Punch Bowl Loop: A Jungle in Manning Park
The plan was to sleep on the summit of Snass Mtn, half way around the Punch Bowl Loop. But things don’t always go according to the plan. Both on trips and in general, in life. We need to adapt our expectations to a constantly changing reality. Otherwise, we are doomed to be unhappy and unsatisfied. At least, that’s what I…
Banff-Assiniboine: A Journey Into the Centre of the Rockies
The Rockies evoke images of sheer black rock faces topped by glaciers, turquoise alpine lakes, high mountain passes, and wildlife encounters. This trip had all of this in abundance, it was a journey into the centre of the Rockies, an exploration of the very heart of the Canadian Crumblies. The crowning jewel was definitely Mount Assiniboine. For days we could…
Easy and Delicious Lamb Shanks
There is a fairly famous and excellent Greek restaurant in downtown Vancouver called Stepho’s. Fame brought with it large crowds, and if you expect to eat around the normal meal time, forget it – you’ll often be waiting in line for an hour or more. But then again, the lamb at Stepho’s is amazingly tender, and the sides are almost…
Wind Lake: Ben More and Ben Lui
It was hot and sweaty. Flies kept on circling around my face, buzzing to their heart’s desire. Every now and then they landed on me, and I’d swat at them, killing the slowest ones. We were stuck in a Catch-22. We wanted to stop in one of the rare patches of shade to cool down, but the heat brought flies…
Frosty Mountain: Free Light Show by Mother Nature
We haven’t done trips in Manning Park for maybe four years, and I had set my eyes on Frosty Mountain for a while. I think I especially liked the name, but this weekend it was definitely not frosty there, or anywhere close to it. As usual we packed late on Friday night as we were invited for dinner at friends,…
Brunswick Mtn: The Giant Next Door
If you are in Vancouver and crave a quick gulp of alpine scenery, the North Shore Mountains can deliver. But you must be ready for some exercise. Brunswick Mountain, at 1788m, is the highest of the giants next door. Most of the 1550m ascent is through the trees, but once you pop out of them, the views are stunning: steep…
Saint Marks Peak: The Summer Version
Saint Marks Peak was our last hike before we started the skiing season and oddly enough it was also our first summer hiking trip for the season. My (half) sister Alyssa was visiting from NY and she said that she would be interested in doing some hiking. Since both Gili and I remembered this hike to be not so strenuous…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Rockies & Kootenays, Trip Reports, Western USA
Washington-Montana-Idaho-BC Loop: A Trip to a Different America
I am not even sure why we picked Montana. Maybe because it sounded exotic, not in the way most people think of exotic, but rather exotic for cycling. Big open sky, light traffic, expansive scenery. I don’t know where we got this impression, but the reality was that many of the roads actually had a lot of traffic and narrow…
The ABC’s of Juicing
Several years ago Maya and I got a juicer for free from the pick-up area of our building (“where all good things come from”). For a long time it sat unused on our counter. Then we made hard apple cider with friends, from scratch. This was a lot of work, since the two home juicers we were using (one of…
Merritt-Kamloops Loop: Off the Beaten Track on Canada Day Weekend
As Canada Day long weekend was approaching, the forecast for Vancouver and the area did not look encouraging. But three hours east everything looked much better. We left not too early on Saturday morning and it was raining until Hope. As we passed Hope we realized why this town is named Hope, once you pass it there is hope for…
