Queen Awesome's Adventures in Cancerland: World 16

The Canada Day test run went off perfectly! We were ready for our big outing!

The next morning, we got up and played a game of Tetris with the truck. Trying to get 3 days worth of camping gear in there was a challenge but we made it! We headed into town to pick up any last minute things and meet Mike.

Our destination was Nickle Plate Lake, in the hills between Penticton and Hedley. After a bit of head scratching, cursing the backroads mapbook, and some direction from some dirt bikers, we finally found our home for the next few days. The recreation site was packed with a 4x4 club who were in the area preparing for an event they host on the August Long weekend. They took up the entire main area of the campsite, but we managed to find a spot to stay on the other end.

After camp was set up, we headed out to explore for a bit. Once again, the backroads mapbook got the best of us. There's been a lot of logging in the area lately which has created many trails that aren't on the map. We had hoped to find the trail to the top of Lookout Mountain, but alas we were out of luck. It was still fun to explore though!

We woke up to beautiful sunshine on Day 2 which was most welcome after freezing our buns off the night before! After a yummy bacon breakfast, we headed out. There were a few mine sites marked on the backroads map, and we wanted to see if we could find them. We were in luck! We found one of the old abandoned mines and it was such a cool thing to see!

After thoroughly investigating the mine, we carried on exploring through the hills for awhile before making our way towards Hedley for a gas and marshmallow supply stop.

After our pit stop to the great metropolis of Hedley, we tried to find a second abandoned mine but ended up running out of daylight before we could find it. Oh well, just an excuse to have to go back! = ) We headed back to camp before it got completely dark and relaxed around the campfire.

Day 3 was wet and cold!! After breakfast, we packed up camp and went to explore a bit more before it was time to start heading home. The weather was a complete opposite from the day before. We climbed Mt Riordan, but all we had was a view of fog. The wind was incredible and the cloud was whipping past us. It was quite the experience to see the clouds move so fast. Part way up the mountain we found what is either a new site for a chair lift for Apex Mountain or, more likely, an old site where a chair lift use to be.

The 4x4 excursions were a great success. We saw so many cool and interesting things and had a great time all around. And I learned that I am definitely my father's daughter. Every nook and cranny in the truck was filled with interesting looking rocks when we got back! haha The best part of the trip was that is was a fantastic distraction. My life has been such a whirlwind of appointments and tests that it was nice to be able to get away and escape it all for awhile. This next week will be spent preparing myself mentally and physically for the surgery with hopefully a little fun thrown in. I have my last volleyball game for awhile tomorrow night, and with any luck, the weather will hold out. Thursday is my Dad's birthday and we'll go and see him that night. Friday, I call the hospital for my final instructions and surgery time. This week is going to go fast!!