- British Columbia (and nearby), Chilliwack and Nearby, Hiking & Scrambling, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Slollicum Peak: A Dangerous Supernatural Creature
What’s a Slollicum? I’m not really sure, but according to Bivouac, it’s a “dangerous supernatural creature of local mythology”. As much as we tried, we didn’t spot this undoubtedly interesting creature, although we saw some other fascinating life forms. After meeting at the trailhead, we promptly began hiking up the wrong logging road. After too long, we realized the road we were on wasn’t going up, so it was unlikely to be the correct one. We later made two more logging road mistakes, which we are happy to blame on unclear instructions and bugs clouding our judgement. A few people suggested ditching the trip and going down for a swim…
Flower Ridge: or Cloud Ridge in This Case
On an early Sunday morning we found ourselves on the ferry to Vancouver Island again. This time no bikes, but rather backpacks, hiking poles and boots. We found an isolated corner on the ferry, rolled out our sleeping pads and slept so hard that one of the workers had to shout at us: “time to wake up!” when we were almost in Nanaimo. Jan and Warrick picked us up and we still had a few more hours of driving till we reached the trailhead for Flower Ridge. By the time we finished lunch and were ready to start hiking it was around 2:30pm, not exactly an alpine start. The trail was mostly in…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Hiking & Scrambling, Hurley & Lillooet Valley, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Harrison Hut Trail Work: Making a Change in the World
Can we make a change in the world? It seems so hopeless, how can one person move a mountain. I remember arguing with an office mate of mine, who chose not to vote since his one little vote would not make a difference. Yes, sure, a quick look at the history books shows that some smart leaders have effected change (such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela), but they couldn’t have done it without a group of determined individuals to help them out. Given enough resources, such a group can indeed move a mountain, or, as happened on this trip, build a trail and a road. The Harrison Hut, which…
Mt. Rainier: Another Smooth Trip
Some trips go completely smoothly. This one seemed to be off to a bad start. We met at 6am below our building, and Ariel asked Brent off handedly if he had brought his passport. After a mad dash back to UBC, and picking up Conrad, we were on our way again. At the US border we had the pleasure of meeting two nasty guards and breathed in relief an hour later when they let us go. Then at the trailhead, we were just about to start hiking when we tried to pick up Brent’s backpack and could barely lift it. After nixing a bunch of unnecessary items, and eating a…
Port Renfrew Loop: Discovering the Backroads of Vancouver Island
I honestly didn’t think we would do another cycling trip so soon after returning from five months of cycling in Central America. But blisters from the previous weekend’s hiking trip prevented me from wearing my hiking boots for a while. So this is how we found ourselves cycling not so early on Saturday morning towards the ferry after finding (free) parking in Tsawwassen. When we arrived to the terminal we were told that the 10am ferry was full, even for foot passengers! After sticking around for a bit it turned out that we could actually board the ferry. While the ferry was packed by enthusiastic tourists who were taking pictures…
Twin Lakes: Crystal, Elliot and A Problem Marmot
I am drawn to places that are hard to get to, and visited by few. Yes, it’s harder to find information about these places, they require more effort and sometimes planning, but they offer solitude and an authentic experience. I like to think that there’s a “marginal effort principle” at work: if you put in just a bit more effort than most people, you get a substantially higher reward. This is applicable to many fields, including, for example, blackberry picking. You want to pick ripe, plump berries that are oozing with juice, right? Reach slightly higher, scratch your arms and legs in an effort to go deeper into the thorny…
Belize: Small Country, Big Attractions
Bang! The boat jumped into the air and crashed hard again. The ocean was rough, the waves were huge and we were going at full speed. We had arrived to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala that afternoon after a pleasant ride from Honduras and were surprised to discover that we could still catch a boat to Belize that day. We left late and the captain was in a hurry. As we were leaving it started raining hard and we were given black plastic bags to cover ourselves. When the rain stopped I peeked out and saw the most beautiful double rainbow, and I thought that maybe I died and arrived to heaven,…
Honduras (Part 2): A Five Star Country
In the end, we barely cycled in Honduras, this time around, despite spending three weeks of our cycling trip there. The first hurdle was that I got dengue fever in Copan, soon after leaving Guatemala. The blood test was a bit of a scare, when my blood just wouldn’t come out, and eventually a thick black liquid was drawn. The other hurdles, a short volunteering stint and a scuba diving vacation, were planned by us, so I can’t exactly complain. We usually find it extremely tiring to spend a day exploring ruins, but the Maya ruins of Copan were on our route, so we made an exception. We arrived early,…
Guatemala: or Should I Say Guatemaya
It all started with a long and steep uphill, after an easy descent from El Salvador. I could hear Maya muttering under her breath: “I hate Guatemala”. After all, no other country we have visited on this trip dared to serve us roads with grades of up to 20%. We often found ourselves pushing our bikes uphill, and in some cases downhill. On one occasion I could smell our brake pads roasting, and got a small burn from passing my finger too close to the disc. Several times in Guatemala we exclaimed: “we’ve arrived to a different country”. After the intense uphills of the mountainous highlands, arriving to the flat…
El Salvador: A Country Off the Beaten Track
I never thought I would spend a night at a police station. But life has a tendency to surprise you, especially on cycling trips, when in the morning you never know where you will spend the night. Sometimes you end up in a beautiful garden surrounded by mango trees, sometimes in a sex hotel and sometimes in a police station. We crossed the border from Honduras at El Amatillo, entering an extremely poor area of El Salvador. We passed through desert like scenery with not much on the side of the road. There were no towns with accommodation in sight, so when we passed a small village we asked some…
