Summer Of Twenty-Nineteen

This trip brings the mileage on the Mack to over 38,000. Nearly 2000 kilometres to go to work. But we did stay for 19 weeks.

____ Apologies for the absence. No cell-phone signal, no Internet connection and a lot of work are the excuses. Nineteen weeks in a remote part of British Columbia looking after the places of BC Parks on the Seymour Arm of the Shuswap Lake. The same gig as last year, working the full season this time. But it should not have been that way; I went back with the expectation that it would be 4 on/ 4 off. Four days work followed by four of rest and relaxation. The no-show of the other couple left Cheryl and I with a 7 day work-week, every week, and none of the subsequent efforts of the management could find anyone to join us.

____ Weather wise, it wasn't the best of summers also; periods of rain every two or three days spoiled every week. Our new kayaks rarely went on the water and the fishing tackle was used even less. There were four weeks when the main campsite at Silver Beach was full but at other times the occupancy was down on last year; not helped by a landslide which closed the main access road for nearly a week. Everything was not negative, overall the guests were well behaved and we made some good friends and had some good times. Here are a few photographs from the Summer.

Camping on Albas Beach in late April before the work started.

Permanent camp with the deck and awning in place. The Kawasaki Mule was our main transport.

Two Mile Creek flowing into the Shuswap.

Towing an old jetty away from Albas Beach after it had drifted down the lake from it's mooring.

Silver Beach sign that deflected from the ugliness of a driftwood tree stump. 

The deck had it's first outing, although I'm not convinced about it's suitability as a permanent addition to the truck.

Pancake time! Black huckleberries were in plentiful supply on the many bushes in the Silver Beach campground.

Some guests came by road, some by boat and some by float-plane.

Rainbows were a common feature of a rain interrupted Summer.

The common state of the living accommodation: a mess.

Silver Beach sign at the end of the season, after the water level in the lake had dropped, even with all the rain.

The smoothness of the Shuswap made it great for kayaking.

The 10 foot long Sit-on-Top Kayaks handled well and were comfortable.

Classic British Colombian scenery on the Seymour Arm of Lake Shuswap.