Saturday, September 21, 2024

Our day began at Owl Creek Recreation Area in Pemberton, British Columbia. We had a really quiet, peaceful evening at our campsite beside the creek.

Andi and I decided to stick around Pemberton again today. This community is known for farming (nicknamed ‘spud valley’), with a focus on local/slow food. It’s also an active place for snow sports, biking, hiking, and of course eating & drinking. Agri-tourism in popular in Pemberton with several breweries, distilleries, and u-pick farms.

One such place I read about was North Arm Farm, which was located just a couple miles from our campsite at Owl Creek. North Arm Farm is a working farm that offers all sorts of crops that visitors came pick themselves throughout the summertime. There’s also a restaurant and retail store on the property.

I told Andi we should swing in to North Arm Farm first this morning, since it was on our way into Pemberton’s city limits. There were a few customers at the farm already having breakfast under the gorgeous open barn.

We decided not to North Arm, but did purchase a pre-made soup to stick away in the RV freezer, a package of local beef jerky for Aden, and two cups of tea for Andi and I. The tea was sourced locally sourced, and so flavorful.

We passed on picking fruit this visit, but could have taken part in the last of North Arm Farms’ blueberry harvest. Next weekend, the season for u-pick pumpkins and gourds opens to the public. Not that we need a pumpkin for the RV …

Our next stop in Pemberton was to Mile One Eating House. This restaurant made almost every list I read about things to do here, and for good reason. We arrived just before lunch service began, but the employee behind the counter kindly told us they’d make us whatever menu item we wanted from their menus.

Mile One is known for its mac & cheese and its burgers. Tory tried the mac & cheese, and Andi and I agreed to split a classic Mile One burger and a chicken pesto sandwich. Aden also got a burger, kid-sized. The quality of our food was fantastic, and the local ingredients really shined in each dish.

After lunch, we drove the RV to Nairn Falls Provincial Park on the outskirts of Pemberton. Andi thought this might be a good place for us to stay tonight, but the sign post by the road said the campground was full. We decided to make a loop through the campground anyway to see if there were any available spots, and fill up our RV’s water tank while we were there.

As luck would have it, there were two available campsites at Nairn Falls. We decided to take one of them for the night. The Nairn Falls hike is a popular trail that leaves from this campground, which we planned to do this afternoon, so staying here tonight would be convenient. There’s also a connecting trail to nearby One Mile Lake.

Before we set off to see the waterfalls, we (attempted) to fill up our RV’s water tank. There was only one water spigot at Nairn Falls Campground, and it was a manual hand pump. Andi got quite the kick out of watching me try to pump water. The pump was so tough to move up and down. Also, the spigot didn’t fit a regular hose so we had to fill up a 6-gallon jug and manually feed it into the RV. At this rate, we’d be here all day trying to fill up our 25 gallon tank!

We ended up filling up the water jug three times and calling it good. Sheesh, that was a lot of work!

Then, we parked the RV in our campsite and walked over to the Nairn Fall trailhead. The path followed the Green River, and the water was a beautiful turquoise-blue color like so many of the rivers and lakes we’ve seen throughout British Columbia. Photographs really don’t capture the brilliant color of the water the way that our eyes do.

The hike to Nairn Falls was an easy 3 km (1.8 miles) along a mostly flat trail. It was fairly busy on a Saturday afternoon, but not so much that we couldn’t walk along at our own pace.

For thousands of years, water and glaciers have eroded the bedrock in a circular motion creating pot holes and underground passages. The Green River moved powerfully over the cliffs, flowing down stream.

There was safety fencing all around the rocks, but the area was open for climbing. We scurried over the rocks to different viewpoints before making our way back along the out-and-back trail.

Along the way, we stopped by the shores of the river to take in the scenery. It was a gorgeous, sunny, day in Pemberton with temperatures in the high 60’s.

When we got back to our campsite in Nairn Provincial Park, Andi looked to me and asked, “Should we move back to Owl Creek?” Ha! Exactly what I had been thinking. We’d secured a camping spot at Nairn Falls, but we hadn’t paid for it yet. There was nothing wrong with camping here at all, other than it was a completely booked campground full of tent campers and rental RVs. It just felt busy, and we really enjoyed the solitude of Owl Creek last night.

So, we packed up our RV and drove back to Owl Creek. On the way, we stopped at the grocery store in Pemberton to grab a few snack foods and coffee filters. The kids were complaining earlier that there was ‘nothing to eat’ in the RV and made their requests known — red chips (nacho cheese flavored Doritos), blue chips (Cool Ranch Doritos), and maple-flavored Oreos. We also saw a few other funny-looking things in the store… banana holder, anyone?

Overall, groceries haven’t been much more expensive in Canada compared to the United States, especially when factoring in the exchange rate. Some things like paper plates and plastic silverware are really expensive, and other things like a bag of Doritos or a tub of yogurt are about the same.

Unfortunately, our favorite campsite by the river was already taken by the time we got back to Owl Creek Recreation Area, but we were able to snag a second-choice spot near the water. Andi purchased some firewood on our way into the campground, and decided to teach Aden how to use an ax to chop it into smaller pieces. “I can’t believe Dad is letting me do this,” Aden said excitedly, “I thought he’d make me wait until I was 12.”

Pajama pants and Crocs seem like appropriate clothing for chopping firewood, right?

The boys built a campfire for us while I prepared foil-packet potatoes and beets for dinner. Andi grilled some bratwursts to go along with our camp dinner. This was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments together as a family — the sounds of the rushing creek beside our campground, watching Aden learn how to chop wood, the taste of freshly grilled brats and local veggies from the grill, the crackle of the campfire.

For dessert, we passed around a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Brownie Batter Core ice cream, and deemed it the best flavor out there. Yum!

After dinner, we sat by the campfire and toasted s’mores. Then, we came inside the camper to watch a movie. Laura & Shaun recommended we see the movie Reverence, a true story about a 19th century trapper who was mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. The movie was filmed in Canada’s Bow Valley (Banff National Park), and we were talking about it while we traveled through there last week.

Minutes into the movie, Andi and I realized this movie was not at all appropriate for Tory and Aden. I’m not sure it was appropriate for me! It was pretty gruesome, but an amazing true story of survival nonetheless.

Tomorrow, our plan is to make the 20 minute drive to Whistler, British Columbia. We’ve got a surprised planned for the kids there.