A Weekend Get-Away to the Naughty Pine

Our daughter-in-law organized this relaxing weekend for us parents. It was great to get away and go to this remote cabin with our children, away from the distractions of every day life. There was no reception and nothing pressing to do so we could fill the day with play.

Day 1: Case & I drove to Kane Valley where we did some snowshoeing. It is off of Hwy. 97C, 28 km southeast of Merrit.

I soon ran into a man from whom I gleaned some info on the trails. He gave us some pointers and said the nicest views are actually from parking lot #3. We had started at lot #1 and snowshoed to #2 and back, doing a loop. Next time #3...

Case says this Douglas Fir is over 100 years old.

1) And he thinks this Douglas Fir could be up to 500 years old. 2) The red bark of the pine trees stood out against the white snow.

There were two shelters on this loop. This one was close to parking lot #2.

Both shelters were well stocked with firewood and had fire-pits.

These were the only signs to direct the way. So I suggest you take a pic of the maps at the parking lots or print one out at home, if you don't have a GPS. Pic 1) a sign right by P1

From P1 we descended on a snowshoe trail that ran parallel to the Chute trail, and got us to the Mattew's Loop trail. We had a break at the end of the loop in a shelter by P2. Then we turned left on the Kane trail, turning left again at the Matthew's Loop trail. This was actually a nordic ski route so we stayed on the edge, being careful not to step on the ski tracks. This trail was lower, passing by marsh land. At the Matthew's Loop shelter we turned left onto the Chute trail which got us back to P1. This route took us 1.5 hours and was a mere 217m elevation gain + 5 km.

On the 5A Hwy, south bound.

Then we took the Penticton-Summerland Road which is a 30 minute drive past Penticton.

The Naughty Pine cabin.

We played games after dinner and watched the movie: "Grumpy Old Men". Too funny.

Up at 8:00am. The plan: to go ice-fishing, of course.

Ice fishing goodies that came with the cabin.

It was only a 10 minute walk to Link Lake.

Inventor Nathan found a way to drill holes fast.

Don likes to fish but this was his very first time he went ice-fishing. Too bad they didn't catch anything.

Compliments of the cabin.

Lacey & Willow loved it if you kicked up snow so they could catch it with their mouths.

That's my boy.

Us women went for a snowshoe round half of the lake.

pic 2) Three bird houses in the trees.

By noon we headed back to the cabin for lunch and me for my nap while the rest of them played games.

Before dinner we headed back to the lake again. I took a round-about way to the lake.

My lovely children with grandbaby #9 snug and warm in Camille's womb.

I had to keep my feet warm so I went to check out this shack at the other end of the lake.

Dinner time. Still no fish on the line. But that's OK. Laura made a delicious meal of stuffed spagettii squash & salad.

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Day 3: After a pancake breakfast we packed and began the slow drive home. We were in our 4x4 FJ that's equipped with a winch, just in case we got stuck or someone else did.

In Princeton we did a 5 km walk, just to stretch our legs inbetween all the driving. This trail starts at the old red caboose along Hwy 3 in Princeton by the Subway restaurant.

The bridge over the Tulameen River.

We turned back on the other side of the bridge.

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