More Fraser River

.....        

   Our weekend drives take us to some curious places. On Saturday, we set out with only the vaguest of plans...to explore lengths of the Fraser River as it finally starts to recede after recent floods.

Since our favourite way to spend rainy days is tooling along in the car with the music cranked, we set Sirius radio to the Bluegrass station and chewed up the miles effortlessly.

 After the inevitable stop at Starbucks for chai tea lattes, we soon found ourselves in Matsqui, standing ankle-deep in yet another washed-out park.

 Once again, warning signs were being ignored, though not in the numbers we encountered last week in Langley.

 Local wildfowl are loving the wet weather. Canada Geese have happily taken over the former picnic grounds, and a stately Great Grey Heron picked his way delicately through the new wetlands, not seeming to mind our quiet presence.

The arrival of a rowdier set of visitors, however, gave him reason to flee.

 Under the steel girder bridge that crosses the river into Mission, we checked out  the water gauge with its measure of previous floods.

 Of course, we crossed the bridge into Mission and continued driving. One can never go home the same way one has come, after all!

.

.

Remembering earlier visits, we made our way to Stave Lake, a hydroelectric reservoir where the now-decommissioned generating station acts as a visitor centre.

 From inside the gift shop, I could see a tiny boat on the sparse riverbed below that I wanted to photograph, but could not capture  it through the wired windows.

Although it was almost closing time, the staff cheerfully gave us permission to make our way down to an outdoor viewing  platform. To my delight, we were allowed to descend, unescorted, down steep stairways,  passing banks of huge, yet silent, turbine engines. 

. 

.

I stopped to take a few quick shots as we flew past. I have no idea how any of these machines operate, but their sheer bulk and bold colours definitely captured my photographer's eye.

.

.

. 

Stave Lake itself was fenced off, a necessary deterrent to incautious people like us who might proceed in spite of the risk involved.

(It may not surprise you to learn that we did manage to find a small chink in the armour.)

                    Eventually, we settled a while to watch ducklings get their bearings on a nearby pond,until a fresh cluster of showers convinced us it was time to wend our way homeward.

I am submitting this post to Weekend Reflections...do stop by to see what others have captured in their lens...

http://weekendreflection.blogspot.ca/