Harrison River: Eagles, Seals, and Sturgeon!
When I bought our inflatable canoe a couple of years ago I had visions of us floating down a rushing river. In the meantime, most of our trips have been on lakes, theoretically more mellow, but in reality at least one was scary too. Finally, on this trip, we got a chance to experience some real “moving water”. The trip down the Harrison River is apparently a classic fall trip in the canoe community, due to the many eagles that can be seen at this time of year, and the fall colours – and it sure delivered! Mid October swim… We left home a bit late, and made a quick…
Hemlock: Binge Skiing and Toddler’s Fracture #2
On the sandwich week between spring break and Easter we headed to Hemlock for a week of skiing. We rented a small Airbnb apartment on the mountain and were quite excited as we hadn’t really left the city since October… We tried to escape before the Friday afternoon rush hour but of course we got stuck right in it. Then a diaper emergency required us to make a break in the middle of the trip. Although Hemlock is technically not that far from Vancouver the trip seemed to take forever. Finally we were on the infamous road leading up the mountain and soon enough we were in a different universe. High snow banks on the two…
Hemlock: A Weekend Full of Skiing and Kids
We had never been to Hemlock (AKA Sasquatch Mountain) before so when a friend sent out an email that she had just booked a town house there for a weekend and was looking for other families to share it with, we immediately replied yes. The plan sounded simple enough – going up on Friday evening and enjoying some night skiing and then skiing all day Saturday and Sunday before returning to Vancouver. What could possibly go wrong? A week before our weekend came up, the road leading to the mountain got washed out and people were literally stuck there and had to be flown out with a helicopter. As much…
Agassiz and Chilliwack: Farm Tour Biking & Cold River Swimming
After a one year break we decided to do the Agassiz Farm Tour again. The problem was that Neil really had a hard time falling asleep the night before (which seems to be a pattern this summer) so we left Vancouver pretty late. By the time we started riding in Agassiz it was almost noon, which was actually good timing for having lunch just a few kilometers later at a cheese farm. The toasted sandwiches were yummy (although the bread was just regular supermarket bread) and we also had a delicious soup. We thought we’d keep some room for the next stop which was supposed to be tacos de carnitas, but…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Chilliwack and Nearby, Coquihalla, Downhill Skiing, Okanagan, Trips with Kids
Big White: Winter Grand Finale
On the Easter long weekend we headed to Kelowna. The main purpose of the trip was to go skiing at Big White. I found a sweet deal at an Air B&B in Kelowna, off the road leading to Big White. Last year on the Easter long weekend we went to Silver Star which is farther away, Neil was exactly a year younger, and we both remembered that the drive took forever. Kelowna is “only” five hours away, and Neil was a trooper, so this time the driving part didn’t actually feel that difficult. We stopped for a break at Bridal Veil Falls by Chilliwack where we went for a short walk to…
Welch Peak: Uncomfortably Numb
We had spent the last few hours scrambling along a narrow ridge. The rock was rotten, every boulder seemingly just waiting for one of us to free it, such that it could roll down the mountain side. Every now and then we came across a snowy section, where we took out our ice axes, which we hoped would allow us to arrest a fall. I was tense and nervous. Images of my friends who had been hurt or died in the mountains in the last few years were haunting me. I noticed my stress levels rising, and took a few deep breaths. Why was I here, in this place where…
Agassiz Farms Cycle Tour: How We Ended Up in Paradise
On Saturday last weekend we joined the Agassiz Farm Cycle Tour, a self guided tour, in which many farms are open to visitors and offer delicious food. The combination of cycling and food can rarely fail, so I knew we were up for a treat. I was excited about this ride because Agassiz is an area that we don’t know, and I am always happy to discover a new area by bike. A couple of years ago we did the Slow Food Ride in Pemberton together with Pascale and Ignacio. I think both Pascale and I were already pregnant back then (although it was probably still a secret, for both of us), so they were the first…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Chilliwack and Nearby, Hiking & Scrambling, Outdoor Recreation, Trip Reports, Trips with Kids
Harrison Grind: Not That Kind of Grind
The Grouse Grind in Vancouver has become a popular tourist attraction, but for no apparent reason. After all, it’s a steep stair-master like trail, crawling with lycra clad racers with fanny packs busy trying to improve their “Grind time” while overtaking you without missing a heartbeat. It’s the kind of place where you can scan a card at the start and end to have your time recorded for posterity, and have a latte at the coffee shop at the top, not exactly a remote wilderness experience. Then there’s the odd issue of the trail name being trademarked… How often does that happen? With that in mind, we set off to…
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…
Mt. Breakenridge: The Mountain at the End of the Lake
The seed for this trip was planted five years ago. Maya and I were cycling up the east side of Harrison Lake, a majestic turquoise jewel. It was a beautiful spring weekend, and we kept on admiring the snow capped mountains of the Chehalis Range, on the other side of the lake. But my eyes were drawn to another mountain, at the opposite end of the lake, easily visible despite being 60km away. Last weekend I finally made it back, to stand at the top of that pointy white giant, the same one which had appeared so far and out of reach. I woke up at the ungodly hour of…
