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| Star Trails at Peachland Lake |
The summer of 2011 has been incredibly productive by way of camping trips. With more than six individual trips, that's about twice a month. This weekend we went looking for Brenda Lake, but wound up at Peachland Lake. Not sure what Brenda is like, but I can't ask for much more than what Peachland has to offer - so why move. Especially when we arrived to a setting sun on Saturday night. To be honest, with the weather, location and scenery so far, it may the best trip this season for many reasons. Here are a few more of the initial teasers from the weekend.
It was the perfect weekend for camping, weather was in our favour, if even still a little bit warm for my blood - no trouble - we were gaining some elevation on Kelowna which is always a good thing for temperatures. We would leave late Saturday afternoon, with jobs and places of employment to be at in for the morning. One important thing would be
do not follow google map's directions to get to Brenda Lake if it takes you up to the 97C Coquihalla Connector, because well... you need access to the private, Brenda Mine located between the freeway and the destination lakes. So we drove there via the 97C and then turned around when we realized it wasn't happening, though a little frustrated we decided just to push on even though arrival was looking like it was going to be timed perfectly with sunset.
We were greeted by loon calls, a nearly empty campground, a super still lake, and loads of dragonflies. The only time I managed to catch a dragonfly in a frame was during my 2005 trip to Vancouver, in Stanley Park and that was with a fixed lens camera with some mild manual capabilities. This weekend I managed to catch about thirty or so! I'd say they are as challenging or more so than hummingbirds. Wildlife was plentiful, including loons and osprey all day long, a few frogs, spotted a deer or two, and believe it or not, cows, free ranging beef in action, actually seemed to dominate the area. I must say it's the first time I woke up to hear a 'cow call' 'moooooo' in my life.
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| Our Campfire Seats |
Photographers don't need to dream at night when there is a cloudless sky with a bright full moon, wide open views and a super reflective lake just feet from my fireside seat. As it turns out it was the 'Harvest Moon'. Harvest moon or not, I remember thinking at the time, that full moon light is my new favourite light to shoot just about any low light scenic I can spend a night in. I could go on about the reasons I think it's awesome, but this post isn't for that.
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| Reflective Properties of the Lake |
There you have it, Peachland Lake in a nutshell. Well worth a visit for even just a single night of camping - only 40 minutes outside of Kelowna. There is loads of ATV and MTB trails in the area, so if you have either, bring 'em! Remember to consider the people who want to enjoy the recreation site after you and pack your garbage out.
Trust me, no one wants to do that more than you do.
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| Sunset on the first night |
A handful of the shots in this post, and some that aren't have already made it to print-on-demand status at Zazzle. The prices will vary based on the size you order, but basically they start around $20 and will be shipped to your door! Thanks again.
