Cowichan Lake I

Summer is lake time
There is nothing better on a hot summer day than being on the lake – so for this week we booked a spot on the Cowichan Lake with Michelle & Tim

 We start out with a grey sky
The week before it said: it will be sunny… then it said clouds on Monday … and on Monday itself it was rain and clouds… but better tomorrow… let's hope
When driving down the highway the blue sky was always tempting ahead of us, making us think that we drive into the sunshine and so we hoped for the best

 After Gravel some lake view
After the turn off we discovered the gravel road down to the camp side was worth and longer than we remembered… and then we found our spot with partial lake view… one downside: the sky is grey….

 Checking out the floating walkway
One thing we looked forward too was the floating walkway… so after a welcome camping coffee we went down towards the beach and we visited the walkway – the nice part was it was not that windy and so we loved walking along checking out the murky logs in the water… sitting on the benches overlooking the lake and relax until we felt cold

 We need a fire to keep warm until the rains come
So right after supper we started a fire… because even a long sweater couldn’t really keep us warm – so we needed the fire… which was nice and relaxing until the rain drops decided to join in… guess we have an early evening today! But not before we have a nice piece of cake


 A grey morning
Good morning sunshine? Not today – but it was not cold, so after waking up and a nice breakfast we decided lucky for us, it is not raining and since this afternoon the sun will come out how about we check out the Cowichan River PP and the:

 Are Stutz falls waterfalls?
No – they are not, they are rapids in a wide Rocky River bed, where someone thought that the fish need help and they built Salmon stairs… which got smashed by huge logs…. But it was fun walking on top and on the logs, ok we need more excitement and so our next stop was:

 The Trestle 66
Ok now here the canyon is pretty steep – and the trestle is cool, because you can look all the way down to the water, did I mention that we are now on the Canada trail? Since we need a little bit more exercise we started to walk along the canyon and that’s when we found:

 Historic artefacts?
At least that’s what Gine decided it was – I think we should have taken a bottle or rusted can home with us to preserve history. According to Michelle it was a Moonshine set up… Paul thought it was from building the railway… one thing for sure it was fun finding all that old rusty stuff
On the way back Gine tried to see the trestle but first they had a fence and didn’t allow you to go to the edge to see something and then it was walking and trying to get a peek through the forest…

 Another bridge
When you stand on a bridge you can look down right? So Gine could convince all of the lazy ones that we have to stop at the other bridge and check it out. As per Tim if you stick your head out of the window you can also look down! But the view was cool and even better you could climb down and have a view on the bridge – I think that was a well worth stop

 Mayo Lake
So Gine was reading about this Mayo Lake park… and since we drove by we stopped there: the guys sitting on the bench overlooking the lake – as where Michelle and I walked around to the viewing platforms and admired the cute little lake… and did I mention that the sun was coming out … that also means we have to go back and enjoy the sunshine at the lake right?

Let’s hurry the sun is out
so after coffee we were sitting in the campsite Michelle still was ready for a swim as where Gine was looking in the sky to check out if there will be a hole in the clouds for the sun to peak through… and then we had it… so we had to hurry down to the lake to see it in sunshine… ok when we were down there the sun didn’t stay for too long – but we had a little bit sunshine and fun…

The sunny part for today is over
And that means the sunny part for today is over… so we had a nice super underneath the canopy with rips made by Tim…

Will we have sun today?
When checking the weather forecast – it said sunny breaks in the afternoon – so let’s check out the town in the morning so that we have the sunshine later at the lake and: at least it is not raining….

 The old logging trains in town
Our first stop was near the old logging train and cabooses … and if you park behind the trains, then they invite you to climb up because the sing "no climbing on the train" is on the other side – and so Gine was on top of the train. We found some old artefacts, signs, and a cute caboose and had fund strolling around there…

And Lake Cowichan is

• Not only the name of a lake but also the name of a town
• It’s called the warm land by the 1^st nations – because it’s one of the warmest spots in Canada
• The lake is the largest on Vancouver Island
• The settlement started in 1883 when William Forest came to the “most beautiful spot I’ve ever seen” – he convinced the premier to build a road, who promised to do it if 10-12 settlers will move to the lake
  

And they still log in the Cowichan Valley:

•   From the first day when we drove into the valley we saw logging trucks – as well as every day we were on the road
• Logging became quickly the main economic power here: it was simple – the logs were cut around the lake and then floated down the Cowichan River to Cowichan Bay where they could be collected and shipped away
• in 1912 the E&N railway reached Cowichan lake and the logging boom began
• in the 34 years of operation they think 400.000 cars of lumber were hauled away
  

 Over the bridge
Along the waterfront and some funky little stores: like the outdoor store – but that’s not what you see in the window we went to the Ohtaki park where the cute metal bridge starts. What is real cool are those little stone art along the metal walls… a lot to see there and so it is not only the enjoying of the nice view it is also checking out all the plaques.

 The dog is teasing the guys
on the other side is this little park and there we met that very active dog who wanted to play with Paul & Tim… but I think the dog was teasing them and wanted them to be active too…. At least until Gine wanted a picture with Paul, I don’t think the dog liked this… so he suddenly brought the ball to Paul and interrupted the picture over and over again….

 Sun at the Memorial Park
One more stop is in the forest workers memorial park, where they have those cool wooden carved pictures… some nice plants and also a totem pole… at the Ts’uubaa-asats Square and yes the sun was out and shining and felt super-hot… so we decided it is time to go back and have a swim right?

 Swimming under clouds
And we went back and had a swim – ok it was not that cold, but it was not sunny anymore… but at least we can say we were in the water!
Because the cloudy days are over and so we start Part II of the trip
Sun on Lake Cowichan