Winter Wonderland - Douglas Lake Road - Nicola Region

Winter is a season that offers so many beautiful scenes out there.  We’ve been waiting for that day that has sunshine, blue sky and snow that will offer us some of those scenes when we go for a drive.  Our winter has given us some of that but not all at once until we decide, “this is the day”.   So off we go.

Hwy 5A view

We don’t have a promise of sunshine all day so we know that our sunshine may not last long but we will continue ….as we head towards a cloudy area.  Our drive takes us along Hwy 5A from Kamloops and we will find a road we want to follow from there.

Stump Lake

There are several lakes along 5A.  We pass some maybe-frozen lakes and some that are not.  The only sure indication of a frozen lake is seeing some people ice fishing on the far end of Stump Lake so we know that one is ok, but we have not had the typical cold winter days so not seeing as many ice fishing as expected.  

Douglas Lake

We decided to turn up Douglas Lake Road. Keith has only been part way and I’ve never travelled this road so this is new territory.  We are not seeing a lot of snow yet but we do see some great reflections as we pass by Douglas Lake.  There is not a lot of traffic today so we’re able to take our time and enjoy the sights.

Ranchland

Douglas Lake Ranch has been here since 1872 and raised cattle that supplied beef to the early CPR construction crews.  The ranch has since shipped hundreds of train loads of beef from this half million acre ranch.  We are not going to see all of that acreage but we do see their church and some of the housing as we pass by. 

Steep logging road

Once we get to the highest part of the Douglas Lake Road we begin to see more snow but we have yet to see what I’d hoped for.  We are about as high as we are going to get and I was beginning to lose hope that we’d see something spectacular. There is so much history in these hills and we pass a few ranch signs that must have stories to tell.  I’ve shared some of that here.

Winter is here

We passed a sign that said we were in a Logging Area so we’d need to proceed with caution as these roads were not always meant for two lanes.  We are leaving the ranching fields and getting into the trees.  Due to the snow on the road, we’re not sure what is under it but we are heading down a very steep and curvy road, hopefully not too slippery.  It isn’t easy to show how steep they are in photos.

Creek meanders downhill

All of a sudden we are seeing a winter wonderland!  I am so excited I just keep snapping pictures to get as many as possible as we travel down the hill.  We sure don’t want to stop and thankfully nor do we need to.  The next few kilometres were all offering sights of such pretty snow covered nature.  Good old Mother Nature has come through for me, once again.  We even got a slight bit of sunshine that got to peek at us down there from over the mountains.

Beautiful winter scene

Never would I have expected this change in scenery but as we followed this road, which also had running creeks all the way down seemed to make the difference of the tree growths by the creeks as well as the moist air that had to have contributed to the covering of the bushy branches.  Everything looked so pretty and clean.

Winter Wonderland

We did not meet one truck on this stretch of the road, for which we are thankful but I will say it isn’t an easy road with all the curves and the steepness of the descent.  Not everyone would be too comfortable with the roadside deep ravines. 

Westwold 

All of a sudden we are back to our familiar winter scenery as we approach Westwold on Hwy 97 to return home, covering 230 km on our drive today.  Although we don’t see any ‘spectacular snowy’ scenery on this part of our travels, we are passing some that have their special times of the year and we will return for those when Mother Nature tells me it is once again time to enjoy this part of her beautiful world.