East Side Stave

I had wanted to return to Cypress Point along the eastern shore of the Lake for quite some time. Today looked like a decent day to venture out that way and hopefully enjoy a pleasant lunch at the point. While there, I hoped to work a few of my Ham club buddies with my portable 2m setup. The drive to the area went quickly and we arrived reasonably early, I hoped the clouds would have burned off but they still seemed thick and imposing.

Not too far into the FSR we were stopped by forest services and an RCMP officer checking for gun permits and valid hunting licenses. I guess they have been having a few problems in the area. A bit further along we came to the clearing where there are normally several groups shooting targets – it was quiet this morning. But looking over the ground you could see thousands of spent shells. It was really quite disgusting – why can’t these morons clean up after themselves, let’s leave the back country clean and fresh for the next person.

We then got back to the Pathfinder and drove up to Salish Lake where I met a couple of tourists who had come to spend the night and enjoy the back country. The lake had a gorgeous back-drop of mist and low cloud which added to the seclusion of the spot. Next we drove down the FSR to Cypress point but soon came to a wash-out that stopped us dead! Not what I was wanting and our drive to Stave was terminated. It did look like a few had managed to cross with bikes but our beast would never be able to cross the creek. So back we went, I decided to head up the road to Twin Lakes and enjoy Stave from an elevated vantage point.

A bit past the twin lakes we found a lovely over-look of Stave Lake with a good view to the south which should give me good opportunity to set up my 2m beam and try contacting a few of my Ham buddies at home. It didn’t take long to set up the antenna and soon I was chatting with Ralph and Ken. The signals were good and the site worked well for radio. The view was pretty good as well and as there were remains of a camp fire it was obviously a site used previously by over-niters. I will need to come back and actually spend a night one of these trips. After lunch at this site where we enjoyed the view we headed back down to the twin lakes.

We made our final stop at the Twin Lakes where we observed a few interesting light effects that I was able to capture on camera. It is an interesting area around these little lakes – the heavy clouds did tend to mask the colours of the area but it was still a lovely setting and would make a great place to relax on a mat floating out in the middle of the lake. On our drive home I noticed a few roads I would like to re-explore and hope to be back soon to see where they lead. Just as we were getting near the highway I noticed a lovely westerly view of the Mission on the hill for which the town is named. I was able to capture a few shots as the clouds parted for a few minutes just prior to sunset. Then it was onto the highway for home. A nice brief visit to the back-country even if we didn’t get to the beach I had hoped for.