It was another beautiful day in the mountains of Castle Provincial Park. The trailhead of this hike starts at Syncline Barnaby Staging Area. It has a nice parking lot with picnic tables. We started walking at about 8:30 am. After crossing highway 774 we walked about 1.5 km to the Southfork Lakes – Barnaby Ridge trailhead. We arrived at the first Southfork Lake at about 10:30 am. The steepest part of the trail was before the first lake. It was a gentler climb though the forest to the second lake. We stopped briefly at the second lake to take some pictures enjoying beautiful scenery. Then we continued a short distance to the third lake. We arrived at the third lake at about 11:00 am. Two Ramblers decided to climb the ridge above the third lake and have lunch there. The rest of us stayed at the third lake where we had lunch. We entertained ourselves with skipping rock competition and story telling.

Then, as the temperature was rising, four of us decided to swim in the lake while waiting for two Ramblers coming back from the ridge. We walked around the lake to the opposite side to swim. We spent about two hours relaxing at the third lake before we decided to come back. We were back at the parking lot shortly after 3:00 pm. We traveled about 13.5 km with the total elevation of about 717 m.

Crossing the new bridge.

On the way to the first lake.

Ramblers at the first lake.

View of the second lake.

View of the third lake.

Chip using his gaiters as water shoes.

Thank you to: Jim,Chip,Teresa,Cathy,Lenard,Cristina,Jim,Deborah,Christine,Kate for a great day.