Off-season RV Camp at Cultus Lake Park, BC

Hi everyone, it's a beautiful sunny day in the beginning of March, maybe 12 degrees out, and I'm out at Cultus Lake for a one-night trip, just here with some friends who are doing some cleanup in the water, diving, cleaning up garbage. So I hope you enjoy the trip with me. So you're probably wondering where's Mickey and where's Finch? Well they're still at home. I got a call from our friend Henry Wang who was coming out to lead a dive here. I came out, help if I can, but they don't really need my help. So they actually were out today with the BC Parks and the BC Parks boat, and with one of the rangers, and stopped I think at three different places on the lake to clean up some of the garbage that just inevitably gets in the water it seems. And the boat was just bringing them back in as I got set up for camp at one of the campsite here, and I decided to come out for a paddle. It's just so nice. It's not spring yet, but just about feels like it. One of the things about this trip, with all the challenges that are happening right now in the Ukraine, the price of fuel has gone up significantly here on the west coast, particularly around the lower mainland, and you know it pales in comparison to the issues that are happening overseas. But we certainly notice that the price of gas now is close to two dollars a liter, which I don't know how that would transfer exactly to an American gallon, but my guess is it would probably be at the equivalent of somewhere around the range of six dollars a gallon. So it's significant. Now our Zion actually gets a reasonably good fuel economy, and I can tell you when I was driving out here I was trying to drive, you know, really conservatively, trying to get the best gas economy I can. So hopefully it's something that will resolve over the short term, and as I say the price of gas can be significant, but not at all a serious issue compared to the things that other people are challenged with now today. It's great to be out. Beautiful sunny day, warm, although it's supposed to get down to about freezing tonight, so just spending one night here and then heading home. Hopefully we'll get out camping more in the in the short term. In the interim, out for a paddle, spend an evening probably sitting around the campfire, and then head home. I think he put instructions on it for me. Basically says boil water, let sit for two minutes. Tasty. Healthy. I'll have to slow down this morning in my paddling. You'll be able to see that, but there's a little mosquito. Early season mosquito. Sort of dead center in the screen. Well, good morning everyone. I had a restful night last night, although I kept waking up whenever the furnace kicked in. It got down to about zero. It's about, I think, one degree right now outside. Foggy on the lake this morning. I was actually going to go for a hike. There's a hike nearby. It's maybe, I think, a little under 5k each way called Teapot Hill, but I didn't think much point in getting up early, climbing up on top of this hill just to look at some fog. So I decided to come up for a paddle and it's actually kind of neat. I'm not that far actually offshore, but I can't see really anything. It's just foggy. In the background, I can hear they're doing a little bit of construction at the south end of the lake, but otherwise it's just very peaceful and nice here. We had a great evening. We sat around the campfire last night and until reasonably late, just talking, talking about our reeds, talking about travel, talking about sorts of things that interested us. And it was a lot of fun. Got up this morning, had some breakfast, made some instant, I think it's like a stone meal or instant oatmeal, healthy cereal, just nuked in the microwave so that you get the water hot really quickly. Had some tea down at the beach. Just a really nice start to a day. It's going to be a beautiful sunny day, like even looking straight up. I don't know if you'll be able to see it with this camera, but there's just a hint of blue sky above us. And I think that once the, once the fog blows off, it's going to be a beautiful sunny day. But unfortunately, I'm heading home. It was just a one night trip. Henry and his team were able to recover some garbage in this lake, but not nearly as much as they expected, primarily because this fall or last fall in November, there was a significant, as you're probably aware, we had significant rainstorms here on the Pacific Northwest, and there was a lot of flooding and also a lot of landslides. And in this lake, actually down by one of the main areas, there was a significant mudslide. And really what it did is it went into the water. And as I understand it, it basically covered up all the garbage that they would normally have gone in and picked up. So I think they're a little disappointed in that because they're obviously all about cleaning lakes and oceans. They did pick up a few things and they, I think, went to three or four different spots on the lake. So it's great to have them helping out and keeping the lakes a lot cleaner than they would be normally. And I always appreciate their effort. So if you do get a chance, make sure you take a look at Henry Wang's YouTube channel. Anyway, I'm going to paddle a little more and then probably chat with my colleagues for a little bit in the morning and then drive home. Mickey sent me a video of Finch sitting on a chair near one of our patios, looking out and chatting to crows. So I look forward to getting home and seeing them both. So nice here. Crows, a little bit of dogs from the campsite, I think. But it's just beautiful. And I can see a little bit more blue sky. At least I think I can. I'm trying to stay relatively close to land since I don't have any lights, obviously, on my packraft in the event there's any boats. It doesn't seem like there's any other boaters out here. A small little inflatable went by a few minutes ago. I just didn't want to be in the middle of the lake without anybody being able to see me. At least here I could paddle the shore reasonably quickly. But you can see the fog's just hanging in. It's blowing slightly though. It cleared up on the ridge just behind me a few minutes ago. Still very foggy. Beautiful though. All right, I came back from over there. It's also one of the reasons I need to stay fairly close to shore is just to be able to find my way back. Fog's still very thick. It's lifting, but I don't think it'll... it'll probably be another hour or so before it clears. Fog's starting to clear. You can see the ridge line now. And my van is right there. There, you can just see it. All right, time to go back. Well, I hope you enjoyed this short trip out to Cultus Lake with me. Please, if you did, make sure you hit the like button. And if you haven't already done so, please subscribe. We'll see you next time.