Our two month tour of Vancouver Island, Alaska and British Columbia ended at Lake Chelan this morning. Two days ago we camped at Canyon Hot Springs outside of Mount Revelstoke after leaving Banff. We had planned hikes but it rained the whole time. We later drove through the dry and river ladened Okanagan Valley and boondocked in a valley wildlife parking lot between Osoyoos and Oliver, BC. I awoke to a coyote watching me watch him…beautiful.
When in Kelowna we visited a monument to wine: Mission Hills. This superlative modern architectural structure influenced by the missions is on a prime piece of real estate overlooking Okanagan Lake and Valley. We took a tour and tasting, bought a couple of bottles and off we went.
Okanagan Valley is known for their wineries, cherry and peach farms and lakes and rivers. Okanagan Lake is home to Ogopogo (analogous to the Lock Ness Monster) and there is a $2 million reward for good photos of this mysterious being. I tried to talk Bruce into going out in the lake and thrash around simulating Ogopogo but since he’s lost so much weight on this trip, the thrashing may be his call for help because he quickly sinks to the bottom. I don’t think he ever learned to swim.
The lake itself is 76 miles long and 1-3 miles wide and the water reportedly replaced 2-3 times per year by its spring fed source. The whole Okanagan Valley from BC to WA is one postcard photo after another.
Lake Chelan is another long clear water lake. No wonder I had so many patients with skin cancer, it’s beautiful and they'd spend their summers here. We camped at 25 Mile Camp and headed to Puyallup the following morning to get our few possessions in storage. We’ll be staying with friends over the weekend and then head to Montana, Colorado and on to Texas. The month of September will be with side trips to NYC and Florida to visit friends and other family before heading to Mexico.
The trip through Alaska and BC was well worth it. Weather-wise the summer season has not been the best for this part of North America, but we’d do it all over again. We prefer the more remote areas of Vancouver Island (western and northern), Northern BC, the Yukon and Alaska. In the remote areas, the provincial and state campsites are cleaner, have more privacy, less noisy and crowded. Also, the park personnel and other camp-goers seem more lad-back, friendly and happy.
It was surprising how expensive things are in Canada (we crossed the border several times), even more so than Alaska. We never paid less than $5/gal of gas (the highest $6.42 in Dawson City) in Canada and the food was 20-30% more. It was just as expensive as my trip to France in March. Even the Swiss campers we met said expense was no different than Switzerland. We chuckled when we saw a sign that read, “Beer is cheaper than gas”.
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