Tent Camping At Hat Creek Ranch

Did you ever know that there is a desert in British Columbia? They call the area south of Williams Lake along Rt. 97 the “Arizona of Canada.” It really does not look that dry, but it is arid. We decided that this last overnight on our northern journey should be a campsite. We stopped at a farmer’s veggie stand to buy fresh corn and tomatoes for a cookout supper and then selected Hat Creek Ranch near Cache Creek for the night. The ranch is the ideal lace for a family vacation. It offers RV parking, cabins, and tent spots. There are stage coach rides, trail rides, black powder shooting and gold panning, just to mention a few. The ranch is located on the original “Cariboo Waggon Road,” and was once a working ranch; the ranch house is now a museum. There are rabbits, sheep, Clydesdale and Belgium horses plus other animals to delight the children. We pitched our tent and took a self-guided tour. Nothing seemed off limits as doors were unlocked and gates could be opened and closed. We were the only tent campers there. We had a great photo opt time before building a fire and grilling our dinner. The wind was gaining strength and the fire was sparking high in the sky. At sundown, it was time to get ready for bed. Gloria came out of the bath house to hear Jerry calling, “Hurry, grab the tent!” We had not staked the tent corners, and the wind had blown it over, pulling the side pegs out of the ground.

“Jerry, you get the pegs and I’ll hold the tent--oops, I’ll TRY to hold the tent!” We finally got all the pegs pounded in, and then laughed hilariously at the whole event. We had the perfect evening until 1:04 a.m. when we heard a familiar sound that we had experienced most of the other 11 nights we had camped: “Ping, ping, ping.” The rain began to drizzle out of the big black cloud covering the sky that had been full of stars when we had gone to bed. Soon the drizzle evolved into a downpour. They get only eight inches of rain per year, and we helped them get at least one of those.

The next morning we packed our gear and wet tent into big plastic garbage bags, begged some coffee from the early arriving ranch staff, left our $10 camp fee, and headed toward the highway. We left the West Access Route and took Route 1 toward Vancouver and the good old USA. We returned to the lower 48 via Sumas, Washington. We stopped at the National Forest Service for The Cascades for information on the area and stopped at McDonalds for senior coffee and a newspaper. We finally reached the Airstream Park at Lacey, WA at dusk. Wow, our cozy "Silver Bullet" was a welcome site! Farewell Canada. We love you, but there is no place like home sweet home.