First Overnight of 2010

Yay, finally, finally made it out for an overnight trip. I have been longing to get out there for some time, and we've been having some nice weather too. Last week I decided I'd had enough, rain or shine I was going out camping!

Since I wanted to take it a bit easier and stay close to home I decided to revisit Alouette Lake (if you didn't know, Alouette is french for 'skylark'...I didn't know!). At the last minute my friend Jim decided to join me, which was nice. I enjoy a good solo trip but company is always nice too.




Waiting for Jim to get on the water, it was looking like a nice sunny day.



But the forecast called for a slight chance of rain, and a rain cloud seemed to follow us halfway up the lake. It was bizarre. Blue sky and sunshine all around, and it's raining on us!

Since neither of us had been out for months we decided this would be a conservative trip, and we'd camp at the Moyer Creek campground, same place as I camped before in the Helios. This time I was in my Sunny and Jim was in his hardshell.



Right in front of the campground was an Osprey nest.



The rain clouds kept coming and going. One minute, hot and sunny, the next, cold and raining.

The site I stayed in last time was taken, in fact, that side of the creek was pretty well packed. But the other side was open and we grabbed a nice spot.


It even had seating! There were a few people there who had stopped in for lunch, and soon after we showed up they moved on.


This trip was also the inaugural outing of my new tent. While down in Vegas in January I picked up last year's model of the REI half dome 2 real cheap like. So far I really like it, especially the well designed entry and exit. Nice spacious vestibules too.


One minute it's sunny.

The next it's raining.


The rain subsided though, every time it came it was only for a few minutes, and once it was gone we had a nice evening. Since the clouds had gone I broke out a few new toys. One was a green laser...very cool. The others were my new 8x42 binoculars and my 10x42 monocular. I wanted to see how they would fare for a little astronomy. The verdict? The binocs suck for astronomy. Can't focus to pinpoint star images. The monocular on the other hand, very impressive. I'm positive it will be a regular addition to my gear from now on.


Had a great night's sleep and woke up early to a beautiful morning. Jim noticed a strange noise coming from my boat though. On further investigation, the floor was soft and there was some kind of slow leak going on. I gave things a quick once over and determined (due to the air bubbles) that the valve was leaking through the air tight cap. I figure some grit or sand had got into the plunger of the valve, and air was leaking slowly. So I deflated, blew it out a bit, then re inflated and all seemed fine. I've since given the valves a good cleaning with some 301 protectant. For a minute there, I thought I would be investing in a new boat sooner than anticipated!




By around 9 am we were packed up and ready to head back. I'm thinking it's time to invest in some new dry bags for gear, maybe go with a couple of dry duffel bags.


Jim went on ahead a bit to try and photograph the osprey.


It still isn't warm enough to do without the neoprene. I'm looking forward to sandal weather and water temperature again. These stupid things can hurt the feet after a while.


But they really do keep your feet dry.


We decided to take a detour up Gold Creek. I'd skipped this last time around.



Some kind of muskrat den?


I'll bet this place is amazing on a hot summer day.



And this is about as far as you can get.




Just as soon as I landed, the sun broke through, lighting up the creek bed.



Magical.



Up at the top of the creek we ran into a couple of nice ladies who were on a training run. They were planning a trip to Bowron Lakes later in the season and wanted to get some practice paddling in. I warned them that they would probably end up on my blog, and here we go!


After this pleasant diversion we were back on the water heading home. A bit of wind had kicked up. Alouette Lake shares some characteristics of inlets, and it gets the predictable afternoon winds. Nothing too serious today though.


And eventually, we made it back safely.


I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to getting back out there camping again. And now here we are again! A beautiful trip and I hope the first of many to come this season.