Weekend Roadtrip Pt. 2 — Kamloops
by Keenan
The rain continued through the night and in to the morning, fortunately the tent performed as it should and we stayed dry inside. I knew that the weather this weekend would be cloudy but I didn’t expect it to rain so much. Maybe that was because I’d only looked at the forecast a week in advance; Yuki looked at the forecast the day before we left and it said that there would be thunder storm today.
Camping doesn’t go so well with rain so we set out to leave Vernon and seek out sunnier skies. The first step was to get some food going and so I made simple pancakes with nutella. I had to prop up an umbrella on the picnic table because we hadn’t brought any tarps or chords to string up a shelter. It was wet and drizzling but not pouring so the umbrella worked out fine.
We didn’t spend any longer than we needed to at the campground and packed up quick. As expensive as the campground was, I do admit that having a warm water sink was very nice for washing our dishes before we left.
Yuki used her phone’s data to check weather forecasts of nearby towns and we were happy to find out that Kamloops was a mix of sun and clouds so we went in that direction. It had been our original plan to head to Kamloops anyways.
It took us extra time to leave Vernon because we had to double back for gas but we made it out eventually. The drive to Kamloops was nice and we were impressed by the formation of cliffs along the valley walls. We took a dirt road up one side for some photos but the owners of the private land weren’t too impressed with us so we had to leave.
Kamloops was noticeably quieter than Kelowna. We parked in the downtown park beside the river and had lunch at a picnic table. This was, in my memory, the first time ever that we’d gone to a public park and had a picnic with a stove/bbq and such. Usually, we’d bring sandwiches or pre-cooked food.
Yuki had spent time in Kamloops last summer doing bridge inspections and that was part of the reason we came. She wanted to spend more time in the area and show me the sights. One of her co-workers who lived in Kamloops recommended a hike up Cinnamon ridge, just past the airport, to some hoodoos. This seemed like a good idea so we headed out that way.
To get to the trail, one needs to park along the side of the road and cross some train tracks. These are the busiest tracks I’ve seen and we had to wait for a long train to pass. It had stopped in front of us for a while before picking up speed again. When it finally passed, we crossed and started the hike. While hiking, we saw another 3 trains go by.
The hoodoos aren’t very far in and are pretty cool. They’re large pillar formations that stand as towers away from the valley walls. This hike took us past their bases and into a mini canyon before circling out behind them. It didn’t take us long so we ended up hiking past them with the intention of going up the valley side to the top. We didn’t quite make it, getting tired and less interested. Our highest point gave us a clear view of the valley below and of the hoodoos.
On our descent, we stopped at the hoodoos again. This time I climbed up at the back and found a great view (cover photo). It was a pretty wild place and surprisingly close to the highway, yet camouflaged just enough to be hidden.
By the time we finished the hike it was getting late so we started thinking about dinner and where we were going to camp. We decided to get Thai food in Kamloops before heading south to some of the provincial parks. Lac le Jeune ended up being our selection and even though the highway sign said it was closed, it was filled with RVs. We found a nice spot to pitch our tent and took a walk down to the lake. It seems like it would be a very nice place to go paddling or fishing. With so many families and small kids around, it reminded me of Saratoga Beach and I suspect it is a pretty nice place for family camping.
The campground surprised us with flush toilets in the outhouses and chlorinated water. It is a very well maintained site and all the camping spots have lots of bush between them so there is a lot of privacy. We finished the day cooking some nachos and ducked into the tent just as it started raining again.
This is the video we shot on the second day:
