Thursday, September 9, 2010

Where I Went on My Vacation: Shuswap Canoe Trip

My August was pretty awesome. I took a few mini vacations that were all super fun and adventure filled - hiking Mount Sir Donald, canoeing the Shuswap River, target practice with .22 rifles, rope swinging into Echo Lake, boat-in camping and kayaking at Tent Island, fishing the Fraser, experiencing Bumbershoot - woah it was great!

Here are some photos from the canoe trip I went on the day after the Sir Donald 2 day glacier hiking/camping extravaganza.

The first photo is part of a bee hive I found in the canoe prior to launching off.



My favourite guy and I dropped the canoe into the Shuswap River on a gorgeous, hot summer day to paddle, float and swim 15 km down the river towards Enderby. The first leg of the trip was hilarious as we were accompanied by loads of people tubing. They floated along trailing inflatable beer coolers, some grouped together in packs of 6 or 7 tubes. The mood was very cheery as everyone was soaking up vitamin D and alcohol and the fresh country air.


We stopped off at a nice bend in the river and tossed down my Smoking Lily printed beach blanket to have lunch and then a swim.


The second half of the journey was sublimely peaceful. The tubers had all left the river where it slowed, so we were left by ourselves to paddle past beavers and bears and deer and 30 pound jumping salmon towards our destination.

The image below was so beautiful I have set it up to be a new swing tag for the shops.


And just before our final push to make it to our destination before sundown, in the middle of nowhere, we came across this sweet spot with a picnic table complete with umbrella. We sat and rested our arms (and my legs that were cramping from the crazy 2 day mountain hike and then 8 hours of being crammed in the front of the canoe) and sipped red wine in the late evening sun.


As I sit here shivering a little with my bare legs and arms, it's heartwarming to remember such a phenomenal summer day.

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