We went for a hike to Cameron Falls with our friend Katy and her (borrowed from another friend) dog last Sunday. We thought it might be a bit cool and overcast, and sometimes it was, but it was perfect - not too hot, not too bright and with a bit of a breeze. The trail was easy to follow and just challenging enough to work up a good appetite for the hot dogs and s'mores that followed.

Abby had a fantastic time running around off-leash (as long as we were not too close to either the road or the river). She's wearing her lifejacket for visibility and to slow her down a bit. She was really good about staying where we could see her even if we couldn't keep up (you should have seen us on the way back - four of us happily tired with the walk and Abby still full of energy and running back and forth - she probably ran the trail about three times all together).

It started to rain just as we were heading back to town. The perfect, lazy evening to follow a busy day outside. There are loads more pictures over on flickr. It took me ages to whittle it down to the ones that are here:

Abby and I had a particularly nice walk around the trail the other day. The stirrings of Fall are in the air and we are entering my favourite time of year. The bugs are disappearing and the air has a crisp tang to it but the afternoons are still warm and it feels good to be outside. Whenever possible, walks with Abby involve going around the lake near our house. It's a well maintained trail full of pretty, and ever changing, views and just the right length for us.

I thought I'd share our walk with you. I hope you find it as pleasant as we did.

We're back.

We got back Saturday evening but I only got as far as downloading my pictures before I ran out of energy. We had a great time camping and I've tried to sum it up in the pictures below but there are lots more over on Flickr.

We headed out on the North Arm of the lake with our friends Barry and Tabitha on Friday evening and came back late Saturday afternoon. We had lots of good food: kabobs, chocolate cake in oranges, homemade chicken soup, bannock, bacon, tea, coffee, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, banana boats, hot chocolate. There was a nice balance between sitting around the fire chatting and exploring, either on foot or in the boat, the different islands we went to.


The weather was cool for July but still very comfortable as long as you had some protection from the mosquitos who seemed particularly numerous. The only bad weather we got was a light sprinkling just as we were heading home and with all our layers and a few blankets and towels spread over laps (and wrapped around our sleepy puppy) we were all warm enough until the sun came out again.


Abby was a really good camper. We'd spent some time getting her used to her life jacket earlier in the week and she was great in the boat (except for the two times she tried to jump out); the island we camped on was too rocky to keep her on the lead so we let her run loose and she was really good about staying where we could see her (with her life jacket still on - bright red is really easy to see among trees and rocks).


Lots of things were blooming on our island and I found myself taking many pictures of tiny flowers. They are fascinating to see so much larger on the computer when we get home.  I didn't get our sun hats finished before we left so I was able to do a little handwork sitting around the fire Friday night and Rob wore his hat for the rest of the evening.


I wanted to say thanks to everyone who answered questions for me and provided us with plenty of camping and camping-with-a-dog advise. I haven't gone camping since high school and even though Barry and Tabitha are experienced campers I was still a bit nervous. With everyone's help we were well prepared and had a great time.