I need not have worried. The next day was as calm and pristine as ever. There was a classic Nuk Tessli sunrise.
Sid, the pilot for Lakes District Air, was delayed because it was foggy at Nimpo Lake. It usually is at this time of year, especially when there is a frost.
But he was in by 9.00am, we loaded the mountain of freight and my two dogs, and took off into the wind, which was coming from Mt Monarch.
Then swung round away from the mountains…
My cabins are on the distant point with the islands dotted around it.
Soon we flew out of the mountains
And crossed Charlotte Lake. Now we are on the Chilcotin.
When I did this last year at the end of the season, it was a similarly pleasant day, but when I tried to drive home, my way was blocked by a major washout. It was 2 and half weeks before I could get my vehicle home.
But this day there was no trauma. The Chilcotin was peaceful and calm. It was uncharacteristically lush after all the rain we had earlier, but already the grasses were tawny. The roadsides were dotted with an introduced chamomile species. Forty minutes after I left the float plane base at Nimpo Lake, I was home.