Memories of Summer - Kettle Valley Provincial Park and Campground

So I decided to take my boys ages 6 and 11 camping…..for two weeks….what was I thinking you say ? You might be right, but I had an experience of a lifetime. Not only I bonded with my kids on much deeper level, but I got to observe people…lots of people…lots of strange people.
We stayed at a The Kettle Valley Provincial Park and Campground about an hour from our home. Not too far , but not too close either. The provincial park itself was beautiful. Campground sites were large and spread out. The Kettle Valley is a tent campground as well as RV campground with no hook ups. The main washrooms had running water (cold only), but in the heat of the summer that is all I need. Every campground site had it's own fire pit (wood was provided for a fee and delivered nightly) and a good sturdy picnic table. Tons of hiking, biking, exploring down the old Kettle Valley Railway and peeking into the old gold mines , river rafting and watching your kids playing in the river while suntanning on the beautiful sandy beach.
We stayed at the corner site right across from the large playground and close to the main washrooms. The only problem in the middle of the summer is that unless you come early in the morning around 7am and physically stand at the spot that people are ready to vacate you won't get in.It is a very popular family campground. We had to stay one night in a private campground in Rock Creek and come back bright and early. This provincial campground has about 80 camping sites, but half of it is for online campground reservations only. If you want to reserve a spot make sure you reserve it 3 months ahead. The reserved sites are closer to the river and the beach and most of them have more privacy, but they are much smaller and full of mosquitoes. I noticed that lots of people reserve for one night and then move to the first come first serve camping sites which makes it even harder to find a site without a reservation, because they all do their rounds the night before and make deals with people leaving in the morning. Some mornings all you can see are empty campground sites with camping chairs in them which I don't agree with...
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the best days to get a good site since there are some open spots available at noon.
I love provincial BC campgrounds…they are reasonable priced, most of them are clean and pretty safe family environment. They do have their little rules to be followed, not a deal breaker.
One rule that I like is quiet time after 10 pm. No loud music , talking or generators…fair enough. Everybody needs quiet time and good night sleep after busy and active day, I know I do. The Kettle Valley Provincial Campground was no exception. The Park Ranger was strict and rules were followed.
Anyway, generators…we camp with our 31’ travel trailer, yes, we are roughing it. So now and then I need to recharge batteries and all of the equipment. We are here for two weeks people, give me a break.
I myself am not a big fan of generators, I think they are loud and somebody needs to come up with a silent generator….if you do give me a call.
In Provincial Parks you are allowed to use generators from 7am to 10pm. So as a good camping neighbour and nature lover I run mine 3 hours a day in the early afternoon when everybody should be busy doing something. So I go out, turn my generator on (mine is the quieter one made by Honda) and I go inside my trailer to make sure we have everything that needs charging plugged in. Just minutes later there is a knock on the door and one of my camping neighbours…not a next door one, but the one two spaces down divided by a little forest tells me that they are trying to chill and my generator is preventing them from doing so and he offered to put a piece of a board (that he provided) against it to block the noise. Of course, me being the caring person that I am I allow him to do that not thinking nothing of it. Few minutes later he was back at his site playing his guitar and chilling. After listening to his noise that he called music I decided that he should have used that board to block off his talent before the whole campground turns on him.
An hour later we shut the beast off and go about our business. Evening comes , time to retire to the trailer and get ready for bed. I notice that our lights are very dim and can’t figure out why.
In the morning I get up early just to find out that our fridge and water pump are dead. I am not a great technical person and being here without my husband and relying on his instructions was scary enough…I was hoping nothing like this would happen. So as per instructions I go outside and switch the propane tank (hah, I bet you didn’t think I can do that?) and nothing. The fridge is still dead and no water. Now it’s time to panic, my son is a and all of his insulin and other diabetic supplies are in the fridge. My hubby is not due to come up for the next 2 days. No cell phone signal only a public phone across the campsite. I jump on my bike in my PJ’’s with credit card in my hand…what a site. Of course my dear husband decides that today is the day that he won’t answer his cell phone. Luckily someone answered the phone at his work and is looking for him….five minutes later he comes on. Of course he has no idea what could have happened. I charged the batteries , I switched the propane tanks. So with simple instructions like don’t open the fridge and shut the propane tank he promises to come up after work and fix the problem.
I peddle back to the campsite little relieved, but upset. I go around and check the generator that let me down. My wonderful neighbour blocked the sound with his board, but in the process he unplugged my main cord so the generator was running , but not charging. Oh, I was fuming. I felt like taking the board and beating him senseless with it. I plugged my cord in, move the board and let the generator do it’s work.
Few hours later we were up and running again. All was good with the world for a bit.

Little things happened, but nothing to ruin our vacation. We all enjoyed our camping at the Kettle Valley Provincial Campground and we can't wait to go again. I highly recommend this campground for everybody especially families with active children like ours.

Don't forget your bikes and water rafts... HAVE A GREAT TIME

If you would like to know how our family copes with type 1 diabetes visit my other blog.