Winter Camp at Joffre Lakes Feb 28 to Mar 2, 2014
How do you like the looks of those mountains basking in the glow of the setting sun? Looks inviting, doesn't it? That was on the Friday night of our winter camp, and by the time we were headed for bed that sun was a distant memory as we had an overnight temperature of -15 degrees! Lots of things froze (check out the bottle of iced tea living up to its name!) but we were savvy enough to bury our water upside down so at least we didn't lose that. Despite the chilly temperatures the scouts enjoyed themselves with the usual activities of sledding, fort-building and entertaining the whiskey jacks. Saturday saw the temperature rise just a bit after a cold morning but we lost the blue skies as the forecasted frontal system moved in and the snow began to fall. Sunday's packup was one of the quickest ever, especially considering the cold hands and thick fingers trying to fold up tents and canopies. The drive home proved to be the biggest ordeal of the weekend, as the snow was falling all the way from Joffre to Porteau Cove. Bumper to bumper almost all the way as if it was a Monday morning commute in the big city! The 9 scouts (our biggest turnout ever for a winter camp) faced challenges but did very well over all, especially considering how many had never attended winter camp before. It was a great weekend for all involved.
Porteau Cove camp Oct 4 - 6, 2013
Kilby Provincial Park Camp (Harrison Mills) Nov 1 - 3, 2013
Kilby Provincial Park is a gem of a campsite on the banks of the Harrison River in between the outflow of Harrison Lake and the merging of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers. Kilby General Store is an important heritage site for the Harrison area and the Harrison River is wintering grounds for a huge number of Trumpeter Swans. We learned that over half of the world's population of Trumpeters winter in British Columbia, and over half of those are on the Harrison River. This is a very special area.......sturgeon and salmon in the river, gulls, geese, ducks, swans and eagles in or above the river. A hive of activity at this time of year. But on Saturday there was the rain. Wow! It was relentless between noon and 8pm. When it finally broke and we had dinner done and the cleanup finished, we were bagged and were all in bed by 10pm. Sunday woke up to cooler temperatures and fresh snow on the mountains, an indicator of how it couldn't have been more than 4 degrees Celsius at our campsite when Saturday's rain was driving down! At least pack=up day went well, and the scouts even had a chance to practice some of their campfire routines!