The other weekend we took a drive up the sea-to-sky highway intending to do some snow-shoeing at Cheakamus River but we were running out of time so stopped at Alice Lake Provincial Park instead. The idea was to do the Four Lakes Trail which we had snow-shoed last January and very much enjoyed, but when we got there we realised the snow was so compacted and icy that there was no way we could snowshoe on it, but also no easy way to hike on it either. We ended up doing an “ice walk” a third of the way around Stump Lake, and then a quarter of the way around Alice Lake. I was with two people who are much better hikers than me and I was really surprised that I was finding the ice-walking relatively easy compared to them, as I laughed at them falling all over the place and screeching. I think I have learned good ice-walking technique from walking to and from work during that period of heavy snow in Vancouver last year. Mind you, I was the only one who ended up falling on my bum, as they watched me slip and slide down a steep slope and fall over before deciding that they weren’t going to follow, and that they were going to give up and turn round.

We ended up sitting on top of some picnic tables next to Alice Lake soaking up the sun and admiring the view for about an hour before heading back to Vancouver via the Watershed Grill in Brackendale overlooking the river for a pint of beer . It was lovely to get out though, even if our exercise was a lot less vigorous than we had intended it.

The Alice Lake campground is supposed to open at the end of March but it is likely they will delay it this year because of the amount of snow. We’re finding it difficult to get out to the right places this year - most places are the same as Alice Lake - too much snow and ice to hike on, but too bad a quality of snow to snowshoe on. Add to that the extreme avalanche risk on the slopes and in the backcountry in the entire province, and this season has been a bit of a disappointment for most people. We are very much looking forward to Spring when we can get out and go camping and hiking and kayaking and maybe even swimming to make up for the disappointment!

As I like to share pictures and we took no photographs this time, here’s a couple from last year when the snow was good. The first is of me snow-shoeing ON Stump Lake and the second is the view from the Watershed in Brackendale where we had our drink.

We have spent the last couple of weekends hiking half of the 48 Km Baden-Powell Trail on Vancouver’s North Shore. The trail runs from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Deep Cove in North Vancouver.

The week before last we hiked from the bottom of Grouse Mountain east to Lynn Canyon Park (about 7.5Km), and last weekend we hiked the 12.2 Km from Deep Cove west to Lynn Canyon Park. Both hikes were great; the shorter hike was the more demanding of the two and had less foot traffic on the trail but the longer hike also had plenty of ups and downs and a few rough patches which made it fairly challenging over the longer distance.

Both hikes had a fantastic Canadian feel because of the rainforest scenery and air but I think the longer one was the more interesting overall - half an hour in you reach a cliff top (Quarry Rock Lookout) with an amazing view over Indian Arm inlet, Deep Cove and Belcarra.

The hike takes you by plenty of pretty little creeks and waterfalls, then eventually you walk alongside two big rivers (Seymour and Lynn Creek), crossing the very stable bridge over Seymour Canyon and ending it all with a little wobble over the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge. It’s definitely the hike I’d like to take my fitter visitors on.

We plan to do the remainder of the Baden Powell Trail but perhaps next year when we own a car, as part of the trail through Cypress mountain is not accessible by public transport which makes it difficult to do day hikes.

Before winter sets in we will probably head back to our favourite parks which lie next to  Lynn Canyon Park - Lynn Headwaters Regional Park and Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. Is it any wonder that we are planning to leave our condo in the city and move to a house in the Lynn Valley early next year?!

We were supposed to kayak the Copeland Islands but the kayaking company had overbooked their staff and asked us if we wouldn’t mind kayaking Okeover Inlet instead. Since we’d gone ashore one of the Copeland Islands on our previous Desolation Sound boat trip we figured a change of scenery wouldn’t be so bad and it turned out to our advantage in the end because the waters of the inlet were a lot calmer than the open ocean that day!

We drove down to Powell River Kayaking’s HQ at the head of the inlet and got some lessons in getting in and out of the kayaks and basic strokes and safety procedures before carrying the boats down to the shore and being let loose on the water on our double kayak - known locally as a “divorce boat”.

It was a lovely day - not too hot, not too cold - and we spent about three hours paddling leisurely along the coast, admiring the occasional luxury homes which our guide assured us were extremely affordable, and looking out for wildlife along the way. We saw lots more starfish and a couple of bald eagles right up close.

We had a bit of drama when I desperately needed the loo and our guide had to find somewhere suitable along the rocky and craggy shore for me to get out of the kayak. I managed to get out without falling in but I did manage to rip my leg up a bit while trying to clamber up the rough and barnacled rocks in order to find somewhere hidden enough for a sprinkle - I gave up in the end and threw dignity to the wind.

We paddled across the inlet to a beach where we ran the kayaks ashore and set up our picnic site on a bluff overlooking the inlet - a gorgeous spot for lunch.

After about an hour we headed back in a little less leisurely fashion since we only had about an hour and a half to get back before the daily winds started up and the tide was a bit against us. My husband didn’t help matters much when he kept steering us into the patches of kelp just to wind me up because he knew I hated paddling through them (that kelp is surprisingly solid!).

We got back to shore without incident and without a divorce, and itching to book another kayaking trip when we got to Vancouver Island.

A member of the Vancouver Hiking Meetup group has drawn my attention to the Regional Parks section of the Metro Vancouver (nee GVRD) website. It has a quick introduction to many of the parks that can be found around the Vancouver area including park maps. The Metro Vancouver parks cover an immense and diverse area from Boundary Bay on the US border north to Bowen Island and east all the way to Abbotsford, taking in the likes of North Vancouver, Burnaby, Port Moody/Belcarra, Pitt Meadows and Aldergrove.

The website is a good place to start to get an idea of places to go and have a nice weekend hike, however it doesn’t include Provincial Parks such as Garibaldi, Golden Ears, Cypress and Seymour and also doesn’t include many other parks in the Lower Mainland region - assumedly because they haven’t been designated as “Regional Park” they are under a different, more local jurisdiction.

We have been trying to arrange a kayaking/camping trip with our friends but have not yet got further than asking more and more people if they would like to come. Someone has to eventually take the reins and actually organize it, and I guess that person will probably be me.

The intention is to hire a kayak from Deep Cove in North Vancouver and then paddle up the Indian Arm inlet, camp overnight and then paddle back the next day. We think that the beginning of September would be the best time to do it as we are busy all of July and our friends who we initially broached the idea with have guests for most of August. We may end up doing this on the Labour Day weekend.

Having looked at the Deep Cove Kayak rental website, it appears that we have a choice of 3 places to camp. One campsite is on the larger, northernmost island of the Twin Islands which would seem the ideal place to stop for a night except that it is only a 1 hour 40 minute leisurely paddle from Deep Cove. The other two campsites are a lot further up the inlet, and will take much longer to paddle to - 5 hours to Berg’s Landing and 6 hours to Granite Falls (the best campsite with the best view). This might be a bit too much paddling for me as I think I’d be fine doing one long day but might not want to paddle back the next day, particularly as the headwinds are strong on the return journey.

I’ve just been reading up on the website and it says that you have to have done a capsize course to take out one of their kayaks unaccompanied - this will mean taking a 3-hour lesson one evening or morning for $70. Alternatively, we can do a guided overnight kayak tour for $100 per person per day - that might be better if we wanted to go longer distances.

They also have a link on their website to Takaya tours - a First Nations run eco-tourism business. I keep forgetting about this for some reason but I absolutely want to do their West Coast Canoe Adventure Tour, which involves going out in a group on a traditional 25 foot First Nations canoe, paddling around the Indian Arm area while the guide sings traditional songs, tells legends and points out ancient village sites. I’m sure they used to include a BBQ salmon picnic but that doesn’t seem to be a part of the proceedings anymore (though perhaps if a group of us booked we could ask about this, as they still appear to do it for corporate events).

They, too, rent kayaks and at a cheaper price than Deep Cove Kayaks - but as they are based in Cates Park, where the Indian Arm inlet joins Burrard Inlet, you have further to paddle to get to the campsites. Having said that, it might just make the Twin Islands Campsite a 3 - 3.5 hour leisurely paddle, which would be perfect. And they also have expanded recently and opened a sister paddling centre opposite Cates Park at Belcarra Park, which gives us another option since this is on the right side of the Indian Arm inlet for the Twin Islands Campsite. However, it seems that there is no overnight parking allowed at Belcarra Park, and probably not Cates Park either.

Someone has written up their kayaking trip to Twin Islands from Rocky Point (Port Moody) here and they have also written about their experiences kayaking on Buntzen Lake (Port Moody/Belcarra) and Alouette Lake (in Golden Ears Provincial Park where we want to go camping).

We’ve talked for a while now about getting a tent and trying out camping. Three things have put me off the idea in recent years:

1. No places that we’d really like to camp - This was rectified as soon as we moved to Canada and now there is no shortage of places that we’d like to go.
2. No shower - this bothers me mainly because of my hair. I’m not at all vain, but my hair gets very greasy after 24 hours and so it needs to be washed every day. It also gets extremely messy and sticky outy after a night’s sleep which I can’t combat without water and a brush. My hair also looks terrible if I leave it to dry naturally. All those things add up to the fact that if I go camping for a couple of days I am guaranteed to look a lot rougher than everybody else who has camped with me and that has always made me wary. However, I think this could be rectified by the use of a good hat.
3. I am a very light sleeper - I find it hard to get comfortable even in a bed (my SO mentions the words “princess” and “pea” in a sentence together fairly often). I also frequently have to use earplugs to block out noises. I’m not sure it is a good idea to use earplugs while camping since it might be useful to hear the bear coming to ransack my tent. As for the comfort factor - I sometimes find a contained space, such as a sofa, more comfortable than a bed so, who knows, maybe a camp bed will turn out to be blissful for me. Read the rest of this entry »
   

I was at a dinner party last weekend and the conversation turned to climbing. Three of the people present were really into it as a sport and our host pulled out all his climbing gear. This really got my partner interested as he had always wanted to try it but had never gotten around to it. I had the opportunity to climb with some of my friends at University who were in the climbing club but I always declined as I thought I’d be terrible at it - being short and overweight and lacking in upper body strength.

However, since I have promised myself that I will try as many outdoor pursuits as possible I have decided to try it out. We are going to be attending an Intro Course at an indoor climbing centre nearby in a couple of weeks, and we get a week’s free climbing after that. The worst that can happen is that I absolutely hate it. The best that can happen is that I find it is the sport for me after all and we can look for groups to join so that we can try some outside climbing. I’m hoping that at the very least I’ll be able to add indoor climbing to my list of after-work fitness activities - after all I’m never going to build up upper body strengh if I don’t do something challenging.

People I know are starting to visit my great city and want me to give them an idea of what to do. I started a list and couldn’t stop writing! So here’s a very long list of things to do in and around Vancouver in the spring/summer/fall.

Must do in Vancouver:

• Walk/bike/rollerblade the entire seawall from Canada Place to Kits Beach, taking in Coal Harbour and Stanley Park, English Bay and Sunset Beach, Yaletown, Science World, False Creek South, Granville Island to Kits Point. You might not want to do this all on one day - I think it is about 23Km in total!
• Walk the trails in Stanley Park making sure to visit the racoons at Lost Lagoon
• Visit Granville Island (not just the public market but all the little independent shops and galleries around there too)
• Go hiking on the North Shore - Lynn Headwaters and Lighthouse Park are particularly recommended
• Don’t visit Capilano Suspension Bridge and pay huge amounts of money - instead get the bus to Lynn Canyon where the suspension bridge is lower but more rickety and, more importantly, free to walk. The trails around there are nicer too - you can link up to Lynn Headwaters from there via 30-foot-pool, lots of stairs and Rice Lake.
• Grouse Mountain - expensive but really worth it if you go on a clear day. There’s the Lumberjack Show and Birds of Prey show, nature walks, huge wood carvings, Theatre in the Sky and if you go early you will also see the 2 rescued grizzlies before they retire to their den. Then you can hang out on the patio with a beer taking in the view, or there is some fairly good hiking. If you are lucky enough to catch a First Nations performance at the Feasthouse, do it.
• Check out what festivals are on - there is always some sort of cultural or musical or film or dance festival happening in town!
• Cirque de Soleil’s new show is on this year from June 12th to July 20th Read the rest of this entry »