Camping and International Relations

We went camping this past weekend! We headed out for Ross Lake in the North Cascades National Park. Yes, that is in Washington but it is only accessible via a 60 km gravel road of which 57 km are in BC. Here's the border crossing:


It was a great campground. Many people go there to camp, but most just stop along the river somewhere along the long gravel road. If you go the entire way, this is one of the views you get to enjoy. Besides the views, the American campsite is free, has great outhouses (always try to camp near handicapped outhouses - they're super nice), provides water spigots all over the place, and was almost completely empty!


None of the campsites are right on the lake, but a short walk away is the boat launch and a great covered picnic area. We enjoyed eating pancake breakfasts down there!


Due to the lack of people, we had to take our own photo of ourselves :) Notice the BEAUTIFUL blue sky.


After Saturday's breakfast and all, we headed out on a trail for Hozomeen Lake. The hike was a very enjoyable 2 hours. We arrived at the lake, enjoyed the scenery for about 5 minutes, and then heard noises from above. Big noises. Can you see the dark clouds coming in from the left?


It started to rain - cold and hard. Not really having any other choice, we started the hike back - this time running. The hail came, the rain continued, large pine-needley puddles formed, and we ran.

Although we were cold and wet, we're actually glad that it rained. While we ran and then warmed up in the tent, we came up with the...

Top 10 Reasons Why Rain is Nice While You're Camping

1) Good excuse to hunker down in your tent for hours
2) You get to see the hiking trail in such a different light
3) Good excuse to not start a campfire
4) You feel so much cleaner when you don't smell like campfire smoke
5) When else do you squeeze into the same sleeping bag with your best friend to get warm?
6) You don't worry as much about bears
7) Rain makes gravel roads less dusty
8) Everything smells so good
9) You experience the real smell of "fresh rain", as opposed to what your deodorant smells like
10) Classic campfire recipes are reinvented on the campstove - like the campstove hobos below


Sunday morning, after another lakeside pancake breakfast, we left Ross Lake and headed to the Othello Quintette Tunnels. Here's the story of the tunnels because I'm sure you've never heard about them even though they are a huge engineering feat. If you don't want the history lesson, just enjoy the pictures of the canyons and tunnels below.

The original western Canadian railroads were built some distance away from the U.S./Canadian border because the Canadians thought the Americans would be able to seize the railroad easily if it was close. Well, that was a good thought, but when all the precious minerals were found in the Kootenay Mountains, Americans were actually coming up and seizing the minerals - and the Canadians were hard pressed to do anything because there was no easy way to get there. So, a railroad was needed. No problem, right? It was relatively easy until they got to Coquihalla Canyon. Steep cliffs on either side of the canyon with white water below. What to do...


They were stumped until engineer Andrew McCulloch came along. He and a few surveyors climbed into a basket, were lowered over the canyon edge, and found a way to get through the canyon. Three tunnels were hand-picked and bridges were built between to connect the east and west side of the canyon, and thus completed the Kettle Valley Rail line. The tunnels were amazing. The first tunnel is 286 steps long (yes, we counted) and when you get somewhere around the middle of it, it is absolutely pitch black except for the light coming from either end of the tunnel.



Can you tell we loved the tunnels? Our last stop for the weekend was Bridal Veil Falls - the most beautiful waterfall either of us have ever seen. It was truly mesmerizing.


Oh, one last thing. We saw lots of wildlife while camping. Just a few minutes after we arrived, we saw an owl fly through the woods next to us, land on a tree, perch there for 10 minutes, and then fly away. John was spooked by a deer standing just a few feet away from him when walking back from the bathroom one night. And as we were driving away from the campground, we saw a black bear cross the road. Were we ever glad we saw that animal at the end of the trip, not the beginning!