Thursday September 2, Monck Provincial Park, Nicola Lake, BC

85 Miles

Today would have to be one of the nicest drives and best campgrounds we have had, in fact the whole day has been wonderful….and we enjoyed temps in the mid 20’s.

We slept really well in the carpark, it was surprisingly quiet. I dispatched Ian off to have a look around the store for half and hour while I had “space” to do the chores!

We had contacted Graeme Hope, a neighbour of the Lipscombe Family in the 60’s, who now lives in Kamloops. He invited us to join him and Joy for lunch at their place, the jaws never stopped. He has a beautiful secluded spot in the hills just out of town.

He could tell us that this area is in fact a semi-desert, no wonder it looks so arid.

We just missed seeing a black bear that had been asleep in the bushes below his house, Graeme wasn’t very happy as it had spend the night eating the plums off his tree!

They were able to tell us about some places further south that could be worth while visiting and with the fact that it is a holiday weekend, we decided to follow their advice and head towards Washington state, planning to cross back into the US tomorrow.

After a bit of retail therapy in town we took 5A, the secondary route towards Merrit. We were hardly out of town when the hills opened up to rolling burnt grasslands, so like summer in Hawkes Bay! The sky was really clear with wisps of clouds. This is such a contrast to the past 3 months. There was very little traffic and the road followed a valley that was more or less edged with lakes. 

We detoured about 15kms around the side of Nicola Lake to this provincial park, and got a wonderful spot overlooking the lake. The evening is really balmy and Ian has a campfire going….the first for some time.