Of Chipmunks and Scenery

The awesome scenery just continues and we haven't even hit the real mountains yet!!!  We have camped in a couple of fab campsites - very spacious, and all with green tree surrounded private pitches, camp fires - which are currently banned due to the forest fires etc and picnic tables.   Last night we were joined by several chipmunks doing entertaining jumps around the place, the night before I thought we had been visited by a bear but I reckon it was just a pesky chipmunk who had eaten the kitchen roll in the trunk of the car!  (note native speak there)anyway it reminded us to be more careful next time it might just be a bear.   It seems a lot of people are not careful and in fact quite the opposite leading to difficult decision and dead bears.

these bears will be shot :-(

This marvellous mountainous landscape lends itself to amazing waterfalls, I visited Shannon Falls near Squamish which was impressive and then we went to Brandywine falls a bit further up the highway - again impressive such force and enormity of water and it fell into such a huge gorge/valley leading to Daisy lake which was very Canadian with loads of logs floating in it.

Brandywine Falls

The valley Brandywine falls into

It feels quite amazing to be sat out at night in warm temperatures - about 25 degrees the other night- as it grows dark watching all the shadows change, expecting, secretly hoping a bear will pop its head up, preferably over the road so not too close ha ha.  As the heat dies down you can really smell the smoky haze which is hanging over the mountains.   Yesterday our camp site was high up in the mountains, on a lakeside and feeling the lack of shower facilities I decided to go for a swim in it - it was jolly cold, ok once you got in but by golly it was freezing....

Dr Fred has been quite under the weather for a couple of days, which is a shame and has meant we have been fairly quiet and in active - I did a walk down the side of the Green river - stunning rapids, huge trees right down to the river side, glorious blue skies without a cloud in sight - lots of birds, including huge bald eagles soaring around the sky.

Green river secret tributary

Today ( Thursday) big thunderstorms are forecast so that fact, coupled with the fact that Dr Fred isn't so well, means we have decided to treat ourselves to a hotel for the night, - its a typical motel in a small town just east of Kamloops - the rain will be good for the fires and hopefully a proper bed will put Dr Fred to rights again and I can wash all my sun tan dust off in a glorious hot shower.

We've seen a lot of Canadian freight trains and when I can I turn into a small child and count the trucks todays was 154 trucks we reckoned it was a mile long!!!  Actually sadly (killing time in a motel while a thunderstorm rages outside) I have googled it and worked it out.  the train we saw was probably 1.6 mile long.... some trains can be 14000 feet long - 2.6 miles I would get bored counting...