Tunkwa Provincial Park B.C.

As I enter day 5 here at Tunkwa,it has been an enjoyable relaxing place with very warm sunny weather,near 30 deg.no pesky insects and over the weekend a good crowd (not noisy or rowdy)although this place attracts mostly the fisherman and birder as it is well stocked with "Rainbow/Kamloops Trout" that are soo well fed in this "meat and potatoes water,"that they are as deep as they are long in stature.

I've been coming here since the mid 70's when it was just a well wooded (before the pine beetle)forestry camping area,where you drove through fields full of boulders to get to the lake,providing it hadn't rained,then the gumbo would be the big problem.

Just about all the pines are gone now...just a few dead ones standing.

You know the old saying(where were you when?)Well... I was here that morning in the spring of 1980 when Mount Saint Helens blew her top,and even though it was over 400 miles away as the crow flies,it was a terrific double sonic boom that shook this high valley.

This park is comprised of 2 lakes linked together with a waterfall,the other lake being Leighton Lake.There are camping areas along both lakes comprising some 286 established sites,and like this morning,probably no more than 30-40 are occupied.So well spaced out and quiet that you almost feel alone.

These are man made lakes that supply water to the ranches below in the Savona area.

Above a more distant shot of the waterfall entering Leighton(methinks my camera may be giving up the ghost).

Below is a shot of Leighton with the camping area at the far end.This is the only area where ATV's are allowed,thank goodness.

The weather is starting to take a turn for the next few days,but I think I'll hang in here for awhile and day trip down to Kamloops for some shopping.Usually I go to Merritt,but this coming weekend is the big "Merritt Mtn. Country Music Festival" with big name stars coming every year and the town will be turned upside down with drunken Yahoos(well not all of them but a goodly amount)so Kamloops is just as quick and much larger.