Red Pillar: Discovering the Mountains of Vancouver Island
I thought there were no glaciers on Vancouver Island. Perhaps our last trip on the Island, to Mt. Albert Edward, should be blamed: we arrived to the summit in thick fog, and could barely see each other, not to mention peaks and glaciers. Like many others, from then on I assumed Vancouver Island was mostly trees, with perhaps a few pieces of rock sticking out here and there above the treetops. This time the weather called for sun, and a close look at a map of Strathcona Provincial Park revealed many large glaciers close by. We packed our backpacks on Friday and took an evening ferry to Vancouver Island. We…
Webb and MacDonald: Two Mountains in One Gorgeous Weekend
Two weekends ago we drove out to Chilliwack Lake campground and starting hiking along the trail to Radium Lake. The trail follows Chilliwack River for about 2km, and then heads uphill along Radium Creek. There are annoying km signs on the trees which made the trail drag on. We had lunch somewhere in the trees and arrived to the nondescript Radium Lake, which seemed a bit swampy. There were two teenagers there, probably boy scouts, one of them wielding a long machete. We filled up about 3 liters each here, since we weren’t sure we’d be able to find water higher up. We continued uphill, finally breaking out of the…
Mt. Sloan: Another Stormy Labour Day Weekend
On the September long weekend we set out in the direction of Mt. Sloan, despite a weather forecast that caused the plans for the traditional VOC Mountaineering Camp to go to the wind. Faced with a forecast like that, after so much sun, perhaps we wouldn’t have gone hiking either, but we had made plans in advance to go hiking with our friends Jan and Warrick Whitehead and my brother Tal (visiting). We woke up early, and drove past Pemberton and onto the Hurley River FSR which was rockier than usual. We marvelled at Maya’s talent at sleeping on bumpy logging roads. At the turnoff to the Ault Creek FSR…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Hiking & Scrambling, Sea to Sky, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Garibaldi Neve Traverse: Just Jump! (A Summer Crossing)
Last weekend we went on a two day trip with the Varsity Outdoor Club, organized by Christian Veenstra, the head of the club. The plan was to cross the Garibaldi Glacier, making a horseshoe traverse around Mt. Garibaldi. This trip is usually done in winter, when the crevasses are covered by huge amounts of snow, making route finding much easier. In summer, finding a route through the maze of ice falls and gaping crevasses is not guaranteed. More about this below. We met up at the Diamond Head parking lot, waited for a few straddlers, and started hiking up the wide trail to Elfin Lakes. We stopped at Red Heather…
Coquihalla Mtn: and Jim Kelly Peak Too
Two weekends ago we drove up the Coquihalla highway, past the old toll booth (deactivated last year), and up a wide and good gravel road (Tulameen FSR). At the junction with Illal FSR I for some reason thought to try and drive the last 3km despite the cross ditches. After going about 300m and maybe 5 ditches we decided this wasn’t the best idea, but there was no room to turn around. I managed to drive in reverse a bit to a place where I could just barely turn the car around. On the way out we heard a loud psssstt sound and I thought we had a puncture, but…
Downton Creek: Hot Weekend and Fires Close By
On the August long weekend (yes, three weeks ago!) we went to the Downton Creek area for three days. We were there at the end of August last year and got chased down by a freak snow storm and very low temperatures. This time it was sunny with blue skies until we got into the alpine and it started pouring with no warning. We thought – this place is cursed! We found a boulder to hide under for half an hour, during which it rained and even hailed for a bit. Finally the sun came back out and we hiked up to a small lake, right below Linus and Faulty…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Hiking & Scrambling, Hot Springs, Rockies & Kootenays, Trip Reports
West Kootenays: Adventures in the Kootenays
About two weeks ago we returned from three weeks in the Kootenays. The days before we left were a flurry of activity – we subletted our apartment, so we had to tidy and clean up, dehydrate food for the trip, pack and tie up all sorts of loose ends (such as doing our taxes three months late…). Finally we managed to leave in the early afternoon, and drove east through the Okanagan. We stopped near Osoyoos to pick purple and sweet cherries, and bright red apricots. A wonderful rainbow greeted us next, followed by lots of rain into Grand Forks where we spent the night. The next two days were…
Tricouni: A Great Day Trip
Two weeks ago we had planned to go to Tricouni, but the drizzle and grey clouds on the way made us change destinations last minute, and we ended up on Mt. Gardner on Bowen Island – we figured it would be good to keep Tricouni for a nice day. Last Sunday we drove up to Squamish and on to the Squamish valley FSR, and then up High Falls Creek FSR, steep and loose in places, but still driveable with 2WD. The last part had shallow cross ditches and we scraped a few times until we were stopped by a particularly deep one. We hiked up the logging road to the…
Squamish to Indian Arm and Back: First Dead Cougar
This trip started with a drama at the Chief parking lot as there was a lot of commotion and a few rangers around. We weren’t sure what was happening till a group of rangers showed up dragging a dead Cougar behind them. Apparently this cougar killed a dog the day before, and the solution was to kill it…We left the parking lot a bit shocked and confused from the sight of the dead cougar and started the most strenuous trip of the season. Some sections were steep, some sections were impossible to ride because of big rocks and loose gravel, and on some sections we had to ride or push…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast, Trip Reports
Galiano Island: Discovering a Secret Beach
On an early morning in June we caught the ferry from Tsawassen to Galiano Island. Our plan was to ride to Dionisio Point, the northern point of the Island. The rumor was that this area was only accessible by boat, and that it was not possible to go by land, because the roads to get there are closed to the public. So, we figured that one cannot get there with a car, but if you cycle or walk it could be possible. The uncertainty if we could actually get to that beach made the trip into more of an adventure. We found the private road, cycled down a steep forest…
