The life and times of K, K, A and H !: Camping in Kikomun Creek Provincial Park, BC

We had another fantastic camping trip to Kikomun Creek Provincial Park which is fast becoming our favourite go-to campground for guaranteed fun in the sun! The campground we stay in is called Surveyors Lake and within the campground area there are several smaller lakes all with their own unique features. Hidden lake has a nice trail that circumnavigates the lake to provide numerous viewing opportunities of the protected Western Painted Turtles. Mid summer the trail is lined with bountifully loaded trees full of wild cherries! Birds such as the Loon also call the lake home.

Surveyors Lake offers the best opportunities for swimming. The water warms up by mid to late June and with its sheltered shores is rarely affected by the wind. This lake also gives home to a healthy population of Western Painted Turtles as well. Here is a Wikipedia link about the turtles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_turtle

The lake is also home to Large Mouth Bass, Perch, and Rainbow Trout. I had a fantastic couple of snorkeling sessions in the crystal clear water and saw Turtles and Bass swimming together below me. Pretty neat experience to be able to do that in land-locked south central BC!
Anni was infatuated with the water and couldn't wait to go in the evening we arrived. Dad ended up with rolled up pant legs wading in so she could splash and play in the water with her rolled up, and soon to be wet pants! Mama took to the camera as always.

Most of the forests are comprised of Ponderosa Pine, (one of my favourite trees :) Douglas Fir, and your more common Spruce, and Poplar. The other fantastic appeal to this area which we discovered on this trip was the amazing amount of Saskatoon berry bushes. Unfortunately we were about two weeks to early to benefit orally from the fruity berries, but certainly a strategically planned early July trip could prove to be quite rewarding in years to come!

I will attach some pictures and let the captions tell the rest of the tales from our little adventure :)

Anni and I at Frank's Slide Interpretive Center. We stopped for a rest break and had a nice picnic outside.

Anni didn't care what she had on for clothes. She was going in!! This picture was 'post' pants which didn't stay dry for long. She just LOVED the water!

Laying her eggs in the gravel

A pretty excited Anni! We're sure happy that she enjoys the water.

Those diapers are SUPER absorbent! Didn't last very long before she had to gear right down.

A little story time by the fire.

Anni enjoying her bottle and mommy time by the fire.

Ahhhhhhh. I'm ready for bed!

A little blast from the past. This was Anni last year in late August at the same campground.

Trying out a friends boat to see what will work for our family. This boat definitely fits the bill.

Turtles on Hidden Lake from our trip last year.

Suntanning

Mama and Anni pose. We paddled to Engineers Lake at the west end of Surveyors Lake.

Anni Loving her water. She didn't want to go to far in even with her life jacket. She fell down in the water a couple of times and got a little scared so was quite cautious after that.

Kärolin putting Anni to sleep in the stroller. The floating head is Doug a handicapped fellow who spent about an hour incredibly still in this one position in the water. Amazing. He was at the lake with a care group of about 6 other very interesting folks as well.