BC Recreation Site RV Camp & Paddle at Stave Lake!

Hi everyone so we are here at Stave Lake today. We're at the Kearsley Creek Recreation Site campground and we're here for a couple of days. So in this video we're going to show you a little bit of our camping here at Stave Lake and also talk a little bit about the BC wildfire situation right now. So we came in yesterday and it was a Sunday and it wasn't it was actually fairly busy though there were a few vacant sites but lots of people a lot of people at the lake because it's a beautiful sunny day. Today is a Monday morning and it's amazingly different there's far fewer people with the exception of some just going by right now on the roads and kids on bikes but there's there's the beaches are empty this morning when we went out for a walk and quite a difference on a Monday and there's many more campsites that are available. What's also interesting about this particular campsite is that it's a BC recreation site but you can also make reservations online which is really unusual for a BC rec site. Yeah and then the other thing that's unusual about this campground is that they actually have an on-site camp host you have to stop and check in with them when you arrive and they're quite strict actually. Yeah which works for us because we're always very we're always very cautious when we're out camping we you know we don't leave our stove out when we're not using it we bring in our tablecloth anything that may have the smell of food we always you know put back in the van and realistically you know that's what you should be doing to avoid any kind of bear issues we'd rather be in a place where you know the camp hosts ensure everyone follows the rules around quiet time and around you know keeping your sites clean that just works well for us. Yeah and then it's typical in a recreation site you have to pack it in and pack it out so you gotta pack up your garbage and take it with you when you leave there's no garbage receptacles here they only have pit toilets although there's quite a few of them we were surprised and they're very clean but there's no toilet paper so again there's a busy rec site pack it in pack it out take your take your toilet paper if you need it and and take your garbage out with you. When we came in the road is is fairly rough it's about nine kilometers but the the forestry road portion is not too bad you can drive at a reasonable speed it's not too many potholes the road actually into the rec site itself is fairly rough lots of rocks and bumpy sections we could do it in our van but we had to do it very slowly it's probably about as rough as road as I'd want to take our van in I was commenting there's maybe two vans here and everyone else is either in a truck camper or a trailer there's no class a motorhomes and it's probably I'm guessing in part due to the conditions of the road though I think you could bring one in we also went out last night for a after dinner paddle and that was nice it was really warm it was just nice to see you know get out on the lake and paddled around a little island maybe a kilometer away very pleasant. Gordon had to work a little harder because it was a little bit rough but although we were fortunate about halfway back the wind died and so it was much easier to paddle back that's very pleasant. Then as for the BC wildfire situation it's particularly bad this year and particularly early as well and I think that's because of that heat dome that we had a couple of weeks ago. Yeah we had temperatures well above any kind of usual temperature for this time of year and I think we had even in the lower mainland we had temperatures often at or close to 40 degrees and that's just so unusual for us and what it did effectively across the province is really dry everything out you know we were talking the other day we think we're probably and this is just us guessing but you know we're it's mid-July but I think it's almost like mid-August in terms of fire conditions so there are over I think 300 forest fires currently burning in BC most of which not all but most of which are sort of in the interior of the province so running from the southern sort of Okanagan region up through the Caribou Chukotan up to northeastern BC so we've got fires and we've got a lot of smoke and even in some of the photos you'll see from us or some of the video today you'll see the fact that the mountains are hazy and that's really just wildfire smoke that's been carried off you know to where we're camped here at Stave Lake. So it is impacting a little bit on I think a lot of people's travel plans I mean as soon as we were free to travel and then all of a sudden we get the wildfires and the weather is beautiful but again we haven't had rain for a long time I don't think there's any rain in the forecast unless it's just short bursts of thunderstorms in the Okanagan and of course that's bad because the lightning can cause fires as well. So of course for us it's probably more just a concern about smoke and some of the areas and for people that live in those areas it's much worse because it's not just smoke and air quality issues but obviously they're worried about you know potential for loss of life or properties due to the forest fires so we're hoping all that goes well and we actually did have an unfortunate incident an area that we like to visit which is the Lytton area and we've done a couple of videos from parks that we've liked there. The village of Lytton unfortunately did have a fire and it was fairly significant and then literally the village had to evacuate in minutes and I think roughly 90 percent of the village has been destroyed by the fire and there was lives lost as well so a very very sad event to to see and and certainly our hearts and thoughts go out to all the people that live in that area that have had to deal with loss of property and and potentially loss of some of their family members. Yeah. So we'll share with you some of our paddle from last night some of the campsites in this uh I can't even remember the name of the place we're at. Kearsley Creek. Kearsley Creek. I know we're on Stapley. Yeah. This is where old coffee tables come to spend the last of their days. Very nice paddle especially when you don't have to paddle. And hopefully I'll get out for another paddle either tomorrow morning or maybe again this evening but it's a beautiful spot. It was funny when we get when we woke up this morning which was about five o'clock it was the reason we woke up then was because the sound of the birds was just so loud and so intense and even an hour later they were still chirping and you probably heard some in the background but you know just that half hour before the sun rises the birds just seem so happy they're just like greeting the day and you know by the time six o'clock rolled around there were still bird noises and it was very pleasant but not nearly as loud as it was when some ducks out, sun over the mountains. Gorgeous. Water's very nice so I note a couple beer cans. Squished beer cans. If everyone can just do their part to help keep the lakes a little bit cleaner. Right Henry? Just a double site. No one at the day use today. Yeah absolutely empty. We're just curious as to whether the kayak rental is open. It is a Monday but still. Or maybe not open yet. Thought this might be a little river more like a little inlet might be a tiny creek at the end doesn't go in very far still pretty. That's a little island that we paddled around last night. The day use beach is a lot quieter today than it was yesterday. Beautiful. Sign says do not stand here. What does it really say? I'm guessing sometimes there's no water here and there's a trail right across. I guess this is dammed so sometimes the lake might be low enough you could technically drive across. Some of the campsites around here are ATV friendly. That's what the sign it says. Ours is specific to not having any all-terrain vehicles. So quiet today compared to yesterday. It's amazing. Mondays versus Sundays. For dinner tonight we have beyond sausage and that's vegan. Some steamed broccoli and I steamed that on top of the baby potatoes. And we're having some Whistler brewing honey lager and some Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand that we opened yesterday. So bon appetit. Another three-hour cruise. Straight across the lake to some of the cliffs we can see just ahead of us. Oh another ladder there. I feel like we're in the jungle cruise. Yeah in the Amazon. I think this is Grizzly Bear Creek. You can't go much further. There's the haunted stump. Yeah this is really cool actually. It feels like you feel like Robinson Crusoe. I like the jungle cruise better. Yeah. If it gets any windier when we go back it'll be like being in Gilligan's Island where we stranded here for a day. We do get cell phone reception here as opposed to the campsite. Yeah. Not very much but enough. It's like a bar. Yeah I think people use this as a party place. They even have a barbecue. at the Cruiser Beach Yacht Club and we've got, I don't know, maybe a kilometer and a half that way. A bit windy but fun. I don't think this sign is usually in the water. I think the lake's much higher that's why. Yes. So it's nice to see the geese out so early in the morning but I hadn't expected that they'd bring all the beach toys. So we had a great time at Stave Lake at the campsite whose name I can never remember. Yeah it was great and particularly our spot. We really liked our spot. We were in spot 26 and you know it's just close enough you get a little glimpse of the water but far enough away from if you know if the beach does get busy you don't see a lot of people and very quiet. Lots of birds. Really enjoyed it. We had a great time. The road, you know, driving out the road seemed a lot better than we came in once you know the road. It was perfectly fine in our van you just had to drive slowly in some parts and the other thing that we wanted to just share too is we needed to dump our tanks and so we just popped over to Rowley Lake Provincial Park which is maybe what 15 minutes away? Yeah it's probably about 14 kilometers. Yeah something like that. And then we dumped our tanks there and then we're able to come home. We're actually back in our storage lot right now waiting for our next trip. So thanks so much for watching our video and if you enjoyed it please be sure to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel please if you haven't done so already. And we'll see you next time. See you next time.