Early June 2020
From Highway 1, just east of Savona, I turned south onto the Tunkwa Lake Road, headed for Tunkwa Provincial Park. Nicely paved, the road rose up and travelled alongside fenced range land and through a mixture of open Douglas fir and deciduous forest, with small lakes and wetland areas dotted here and there. Around one corner, I had to stop for a very large and beautiful mule deer to pass in front of me, and moments after that, around another corner, I saw two photographers by the side of the road with some serious camera equipment. A quick glance at the direction of their giant zoom lenses and I saw a large gray owl calmly posing for them. I wanted to stop of course, but I also did not want to interfere with their shoot so I carried on a bit up the road and then stopped at a pullout beside pretty Gottan Lake.
Upon exiting the car, I heard a sharp and loud call, repeated over and over, “chip, chip, chip”. Across the road was a yellow-bellied marmot on a lichen-covered rock calling out to the morning sun, or so I thought.
I took several photos and then suddenly, off to my left, a large red-tailed hawk rose up out of the grass with great flaps of its widespread wings. It flew away from me and then dropped what I assumed was a rabbit. How exciting!
The hawk landed on a stump a short distance away and I approached (sans zoom) to get this shot.
Annoyed with me for getting closer, the hawk rose up again to the top of a tall tree. What a magnificent bird!
I went back to the marmot who was still calling, sharp and shrill, at regular intervals. I took another shot or two and then the marmot was joined by a youngster who had been peeking around the side of the rock.
Then another youngster came into view. Mum was still worriedly calling, and I finally connected the dots – the hawk had taken one of her babies.
Feeling a bit shocked by the unexpected drama of the moment, I felt sad for the marmot family, and also guilty for having caused the hawk to drop his catch. I decided it was best to leave, and I hoped that when I was gone the hawk would return to take away his meal.
Back in the car, I reversed direction, hoping that the owl would still be there, and it was! A Great Gray. Here are the best pictures I could manage.
So much wildlife! I carried on down Tunkwa Lake Road and as I approached the turnoff to the park I saw a quick flash of blue – a mountain bluebird! I was thrilled with just that brief glimpse, having hoped to see a mountain bluebird, but amazingly one was waiting in the tree at the edge of my campsite to welcome me. So pretty! He didn’t stay long enough for me to photograph, but as mountain bluebirds have long been seen as a symbol of good luck, I was happy nonetheless.
Tunkwa Provincial Park encompasses a large area of mid-elevation grasslands, forest, lakes, wetlands, and bog. The two largest lakes, Tunkwa and Leighton, which feature three lakeside campgrounds, are man-made and very popular with fishers. My tidy little white car was an anomaly as most of the other campers had compound-like encampments with big RVs and trucks, boats, assorted shelters, ATVs etc. Luckily I was able to find a quiet spot at the edge of the Leighton North campground, close to the lakefront and near a stream and a trail which meandered prettily towards one of the other campgrounds. I settled in and then prepared lunch (a giant pancake with strawberries) and ate it sitting happily on my camp chair by the lake.
There is a 4.3 km trail that encircles Leighton Lake, with a 1.2 km extension up to a bluff that overlooks another small lake. I had originally planned to do this walk today, but signs warned of recent cougar sightings so I reluctantly decided not to walk it alone. I will definitely return to camp here again with family and will walk the trail then. So, I read for awhile by the lake and then decided to walk the short trail towards the main Leighton campground. It was so beautiful! Treasure after treasure. It took me over an hour to walk the 300 meters! First, as I approached the little bridge over the stream, I’m sure I saw the tail end of a river otter where the stream met the lake! I waited on the bridge briefly, hoping for a better sighting, but the otter did not show again. While I waited, I admired red-winged blackbirds and a Brewer’s blackbird, busy among the cattails and rushes of the small marshy area.
Shortly after crossing the stream, there were patches of this beautiful wildflower called three-flowered avens, also known as old man’s whiskers or prairie smoke because of their feather plume-like fruits after flowering.
And then more kinds of wildflowers were to be found in the grasses as I walked along, including early blue violet, wild strawberry, shooting stars, and upland larkspur.
Humble dandelions had been transformed by some small creature (probably very cute) into this pretty display of colour.
And the trees, cones, mushrooms and lichens were no less beautiful to photograph.
And, lucky me, where the trail crossed a road there was a birdhouse affixed to the stop sign and a mountain bluebird was busy collecting insects and feeding its babies or possibly its mate inside!
What a wonderful walk, a walk of wonders!
Next, I decided to fish for my supper off the dock at Tunkwa Lake.
I fished for about 20 minutes or so, happily, and enjoyed watching a beautiful loon swim quite close to the dock, fishing as well. Then a grandma arrived with her two pre-teen grandkids to teach them how to fish. On only her second cast she caught a large silver rainbow trout (her grandkids didn’t seem too impressed but I was!). She turned to me and asked if I wanted the trout because her son had been out in a boat early and had already caught their limit. I almost said “no”, having wanted to catch my own fish, but I went with the old adage to “never look a gift fish in the mouth”, and so said “yes, thank you.”
What a dinner!
I finished off the evening quietly, reading in my camp chair by the lake until dusk. Tomorrow I would continue my journey south to the junction with the Nicola Highway and then east to explore cattle country, but as I settled in for the night my thoughts were of returning soon to beautiful Tunkwa Provincial Park.