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MAY
24

Renata Rock Arch and the return trip

20210522-DJI_0050 The Renata Rock Arch

I stumbled across Renata Rock Arch last year sometime. Likely on Google Earth. The arch is actually a bridge as it was formed by erosion caused by the creek which runs under it whereas an arch is caused by 'erosion inherent in the rock'. It's apparently the largest in Canada at 44m wide, 4m thick, and 20m high.

The Arch resides on the west side of Lower Arrow Lake across from the tiny community of Deer Park. 4km north of the arch is Renata which was a community that was founded by three french prospectors in 1887 and then grew as a result of the CPR railway which is 6 miles away and now called the Trans Canada Trail. A quick google of Renata reveals a very interesting history that may intrigue you. Do it. To touch on that briefly the Columbia River Treaty was ratified in 1964 and the Arrow Dam flooded the region essentailly drowning out many of the communities on it's shores. Speaking with locals of the area we learned that three unwelcoming people now reside in Renata. An amusing story of one shooting the other in the leg over a property line dispute was shared. But I'm getting side tracked...

The Rock Arch is 341km from Kelowna with an additional 2 km to cross the beautiful Lower Arrow lake by boat. The lake is notorious for strong winds that can arise suddenly so I was trying to devise a back-up plan in case we encountrered wind that made canoe travel with lots of camera gear too risky. Jumping back to Google Earth revealed several logging roads that came close as well as the Trans Canada Trail that might make biking an option. I learned on the beach of Deer Park, the canoe take off point, that the houses in the area do have difficult road access but these properties all sport locked gates so accessing the arch by water is likely the best option.

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SEP
30

Back to the Future - Drought Mountain

2018-09-29-at-18-00-23 Sneaky place for a pond on Drought Mountain

On April 27th I popped down to Vancouver Island to shoot a FortisBC + BC Ferries LNG bunkering. Here's a photo of the bridge of a BC Ferries vessel which is totally irrevelevant to this blog post but cool.

The bridge has a mirror image with red LED's on the other side - depending which direction it is sailing. Very Star Trekish. 

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SEP
01

Way, way, way, out there.... and beyond....

2018-08-31-at-16-22-01

September long took myself and a buddy on a huge backroad expedition around Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake. I feel I got some stellar images and was able to tick off three bucketlist locations that have been nagging at me. You'll need to click the continue reading button to see the pics in this post and the video at the end.

It started with a rendezvous with a friend at Scotch Creek in a non-descript white van. He suggested hitting up Johnson Lake which I'd never heard of but is 65km north east of Kamloops or a massive potato gun shot east of Barrier. After some horrific premade hamburgers we plummeted into his sloppy ruddered kayak and wiggled around crystal blue waters. Upon our return, truckloads of humans began to arrive at the forest service rec site marking the start of the long weekend so we moved on.

Johnson Lake and Adams Lake
Suspicious rubber boots in the fire pit.

We drove north up Adams Lake to the head of the lake where we turned east and started the stunning drive passed Momich Lakes Provincial Park and a huge black bear.

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