Two Camper Weekend

This weekend we got it together and drove up Shoshone Creek to just above Rampike Creek where we met John and Loretta. They drove their new Citation camper up early Friday morning and secured one of our usual camping spots. When we got there we noticed that the place we camp had been the home of a bunch of stupid hunters who trashed everything. There were spent shells and live rounds in the fire pit, plastic and glass everywhere. John and I cleaned it up and before we left it looked real nice. Too bad there are such stupid people out there.

Friday night was a rain night, so we sat in the Citation and visited until about 6:30 PM. It's a real nice camper and much larger then ours. They bought a new Chev 3500 to put it on and that makes a great combo. When we got hungry we went back to the NL and made dinner. We had chili and cheese, one of the old stand by meals for camping. After dinner the rain let up and we went out side for a walk. We saw a deer, and Baka left it alone. Night closed in and we were tired so we hit the sack about 9:30 PM.

Saturday was a better day but not super. We made a fire and sat around it visiting. We put on our boots and went for a walk up the Rampike Creek road. We took the first right hand split and walked up about two miles. John and I talked about fishing in Mexico and what might be the best traveling boat for that situation. Linda and Loretta lead the way up and at a good view point Linda said she was hungry so we turned around and hiked back down. Not much excitement in the hike, just some great views and good conversation.

Back at camp we ate and then I took a short nap. Linda read and Baka slept. The dog must have ate something because he was not feeling well all day. For dinner we were going to have a pasta bake. You need pasta for a pasta bake, did you know that? So we borrowed spaghetti and made a spaghetti bake instead. It turned out real well and with our garlic bread we managed to stuff our selves.

We slept like logs on Saturday night and got up at the usual time. I had my coffee and read. I'm working on The Da Vinci Code so that I can better understand the movie when we see it. Linda got her tea and sat outside with the dog. John and Loretta started packing up about 9:30 am and we got out of camp about 11 am. It was a great two camper shake down trip and we had a great time together.

Fixin Honey

About two years ago, I really got into Geocaching. I had a friend who liked to get out and search for caches and we had a lot of fun looking and finding many of the caches around our area. To Geocache you need a GPS and you need to be able to get on a computer. On the internet you will find many places dealing with this sport, the one I got involved with was the official site of Geocaching. After you get to this site you find information on the caches hidden in the are you want to search and then you take the coordinates and put them in to your GPS. You follow your GPS to the cache site and search till you locate the cache. Then you sign in at he cache and go home and claim your find on the internet.

All this is done under a username at the internet site. My name is RvrRnr, Linda is Bug and Baka is Baka. I have found over 100 caches and have actually hid three my self, thus the Sunday trip!

When I got into caching I thought it would be cool to hide a couple caches in areas that I thought had exceptional views or were in great areas. So that is how "Honey, I think I saw the Paddler!" came about. This cache has was hidden on 4/24/2003 and has had 19 visits. Sometime in 2004 a anti-cacher found the original box and took it. This spring a cacher alerted me to the fact that it was gone and I needed to fix it or shut it down.

So Linda, Baka and I took the Jeep and drove to the Bunko Road, over the pass to Lake View and then on to the cache. We replaced the box and added some stuff replaced it and made it good again. This all took about six hours. After getting to the cache we continued on along the lake and found a cemetery called the Clara cemetery where we looked at the head stones and tried to figure out a little about this spot. Our travels took us past a campground called Whiskey Point where there are six camp spots four of which are right on the lake. It would be a great spot but getting there would take forever. About 20 miles later we emerged out of the forest at Clarkfork and drove back through Sandpoint to home. Yep a long one but we had a great time and fixed Honey.

Memorial Day Weekend in Canada

The big weekend, Memorial Day in the US! Not us, that’s for sure! Why fight the crowds when you can go up to Canada and find a great spot for the weekend. We packed up the camper and set out for Premier Lake Provincial Park, located just Northeast of Skookumchuck, BC. (49.916° N 115.679° W) As soon as Linda got out of school on Thursday, we hooked the Jeep up behind the truck and drove North. It takes a bit over three hours to get up to the park and it worth the drive.

We met Darren and Marcy at the Premier Lake campground, arriving about 9:00 pm our time. They had left early and were set up saving us a spot to camp next to them. We said “hi” and set up the camper. With in the hour we were to bed and getting our first good nights sleep in quite a while.

Friday morning we got up and puttered around the park, Linda ran and I had coffee and read. We spent most of the day checking out the lake and winding down. The fish were just finishing up the spaun and the egg gathering crew worked several morinings gathering eggs and sperm from the fish caught in the trap. We walked down to their work area a couple time a day to watch the fish, see the eagle that purched above the creek mouth and enjoy the view of the lake. In the evening I cooked a dutch oven dinner of pork chops with almonds and apple sauce and a rolled flank steak with cheese and spinach. It turned out very good and I learned a bit more about cooking with the ovens stacked. We talked and sat around the fire until the evening rain drove us to bed. Saturday was 4 wheeling and geocaching day! We loaded up the Jeep and drove the Premier Ridge rode into Wasa.

There were four geocaches along the way so we stopped every few miles and hunted for them. The ladies found most of them. I think Darren and I were so transfixed on the GPS technology that we failed to look around and spot the hiding places. Plus we wanted to give our lovely wives the opportunity to participate and have fun. On the third cache, Darren found it, we ran ahead of the women and made sure we spotted the hiding spot before they got there. Yeah it was a cheep shot but we had to do something.

All along the road we spotted deer and other small critters. It’s a beautiful drive and well worth the mud and bumps. Like I said we ended up in Wasa and then drove the highway back to the park. It was a good three of four hour trip but great fun and a lot of laughs.

Chris New, a good friend from Cranbrook, and his two kids stopped up for a visit. We talked about all the happenings over the past year or so. The kids road their bikes and played at the camp playground while we sat by the fire and laughed.

Darren and Marcy made dinner for us that night. Dutch oven lasagna and salad hit the spot. Boy, Darren is getting good at those meals, I gotta come up with some innovative meals to keep up! Chris ate some of the food and cooked hotdogs for the kids. We sat around the fire and had some beer and wine. Chris left at about 9:30 PM and bed came around 10 PM. We drifted away after reading and talking.

On Sunday Linda and I took a drive North to Whiteswan Lake. Our first adventure was to find a hot springs that Chris New had told us about a few miles from the park. We drove up a mountain road but failed to find the springs. We did however see a lone elk with very white fur standing abouve the Jeep road. It was odd to see it and it didn’t move much, so we drove on. As we drove to Whiteswan we captured two more geocaches. Linda spotted a wolf/coyote sitting and keeping an eye on some road kill. Not sure which critter it was, but no matter what it was, it was fun to see it and watch it for a short time. visited the hot springs that is located along the road into the lake. We didn’t really prepare for a dip in the hot pools, it was raining and our stuff would have gotten drenched. So we opted to look it over and continue our drive.

Whiteswan Lake was very beautiful. We drove to the Home Basin Campground and checked out the sites. There are quite a few primo spots on the lake, it would add about another hour travel time to our trip, so we may try to camp ether some day. We drove back to Premier coming in and out of driving rains. Some times it was so heavy that you could see a wall of water coming at you. Back at camp we fixed DO Mac & Cheese, ate, sat around the fire and got sleepy.

On Tuesday we drove home, leaving the park about 10:30 AM and arriving home in time to clean everything up and put it away. Stuff was damp so we dried things out and got it back in order, ready for our next trip. It sure is nice to have the camper now, I think we are hooked and will be traveling a lot in the future.