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The first of my two trips saw me providing a tour guide to a friend and his wife. They had never been up in this area before and were quite interested in seeing what some of the local back country had to offer. He took his own 4x4 up but since we are both HAM radio operators we were able to stay in constant communication. This made our separation between vehicles virtually non-existent as we enjoyed sharing our thoughts about the sights and other drivers as we came upon them.
We stopped for lunch at 20 mile bay where I got a number of photos before we returned home. I noticed that this time the lake level was very high and the beaches were full of driftwood. Though it was fun heading up together, it did slow me down and I didn’t get as far up the lake as I was hoping. So I went back on my next opportunity.
Our trip two weeks later saw only me and Ethan head out for the north end of the lake; which we did achieve. But along the way we stopped at the lovely little Wood Lake which I always seemed to pass by. There are a number of prepared camping spots around the lake which were about half occupied. The lake was covered in lily pads and offered a very restful place to camp at. The changing seasons will offer some lovely sights here.
We next zipped up past 20 mile bay and on to the north half of the lake. The worst part of the road starts at the 55km mark and continues for about 10km. It was rough enough that the passenger running board broke lose! I was able to securely strap it up so we were able to continue on up the road. It had been several years since I was last up this far so the sights were fairly new again. This part of the lake narrows and has a very different mood to it from the southern half. As this area is less accessible, the whole tone of the lake seems to be far more rustic and untouched, even the bugs seem tougher and more numerous! I do want to come back and spend a bit more time as there are a number of side roads to explore, and getting up to the hot springs for a relaxing soak will be a welcome bonus.