Mt. Corriveau

Mt. Corriveau (bottom left)... On the map.


And looming over the north end of Chilliwack lake...


Another view... Mt. Corriveau is to the right, behind the closer peak...

Wander or Wonder?

Sitting here watching morning rush hour on the Harrison river...




Accompanied by a local beach cat who must live nearby



Wondering if I'll just hang out in Kilby campground today or go a wanderin' ...

Yale, Hope, Harrison and Kilby

My favorite fuel stop in Yale. This marks the southern end of the Fraser canyon. Paddle wheel boats used to chug up this far during the gold rush.



I dropped into the Yale museum but it was closed today. The parts of the display outside gave some background of the local history:


So artsy... rails and trains are kind of neat - and inescapable all along the valley as both the CN and CP mainlines run through here. I saw one RV park that advertised "No Trains" ... indicating they are far enough away to escape the rumbling train noises I guess. But that's just music to my ears along with airplane noises.


After a false start at one very unsatisfactory campground I ended up at the "historic" Kilby campground. I'll explore their historic stores and buildings on the way out tomorrow. Today I'm enjoying the sandy beach, shady campsite, and ...





Of course "Trainspotting!" as some campgrounds call it - a great attempt to make the most of it! (The rumble of the train fills the background as I type. Amazing how sound carries over water.)

Monday June 20 - Goldpan Campsite near Spence's Bridge

Goldpan campsite is 10 KM south of Spence's Bridge, right next to the Thompson river. Like all the water around here this year, the river is running high! I have a video of a mother Loon swimming along the wild water with a chick on her back and a few more skipping along behind her. I'll see if I can post it somehow. In the meanwhile, here's my kitchen window view Monday night (June 20):

CAZ5 and a nice CH601XL

A reminder that there was a time when the Canadian government actually supported and helped grow our network of local airports. Not now.

100 Mile House Airport

Where's the rest of the runway? Just over the hill... That's the top of the windsock located at the far end. The 100 Mile House airstrip has a definite slope and is generally used as a one-way runway, landing uphill and taking off downhill.

Bridge Lake

Some images from Bridge Lake, Cottonwood campground. Deb and Tony barbequed a lovely meal for Bill for Father's Day and I got invited ;-) ... The weather's been cool and rainy. Which is fine for me, but some folks who favor heat and sunshine, not so much...


Boat Launch


Gramma says "hi"


Bill by his 'rig' ... next to Westy


Continuing Chaos...

Catching Up

So, where am I now?

We've been back in 100 Mile House since Wednesday night. Carolyn pushed on home Thursday. This weekend there's a family camping weekend planned which will include some father's day stuff for Bill. The weather was poor Saturday, so today, being Sunday should see me back on the road at least as far as Bridge lake, then .... who knows...

If it's Monday this must be Camrose...

Today we're off to Camrose for lunch with some Vars cousins...


Then home to Sandy's in time for pizza and the hockey game.

The Other Side of the Mountain

Hanging out in Edmonton this weekend, after a pleasant drive over from 100 Mile House.

-- gmc --

Texture of Reality

A day for wandering and wondering. Then supper with Mom & Bill to celebrate her birthday.








Lillooet airport...





Chasm near 100 Mile House...

Taberwet, Hot & Dry in Lillooet!

Today I visited the airport at Pemberton, which is home to several gliders and parachute operations.









I came upon a BC Hydro campsite provided free of charge and as it was time to make camp for the night decided this would be 'it.' This is a remarkable challenge for several reasons. First the bear and cougar warnings will be of interest to France ;-0






Second, there is no WiFi and NO cellular telephone service!! I'm cut off from civilization!!! Oh noooo!!! heh heh. Well, fear not, I do have an iTunes movie downloaded and here I am writing my blog... so I'm not totally roughing it.


The weather is very hot and dry here near Lillooet. At one point my thermometer on the RV said it was 29 degrees...

then we climbed up into the mountains and the temperature dropped to about 21C .... and there was still 3 feet of snow on the ground. ??? crazeee.




Enough to make a person start seeing things!





That's all for now sports fans ... I'll post all this tomorrow (Tuesday) as soon as I find a WiFi hotspot.

Airport Meandering

Sunday, on the way to Victoria, I stopped in at the Duncan airport. It's a compact private airport surrounded by a gravel pit, which makes for some challenging approaches at the best of times. The runway is about 1500 feet long, so depending what you're flying, you may need to be very accurate on speed and touchdown point.

Augering In...

An auger is a tool used to dig holes for fence posts, or holes in the ice on a frozen lake to go ice fishing.

"Augering in" is an expression used by pilots to describe what an aircraft does when it spins out of control and hits the ground.

Today as I was helping patrol the aircraft parking area at the Nanaimo Fly-In & Airshow, I turned at the sound of a very low-flying plane behind me just in time to watch the aircraft in the opening act of the airshow, auger in. It was a sickening sight. At my first glimpse I was aware that something wasn't as it should be, and in the space of about five seconds, it was over as the plane snap-rolled to the right and plowed into the grass on the far side of the runway. A sudden squelching of the engine roar. A dust cloud kicked up, and the silence.

That was a few hours ago now and according to the CBC news report "a 71 year old pilot was airlifted to Victoria Airport with life-threatening injuries..."

At least it seems, he survived the impact - he may still live... That's all I know right now.

And in the age of youtube, here's your chance to share the moment. Appropriate comments supplied by shocked spectators.
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=QwM_pqgJlWA

CYCD Fly In Preps

I'm hanging out at CYCD, getting my RV ready to roll, and taking in the preparations for the annual Nanaimo Flying Club fly in.