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…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Metro Vancouver & North Shore, Trip Reports, Urban
Boundary Bay to Mud Bay: Cycling Along the Dike
Delta has crowned itself the “sunniest place in Metro Vancouver”, and it sure was sunny there on Sunday. It’s been a cool, gray and rainy spring in Vancouver, so we’ve been trying to soak up every last drop of sun that we can get. What could be better than a sunny bike ride along Boundary Bay? We started our trip…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Metro Vancouver & North Shore, Trip Reports, Urban
Vancouver-New Westminster Loop: Central Valley Greenway and BC Parkway
I’ve heard some people complain about the lack of off street bike routes in Vancouver. But there are two excellent off street bike routes: the Central Valley Greenway and the BC Parkway (AKA the 7-11 trail). We decided to connect them together to form a neat loop leading from Vancouver to New Westminster and back. We headed out from UBC…
Bike Adventures in the City: Velopalooza, Car Free Day & More
This year we are suffering from a cloudy and gray June, people call it Junuary. So last weekend as the forecast was calling for rain on Saturday and showers on Sunday, we decided to stay in the city. It wasn’t too bad as we were also tired from the last two weekends and there were some cool things to do…
Ellensburg-Vantage-Yakima Loop: The US is a Funny Place
Our desire for sunshine took us far and away last weekend. We set our eyes on an area in Washington State that we visited before, but many years ago. It’s hard to believe but it’s a real desert, very dry and most importantly warm and sunny. Gili managed to dream up a three day loop that looked neat, so on…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast, Trip Reports, Vancouver Island
Salt Spring Island: An Unexpected Trip
Originally we had other plans for the weekend, but when Gili took the car to the mechanic on Friday it turned out that we needed new tires. We didn’t want to buy anything while being rushed, and since it was claimed to be unsafe to take the car on the highway we had to come up with a different plan.…
