Whistler and Pemberton: Smokin’

We had cycled the Pemberton Slow Food Cycle Sunday twice before, and were looking forward to doing it again this year. With a three year old on the back seat, the drive from Vancouver just seems getting longer and longer, so we decided to make a weekend out of it.

We met up with two other families with kids, in Whistler by the Meadow Park Sports Center. From there we cycled the 4 km’s or so to Alta Lake, and spent most of the rest of the day there, on the grass, swimming, and lounging. We borrowed a stand up paddle board from a friend of a friend. It was my first time on a paddle board, and I was surprised at how good it felt. Standing gives an unusual vantage point, and Neil sat on the board with me and we chatted while floating around.

Alta Lake is one of my favourite places to swim on the Sea to Sky. It’s normally a very scenic spot – Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains seem to be “right there”, the beach has comfy grass for a nap, and there are wooden platforms one can swim to and jump from. This time we were hit by a thick blanket of smoke, burning eyes and throat, and zero views of the oh-so-close mountains. The last few summers had been unusually warm and dry. Although we enjoyed that part of this trend, each of the summers ended with a near-record-breaking wildfire season, with the smoke even blanketing Vancouver.  This summer, British Columbia had gone up in flames once again, with more than five hundred fires all over the province.

Back at the cars, the smoke felt much worse, and some of us considered turning around and heading back to Vancouver. Given that it was already late in the afternoon on Saturday, and we needed three camping sites, we knew it would be a little tough to find a spot to camp. After checking the Provincial Park Campground at Nairn Falls and the Recreational Site at Owl Creek (an old favourite), we decided to get creative. After asking around, we heard that there was a wooden spray painted sign in Mt. Currie that said “camping”. We found the sign, and indeed found us a spot to camp in a field by a house. The owner had an enormous amount of stuff she had collected from the free store, which was great for the kids – soon enough they each found a car or toy to play with and everyone was content.

In the morning, my planning paid off as I pulled out ingredients for home-made pancakes and our frying pan from home, plus maple syrup in a small jar. It was a short drive into Pemberton and the start of the “slow ride”. We had just introduced Neil to the “trail-gator” the day before – a device that allows me to pull him on his bike, while he pedals as well, kind of like a tandem. He was so excited about it that he didn’t want to ride without it that day. 

To make things simple we headed straight for one of the final stops, which had a bunch of food options, all of them somewhat mediocre, except for the hand cut local potato french fries, which were excellent. The kids were more excited about riding an old tractor than anything else…  Soon enough it was time to head back.

We had to coax Neil to stay awake, so he would fall asleep on the drive back to Vancouver. It worked, and he slept most of the way, which was even longer on the way back, due to a huge traffic jam near Squamish. As often happens in the summer, there were long delays on the Lions Gate Bridge, so we made a stop at a cool playground in West Vancouver, and then feasted on some Indian food, and by that time it was smooth sailing back home.