Jones Lake, Chilliwack,
British Columbia, Canada
May 04, 2019
May 04, 2019
It’s been a great few days since we last had connection to the outside world. After our first night in the van at the averagely drab Chilliwack Walmart car park we were finally ready to head off further afield into the great outdoors. Before we headed off though we managed to save quite a few dollars by returning equipment to Walmart. Our first tip for saving money if you ever do this kind of trip is to use Walmart if you are ever desperate for any equipment. The great thing with Walmart is that it has a 90 day no questions asked return policy. We bought essentials that we needed for the first night at a Walmart in Vancouver. Sleeping bag, storage for food, utensils and pans to cook with etc. After that first night sleeping at Walmart Chilliwack we went in search of the thrift shops around town. We managed to pick up loads of good second hand gear such as a sheet, big thick quilt, pots and pans, utensils. We probably paid about $20 for everything. With the new items bought we headed back to Walmart and returned all the things we had used the night before but no longer needed thanks to the cheaper replacements. Returning all these items saw us get a refund of about $100 so a saving of $80 in the space of a day just by buying second hand gear and returning the rest. It’s a great way to get your hands on essentials if you need them but then to cut the cost if you come across cheaper replacements further down the line.
So with everything sorted we headed off in search of our first real free camping spot at a place called Jones lake. It wasn’t far from Chilliwack and after a half hour stretch on the Trans-Canadian Highway we turned off at exit 153 to start the sharp ascent to the lake. Reading the various guides it advises you should only really use this access road if you have a 4×4 or truck with good ground clearance. Not suitable for normal cars or bigger campers due to the poor standard of the gravel track road. Within the first few hundred metres we knew this was going to be a challenge getting Buddy the van all the way to the top. We bounced and crunched our way up the steep 9km trail, bouncing through pot holes and off road terrain. 40 minutes later the land leveled out and as we turned a corner we were greeted with the stunning sight of glacial mountain peaks towering impressively high above the lake.
We took a quick drive round the site before settling on a pitch to park up in. The free sites here are great. There is a Hydro-electric dam running from this lake and a company called BCHydro who run the dam maintain the free facilities as part of their strategy for giving back to the community here as well as engaging in the support of various wildlife research and ecology projects here. There are only a handful of pitches here but each one comes with it’s own picnic table and fire pit. There are no facilities as such other than the table, pit and a festival type toilet. It’s nice to finally get out in the wilderness and off grid. The first night we were tired from all the running around pulling equipment together and we drifted off to sleep very early. As with all our trips time and days just disappeared from our thoughts. No mobile signal so no point having our phones turned on. We woke early the next day but I couldn’t tell you what time. It sort of becomes irrelevant and our days have changed to waking up when the sun comes up and dozing off again when it goes down. I like that.
Our first morning at the lake brought us our first problem to solve. We have bought some cute little Chinese lantern solar lights for inside the van on a night, they are more environmentally friendly than charging anything from running the vans engine. We also have solar panels to charge our power banks for our various devices and we didn’t run anything off the vans battery that first night but when I came to turn the van over on the first morning there was the horrible clicking, non-firing sound of a flat battery. Hmm OK. I went for a wander round the very small site but the other four vans that were parked up the previous night had moved on and were no where to be seen. So we were up in the middle of nowhere, with no phone signal and nobody around to give us a jump start. Not much point in getting frantic and het up about it so we sorted some coffee and breakfast out on our little stove and continued with our day until we finally saw another van turn up. Thankfully the guy who arrived was the site warden who is employed by BCHydro to keep the site clean as well as various other small jobs they give him around the lake. He lives in a cabin further round the lake shore and he was a fountain of knowledge when it came to this area. After an hours worth of lesson about the nature, ecology and history of the area he gave us a jump start to get Buddy firing again which was a welcome relief.
The first full day was a grey cloudy wash out and was spent relaxing in the van. Reading books and generally sitting looking out at the lake and the small amount of wildlife that was going about it’s daily business around us. The highlights being a particularly frisky pair of Chipmunks dong their fleeting and darting mating dance up and down the various tree stumps and several beautiful woodpeckers hammering away trying to get bugs out of trees. Despite the bad weather it was a great first day to just sit among the nature and serenity of the lake. Aside from Mongolia I haven’t been to a more peaceful place. It is quiet for hours on end and is only broken up by the occasional BCHydro truck that passes within a few seconds and then everything is returned to utter silence other than the occasional hammering of a woodpecker near by.
The next couple of days brought more of the same. Drab grey skies, occasional rain and yet again a van that didn’t want to fire up any more. We got another jump start from Paul the warden who has been really friendly and helpful. I took it for a quick spin round to his cabin to try and charge the battery a bit but again a few hours later it was dead again. We decided to just leave it until we left the lake confident we would be able to find someone to help us out when we came to leave.
The fourth day finally brought beautiful clear blue skies and we were able to fully appreciate the glorious sight of the mountain back drop. We went for a hike round the lake towards the mountains which was great and sat about at very places reading our books. It’s been great to slow things down a little and that really helps the budget. If it wasn’t for alcohol and cigarettes we worked out we only spent around £4.00 a day on food. No petrol as we were parked up and the camping is free. That’s good going….if only we didn’t drink and smoke!
Eventually though it was time to head back to civilization. It’s been beautiful waking up on a morning and looking out of the van at the lake and mountains next to us. We really couldn’t have wished for a better spot to park up in. We had agreed to see Jim on the 6th so that he could complete the final work on Buddy to make sure that he’s good and safe for heading off further afield. We are scruffy and smelly now from no showers or running water. Obviously there is the lake but despite it being clean from a natural perspective it is part of a working dam and is full of silt and leaves, not ideal for washing in. It’s been a great first taste of camping life and hopefully there is much more to come.
