First Cut

At 3pm yesterday I turned off Hwy 97S (from Monte Lake) onto Westside Road. The rising waters I had heard so much about after leaving Woodhaven in mid-April were in decline. Unfortunately, what was revealed was not the land but erased beaches and septic fields whose contents are now part of Lake Okanagan.

Before turning up Six Mile Creek Road I stopped at Little Kingdom to see if they had any pies left. Last year the place was brimming with tank-topped dudes and dudettes stocking their campers with chips and mixer, only this year it was like the ghost town in The Andromeda Strain (1971).

Where is everybody? I asked a cashier, at which point I was shown some press releases stating that the campsites would not be opened over the Canada Day long weekend, and that the beaches are not safe for swimming -- this despite radio ads I was hearing in Vancouver about how the Okanagan has returned to normal and is open to tourists.

Later that day, on an after dinner walk to the upper pasture, Brian told me about the floods in Peachland, where a section of the highway was washed away, and a no-wake warning that, on the positive side, prohibits speed boats and jet skis.