Hiking Lightning Lake with Tony and Dee Dee

On June 13, 2017 we, in our rig, and Tony and Dee Dee, in their rig, made our way to E. C. Manning Provincial Park, located in the Northern Cascades of British Columbia on Highway 3.  We had sorely wanted to return to this gorgeous mountain park ever since our first visit on May 1, 2016, on a day trip from Hope B.C. as part of our trip to Alaska, when we did a snowy, post-holeing hike around Lightning Lake.  You can see from the view below why we fell in love with the place:

The earliest form of the park was established in 1931 as the Three Brothers Mountain Reserve.  The park was eventually named in memory of Ernest Callaway Manning, Chief Forester of British Columbia from 1936 to 1941, who was killed in an airplane accident in 1941. During his time as Chief Forester he was instrumental in developing the idea of setting land aside for future generations to enjoy.

The terrain in the park, which includes most of the Hozameen Range sub-range of the Canadian Cascades, varies from wet coastal rain forests, to jagged snow-capped peaks, alpine meadows filled with wildflowers, to a chain of small lakes, and broad river beds along the valley floors.  It is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including black bears.  Park management is participating in an effort to re-establish grizzly bears as well.

The park is the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail.  A network of trails crosses the park, some of them following routes used by the fur trade and native hunters and traders. Lightning Lake is often used for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. The Similkameen River, the largest tributary of the Okanagan River, starts in the park and flows eastward through the park to the Okanagan Valley.

On June 14, we roped Dee Dee and Tony into joining us on hike around Lightning Lake, with a side trip up to the far end of nearby Flash Lake:

Kayakers and canoers took advantage of the beautiful weather, and we could see them occasionally from our lakeside trail:

We paused for Tony to take a photo at the wooden bridge at the bottom of Lightning Lake, where we ate lunch, encountering there a German woman who was camping her way through British Columbia and Alberta:

Working our way around the back side of Lightning Lake, we came upon a large rockslide, where the trail picked its way carefully through the scree field:

Rainbow Bridge graces a narrow throat of the lake near the water's midsection.  Below, Kathy puts the bridge into perspective:

Here's the view from Rainbow Bridge, east and away from the nearest snowy mountains:

Nearing the end of our hike, we reached the dam at the east end of the lake, where we rested, gazing out on the calm waters over to the day use area;

By the time we reached the day use area, we still had a mile or two to hike, around several bays.  Here, at Lone Duck Bay, we encountered more than a lone duck.  This mama and her brood swam right past us without giving us much acknowledgement:

By the time we got back to the campground, we had logged a healthy 7.5 miles.  To relax our weary muscles, we slipped into our camp chairs, drank a little beer or wine, and regaled each other with stories of past hikes and adventures.