back to Ontario on the August long weekend for a week.  Amanda and Nick are finally tying the knot!!  And I'm going to spend a week spoiling Keenan, as well as seeing Meg's baby bump!


S
 

Eaton Lake - July long weekend 2012

Summer has started slowly for us out here in beautiful BC.  June was actually worse than it was last year (less sunny days, more rain), which is hard to believe!  Thus, Remi and I had slim pickings for camping early in the season.  We chose (out of desperation for getting out of the city) a trip we'd done a few summers ago with our good friend Tim and his brother: Eaton Lake.  The destination is a lovely campsite overlooking a beautiful little lake.  8 km round-trip, 900 m elevation gain - in other words: steep.


Unfortunately, we never made it to the campsite.  We were unable to ford a creek at the top which was fat with spring run-off.  Friday night (hiking up after work...  after working a 12-day straight stretch...  throwing a rather major temper tantrum at the 3 km marker which I'd rather not elaborate on) we ended up camping on the trail.  Saturday morning, we tucked tail and headed back down.

Here are a few photos anyway.

There is a giant river at the bottom that requires crossing.  The bridge has been washed out.  Luckily there is a giant slippery log to allow crossing!  We frog-jumped across it as follows:   

  
On the way back down, I stopped halfway to take photos of the raging river and waterfall.

  

Oh, and the fallen bridge of course!

 A beauty shot of Maggie from the car.

I also took a video of the river.  Apologies for the poor video quality...  We need a new camera.