Back to the Kamloops Area
We had spent a couple of nights in Kamloops earlier in the trip, but his time we were staying about a thirty minute drive north of the city in the Pinegrove Campground and RV Park. It’s a lovely little RV Park surrounded by farm land.
The owner of the campground is a lovely woman named Cindy, who zooms around the campground in her golf cart at all hours of the day, guiding new arrivals to their sites, delivering firewood people have ordered and letting people know when there has been a bear spotted in the area (yes, this happened while we were there).
She also has a wonderful garden with pear, plum and apple trees, as well as container gardens with peppers and tomatoes and lots of other goodies. One day, when she delivered our firewood, we were treated to a container of fresh plums from her tree. We were also fortunate enough to receive fresh garlic, eggs from her chickens, and on the last day we received this bountiful basket:
As I mentioned, the campground is surrounded by farmland and during our two week stay there, the neighbour’s horse became quite accustomed to us wandering by with apples for her that we had picked up off of the ground.
We did go into Kamloops again a few times to get groceries, play some disc golf, and we stopped by the Kamloops Museum and Archives. No disrespect for the exhibits in the museum, but the room that struck me the most, was one that was still in the process of being set up (or dismantled?), and will be (or was?) an exhibit of taxidermy from their permanent collection.
There was just something about the haphazard placement of the animals, in contrast to the meticulously staged photos of them on the wall, that I thought was quite beautiful.
We did a few walks while we were there. One was a short walk to Whitecroft Falls where we went for a quick dip in the pool of water at the base of the falls.
And someone has a sense of humour, because this was posted near the beginning of the trail:
We also drove to the Sun Peaks Resort, where Cindy had told us about the Sunday market that they have. We paid to take the lift up and played some disc golf.
We went back another day and did the hike to Tod Lake. It was a longer hike, which we started later in the day, knowing that we would miss the last chairlift down, but it was well worth the view when we got there.
About an hour north of where we were staying was the Wells Gray Provincial Park. It is also known as “Canada’s Waterfall Park” and deservedly so with forty-one named waterfalls. We went to see the Helmcken Falls, and it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
When leaving the park we were both surprised to see a bobcat on the side of the road. We stopped the truck and had a staring contest while I tried to get my phone to co-operate long enough for me to get a photo. This is the best I could do:
The main reason we were back in the Kamloops area was for the Canadian National Disc Golf Tournament, which took place from September 13th to 15th in Clearwater, which was an hour north of where we were staying (and is just on the edge of the Wells Gray Provincial Park). During the tournament Adam played the same course on Friday and Sunday, and a different course on Saturday. I caddied on Saturday and Sunday, and after a start he wasn’t happy with on the Friday, he ended up 18th overall (out of a field of 39), with 4 under par for the three days. When Adam registered for the tournament there is an option to support the tournament by sponsoring a hole, so here is a photo of my logo as the sponsor on the 18th hole.
Clearwater is a small town, and they welcomed the disc golf players (there were about 415 participants in the tournament) with signs like this:
Between where we were staying at the Pinegrove Campground and Clearwater is the small town of Little Fort. There was a Hudson’s Bay Outpost established there in 1850. To distinguish that outpost from the one in Fort Kamloops, this one was called Little Fort. The outpost only lasted a few years but the name remained. It was in Little Fort that we found our delicious greasy breakfast at the High Five Diner.
On our second stop there (on the last day of the tournament) we heard all about the fuel truck that had flipped over on the road to Kamloops causing a detour. We were relieved that the highway re-opened that evening, because we left the campground very early the next morning as I had to travel to Ottawa for work, and Adam hit the road for Squamish.
Some of the places we frequented while we were there: Backcountry Bowls (a coffee and food truck in the parking lot of the Wells Gray Park Visitor Information Centre; the coffee is excellent, and the information centre is well worth the stop - they also served food at one of the courses throughout the disc golf tournament); the Teniye Local Market and Food Truck (the market is fantastic and open to 6pm and their food truck has amazingly delicious fresh bannock); and the Painted Turtle Restaurant in the Dutch Lake RV Park (good breakfast on their patio overlooking Dutch Lake).