South Chilcotins: Cinnamon and Sugar Mountains
Over the BC long weekend Maya and I spent three days backpacking in the South Chilcotins, located about 5 hours north of Vancouver. We left Vancouver at 4am, just like an alpine start. There was no choice really, since we wanted three full days. The roads were empty and quick, but even before 5am there was a line at the ferry terminal at Horshoe Bay. Just after Pemberton we got on the Hurley Forest Service Road and set in for about 50km of bumpy gravel road. The road is maintained and totally passable in a regular car. There are great views from the road down to the L-shaped Downtown Lake…
Kettle Valley Railway: Exploring BC on Our First Cycle Touring Trip
It was a Monday and it was raining in Vancouver. Gili and I packed the car with two pairs of bikes, a children’s trailer, panniers, sleeping bags and mats, some food, and all the rest of the equipment that we needed for about 12 days of riding. It was about a six hour drive to a small town called Midway (midway across BC east to west) where we planned to start the ride from. After we passed Hope, the skies cleared and the sun was shining. We were on our way to ride the Kettle Valley Railway. Once upon a time there was a gold rush in British Columbia and…
Washington Desert: Spring Hiking in The Desert
Last weekend was Easter, which means a double long weekend (four days). With all the snow and mountains around us we couldn’t help it – we desired the desert. I guess Beer Sheva did something to us. So we took our red car on its first road trip – down to the USA! But it turned out that if you are going to nasty America it means you have to be punished with two hours waiting at the border. I guess it was only because of the long weekend. On the way to the border we started to feel funny. What is that weird feeling? and then we realized –…
Joffre Lakes: First Winter Snowshoeing Trip
We just came back from a two day snowshoeing trip to Joffre Lakes. The drive up took about 3 hours. From a little after Squamish we started seeing more and more snow. The trees were laden with snow, cars coming down had snow on their bumpers and roof, and there was snow on the sides of the road that had been cleared away. Up on the hills the trees all had snow on them, making the scenery look like a black and white photo. To us it looked like the middle of a ruthless winter, but it is actually just the beginning of winter, a measly amount of snow that…
