Once upon a time, the Canadian marketing pros came up with the catchy line … “Beautiful British Columbia” … and for once the marketing peeps aren’t spitting out BS!! Luck was on our side this year and we managed to get the fam on the same schedule long enough for an escape to our beloved Rainbow Lake in north-central British Columbia, Canada – a place inaccessible enough it has become sort of a private haven for our family over the years.
Way back when, Great Grandpa GG and the crew found the lake when they went moose hunting through the area on horseback. Finally, some 42 years ago, they built a log cabin on the lake with the help of their local Native Americans hunting buddies. Today, the cabin remains the only sign of human life within reasonable proximity to the lake and getting there requires 2 days driving and a 40 minute flight in on a sea plane.
Sadly, a huge forest fire had swept though all of the surrounding area last fall, wiping out everything in the vicinity of the lake. Landing at the lake and seeing the total destruction was quite a shock … everything was gone. All of the once lush green trees in the area had been reduced to utter toothpicks and the scenery that had always been a gorgeous montage of greens was suddenly reduced to blacks and browns. The fact that the cabin in still standing is perhaps the greatest miracle of all, seeing as it was about the only thing left standing … there are burnt out stumps as close as 30 feet away from the house!!
Nature being as resilient as it is, however, it still proved to be as awe-inspiringly beautiful as ever, with phenomenal sunsets, foggy mornings, rainbows, thunderstorms, sunshine and starry northern nights … all set to the manical laughing of the loons, the splashes of jumping fish and the occasional ‘moos’ of the moose.
It is always great to get away from ‘it all’ and escape to a place where time truly stands still … if we weren’t out fishing in the ‘virgin’ lake (i.e. lots of fish), we were back in the cabin, battling it out in rambunctious games of Pit, Sequence, Uno and Catch Phrase, reading, making friendship bracelets, listening to Grandpa’s stories, holding target practice, roasting s’mores, battling off the alligator sized mosquitoes and attempting to make a dent in the 6lbs of bacon and 6lbs of butter (for popcorn, of course) that we had brought in with creative camping cooking J
So many laughs, many, many memories, much needed relaxation, pristine beauty at its finest, and a great reminder not to take electricity and running water for granted … Viva Rainbow Lake!
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