For many years I have wanted to visit Osoyoos and camp at Haynes' Point Provincial Park, located on a thin spit of land that juts out into the lake. The sites always looked so idyllic, especially those next to the water. Plus, I had always wanted to see Spotted Lake in person, not to mention do a tour of some of the wineries famous in the area.

The Best Laid Plans

I had what I thought was the perfect plan. With both my husband and I being stunt performers, we never really wanted to reserve a site 3 months ahead of time, not knowing whether or not we would book work that would prevent us from going. That being said, the campground becomes first-come-first-served after Labour Day so we figured we would go a few days later and have our pick. This timing is great because it's right after our anniversary so we saw it as a lovely getaway for our celebration. Last year didn't work out because Chris (my husband) booked a stunt job, but finally this was going to be our year.

We headed out on the Crow's Nest highway to drive through a portion of the Rockies to Osoyoos. It is a stunning drive with view all around, but we didn't stop because we wanted to get to the campground as quickly as possible on the Thursday following Labour Day to increase our chances of getting a site. We pulled up at around 10:30am and the campground was full with no on planning on leaving that day. Crap. We had our heart set on camping next to the lake so we took a lakeside side at Nk’Mip RV Park, run by some of the local First Nations population.

Nk'Mip RV Park: Our Second Choice

RV campgrounds are usually our last choice (read why in my article Choosing from Car Camping Options), but beggars can't be choosers. We chose the most isolated spot next to the lake that we could find, but they were all small spots packed tightly together on a desert landscape. We knew that once the weekend rolled around there was a solid chance we'd practically be camping in our neighbours' pockets. We did our best to set up our shelter and Skycamp in such a way that it would give us the most possible privacy. Our first night was bliss with only one quiet German couple next to us, but they left the next day. Friday and Saturday the campground filed right up and we had two groups of 6 people on either side of us there to drink with their friends for the weekend. It wasn't the best situation, but we were going to be away most of the day touring the area anyway, and we had our ear plugs at the ready.

All things considered. We got lucky. Our neighbours on both sides were nice and friendly. And while they were there to get drunk, they weren't loud drunks and all respected the noise rules of the park. The only music that disturbed us later on was the music echoing off the lake from the RV's pub further down. The only major troubles we had couldn't be avoided no matter which lakeside campground we stayed at.

One thing that was nice about Nk'Mip was that the water near to shore stayed a consistent depth, deep enough for swimming with no real drop off. I was essentially able to swim laps in the lake off our site without need of a swimming buoy. A great way to cool off and get some exercise.

Bending in the Wind

The winds on Osoyoos Lake are unpredictable and can be precarious for lakeside camping as we discovered on our second night. We were sitting in our camp shelter enjoying an evening drink when we felt the wind start to pick up. At first, it just a few gusts here and there, but soon I started to raise concerns about it to Chris. At first he was dismissive saying that the weather had only predicted that it would go no faster than 9km/hour, with gusts of 12. He changed his tune when a gust blew down two of our support poles and their guy lines. Out of nowhere, all hell broke loose and the winds kicked up crazily. We broke into a mad dash to break down our shelter to prevent it from being blown apart. I gripped one pole with two hands to keep the shelter in place while Chris broke down the other poles, laughing at the craziness of it all. Clothes we had hung up were blown clear across the street. One of our shelter poles is still fused together from that windstorm, and one was solidly bent. Quite the feat as the Eureka Northern Breeze Shelter is quite sturdily built.

Chopaka Lookout Loop and Mount Kobau Hikes

While hiking wasn't our main priority in visiting Osoyoos, we did managed to squeeze in a couple of short ones on one of the days. Both of these are located from the same access point in the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area. The Chopaka loop was a 3km hike, mostly cross-country with a couple of steeper uphill treks that prevent it from being a truly family friendly hike for all ages. Even on a sunny Saturday, it wasn't overly busy and we enjoyed the peace the hike afforded us. I suspect that the view at the top of the loop would have been amazing too if not for the wildfire smoke.

The Mount Kobau lookout was a mere 1.3km return, but luckily gave us a much clearer view, though it was eerie and more than a little sad seeing all the scorched trees on the way up. Yet another uniquely beautiful but sobering reminder of the vast amount of damage that wildfires can bring. The different landscapes of the Mount Kobau Lookout trail made it worth doing a second trail. That and the fact that it was so short there was no reason for us not to. This one was short enough and flat enough to be a more family-friendly option that can accomodate young children, the elderly and possibly even people who are taking it easy due to injury.

A Hopeful Hop Over to Haynes' Point

Early Sunday morning, we decided to try our luck at getting a site at Haynes’ Point Provincial Park. We lined up in our car and were given a piece of paper with the number '7' written on it. We would be the 7th campers to get a site once they vacated. We also found out that people with campers or RVs could park on the strip for one night maximum and hope to try and get a site the next day. Helpful to know this for the future with our Skycamp qualifying as a form of camper. I got out on my kayak to tour around the peninsula while we waited for a site to come available, enjoying the calm, sunny waters of the lake.

We managed to get a lakeside site, but had to share a double site with another couple, a retired couple camping in a van modded into a makeshift camper. Even with the extra trees we had surrounding our site, we didn't bother to set up our shelter. There were warnings of high winds all over the campground suggesting it might not be the most stellar of ideas. Woulda been nice to have that warning while we were at Nk'Mip.

Haynes' Point has a wetland hike built into the park. Unfortunately, it was closed while we were there due to some sort of environmentally sensitive conditions. We focused more on getting our kayaks into the lake instead.

A Brief Boozy Tour

A trip to Osoyoos wouldn't be complete without checking out some of the local wineries. Actually, we only ended up visiting one winery, having blown all our booze money at a Osoyoos-based distillery called Tumbleweed that was doing tastings at the local farmer's market. Whiskey is a top choice for people who are on the keto diet like we are. Our favourite was their award-winning Fireweed, their minimally-sweetened answer to usually super-sweet cinnamon whiskeys like Fireball. With only a delicate kiss of honey for sweetener, Fireweed is a delight to drink straight.

Our next favourite boozy tour stop was Faustino Estate Cidery. Chris and I used to enjoy ciders, but stopped drinking them once we took on the keto diet because most ciders are super sugary and carb-loaded. But this small-batch cidery doesn't add any sugars beyond that which is in the fruit to their offerings. Their dry apple cider is an awesome choice for cider-loving keto types for hot summer nights on the patio. We enjoyed it with a loaf of freshly baked French bread that we bought at the market, along with a bunch of locally bought jams and fruit on our one carb-up day over the weekend.

We did go to one winery as well, Blue Sky Winery, to find something to go with our anniversary dinner. Having tasted a number of their wines, I felt like none of the drier choices stood out all that strongly, except for the Ninish 2011. It featured a blend of cab sauv, cab franc and syrah grapes, and it paired wonderfully with our steak dinner.

A Not-So-Spotted Lake

We did go check out Spotted Lake on our way out of town. Sadly, the lake hadn't dried up enough over the summer in order to showcase its famous multi-coloured pools. You can see the shadows of the formations that hinted at its greatness, but it wasn't meant to be during that visit. It was also locked up so you couldn't even go down to walk around it. The First Nations people who own the land are restructuring it with plans for future improvements. Hopefully these will be completed by the next time we make it out to the area.

All Things Considered

I'm glad I had the chance to visit Osoyoos, but all in all, I'm not sure I would go out of my way to go again. The camping isn't really a retreat in nature, just a cheaper way to visit the area without having to stay at hotels. As car camping experience, I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle of trying to get a spot at Haynes' again. And while I would really like to see Spotted Lake in its full glory, I think I would prefer to find somewhere a little more immersed in nature at which to camp.

Over to you. Have you ever gone camping in the Osoyoos area? If so, where did you stay? Did it work out better for you than it did for us? Please share your thoughts in the comments.