Schedules, Plans and Flexibility

In Mid May Pam and I decided to go away for the weekend as a sort of shake-down cruise in anticipation of our upcoming Bonneville Salt Flats trip. We haven't camped together before and we thought it would be a good way to become familiar with our camping supplies. We could make note of all the things we might be missing or what needs replenishing/replacement or even decide what we wouldn't bother bringing along with us again.

Our first fuel stop in Hope

The plan was to travel up to Boston Bar, cross the river and continue north up the west side of the river which is largely dirt road and very scenic. I have done this route before and the plan was to travel all the way up to Lytton, catch the ferry to the East side of the river again and camp somewhere in Cache Creek. Plans set, we set off and after crossing the river at Boston Bar I promptly missed a turn and we headed down to Nuhatlatch Provincial Park. By the time I realized my mistake we had travelled for twenty minutes. We decided to make the best of it and began looking for a camping spot. Although beautiful all the spots in the developed campsites we rejected for one reason or the other. We continued on and at the end of the string of lakes we noticed on the map a small waterfall with an adjacent road on the other side of the river. Throwing out all of our previous plans we headed for the falls and were amazed when we got to them. The recent rains and snow melt must have had an effect because the falls were spectacular!

Grizzly Falls were spectacular.

Beauty shot climbing the logging roads

Continuing up the logging roads we found a nice clearing and set-up for the night. The view was beyond belief, lots of firewood for gathering and the  weather was pretty warm for mid-May.

The view from our campsite

The next morning we backtracked before continuing on our original route with plans to go to Lillooet and continue home through Whistler. But 10km from Lytton the road was washed out and impassable. We tried a couple of different back roads but couldn't get around the washout. Changing our plans once again we headed for home retracing our steps. All along the route the views were terrific and the sun continued to shine. 

So for the whole weekend plans continued to change and evolve. By rolling with it and being flexible enough to deal with each change and discussing options we had a great weekend. The falls were really an unexpected bonus. We wouldn't have seen them had we not taken a wrong turn. And our campsite at the top of the logging road surrounded by nothing but trees was an added bonus. Some trips are meant to be discoveries. Make plans, stay flexible and enjoy the ride.