Lac La Hache

I was up and out of the Red Apple without bullet holes in good time this morning, riding up the Okanogan River to the border. The road lies mostly near the river, but is bounded by orchards and vineyards. There were many fruit stands but none were open this early in the year.

The border crossing was uneventful, and I rolled on up to Penticton and then Peachville, where I took the cut-off to Merritt and Kamloops. The road up to Penticton was also lined with Orchards and vineyards, but added many tasting rooms. The names of the vineyards were all Italian sounding. They may have been owned by Italians, but the workers looked like Sikhs to me. There was a huge lake below the road to the east, and if there were a few more villas and Fiat 500s, I could have thought I was near Lake Maggiore.
The cut off to Merritt was over a pass that seemed to last forever. It was marvelous in that it was a 4 lane and very wide. Not much in the way of clean shoulders, but a few decent places to pull off. Eventually I dropped down to Merritt, then Kamloops, but the new highway bypasses them both by quite a bit.
From Kamloops to Cache Creek was a ride through another pass, this road not being as wide, but with sufficient passing lanes to allow traffic to flow. I stopped for fuel and food in Cache Creek, and to look at the map. My butt gets sore after about 250 miles, and I had 265 in at that point. But for me, Cache Creek was my first real step onto the Alaska Highway, and I wanted to get on towards home and Meredith, so I decided to ride until 5:00.

Just before 5:00, near Lac La Hache, I found the Big Country Campground and RV Park. I had to stop and camp here in honor of Big Country (APD Vice). It's a nice place, very well kept, but the Mosquitos are out. And it has wifi so I can post this blog.

Here are pictures of camp and the lower end of the lake (before the villas and vineyards).