Tranquille River ~ Criss Creek ~ Savona, BC, Canada

We love Kamloops and any opportunity we have to show it off to others is our pleasure to do. We had visiting family that were keen to see anything we wanted to show them, so on July 1 we said we’d take them for a drive to see some of the hills that are hidden up behind Kamloops. We’d hoped for sunshine and had clouds instead, but packed a picnic and headed out for the day.

CN Rail follows along Kamloops Lake

We followed Tranquille Road past the Kamloops airport out to the old Tranquille farm where we took the Red Lake road up the hill. There are some great views here, including the tunnel for the CN rail before you are out of sight of Kamloops Lake.  We followed this road which meanders through the hills and mountains that show some very deep valleys down below that road. Some of the views were surprising, well hidden behind the trees at times but showing some of those pretty valleys. We saw cattle wandering around, willing to share the road with us as long as we weren’t in a hurry.

                                                               Bridge over Tranquill River                                                                                        

We stopped just after crossing an old bridge, which appears to be a Bailey bridge from the view we had from down at the water. This is the Tranquille River on the maps but more generally called a creek, likely due to its size, we expect rivers to be much wider.

                                   

Cedar Waxwing Bird

We stopped at a Forest Service recreational park right beside the creek to have a ‘tailgate picnic’. There were lots of mosquitoes to share our picnic with but we’d gone prepared for that. We did enjoy the birds there, and were able to get several pictures of the pretty Cedar Waxwing as we quietly watched them.

Ranching down in the valley

There are many roads which one might want to follow, but not a bad idea to have a map or someone who knows their way through this area. We thought that because it was a national holiday we would not see any working trucks, but we were passed by several fast moving trucks with pup trailers transporting clay. Be aware and prepared to move over.

Round bales of hay dot the valley

There are many ranches up in this area and we stopped to watch the rancher doing his job, this Canada Day. No holidays for the rancher when there is work to be done.

Flowers color the hillside leading to Kamloops Lake

We then followed Criss Creek Road for awhile before we reached our destination for the day. We never did get sunshine but it wasn’t a cold day so we were able to celebrate Canada Day on Kamloops Lake with more family.

Baby's Breath grows wild

And this was where we got the biggest wildlife surprise of the day with the sightings of the California Bighorn Sheep. Be sure to see those pictures on the other blog page by clicking here.

Copper Creek on Kamloops Lake

After a traditional Canada Day barbeque dinner, we left to finish our day trip and followed the road to Savona, (clik to see more) then onto Hwy 1.  We found the one ray of sunshine of the day and it made for such a pretty scene over at the Copper Creek settlement across Kamloops Lake, another photo opp. 

It was a great day to share with our family from the UK. It also gives us the opportunity to see Kamloops from a visitor’s point of view to remind us of what a great place we live in, there is just no place like home !