We are back from our wee jaunt to Manning Park and beyond.

On the way to Manning Park, we stopped at the Hope Slide site which destroyed 3 km of the Hope-Princeton Hwy on January 9, 1965.

Since October is considered ‘winter months’, the Visitor Centre and most of the camp grounds at Manning Park were closed.  However, the campgrounds at Lighting Lakes was still open for camping.  We didn’t stay there.  As it happens, the weather was beautiful — while you were in the sun.  As soon as you stepped into the shade, the cold hit you.  We opted to stay at the Lightning Lake Day Use Area at the end of the lot so we had a fantastic view.

The next day, we walked around the lake.  What was most impressive was that my 90-year old Mother-in-law walked 30 km over the 5 days that we were away.

Useful tip:  If you stay overnight, try to pay the attendant the day before.  Otherwise, they wake you up at 7-8 am to collect the fee.

We also walked around Twenty-Minute Lake.  Yes, it is quite a small lake but we saw this beautiful blue heron who seemed to do all she could to let me take the best photo possible.

After two nights stay here, we were going to check out a forestry camp site called Dewdney Recreation Site.  We stopped in Princeton Visitor Centre on the way (rave review) where we learned that there were a few sites.  We settled on Old Dewdney Road West.  Rather than park by the river, we parked on the other side of the road only due to the fact that the main highway across the river seems to echo making it very noisy.  Someone has an artistic sense of humour.

The next day, we checked out the others heading toward Hedley.  The one we felt was the best one, is Pickard Creek Recreation Site.  We took a look around Hedley which seemed to me to be a struggling little town.  Unfortunately, not a week after we visited, a fire took a restaurant that was over 100 years old.

On our way to Kentucky-Alleyne Provincial Park where we spent the next two nights, we stopped at Bromley Lake Provincial Park.  It was really something!  Nice sandy beach along the river.  Perfect place for a lovely picnic.

Kentucky-Alleyne Provincial Park was quiet and provided several scenic and lovely walks.  However, I would not stay there in the summer months.  The sites are side by side, the lakes are alkaline (which is why it looks very green in the pictures) and I can’t imagine you would want to swim in the water.  They stock the lakes but I don’t think I would want to eat it.  Perhaps it would be good for ‘catch and release’.

Our mini- vacation did not end here.  On the way home, we walked the Othello Tunnels in Hope on yet another beautiful day.

Made up of a series of five tunnels and multiple bridges in between, the cliffs are straight granite, at a massive 300 feet tall.  Located north of Hope, the tunnels have concrete and wood supports from the inside.  Once you’re in the tunnels, you can actually hear the rapids flowing through the gorge.

The picture above shows the two sides of the river where Evan and his buddy walked across logs to get across.

I have many more pictures, needless to say, but it is really something you need to see for yourself to experience at this marvel.

That marks the end of this short but fun-filled adventure.  We got home just in time to start thinking again about our next cross-Canada trip.  Let’s see how many wee trips I can squeeze in before then!