Mosquitos and Squirrels and Bears, Oh My!

Today started out slow and relaxing. We woke up around 7am, made some coffee and watched more of the local news (see my comments to my previous post). By the way, the coffee was given to us by the owners of the Moon Shadows RV Park out of their own private supply because they didn't sell it in their little store. So nice! I will have to remember to mail them some Stumptown coffee when we get home.

We decided to head outside and look at the river that was so close to the campground and get some pictures. We also met a couple of women, one from Scotland and one from Vancouver, BC - friends who were traveling together and another man from Edson, AB who happened to be in Merritt because his son was graduating tonight.

We left Merritt around 10:45am. There were dry roads and it was about 58 degrees. We entered Kamloops at 11:45am and decided to stop at WalMart for a few grocery items. The temperature had risen to 72 degrees and the sun was shining. Kamloops is a very beautiful town.

We arrived in Clearwater at the Clearwater Valley RV Park (KOA) at 2:00pm and it was 81 degrees. We set up our site and fixed some tunafish sandwiches for lunch and then decided to get some gas and head out to Wells Gray Provincial Park for some hikes. Off for more adventures! The lady in the office of the campground had given us a list of areas that she recommended so we decided to start with one of the further ones away and work our way back.

We started at Ray Farm & Mineral Spring which was 55.7k from the campground. This farms dates back to the beginning of the century and the owners, John & Alice Ray are buried there. It was beautiful. We took a hike that led us to a small mineral spring. It was a pretty good hike, about 30 minutes each way. There were lots of mosquitos, huge flies and bees.

Our next stop was to be Helmcken Falls. As we traveled along the road, Scott noticed something black on the right side of the road ahead and it was moving! Two bears emerged and crossed the road while we slowed down and took pictures. So exciting! We continued on to Mush Bowl, Dawson Falls, and Spahats Falls.

We finally got back to the campground at 8:00pm and fixed chili dogs for dinner. We also took showers which felt so good after being covered in bug spray and sweat!

Note: As I was typing this last night, there was a huge thunder and lightening storm and the loud rain lasted well into the night. I am so thankful for the warm and sunny day we had so we could go and explore. And again this morning, as I am trying to load pictures, the rain is heavy and there is more thunder and lightening. Unfortunately, the pictures will have to come later as I think everyone in the park is on the internet right now.