KAMLOOPS

14th July 2008 KAMLOOPS

We really needed a day of rest after that hike!!

The day after that we left Valemount and continued along highway #5. It was a warm day and following the Thompson River we drove the 350km to Kamloops. At about lunchtime we got to Clearwater and considered taking an excursion into the Wells Gray Provincial Park, which is apparently another beautiful part of BC, but in the end we decided to leave that for another time. Instead we sat under the shade of a big tree and ate Hagen-Darz ice cream before getting underway again. We did need to find a tire place in Kamloops in order to get the improved spacers (which had been couriered from London) put on the trailer wheels.
As we approached Kamloops I was struck once again by its strange terrain.
It is “situated in the Thompson Valley, at the meeting of the North and South Thompson Rivers” and has a semi-arid climate, in such contrast to the lush green of the day before.
The windswept hillsides are gravelly and rounded, sort of like overlapping scoops of dusty brown ice cream. These lumps and bumps (hoodoos) are the results of erosion and vary considerably in size. Desert species, prickly pear cactus and sandy-coloured sagebrush are dotted all over the hills and the gaps are filled in with wheatgrass.
Wild fires are a big concern here. It’s very dry and hot in the summer and it’s a hard environment for the pine forests, which also grow on the hills, to thrive in. Between the wild fires and the pine beetle, which is causing havoc in the area, the poor trees are very stressed. Some are burned with nothing left but blackened bare limbs, others have been drained of their nourishing sap and their needles have turned to brown, a few seemed to have managed to escape the scourges and hold their own among their bedraggled fellow pines. Interestingly enough, all the efforts to control the fires have aided and abetted the flourishing pine beetles, which have always been around and fed on small or dying trees. Now they are feasting on the healthy trees and multiplying horrifyingly.
The overall effect for me was of round semi-bald heads with small tufts of hair interspersed with sparse wispy hairs standing straight up.
It’s is a haven for dirt bike riding. Trails are clearly visible weaving about on the dry dusty slopes. Kamloops is also well known around the world for its mountain biking.

With over 100 lakes within one hour of the city, the area is evidently renowned for excellent rainbow trout fishing, as well as canoeing and kayaking. For golfers too this is a “dream destination” with its diverse landscape. Kamloops has ten 18-hole courses and three 9-hole courses!

It was here, at Cariboo College that Alan spent 2 years studying Adventure Tourism.

We spent one night in Kamloops at an adequate if exposed and noisy campground, close to the highway, the train tracks and the South Thompson River. It was a brief and utilitarian kind of stop: I woke early and did the laundry before we attended to such matters as TLC for vehicles and grocery shopping.