Departing Lake Errock, I continued on BC-7 to the town of Hope where I joined BC-3. This will become AB-3 after going through Crowsnest Pass. AB-3 is the start (end) of the Redcoat Trail. From here to Alberta I'll be in mountain/valley terrain.

I was thinking about stopping somewhere in Manning Provincial Park for a couple of days but decided to continue on when I got there before noon. I did stop at the park lodge after tranversing Allison pass and had lunch. The forest here seems to be in dire straits due to a beetle infestation. I would guess that about 1/3 of the trees are dead or dying.

About 4 PM I reached Keremeos, the “Fruit Stand Center of BC”. That's what the sign says on the outskirts of town. It's in a valley that's almost all orchards and truck farms. I stopped at an RV park, along side of the highway, called “Eagle RV Park” and checked in for 3 days. The sign appears to be correct. The highway is lined with fruit stands of all sizes all the way into the town. Unfortunately I'm too early in the season. All the stands are still closed.

Road Report: BC-7 and BC-3 are both excellent, mostly 2 lane, roads, the grades are 6% or less and there are frequent passing lanes. Lots of mountains, passes, and valleys. The road almost always has a stream or creek running alongside of it. Beautiful scenery. Some road construction.

At Keremeos I found a bakery/coffee shop that had internet computers but couldn't get my laptop to work. The owner said that the tech that set the computers up password protected the network and he (the owner) didn't remember what the password was. He also couldn't get the tech to answer his phone. So I'm out of touch while here.

The town is on the bank of the Similkameen River and the outskirts of Cathedral Provincial Park , which is a pretty remote, mountainous, and wild park. I spent a day exploring the back roads of the park, taking pictures and another day exploring the valley.

Weather Report: Warm (18-22 ° C) and dry with a 15-20 km breeze. Some rain showers during one night.

Park Report: Eagle park is right on the highway so there is some traffic noise at night, but not bad. The sites are large and all grass with full hook-ups (30 amp). Park provides a picnic table at each site.

Next stop should be Christina Lake in the Kootenay's/Boundry Co.