Beautiful British Columbia!

Thursday, July 20th - Tuesday July 25th

Million dollar view from our dinner table - Boya Lake

As dusk quietly descends over Boya Lake

Kinaskin Lake evening light

Sierra, the manager, with her double-ended rake.
Twice the results for the effort!

On Thursday July 20th, we departed from Teslin, YK and headed east on the Alaska Hwy until we reached Hwy 37 - the Cassiar Hwy. From there we traveled south into beautiful British Columbia (BC) which is and always will be one of our very favorite places on earth to camp (they have clean, well-maintained campsites with lovely amenities). The individual operators responsible for each park take a personal interest in their park and it shows!

Boya Lake - Our first stop was at Boya Lake Provincial Park. We had spent one night here on the drive north, but decided to spend several nights so that we could relax and enjoy some hiking and kayaking. Ernie selected the premier campsite, which provided a 180 degree view of the turquoise lake framed by fuschia fireweed in the foreground - our very own personal garden. Other visitors kept stopping to take photos from our site.

Beautiful ending to our first day at Boya Lake

Nature's Monet - water, clouds, and a gentle breeze

Bumblebees and butterflies feasting on Fireweed

Our second day there, we took a short hike over to see the beaver dam which the beavers had built (up to six feet in height) to raise the water level, so that this portion of the lake would not freeze in the winter. This ensures that they will continue to have access to their lodge and food during the winter (smart little guys)! We were impressed! It was huge and a ton of trees were felled!

Aspen chatter

Beaver mania - construction in progress! The area 
looked like a logging company had arrived.

The dam they built!  40 ft X 6 ft high - It raised this section
of the lake behind it about 3 - 4 feet - impressive!

Fuschia and Turquoise - lovely!

The operators who run the park provide kayaks for rent ($20 Canadian for 2 hours - on an honor system). What a treat to paddle around that beautiful lake each day - in and out of its coves, around the islands, and into beautiful green-turquoise bays. Wow!

The dotted line on the bottom indicates the campground;
note the many bays and inlets of the lake - a great place to kayak!

The rudder on the back of this kayak
helped when the wind came up.

We also enjoyed a short hike on the east side of the lake where we viewed several additional bays and inlets. As we were returning from our hike that afternoon, we heard the haunting call of a loon echoing up the valley...wonderful!

Turquoise water resulting from glacial silt

Mountain Shadow RV - On Sunday, July 23rd, we traveled south to a small, meticulous, private RV Park - Mountain Shadow, where we showered and spent one night. On the drive there, we spotted, along the roadside, a red fox and a black bear, both apparently enjoying the fresh greens and berries near the highway.

High mountain peaks on the drive there

Views from our campsite

Tucked into the corner

Kinaskin Lake - On Monday July 24th, we headed toward Kinaskin Lake Provincial Park where we spent two days relaxing in the sunshine. Kinaskin is known for its excellent fishing and our neighbors said that on the last day there, they could only do "catch and release," since they had caught their limit of fish the day before.  Tough life! We were again able to eat our salmon dinner outside and enjoy the scenery and 70 degree weather!  Perfect!

"Our house - is a very very very fine house!"

Kinaskin bliss

Sunshine and water - nothing better!

Our last night there...the blues

We were sad to leave such a beautiful place...but since we had already visited this area in 2014 and in June this year, we knew that our next park, Meziadin, would be fun as well...