Last few weeks of Adventures in and around Vancouver for a while

Us 4 girls tried to go hike Goat mountain which is behind grouse mountain on a Saturday, there were lots of people around Grouse mountain but once we took the turn off it was relatively quiet.  Unfortunately because winter has stayed so long there was so much snow around and not everyone was comfortable on the snow so we didn't get too far before a group decision was made to turn back.  Instead we had lots of chats in the sun enjoying the views.  I even got to see the free lumbar jack show for the first time.

 In Vancouver each year they have a festival called the celebration of lights.  Where 3 countries compete with a fireworks display coreographed to music.  It was a nice afternoon so a group of us went down to English Bay to watch it. Despite the crowds it didn't feel too overwhelming and was a lovely display, though a total waste of money.




My final week in Vancouver was spent catching up with friends before I left, meaning lots of dinners out, listening to music and reminding myself I will be returning soon.  I've made some really great friends in my relatively short time of living back in Vancouver and I feel lucky to have shared some great adventures, stories and the support they have all given me.  I really look forward to the continued friendships when I return.  Thanks everyone :-)

Though I probably shouldn't have because of my continued sore bruised coccyx I had the opportunity to go climbing at lighthouse park by the sea cliffs before I left and I was grateful Kyle was super patient with me.  It was a  really sunny quiet day on the rock so we chilled between each climb and I had a great afternoon out after work.  I hadn't really been swimming at 3rd beach before so another afternoon I was able to go for a swim in the actually nice warm water and chill out on the sandy beach, chatting.  My final day in Vancouver was spent at work for the morning and then the opportunity to hike out to Goat mountain and Goat ridge.  Randomly running into a friend Calum on the trail who was on his way back from hiking crown mountain another one on the North Shore, and some tentative plans to meetup as he comes to the Gold Coast for work with the Canadian Rugby team.  There wasn't nearly as much snow as last time we attempted it so we made it up and back in good time leaving me just enough time to hurridly pack my last things, jump on the sky train and head to the airport.  I had a great 3 days of random exploring with my new friend Kyle.  Australian friends and family here I come......

Hope Mountain and a bruised Coccyx

On Sunday 7th August I had a spot in a 4wd to go with the group from Wanderung to hike Hope mountain (1844m) If I'm honest I hadn't really heard about the mountain but always keen for another outdoors adventure I was glad to go along.

It was a 2 hour drive, including about 1 hour on a bumpy 4wd track which involved a skillful drive around a  boulder that had fallen into the middle of the road, a creek crossing and scraping off the paint through thick elder bushes.

The drive shows that this mountain is not used lots by people and the trail reflected that. Straight away it was thick in bushes, there was a definite path underfoot but constant shurbs and branches scratching away at the arms and legs.  We had some nice view points along the way and the weather again was amazing and sunny.  The last part involved a couple of easy scrambles, crossing some snow patches and route finding.  With a group of 8 there are always varying paces so we did end up over the estimated time just having points to wait and let everyone catch up.



On the summit there were good views of the mountains and down to Hope itself.  The summit cairn as most people know is usually a pile of rocks delicately balanced on top of each to form a significant rock mound.  What I decided to do was stupid and I don't think any brain activity or thought went into it. We were all set up to have a group summit shot so I thought I'd just sit on top of the cairn out of the way and while happily sitting there it suddenly came tumbling down, I fell down backward and landed hard onto a sharp rock right onto my tail bone. Initially confused as to where I was, I checked both arms and legs moved and stood up. Bad idea the searing pain in my coccyx (tailbone) made me feel sick to the point I almost fainted. I needed to rest back down and compose myself.  Everyone else was as shocked as I what had happened. I was so annoyed at myself on being so stupid and not thinking!





The way back down was painful with each step but I made an impromptu icepack with the snow and it was helping a little putting it on.  The road trip back along the 4WD track wasn't fun either with every bounce I could feel pain again.  We stopped for dinner and I relented by having some pain killers though I really don't like taking medication, the discomfort was immense by then.


It was a really fun day out and one I won't forget in a hurry as I've now had to have a week off from all exercise, spent the next day barely able to walk due to so much pain and there is nothing to do for it except time and relative rest. BOOOOOOO

A Whistler Summer experience

Some times not making plans means you have the best adventures.  Here it was late Thursday night and I found out Jason Mraz was playing a free concert in Whistler on the Friday evening.  I quickly jumped on craiglist and noticed a post from someone offering lifts to Whistler, emailed and sure enough had a lift to leave the following afternoon.

Brittany’s mum was staying with her while on holiday but as soon as she found out I was coming to Whistler kindly offered me a couch to sleep on.  We went and stood with the crowd really close to him and danced, sung and had a great evening.  Jason Mraz is well known for “I’m yours” but I had heard his music before he became big but had never seen him live so was very excited.  His presence, energy and sexy looks made it a great show, he’s just so grounded and earthy seems like a really great guy.

Saturday I was going to meeting up with Paul and Sandra to hike the singing pass trail to Flute summit and Whistler Mountain 22km over 7 hours.  We also had another trek bc member join us Claire which made our group of 4.  The weather was fantastic and before we were even on the official trail we were watching quite close by a mother and her cub happily eating in the nearby bushes.  This is Whistler after all! 

 

The trail starts in the forest and works its way slowly up the backside and round the mountains, we had to cross 2 streams rushing with water so much so that both bridges had been washed away. Thankfully Paul was able to offer us a hand across though poor Sandra still ended up with wet feet.  We hit the snow fairly high up and it was patchy but still lots of it, there were no other tracks to follow, it appeared we were the first up here in quite a while.  Thankfully we were still able to pick up the track and climbed high and then ran on the snow on the downhill parts which saved time and was a lot of fun.

The views were just stunning, mountains and snow as far as the eye could see.  With great company and banter we were all really enjoying ourselves, though did have to make sure we made the last gondola back down at 4pm or so we thought.  At the top of Flute summit 2012m we got to the edge and had amazing views down to Cheakamous lake the first time I’d seen it, and enjoyed looking at the black tusk for most of the day.

We got to a point where all markings stopped and no tracks and weren’t entirely sure which way to go but amazingly we were on the ski runs I’d been skiing all winter so even if it wasn’t the normal way I knew how we could get to where we needed to be.  So we hiked up the snow and popped out to lots of people.  The mountain staff had cleared a roadway (previous ski track) to allow sightseers to come up and walk from the peak back to the roundhouse. It was amazing to see the huge amount of snow pile on the side showing just how deep the snow level still was.  I’m guessing they are going to have a great base to start off the winter season this year!

It was a short walk back to the gondola; we got the peak to peak across for some novelty and then the chair ride back down to the village.  Most of us had been reapplying sunscreen all day except for what ever reason we all left our legs bare and this proved a BAD mistake.  Both Sandra and Claire’s legs were RED from sunburn, mine fairly pink too and unfortunately with their fair skin they both had severe skin burn a bit of a downer to a fabulous day, but tough lessons learned. Always apply sunscreen and it’s even more important when on the snow due to the reflection.

I’ve been lucky and just got a wicked hiking boot tan line to work on, Sandra is still recovering from her sunburn but thankfully is getting better.  Thanks to everyone for a fantastic time enjoying what Whistler has to offer in the summer :-)

Alpine time on the sunshine coast

31^st July - 1^st August

Sometimes you just randomly meet people and you hit it off, instantly like old friends. That’s how I felt when I met Jaime after getting the ferry as a foot passenger over to the sunshine coast for the rest of the long weekend.  I’d heard about Tetrahedron provincial park as being a great winter ski touring destination and I was keen to explore the area more.  He collected me from the ferry we made a stop for food, umm chocolate! and we were off.

The 4wd track is just that, but we had his burly sedan and it handled well despite not being able to stay in 1^st gear! I can see how in winter time this would be a difficult drive. The trails here were so simple and straight forward we were both surprised.  The short time it took to hike to the huts meant we could spend the full day exploring so went first to Batchelor Lake cabin a really cute hut but reading the log book because of its rather easy access it seems it gets lots of bogans (what’s a bogan I hear you say well I’ll try to describe, its like a person who is unkempt, rude, doesn’t care about the environment, drinks too much etc etc). 

 

So next rather than back tracking we decided to ‘bush wack’ our way up over the ridge and back down the other side to meet up with the main trail.  It was fun and a little hard work making our way through the thick bush but much more enjoyable and adventurous than the boring trail we could have taken.  We had planned to spend the night at Edwards cabin which is by the lake but were greeted by lots of mosquitoes and knowledge that a group of 5 young guys were staying there the night, hmmm serenity? unlikely… There were a few signs that said the trail wasn’t accessible to Mt Steel due to the bridge being washed away but the guys said you could still cross using the rocks, so we headed on.  

 

 The snow line started soon after but was still a fairly simple track to follow due to the signs and previous peoples foot prints,  despite Jaime forgetting in sunnies and the reflection off the snow making it not so pleasant for him, we enjoyed frequent breaks taking in the views.  We made the right choice to head on, the Steel Cabin was amazing, a small cabin set high in the alpine surrounded by snow and mountains as far as you could see, here was our mountainous home for the night.  A small group of 3 were staying there and we got chatting, good university friends they were also up just for the night.  We relaxed with a good yoga session on the balcony in the sun, lots of food (had we forgotten to stop for lunch?) and then a sunset only being out in the wilderness can bring. Ahhhh

 One of the girls had brought her harmonica along with her and Jaime being rather musical (also plays the digeredoo and guitar) picked it up and started a jam session. Everyone knows how much I love music and how it has featured heavily through my life either by playing it or just enjoying listening, I felt like I was transported to a higher place, feeling really relaxed and a balanced.  It was nice to meet someone and instantly feel like you can talk about anything, one would say that’s what good friends are made of.

The next day was even clearer and just the 2 of us headed up to summit Mt Steele. I had my yak traks with me (mini spikes) but Jaime was confident without anything. There were some steep bits though not technical and due to clear skies it was quite icy at points which made it a little harder for Jaime without traction. We both made it to the summit and had it to ourselves! Playing around with various yoga poses, including handstands (well Jaime managed and I just tried). Coming down was fun as we glissaded and slid on our bums back to the hut.

The orange roof is our hut in distance

We hiked out and passed a few people out just for the day trip as it was such a gorgeous day.  We drove and enjoyed the afternoon on the beach, chilling and playing yoga war on a log that tested our balance as well as our mind balance, just pure fun and laughter.  A great addition to the long weekend, I’d love to get out paddling with Jaime in the future when our paths cross again.