Camping At Nahatlatch Lake

Last week I had the good fortune to get out of the city for a few days. Along with a couple of good friends, we hit Hwy 1 and headed East past Hope and up Hwy 7 past Hell's Gate to Boston Bar. From there we took a left across the Fraser River onto what soon became a winding, dusty, gravel road.

Twenty minutes later we arrived here... Nahatlatch Lake!

What a gorgeous, quiet and private spot this is. The campsite had enough room for our three tents, there was a fire pit and across the road, our very own outhouse.

This was our home for the next few nights.

This was our view from the campsite as the sun set on Day 1 of camping...

And this was our dinner on Night 1! Mmmm gourmet burgers cooked to perfection!

Between dinner and dessert (Smores!), Mel even managed to get in a few Yoga poses.

Okay, so maybe those aren't 100% authentic Yoga poses, but hey, full marks for effort! Is it just me or is there a silhouetted moose head in this next one?

I've been wanting to get away somewhere far from the city for awhile, not just for my sanity, but for the opportunity to get some decent, starry-night-sky-long-exposure-pictures. Preferably ones that weren't polluted with the sodium-light-orange of high-density populated city and suburbs.

I have to say, I'm really happy with how these turned out.

Behold! The Milky Way!

These were taken on a 30 second exposure, ISO 1000, with a 10-20mm lens at f/4.  The only post processing done was a little de-noising and a tweak to the color.

When we were camping we were at the tail end of the annual Perseid meteor shower so not only was I delighted to see more shooting stars than normal but I was shocked to see the surprise cameo appearance entering the frame of this next picture!

I always wake up early when camping. This was the view from our lakeshore campsite at 6.15am. Like the night shots, this is also a long exposure (about 5 seconds) which is why the water looks so ghostly.

I'm thinking I should get up at dawn more often because the light was absolutely stunning. Then again, being surrounded by mountains, lakes and forests definitely helps create a picturesque scene...

These pictures were all taken about a 10 minute walk along the shore from where our tents were.

After a day of relaxation floating around on the lake and when it got too hot, swimming in the glacial water, I grabbed these next pictures.

The mist is actually dust kicked up by an ATV that passed by our campsite. It took almost twenty minutes for the dust to slowly drift across the lake.

After a fantastic meal of steak and talapia (thanks Derek for the mad campsite cooking skills!) it was time to relax by the fire for another night of stargazing and long exposure fun.

I love the glowing trails from the embers drifting up into the air.

On this night the lake was so calm I managed to get stars reflected in it. The smudgy column running down the middle of the picture is the Milky Way.

Here's the view directly over our heads above our campsite earlier in the evening (also showing the Milky Way). The dark orange at the bottom of the frame is the light from our campfire.

If you're looking for a beautiful, quiet and private camping spot, head up to Nahatlatch Lake (its about a 4 hour drive from Vancouver) - you won't regret it.

Until next time folks.