cabackroads destination--Lundbom Lake, Merrit, British Columbia

cabackroads destination--Lundbom Lake, Merrit, British Columbia

dates of stay: July 12 and 13th, 2016

Once into Canada we needed to buy food, bear spray, and several books on backcountry roads in British Columbia.

If your traveling in British Columbia, just get these books. Excellent quality, detailed information and also available in digital format: http://www.backroadmapbooks.com/. Most of the books are focused around fishing, but some have more information on camping while others are strictly fishing. So chose carefully.

The plan was to stop outside of Merritt for the first night in Canada. Then move on to Kamloops and the Costco there for a GPS unit and those special Costco food items.

By the way, we found out that Costco in Canada does NOT take Visa, only MasterCard. The reverse of the situation south of Canadian border. After a hectic 15 minutes we were able to write a personal check payable in US funds for our purchases. Oh, and Costco had only ONE GPS unit for sale. More on that later in the trip.

I located a Marquart Lake just south of Merritt located on BC Forest Service land with a primitive campground. Just east of that lake, was Lundbom Lake which has much better fly fishing and only did not sport a "Bear in area, warning sign".

Lundbom Lake it was with a nice waterfront campsite. The only services were a campsite spur, picnic table.  However, as the picture illustrates it is a very scenic and pleasant spot just a few miles from Merritt. The normal rate is $12 a night, but for old people it is only $6.

Merritt like most Canadian towns in a tidy town, with a few ragged edges if you look deeper. However, on the surface it is an attractive town.

The Save-On Supermarket had a good selection of fresh food.

I also found a couple of outdoor stores to buy the bear spray, rod case, and the BC backroads maps. The store is located on the main street coming into town and is named Gun Fishing. Nice rack of rifles, very light on shotguns. If your a Canadian you can buy a AR-15 here. It had a good fly fishing selection and the service was excellent http://www.canpages.ca/page/BC/merritt./gun-fishin/101021647

This is the BC Liquor Store. The only place in British Columbia to buy wine. Selection does vary by store to some extent. Merritt was pretty bad, but the store in 100 Mile House was a bit more interesting. Prices were very high.

Merritt also has the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame display. It was worth the stroll through the place, but really needs some interpretative help.

Never did get the opportunity to fish Lundbom Lake, but the fishing looked slow. It is after all summer.

After a couple of pleasant nights we moved onto Kamloops and started heading north.