Buttle Lake   May 30 – Jun 1

 A sunny spot on the lake
Finally – we are on the first camping trip this year, so we decided for Buttle Lake because after a lot of rain on the weekend, they said it will be nice and sunny. So early in the morning we left and arrive already at 10.30 at Buttle Lake Campground… and see there most of the lake front sites are free… so we choose the one with the most sunshine…

 We rescue a boat
So on a walk along the beach Paul discovered a boat in the water… it floats there and we decide to rescue it. It looked like that it was only a short way in maybe up to the knees (?)… so Gine goes in, ok then the water comes to the knees… skirt comes higher up… underwear gets wet and it is close to the waist – time to turn around and take of the sweater and shirt and back into the cold water – really who goes voluntarily in that cold lake… and then nearly totally in, finally at the water and Gine pulls it towards the land… after having it on land… it need to be carried up to the campground, so it can get a little bit drier…
That requires now a coffee and a change in cloth to get warm again….

 It's warm at the other beach
Since it was not warm enough to sit at the beach, we decided to walk to the other beach… so with pants and sweater we arrive and discover here it is very warm… and the water level is super low, so if we bring the flip flops we can walk over to the island… it’s cool to find all those huge roots… so we had a lot of fun.

 Bread on the stick with a nice big fire
If you can have a fire you have to have one… especially since we never know, when the fire ban will be on… and so today we had bread on the stick for supper with a nice hot fire…. Afterwards a short break before the next fire started up for a desert J

 Good morning sunshine
We wake up and find some sunshine... so out we go and have coffee in the sun, ok it didn’t really last, because the clouds came. It was still warm but not sunny… and so we decided to go to the warmest spot here:

 At the warm beach and Rainbow island
We start out and bring drinks and snacks, flip-flops and beach cloth, towels and a chair… and arrive at the super warm beach and find a nice sandy spot… and as it looks today the water is even lower, so only one step and we are on the island in the lake on an island… Rainbow Island: and up the side to some great views down the lake… more exploring around the outside on all the shore we never saw before… and finally a relaxing time on the sand…

 The walk to the 3 ponds (or not)
As where Paul decided that you can’t walk the whole day… Gine had too much energy and decided to check out the 3 ponds: ok there were 3 ex-ponds, since there is not really any water left. But it was a funky little walk in the rain forest.

 Some huge tree stumps
We already know that the Strathcona park was the first Provincial Park in BC, and we also know that it is not an old-growth forest… but we can see the left overs of the old tree stumps everywhere and today we walked around he campground to find all the huge hollow tree stumps: some are nearly taller than us… big enough that we both fit inside one tree.

 And once it was an ax
So we found a nice piece of firewood in one campsite… so we take it, ok it had some huge knops, but we thought hey we use our small ax as a wedge and then hammer down with the big one, and this did work for the first 2 pieces… but then the wood was stronger than the ax and our little ax became an ex-ax, because the handle is bent: we learn: wood is stronger than metal!!
But overall we still had enough wood for a huge warm and hot fire…

A nice playground
We discovered we never checked out the playground here: a lot of different ways to climb up and slide down… so every spot was checked

 A sunny wake up
The sun shines and we are up… so we sit in the sun and can’t believe how nice it is: it was still nice for breakfast… but then I think the sun decided it’s time to move on

 It starts raining
After the sun left the rain drops start, at least not for very long... but then the question is: what should we do: stay and relax in the clouds or go home and bring our treasures home and start making our little enchanted forest… and we decided it’s time to go and do some more imporant things at home.