Revelstoke!

We arrived in the mountain town of Revelstoke on Wednesday August 27th. The area sits at the base of three mountain ranges and is well known for all kinds of winter activities including some very good heli skiing. We had one night booked at the National Park Snowforest campground, and planned to stay in the area until Monday after the Canadian Labor day weekend. We loved our campsite nestled in the trees and decided to try and stay two nights. Sara checked with the office about availability for the next night. After a sharp intake of breath from the rangers, and a few sad head shakes they said "let’s check". Turns out our exact site was available, and yes we would love to stay in that location another night!

We enjoyed the cooler temperatures and built a great fire using the wood included in the camping fee. We had been plagued with damp wood at previous campgrounds and finally had dry wood! The campgrounds are very strict about burning wood from other areas to prevent the spread of invasive insects and disease. Some of the National Park campgrounds enable you to purchase a fire permit and then access unlimited wood which is always nice, especially when it burns well!

The next morning we relaxed in the peaceful campground. The cats loved this location and spent hours outside with us wandering around the area. We thought Zeke was sitting in the undergrowth relaxing quietly and were horrified when he walked into camp with a little vole in his mouth. We were not sure of the park regulations about killing voles but assumed we had broken them. 

Around 3pm we drove 27km up the Meadows in the Sky parkway. The rangers told us parking at the top was tough during the day, so we waited until most people had hopefully left. It was a lovely drive up a road with some sharp hair pin bends and great views of the valley. We found space to park at the top and hiked a long path to the top of mount Revelstoke which had stunning views of the surrounding mountains. There were some lovely ponds with reflections and an old historic fire lookout cabin. The views were a bit hazy due to smoke from forest fires in northern Canada. 

Friday August 29th we needed to find a camping site early for the long weekend before everything filled up. We had researched the area and decided to explore a small road that headed north about 100km to a dam that had created Lake Revelstoke. There were several British Columbia recreation site campgrounds and if needed some wild camping. We first stopped to top up our propane which we were doing every 3-4 weeks to be safe. The gauge had stopped working in Idaho and the only way to check capacity was for John to slide under the RV to look at a manual gauge. We also stopped to dump our black and grey tanks and fill up on drinking water. We've learned RVing is a lot about tank management, especially if you aren't sure where you will be camping! 

After an hour’s drive north we arrived at Downie Creek campground which still had a few sites available out of the 22 available. The sites were very close to each other; the campground was surrounded by trees with no views and there were a lot of children running around. Initially we weren’t looking forward to the next three days, but it turned out to be a great stay. Everyone was a local and they were very friendly and welcoming and we enjoyed chatting to them. A short walk or bike ride took us to the shore of Lake Revelstoke an 81 mile lake surrounded by an interior temperate rainforest and glacier-capped mountains. 

The weather was warm and the lake water very pleasant for swimming and paddle boarding,  which we enjoyed all three days. We found a trail that took us into the trees and away from the campground activity. The cats, particularly Zeke, loved exploring this area going deeper into the forest each day. On Saturday evening following the afternoon rain, Sara explored the lake shore for several hours on the paddleboard. The water was smooth as glass, and when she returned we both cycled back to the lakeshore for evening photography. 

Sunday August 31st was an amazing day, one of the best of the trip. We started with an early morning 15 mile bike ride on the quiet road, enjoying great views of the lake and mountains. In the afternoon we both got on the paddleboard and carefully paddled around the corner of our camp inlet and found a private sandy beach. We spent the afternoon there swimming and just sitting on logs with our feet in the water enjoying the amazing mountain views. It was a magnificent day!

Monday we got up unusually early at 5:30am for some sunrise photography. We cycled down to the lake and waited several hours for the sun to come over the mountains – guess we didn’t need to get up so early!  Most people were heading home after the long weekend, and we too packed up and said our goodbyes. As we left one of the campers gave us a hand knitted towel as a parting gift – it really was a special experience for the three days.

Click here for the photos and videos!