Bowron Lakes

We were finally packed up and ready to go on Sunday, July 11th. The dogs were already settled into camp B&D's (lucky dogs!), and our friends Dan and Cat were looking after the chickens and gardens. We're off!

We settled into the Clinton campground for the night. More than halfway there. Check out this car though. It is an electric car that some engineering students from England/Germany are taking on world record trip from Alaska to Argentina. Check out their website if you'd like, pretty neat stuff.

Finally we arrived in Barkerville. This is a historic town from the gold rush time. Everything in this town was about finding gold. We arrived at 4pm, and most things shut down by 6pm so we had very little time to really check it out. You could spend days here. We did enjoy a Chinese dinner here - the best Chinese food ever!

Monkey see, monkey do! Rowan picked up a rock and is 'taking pictures', just like her mom.

Monday night, we camped out at Becker's Lodge where we could rent the wheels for portaging our canoe. The weather is cold and I am starting to wonder what I was thinking taking a toddler on such a trip. Eeek!

Tuesday morning, we report for our 9am orientation. We get briefed on the campsites, where the rangers are, where the emergency telephones are, what to do to avoid bears, what to do if a bear attacks (ahh!!), how easy it is to tip on the rapids, watch out for deadheads on the Cariboo river, etc...

After our orientation we pack up and begin our journey. The first leg of the trip is a 2.4km portage. I carried Rowan about halfway as technically she shouldn't ride in the canoe when we carry it. But for the second half, Rowan sat tentatively in the canoe. The trail was very wide and smooth. So far, easy peasy!

We arrive at our first lake, Kibbee Lake. A small lake and it is as calm as can be. Oh so quiet! ahhh....

It takes about 30 minutes to cross this lake and we are already at our second portage (2km). This time, Rowan sits in the canoe happily!

Suddenly, I look over at Rowan and she is doing the ole head bop, falling asleep. We laid her down in the canoe and she snoozed the rest of the way. I have to admit, I didn't think this would go so smoothly and am surprised and relieved at how easy it is to have Rowan do this excursion with us. She is so portable!

We have our lunch at the next lake, Indianpoint Lake. This lake is 6.4 km long and we decide to find a good campsite and celebrate our first day on the circuit.

Rowan thought it was so much fun to cook outside, have a fire, see the water, and she even got a kick out of using the outhouse. I think our dinner was Oriental rice stirfry (from a package) and we can't really recommend it. Oh well. We did enjoy the apple berry cobbler for desert though. Wes went out fishing but came back empty handed. Once back he spotted a moose just across the lake in the binos! Yeah, wildlife!

Happy 3rd Anniversary Honey! It was memorable!

The next day, we are lucky to have a sunny day! We paddle our way across Indianpoint lake to our next portage.

We hardly get going and Rowan asks to have a nap!? Crazy, but we didn't argue. And she went fast to sleep.

Coming into the portage and expecting to see a moose. No moose today, but lots of birds singing.

Our next portage is 1.6 km to Isaac Lake. Rowan is comfortable sitting in the canoe during the portage now. Yeehaw!

Isaac Lake is the biggest lake and I was worried about constant white caps and crazy headwinds, but nope. It was calm and beautiful. Wes caught a fish right away on the lake and we pulled over on a nice sandy point for lunch and a bit of a swim (the water was freezing, but Rowan enjoyed wading in it anyways.) No pictures of the gigantic lake trout that we could barely eat because the camera fell in the water. oops. Lucky for a sunny day, it dried out and was working again by evening.

Pulling into a campsite. This is the sleeping position that Rowan took on during most of our paddling. What a sweet canoeist!

Next day the wind showed up, but it was a tailwind. We were able to make quite the distance without too much effort.

Snack time is anytime when you are canoeing!

Rowan didn't always sleep. Although she did sleep a lot during paddling. Otherwise Rowan enjoyed looking for waterfalls, feeling the water in her hands, jumping around, eating snacks of course and holding her pinwheel.

So, we are onto the fourth day and we are all getting a bit dirty. The lake is frigid so we aren't too excited about going for a swim to warm up. Oh well, a bit of dirt won't hurt anyone.

Isaac Lake is 37 km long, so we are excited to be near the next portage and find a new lake to explore. This morning it is exceptionally calm and glassy, and still no rain!

We portage around 'The Chute' for obvious reasons of possibly tipping with a toddler. It's a nice portage, right along the river (2.8km.) In the middle of the portage we have to paddle the river for about 10 minutes, which was a ton of fun. It was rapids, it was a bit scary, and Rowan laughed the whole time. The entire walking portion of this portage, 2.8 km, Rowan walked the whole way.

Finally we arrive at McLeary Lake. It is a short paddle and then we will be paddling the Caribou River.

This is the section of the trip that we heard is the most likely place to tip. Lots of deadheads and sweepers that not only make you tip but severely damage your canoe. Well, this is what we were told in the orientation. We got ourselves very prepared, making sure everything was securely waterproofed and attached to the canoe. We attached Rowan to Anita, just in case, so we didn't lose our child.

The entrance to the river, we were welcomed by a pair of Bald Eagles. I felt more reassured already. We see a few deadheads and sweepers but I don't know what all the scare was about. It was like paddling down a lazy river. And very scenic too! Oh yes, and Rowan slept the whole time.

Caribou mountains.

A family shot! We paddled about the same distance everyday as a couple of kayakers and we kept on meeting up with them at various campsites along the way. Thanks to them we got our family shot!

Incredible glassy day on Lanezi lake. Another day of sunshine?!! We'll take it.

We paddled into Sandy Lake, stopped for a swim and lunch. It was nice to get clean by day 5. Then headed over to Unna Lake. Rowan met a 5 year old to play with here and they got along great.

Across the lake from our campsite is a hiking trail to the Caribou Falls. Miss Rowan is all big girl now and insists on hiking the whole way. (uggg... hiking at a two year old pace. Every two seconds looking at the rocks, or the trees, or the butterfly, or whatever. But you do notice lots of cool little things!)

Checking out Caribou Falls - 24m. It was a bit intense.

We leave Unna lake the next day and paddle up the river a bit to a short portage. We catch up to the family paddling with their 5 year old and they have their cameras out and are being very quiet. Sure enough, a mother moose is standing right there in the creek. Then her baby comes out, so sweet! The two canoes on the circuit with kids and we get to see the moose! Yeah!

Our portage is 0.4 km and then a quick paddle on Skoi Lake. Then another 0.4 portage to Spectacle Lakes. Finally the clouds start to move in and we can hear the thunder in the distance. We get our rain gear on so we are ready. But it doesn't rain. The sun stays out too!

The thunder clouds came back in the afternoon and we felt like we were paddling against time to get to our campsite before the rain did. We made it, set up camp, ate dinner and the rain still never came. It was so cool!

Last night in the Bowron Lakes!

Day 7 we paddled out of Spectacle Lake, into the Bowron river and into Bowron Lake. What a beautiful trip we had! We had given ourselves 10 days to complete, but it was quite a bit easier than anticipated and we had great weather which helped. We recommend this trip to anyone with a paddle and a vessel who needs to get away for atleast a week. Awesome place.

We were so glad to have real food again. Especially when we came home to out bountiful garden. The freeze dried food is not really that good, but sure gets one by.