• British Columbia (and nearby),  Hiking & Scrambling,  Hurley & Lillooet Valley,  Trip Reports

    South Chilcotin: All About Sheba’s Breasts

    When people asked us where we had been on the August long weekend, and we replied: “the South Chilcotin”, none of our friends knew what we were talking about. Clearly we had managed to beat the crowds, once again. But we didn’t choose the South Chilcotin just to hike off the beaten track. Simply, it’s one of those places that you visit once, and then fall in love with and keep returning. There’s something about the remoteness, the open spaces, rounded mountains, wildlife and colourful rock that keeps us coming back for more. After a long five hour drive, including a rattly 50km’s on the Hurley FSR to Gold Bridge, we…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Hiking & Scrambling,  Manning Park,  Okanagan,  Trip Reports

    Three Brothers Mountain: and Cherry Picking Too

    We are obsessed with cherries. So obsessed that driving 400km away and five hours each way just to pick cherries doesn’t seem like a ridiculous idea to us. I think there is something exotic for us about cherries. I remember hearing stories from my grandmother about how she used to climb the family cherry tree in their backyard in Cologne, Germany, pre WWII days. She would sit for hours on a wide branch munching on the unlimited supply of cherries, spitting the pits into the Nazi neighbour’s yard… It always sounded like a fairy tale, cherries were almost unreal. Growing up in Israel we sure enjoyed many different types of fruit, but…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Duffey Lake Road,  Hiking & Scrambling,  Trip Reports

    Joffre Lakes: Heading up to Tszil Mountain

    Eight years ago, soon after arriving to Vancouver, our first winter trip was a snowshoeing trip to Joffre Lakes. At the time we didn’t know what we were getting into, and had barely seen snow. On that two day trip we only made it as far as the middle lake, and the trip ended with us wet and shivering on the way home, which is also when we discovered the heating in the car was not working. Since then we’ve become a bit better at doing winter trips, but I still find that alpine lakes are so much more beautiful in the summer, when their turquoise colour can be seen fully,…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Hiking & Scrambling,  Sea to Sky,  Trip Reports

    Garibaldi Lake: A Long Time Coming

    For eight years we had avoided Garibaldi Lake in summer. This beautiful turquoise jewel of a lake, high up in Garibaldi Park, draws hordes of visitors in summer months. In fact, it’s probably one of the most popular hikes in BC, and for good reason: it’s surrounded by high mountain peaks and glaciers, and has the most unbelievably beautiful blue colour. Especially prized by blue lovers such as myself. We had been to the shore of the lake in winter three times and crossed it twice, but in winter this huge beauty of a lake looks like any old flat snowfield. The mountains, of course, are beautiful in winter as…

  • Cycling & Cycle Touring,  Overseas,  Travel,  Trip Reports

    Hawaii: Flowing with the Lava on the Big Island

    It all started at a gas station. Not the ideal place to start a two week vacation in Hawaii, but this is how it went. We left Vancouver a few hours prior to our arrival in the dreamy gas station, exhausted, drained and just plain tired. Flying with bicycles is always a hassle, and after we checked-in the two huge boxes, we felt so much lighter. We had to think about all the advantages of traveling by bicycle, because at that point it just seemed like a pain in the ass, but as usual it was well worth it. The flight was half empty which gave us the opportunity to take over…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Chilliwack and Nearby,  Cycling & Cycle Touring,  Trip Reports

    Abbotsford: Discovering the Discovery Trail

    On Saturday we headed to Abbotsford. Even though it’s only one hour away we had never really been there, only passing through occasionally on the way to the border. We had planned a 57km loop around Abbotsford, incorporating the Matsqui trail along the Fraser River and the Discovery Trail through town. Already after a few kilometers of cycling we encountered a problem. The trail disappeared and instead there was a big pool of water. It turns out that with the warm temperatures we experienced recently, the snow is melting fast, and as a result many rivers are high. We managed to cross the problematic section without incident, but then arrived…

  • Cycling & Cycle Touring,  Trip Reports,  Western USA

    Wenatchee-Chelan Loop: The Columbia, Always a Stunner

    Weather forecasts are extremely unreliable at this time of year. Nevertheless, after scrutinizing the charts for the whole region, we determined that eastern Washington would have the best weather, and the rest of the area would be cloudy and rainy. The problem was that it was the May Long Weekend, and long weekends are a terrible time to cross the border to the US. At least we knew what to expect, and brought along a zen attitude and a book. After a 2.5-3 hour wait in the car, with stressed out drivers aggressively trying to change lanes or push their way in after bypassing the line by going to the…

  • Cycling & Cycle Touring,  Travel,  Trip Reports,  Western USA

    Oregon: The Cycling Revolution of the Scenic Bikeways

    When we got back from cycling in Central America last year we had a pile of Adventure Cyclist Magazines to read. From all the articles I read in the next months, one in particular drew my attention. It was about cycling the Old West Scenic Bikeway near John Day, in Eastern Oregon. The first thing that caught my eye was the use of the word Bikeway. It means a route marked especially for cyclists, taking into account traffic, scenery, road conditions, interest, communities along the way and more. The other one was John Day. I actually know a person whose name is John Day, so I was excited to find that…

  • Backcountry Skiing,  Birkenhead,  British Columbia (and nearby),  Trip Reports

    Phelix Hut: A White Easter

    It was 8pm on Thursday evening, and we were still undecided on what we would be doing on the Easter Long weekend, Friday to Monday. I guess we are kind of last minute people. That’s actually one of the privileges of owning a car – we can decide where we want to go, when and with who. A long look at various weather forecasts concluded that sub-par weather was coming from all directions. Our friend Anne was also looking for something to do, for three days. Finally we decided that given the bad weather, a trip to a comfy hut was in order, enter Phelix. We picked up Anne at…

  • Backcountry Skiing,  British Columbia (and nearby),  Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast,  Trip Reports,  Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)

    Tetrahedron: A Stagette Party in the Backcountry

    On a sunny Saturday morning nine of us headed to Tetrahedron, on the Sunshine Coast to celebrate Pascale’s upcoming marriage, on a girls only trip, also known as a Stagette. I was excited by my late pick up time of 7:55am, especially due to the fact that Gili left our nice warm bed before dawn. Sometimes it’s nicer to be on a relaxing easy going trip than on a slog fest. Of course, I was also happy to go on a trip with a bunch of cheerful people and to explore a place I haven’t been to before. We met with the rest of the crew at Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal.…