Springtime ~ Lakes and Creeks

Spring has been a cool wet one this year, more so than usual and we are all impatiently waiting for our warm days of semi-arid weather to arrive.  We planned to take a drive out to see some of our countryside sights when our next nice sunny day arrived, and it did.  We headed south on the Princeton-Kamloops Highway, more often called the old Merritt highway.

The green hills of  Kamloops

We were commenting on the nice green hills we still have, which is usually turning brown by the time May rolls around, and we can be thankful to the rain for that.  As well, we can hope that the rain might make a difference in our usual summer forest fire season and prevent it from being a bad one.

Old ranch buildings

We can often see the remnants of old buildings on many of the fields in this ranching country.  Kamloops has been cattle ranching country forever and the signs can remind us of that on these country road travels.  I seem to have a penchant for these derelict old buildings for their history and stories so have quite a collection of photos.

Runaway creeks

Following Hwy 5A there are several lakes along this stretch of highway between Kamloops and our planned turnoff at Peter Hope Rd.  We pass Shumway Lake, Trapp Lake, Ritchie, Napier and Stump Lakes.  With all the rain we’ve been having, these lakes have all grown in size and we are seeing a lot of very wet fields as we go, too.

Stump Lake

There is a small area beside Stump Lake with picnic tables to sit at and enjoy the view……… usually.  Today they are under water with just the tops of those tables showing.   Spring is runoff time but I think this may be more than the normal water level expected on Stump Lake.

Longhorn cattle

My limited knowledge of cattle may be a problem at times, so please correct me if I am wrong, but I think this might be a Texas Longhorn.  These are not commonly seen in our area, but they do fit the description I found on my usual trusty computer for longhorn cattle. 

Roadside creek

We drove up Peter Hope Rd to see the lake, and this was one of the sights of a creek rushing down the side of the roads.  Markers were there to show the minor roadside washout, which was nothing to worry about yet but that turned out to be one of the mildest creeks we saw.

Rushing creek

This was taken further down the road from the previous photo.  The creek is a bit larger but no damage to speak of.  More interesting was the tiny log opening that was built into the banks of this creek.  I didn’t get any closer so could not see how deep it went but it was small so I believe it was not meant to be a home, perhaps a temporary shelter for trappers of the old days.  I am very curious so if anyone has the answer, I’d appreciate hearing it.

Springtime water

We turned onto Campbell Creek Rd from the highway to follow that route over to Barnhartvale.  These fields showed how the creek overflows and creates several small ponds and more routes to carry the water, and had washed out a private bridge on its way.

Water damage to road

This was as far as we got.  The road was not closed but it sure did not look safe enough to drive over.  We turned around, as this car was doing on the other side, and headed back out the way we had come. 

This has been a very wet year for Kamloops area and the flooding has caused problems.  We enjoyed our drive but can only hope that the rainy season has passed and Mother Nature prevents the normal runoff from our snowy mountains that could cause more flooding.