Friday night, Janet and I decided we would do something a little different and head out early Saturday morning for a bit of rustic camping / kayaking day to the Headwaters lakes area. We had never been there before, but a little over 20 km into the bush behind Peachland should be a nice little trip.
For the camping part, we wanted to take along enough gear so we could prepare our meals for the day, hopefully on some secluded little beach or landing site on a lake. We put together 3 bags we could take in the kayaks, one for the single burner propane stove, one for the kitchen items, and a dry bag for the groceries. It surprised me how long this took to think things through and minimize items, arrange and bag up for the trip the next morning. We are having fun and haven't left the house yet !
We left before 8:00 AM and stopped after a few miles to check the kayak tie downs, etc. as this was our inaugural trip with the new kayak on board. I also wanted a picture of the new boat.
On the way up the Princeton road out of Peachland, and I do mean up and up and up, we had a brief stop at a roadside pond, just because it looked interesting.
When we arrived at the headwaters lakes area, we first met up with the local fishing camp resort operator who advised us the best lake ( there are 4 headwaters lakes ) for kayaking would be #3 lake and how to get there. We arrived and found an idyllic camp spot at a BC Forest Service Recreation site.
The lake did not appear to have any accessible beach areas for a picnic site, so we did not end up packing the camp gear into the kayaks. We just had a minimalist camp at the rec. site. Here is Coco and I trying a few fishing casts.
It was quite a bit cooler up here in the mountains and we had to get a light jacket on to be comfortable. I got the stove going, boiled up some water and we had a cup of tea. Wow, that's great tasting tea when you are outdoors and roughing it. Next was the bacon and egg breakfast. Just about a mishap when the eggs were cracked into the pan and put the pan off balance on the single burner stove. That would have been really bad because the eggs tasted oh so good when we ate.
Finally, for the exciting part, the maiden voyage of the new Seaward. The kayak has a bright orange deck, white hull and black seam. I wasn't completely happy with this color, but with the only other colors being yellow or red, it was the lesser of evils, and it is kind of growing on me. I think I like it more and more.
The first float in a new boat is always exciting and I certainly enjoyed my day floating, paddling, fishing and exploring the lake.
Janet and Coco also enjoyed poking around the interesting shoreline. She always looks for the birds and seen one on a log pecking at some moss or something. She later took a while to decide (after looking in her bird books ) that this was a immature spotted sandpiper.
Here's Coco looking for birds.
Here's Janet looking for birds.
We also came across a pair of loons on the lake and as we approached they starting calling out their very individual song.
Hey, I also caught a rainbow trout not much bigger than the lure. And I also caught two cousins about the same size. Good thing I don't have to rely on my fishing to get a meal !
All in all it was a great day. Arrive, unload gear, eat breakfast, paddle, eat snacks for lunch, lay in the sun, paddle, eat bacon burgers, load up, last look at the lake, drive away.
I like my new kayak, I like it a lot !
Thanks for visiting and keep paddling.
1 comment:
You know, Al, that boat looks good on you, and good on the truck and good in the water. I'm glad I got your tsunami!
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