2nd hike of the year…in the snow

Since the weather was just miserable down where we live paddling was out of the question today – and I am still sore from yesterday. So we went for a hike instead. Cypress is already open for downhill skiing and they have a solid cover of snow. And it snowed the whole time we were up there. We went up Black Mtn to Eagle Bluff instead of our usual winter route up the Howe Sound Crest Trail. The Black Mtn trails goes up up up for almost 1.5km along the ski run. Once on top – puh – it’s an easy up and down towards Eagle Ridge. Only problem – Asian Hikers. I am not a racist but why do they always have to show up in groups of at least 50. There we are in the backcountry hiking in the snow all by ourself until all sudden we have to wait until groups of 50 hikers comes up the trail we were on - TWICE!

Start of the hike

Winter world

Almost at Black Mtn but we decided to take the long way around to Eagle Bluff

Steady light snow all the way

Eagle Bluff – in theory you should see the ocean below :-)

Me at Eagle Bluff

Jeff and I at Eagle Bluff – it was freezing with snow blowing horizontal in the wind

Top of Black Mtn – we made it up there on the way back

Aug 27-28: First Hike of the season – ouch

Well we only hiked one of the days. Saturday was spent as a training day for the Length of the Lake race and Jeff and I took our single surfskis up Indian Arm. It was a beautiful day but I felt like sh.. in my boat and the 2hrs paddled which turned into 2hrs and 20min was no fun at all. Some days everything is just off….

So Sunday we decided to hike up a local mountain. Okay, we cheated a bit by driving up to Cypress and hike the Howe Sound Crest Trail to Unnecessary Mountain rather than starting from sea level – but hey it was the first hike of the season. It was a wonderful day – blue sky, warm but not too hot at that elevation and we went up at a good pace. The elevation gain isn’t really that much – 610m – but after you scale the first peak, St Marks, you drop down for a couple hundred meter before hiking up Unnecessary Mountain again adding at least another 300m. We stopped at the first peak since the views from up there are just as nice as the main peak. Another 50m down and up again twice wasn’t quite worth it. It was just gorgeous up there and we had a good rest before tracking down. We actually made really good time and hit the peak in just over 2hrs. The way back was almost as hard as the way up as you go through a lot of ups and downs along the way.  All in all the hike was 5.5hrs and what I didn’t realize until I checked the hiking guide at home almost 18km long! No wonder I was sore the next day – and I mean really sore around the bum section….

 

Lots of snow still up there (1300+m) – in late August

Finally on top – waterbreak

Looking west over Howe Sound and its many islands

Looking east over the 2nd peak and the South Lion – maybe some other time

A south Lion close up

Jeff and I on top with Howe Sound and the Tantalus Range in the background

I just like this shot…

Jul 29 – Aug 2 – BC Day Long Weekend on the Island

I love all those civic holidays in the summer here in Canada. Good opportunity to add one more day and make it a 4 day weekend – especially advised if you want to go over to Vancouver Island and make a reservation 10wks in advance or waste hours in the ferry line up.

Our plan was simple – leave Sat morning instead of Friday afternoon and catch the early ferry at 6:20AM. We got up at 5AM and hit the ferry terminal at 5:50AM – we could have been there 5min earlier but Jeff missed the turn-off It was early!!! The line up at the toll booth didn’t look too bad BUT we were told that the first ferry was pretty much full and we most likely would be on the 8:30AM. Darn! We actually got within about 50 cars of making the 6:20 ferry before they closed the gates and left without us. Oh well, good opportunity to head into Horseshoe Bay for a nice breakfast. I seem to remember the same thing happened last year

So we hit the Island almost 2hrs later than planned. First stop was Bowser - you don’t know where Bowers is? Well we wouldn’t either if that wouldn’t be the place Jeff’s favourite fly shop is located (well one of them). It’s just a little past Qualicum Beach on the East side of the Island. Yeah, we are here mostly to fish but not only to fish:-). First off I was getting a new fly rod. Jeff tried to talk me into a two handed switch rod so that I could cast further for the ocean fishing we do. They are soo much bigger/longer than my little rod I use in my float tube but he made me try his surf rod and it kinda felt okay. So we spent about 2hrs in the fly shop trying out different rods until I made up my mind which one to buy. Wasn’t easy. And as it happened Jeff ended up with a new rod as well. And I thought the ferry would be the biggest expense of the weekend – ha!

To try out our new toys we stopped in at Nile Creek which is right near the fly shop and usually has a good pink salmon run in July. It was windy though and blowing from the right. I was hooking myself about every second cast or so it seemed but the few casts that went out looked okay. Never got into a fish though.  Jeff got 1 pink and a couple sole (I wasn’t allowed to take picture of the soles and didn’t see him catch the pink). Weather was a mixed bag – sun and clouds but at least the rain seemed to stay over the mainland creating beautiful rainbows across Georgia Straight. We fished till about 7:30PM before we figured we need to find some food. We didn’t bring any of the cooking stuff as we were camping “in town” pretty much. So we stopped at a pub on the way - BUT they were just about to close and would only serve fries. Next we stopped at a Chinese place attached to a big motel but they were just closing up also. Luckily they agreed to do take out.  So we ended up eating in our campsite in the pitch dark – the candle was in the same box as the cooking stuff, at home. We had arrange a spot on the same campground as last year right on the Little Qualicum River and even though the campsite was packed it was really quiet. Even more lucky, it did not rain during dinner either. And we had sweets for dessert.

We had a special treat planned for day 2 . We were going caving at Horne Lake Caves – taking a 4hr adventure tour. Going underground was the right thing to do since the last day of July looked like the majority of days in July – rainy and gray. The cave holds a steady 8 degrees Celsius so we had to dress warm. And they said on the website to wear cloth that can get dirty and wet. And they did not lie. The group was small, 6 people plus our guide Chris. We all got our helmets and headlamps and had to hike up the hill first - in all those clothes that were meant to keep you warm at 8C and not 18C - before climbing down into the earth, almost to the same elevation we started at. The entry to the cave was covered by a solid steel door with several locks on it – they sure don’t want unwanted visitors. A solid steel ladder led about 5m down into the cave. The first part was easy along a wide tunnel until we reached the first crawl – on our knees for a couple meters, then on our bellies for a couple meters and then we had to wait until the guide pumped the water out of the last crawl space – called “The Syphon”. More belly crawl for about 4-5m where you couldn’t even lift your head over wet rocks - for sure not for claustrophobic people. After the crawl we had to climb down a 3m high wall – roped up of course – into the next cavern called the “Breadough Room” – full of rocks coated in white, smooth limestone. The last challenge on the way in was getting down a caving ladder - a very wimpy thin steel ladder. On the bottom we were greeted by the biggest limestone feature of the cave – Achilles Pit with a 4 storey tall limestone wall. Ah and of course we had to get back the same way. Very cool!!! And very dirty indeed

By the time we came out of the cave the weather had improved a bit and we spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at Nile Creek Beach casting again – not many fish around. We even managed to find some food this evening even though we  didn’t get off the beach till almost dark. Like last year “Deez Bar and Grill” was open late and offered a night menu.

On day 3 we drove up island towards the Oyster River for more fishing. Almost ran over a deer that crossed the highway right in front of our car – it was close!!! But we managed to get to the Oyster without any more incidents. Getting to the beach though took a lot more walking than at Nile Creek. And day 3 was a hot and sunny day – waders are not good hiking attire. The beach was beautiful though – another large pebble beach and almost deserted. Unfortunately I was hit with a nasty headache that morning and while Jeff fished, I curled up in front of a log in the sun. Must have slept for a couple hours and by the time I woke up Jeff had disappeared. I had to walk a long way down the beach to find him Fishing wasn’t as exciting as we hoped for either. So we left the beach at around noon to find a spot to spent the night and after looking at some of those huge campgrounds Jeff remembered fondly from his youth, we settled in at Miracle Beach Provincial Park. Nice shady spots, separated from your neighbours by big 2nd growth Hemlock and Cedar. We hung out at the beach for a bit and went back to the fishing beaches between the Oyster River and Salmon Point in the early evening hoping that the tide was right to bring in more fish. It was dark by the time we got back to our campsite and we scrounged together whatever food we had left in the cooler. Jeff started a fire since we actually bought wood from te Provincial Park and I was up till midnight trying to burn all that wood, unsuccessfully. But this seemed the first warm night this summer, perfect for sitting outside under the stars.

Last day was more trying to catch some pinks along the beaches  up to Salmon Point – this time coming in from Salmon Point to shorten the walk. Jeff got a few but I only caught a bullhead! On the way to the ferry terminal we stopped in at Little Q to check if the Springs had arrived – but they hadn’t.

And the weekend ended as it started – waiting in the ferry line up in Nanaimo to get back home even though it was Tuesday already What a great, relaxing weekend.

Day 1: Jeff setting up his new toy

Me and my new toy

First catch – sole

Fishing under the rainbow

Casting practise

Jeff knows how to cast

Getting ready to go underground – still clean

The adventure starts – down into the earth

Crawling through the Siphon

Limestone features

Climbing down a wall

Breadough Room

Almost at the bottom – nice and dirty

Limestone features

Fossils in the cave

The caving ladder

Bale Eagle at Nile Creek

Fishing into the sunset at Nile Creek

Oyster River Estuary

Micracle Beach

Beach between Oyster River and Salmon Point

My catch – bullhead

Little Qualicum Beach at low tide

Sand Dollar and mini crab at Little Qualicum Beach

Spring Snowshoeing turns Rescue

Finally a long weekend – question is what to do with the extra day? I would have loved to go hiking but the mountains are still covered in snow – a lot of snow that is, more than when we stopped skiing in mid March. So we decided to go snowshoeing at Cypress instead – our usual route up to St Marks on the Howe Sound Crest Trail. The weather was fine – mix of sun and clouds and about 5 degrees C when we started. There wasn’t much new snow but there wasn’t really a trail visible either. And the trail markers were all below the snow line. So we had a bit of a hard time finding the trail once it started to go up. There were ski marks here and there and a couple of tracks going straight up – I wanted to do the switchbacks up. Dumb idea as we ended up going straight up an even steeper slope . But we made it to the top of the first rise and followed a set of single tracks from there up to St Marks - again straight up the second incline rather than switchbacks. It was slow going up but the view over Howe Sound was as usual all the reward you need.

The way down was much faster as usually and we made good time until we hit the slide area. We usually cross it one at a time as this is prime avalanche area. While I started ahead Jeff looked around and spotted a backcountry skier who had crashed just a bit further up the hill. He was sitting up but was bleeding on his head. So we climbed up to him to see if he was okay. Turned out he had hurt his shoulder but was still able to walk. He was also 60-70 years old and all by himself in the backcountry. We hadn’t seen anyone else all morning!!! So I took his skis and backpack while Jeff was watching him slowly making his way down to the trail. We still had to cross the slide area which wasn’t easy and I almost turned into a to-be-rescued case myself. His skis were heavy and I lost my footing on the icy slope sliding down towards the ravine for a couple of meters. Luckily I was able to stop myself and didn’t even lose any of the gear (his skis, my poles and snowshoes) except for a water bottle. We all made it across eventually – Jeff had to take the skis – but it took a long time until the old man managed the crossing, resting every couple of minutes. I decided to hike ahead to see if I can get the ski patrol at Cypress to come and meet the guy somewhere along the trail. Jeff stayed with the old man who had to stop often but seemed otherwise in okay shape. When I hit the skiing area I stopped the first skier – or tried as the first one skied right by me waving – and sent him down to the bottom to notify ski patrol while I waited at the start of the back country trail. It took forever for someone to show up. It took so long that I actually stopped another skier and sent him off again. Finally a guy on a snow mobile showed up. He didn’t seem in any hurry at all – just shaking his head at an old guy skiing all by himself in the backcountry. He said the guy would have to walk out most of it since his snow mobile wouldn’t be able to go much past the groomed trails. Well at least that would cut the last km off the old man’s ordeal. And I got to ride on the back of a snowmobile for the first time!!! By the time we got to the point where the snowmobile had to stop Jeff and the old man showed up on the trail ahead. From there the old man got a ride down to the lodge while Jeff and I finished our hike down the ski run - the longest it has ever taken us to complete the round trip to St Marks :-)

Jeff crossing THE snow field on the way up

The top of St Marks

Finally the snow patrol picked up the poor man

Christmas in Nelson – Dec 24-29, 2010

Sheila and Brent invited us over for Christmas this year. So we packed up the truck, picked up Jeff’s parents and went for the 8.5hr drive to Nelson in BC’s southeast corner. It was pouring rain when we left Vancouver early on the 24th but as soon as we passed Hope and started to climb the first of 4 mountain passes the scenery changed into Winter Wonderland – lots to look at which made the drive feel much shorter than it was. Even saw some deer along the road in the middle of the day. We stayed for four days being well looked after by Sheila and Brent as well as Sheila’s parents. Lots of fun and even more good food. We strolled along Kootenay Lake in the bright winter sun, walked around downtown Nelson while it was snowing, went snowshoeing on the Trans-Canada-Trail along Cottonwood Lake, hiked up a mountain near the local ski hill (Whitewater) and finally went curling with Sheila’s extended family. Great trip – see pictures below or more at: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/NelsonBCDec24292010

Arriving at Sheila and Brent's place - the dog, Loki, was also a guest like us.

 

Merry Christmas

 

Loki is unwrapping the first present

 

Kootenay Lake in Nelson

 

The Raymond Clan Downtown Nelson - Baker Street

 

Cottonwood Trail - Maynetta's first time on snowshoes. Sheila on Telemark skis

 

Roy got the easier to manage snowshoes

 

Leaving Maynetta and Roy at the ski lodge, Sheila, Brent, Jeff and I went straight up a mountain - the locals on backcountry skis, the touris on snowshoes

 

Jeff and I - slightly ahead of the skis on the way up

 

Downhill the skiers left us in the dust - Sheila lining up for a jump

 

Loki wasn't too pleased on the downhill part trying to get through the deep powder

 

Maynetta showing Jeff the curling basics

 

The Ryan and Raymond clans - and Dave the pipe player

A Perfect Vancouver Winter Weekend

How many places in the world offer snowshoeing and paddling on the same weekend?

Last week saw a lot of rain in Vancouver but that also meant a lot of fresh snow in the mountains. Jeff and I headed up Cypress again on Saturday thinking we would try to get up to Unnessesary Mountain (another big climb down and up after St Marks). This time we were greeted by low visibility and snow but the trail was pristine all the way. There was at least 0.5 to 1 m fresh snow and each step was hard work as we were sinking deep into the fresh powder. Some might say it is boring to do the same trail over and over again but far from it. The changing amounts of snow and snow drifts make it a challenge each time you do it. We finally pushed through the clouds right near the top of St Marks. Legs were too tired to go any further though and we decided to turn back after enjoying the sun for a bit. The way down was much quicker than up – sliding down the slopes in the fresh powder. Yippee!

Low visibility and snow at the start

Jeff cutting the trail across the slope

Sun felt warm on the skin after the hard work up - for about 5min

Jeff - the mountain hero

Winter Wonderland - ice crystals were sparkling in the air.

Winter Wonderland

 Sunday was a paddling day – finally. Jeff and I took our double surfski out to Deep Cove were we met up with Ben and John in their double ski. The Cove was flat calm and the rain turned into a light drizzle by the time we got started. It always rains on the North Shore (it was almost sunny at home in South Vancouver)!!!  The rain stopped completely during our 1.5hr steady paddle. It was nice to be out there  again with only very few other boaters (power that is) around.

Launching in Deep Cove

Looking down Indian Arm - the clouds are lifting

First Snow – Nov 20

View out of the bedroom

Some leaves are still on the trees

We woke up to almost 10cm of snow this morning – so much about going for our usual run and paddle on Saturdays. Instead of cursing the snow while running/paddling we decided to drive up to Cypress Bowl and play in the snow by going snowshoeing. Thy should have lots more snow up at 900m elevation. Although my friend Krista sounded VERY disappointed that we didn’t do the run

It was sunny when we left home but when driving up the mountain we got into thick clouds. Visibility was down to a couple of meters. But just before the top we popped out of the clouds and – voila – everything was covered in thick white fluff. To our surprise there weren’t many skiers/snowboarders up yet even though this was the 1st weekend for the ski runs to open. So we actually got to park right at the lodge – usually we have to park a 20min walk down the road. A good start. We managed to find the start of the hike without too much trouble and – yeah – no footprints on it yet. Breaking the trail is a bit more effort and I was sweating heavily after a couple of 100meters. But it is well worth the effort. We caught up with another set of snowshoe track a bit higher up – they must have taken the ski runs up instead of the nicer trail in the forest – and followed those through the flatter part of the hike. We passed a couple of guys with their dog but those where the only souls we saw on the trail. Once we came to start the first climb we had to break trail again. No footrpints except for rabbit prints. This time Jeff was leading since I am awfully slow going up.  And we made it up all the way to St Marks at 1355m (~450m above Cypress Bowl) in under 2hrs. The view from up top St Marks are stunning overlooking Howe Sound and the Coast Mountains in the North/East. And we could see the lower clouds rising up towards us – very spectacular. We only stuck around for a few minutes since both of us had sweated enough on the way up that sitting still gets cold very quickly. The way down was much quicker even though it was a bit treacherous. The snow is only 1/2 a meter or so thick this early in the season which is enough to hide a lot of the rocks and tree stumps but not enough to not break through and trip over them. A great day out in the BC ”wilderness” a 40min drive from home.

Snow capped trees and blue sky

wind swept

Looking north

Looking west

Jeff and I on St Marks

Clouds are rsing up from below blocking the sun

Heat Wave in BC

Apparently we broke the heat record in Vancouver yesterday, July 29th, together with many other places along the coast of BC. This is the hottest summer since 1998. And predictions are for high 20th till mid next week. High tempertures in the upper thirties are common to the interior of BC but not so much on the coast – it’s called temperate rainforrest for a reason.

Area (Station) / New Record / Old Record (year) / Records From

Metro Vancouver (Airport) / 34.0 C / 33.3 C (1960) / 1937

North & Central Coast (Bella Coola) / 41.2 C / 34.4 C (1898) / 1896

I am melting away at home, spending most of my time downstairs were it is cooler. Not much other activities going on. Although I was out in my K1 yesterday at 4pm for practise with the kids. Luckily, the workout was short. Mostly we train in the evenings now.

We did go for a quick hike up Grouse Mountain on Monday though with temperatures just below 30C. What a slog.

 Some pretty flowers greeted us on the top.

 But the bears were resting in the bushes – only an ear visible through the fence

..and claws

We will be off to Kamloops for a sprint regatta this weekend. Expected high temperatures 34-35C and lows 18-20C. Camping will be so much fun with no trees along the lake to provide any shade.

Week of July 18 – hot cooler hotter – what a summer

Another nice week in the Vancouver paradise. Today is the first time it rained in a LONG time – thunderstorm after sun and scorching hot at 28C all day. So it is almost welcome.
People always ask me why I don’t go traveling now that I have all the time in the world but I am quite content with what we have here around us. And of course we need to save up for the trip to Sydney, Australia in September.

A long mostly hot week of training in K1.

 Sunset at Deer Lake after finishing our second workout of the day on Thursday – the evenings are nice a calm!
We started it off with a Hike and finish today with a surfski race really surfing some waves.

July 19: Hiking the Elk-Thurston Trail near Chilliwack. There is lots of great hiking in the mountains south-east of Chilliwack. This one gets you up onto one of the first ridges out of the Fraser Valley with splendid views of the Fraser and Chilliwack Valleys. For a LOT more pictures see here http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/ThurstonMountainHike20July2009

 After about an hour climb through the trees you get to the top of the ridge with fantastic views over the Chilliwack River and the mountain ranges surrounding it

 View back onto Elk Mountain with the Fraser Valley farmland in the background

And the other treat once you reach the open ridge – mountain meadows covered in wild flowers.

Steep slopes covered in flowers

 Tiger Lilies – just one of the many wild flowers close-up

 Not sure if we ever reach the top of Mount Thuston but this is about the point we turned around after 3hrs of hiking. The Lucky Four Mountains in the back.

 And on the way back we were treated with some wild strawberries – although they are just starting out this high up at ~1500m

July 25: Howe Sound Downwind Race from Porteau Cove to Squamish (~16km). This area just north of Vancouver is known for its strong inflow winds due to the high mountains at the end of the inlet (leading to Whistler). The past 4 years the winds never really materialized for this race but this year was different. Jeff and I took our double surfskis up there and were joined by a lot of the Tuesday night regular racers. The most famous participant was Greg Barton, two time Olympic gold medalist for the US in sprint kayaking (K1/K2) in the late 80′s. Since then he has founded a surfski company with another famous surfski paddler and has done surfski races all over the world. He just moved back to Washington and decided to check out the local race scene. Well he beat us all by a long shot. Only real competition he would have had – Ian Mackenzie – Canadian National Team member for marathon sprint – had to pull out early due to equipment problems. But this enabled Jeff and I to come in second. The first 2/3 of the race we had awesome waves to ride, the last 1/3 we made a small mistake and ended up with racing cross wind which was gusting at up to 28 knots – not so much fun. All in all a great race and we finished in a respectable time of 1hr14min.

 The finishing beach in Squamish with our double in the forefront- tide was going out the whole race.

 The post-race beach party – Greg Barton in the back

You might be able to image the wind looking at this kite surfer – we saw them jumping up to 5m into the air

June 29, 2009 – Hike to Brunswick Lake

Another day in the mountains for Jeff and I – picture below at Brunswick Lake

This time we drove out to Howe Sound to do the north end of the How Sound Crest Trail. We snowshoe the south end a lot in the winter but had never been to the north end (28.9km from end to end). The new Sea-to-Sky Hwy made finding the start a bit more tricky (our hiking guide is more than 10 years old) but we did manage to find it off the Porteau Rd exit. The start of the hike is a bit boring taking you up some sometimes steep gravel road for about 3.7km. After that is gets much more interesting while you climb up Deeks Creek along Phi Alpha Falls. Most of the climbing is done by the time you reach Deeks Lake, the first of three scenic lakes on that hike. The trail continues on along the creek surrounded by tall cliffs on both sides. The next lake, Hanover Lake, is even prettier than the first with the high mountains in the back and is turquoise water color. You also had to cross the creek a couple times using natural log jams and rocks – not always easy with the water level as it was. After climbing up next to another waterfall you reach Brunswick Lake – our final destination. The trail does continue on but one would have to walk through the lake – no bridge or logs to cross on – maybe later in the summer the water level drops enough to expose the rocks and make it a dry crossing. All in all a great hike – 6.5hrs in total including 30min rest at Brunswick Lake (the book said 10hrs), gaining almost 1200m in elevation and covering nearly 20km in distance. For more pictures go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/BrunswickLakeHike29June2009