Travels In Canada: Nicola Lake BC
After staying near Kamloops for 4 days, it was time to pack up camp. We’re heading towards Princeton, where I’ll visit with 2 old friends who moved there. After travelling from Drayton Valley, we were all ready to take a break and find a great dog park. And so we did.
We camped in McClure, at a lovely campground and soon found Ord Road dog park. Ord Road Dog Park is a five acre fenced dog park where dogs can run (and run they did!) while their people do laps on the path that follows the fenceline around the park. There are a number of marmots that make their homes under the tall pines that line one side of the walking trail around the park. This may all be boring to you, but it was sure fascinating for Annabelle and Jolene!
Today we got on our way. I assumed I had more water, but I wasn’t far from Kamloops when I went to get the dogs a drink. The pump whined and the faucet sputtered and dry hacked, letting me know we were about to run out of water. I would have to stop at an RV park with a water hook up. BC’s provincial parks don’t have hookups. So I decided to pull into Douglas Lake Ranch’s waterfront Quilchena Point RV Campground.
It Is Hot Here!
On September 27, it’s actually so hot here that I have the Arfpod’s air conditioning on for the dogs as I work outside under the awning. I wound up jury rigging the Aluminet shade cloth I bought for travelling with the dogs. It’s (literally)a very cool cloth made from loosely woven reflective strands. It reduces the ambient temperature by about 5 to 10 degrees celsius. Click here to read more about Aluminet shade cloth
It’s beautiful and quite barren here. I recommend Highway 5A (Kamloops to Princeton) to anyone who wants to enjoy a slower paced and more scenic route. 5A meanders through scenic cowboy country with lots of campgrounds along the way.
Monck Park
As we pulled out of Quilchena Point RV Park, I realized I would need to write another article today. I also inadvertently overfilled my freshwater tank. Oops! I don’t like driving with a full water tank because of the weight. A full freshwater than weighs close to 400 lbs. This is far too much for my vehicle combination to carry very far.
Seeking Peace And A Good Cell Signal
So I would need to camp somewhere peaceful. It would have to be not too far away with a good cell signal to write. Where I could use up my water supply before travelling onward to Princeton, BC. The sign for Monck Provincial Park came into view- 12 km it promised. I decided to spend the night there. The road was 12 km of bumping and bouncing road with steep uphills, and seemingly endless downhills. We finally arrived and started to settle in.
The first thing I always do before I do anything when I get into a campsite is walk my dogs. It gives us all a chance to see where we’ve landed and unwind from our journey together. Today was no different. There is a decent dog beach here. However, the presence of toxic blue green aLgae prevented me from letting the dogs swim or even drink from the lake. This type of algae kills dogs when they ingest it.
Blue green algae is normally present in lakes but it proliferates when phosphorus is introduced into the water. Soaps, detergents and fertilizers can all contain phosphates. Even toothpaste has phosphorus in it. Phosphorus killing the lakes, rivers, and even areas of the oceans that we love. Click here to learn how using biodegradable products can reduce your use of phosphates and help stop blue green algae in our waterways.
Wildlife Abounds around Nicola Lake BC
On our walk we saw birds, garter snakes and amazing red and yellow winged grasshoppers flying and then disappearing among the yellow sage. Tall pines abound in this area. By the time we returned to the campsite, I decided to stay another night already.
