Fall 2012, BC

It’s February and I’m afraid I’ve got a case of the blahs.  I can’t complain about freezing temperatures and snow like the rest of Canada (or requiring a balaclava whenever I leave the house), but we’ve had a few weeks of general fog/rain here in Van.  Some North American groundhogs predicted an early spring, although there wasn’t much consensus and I think we have a few long grey weeks of winter still ahead of us.

I’ve been enjoying the odd game of winter turf ultimate and the occasional snow shoe as well as too much Island Farms mango ice cream,  lovely sad playlists on Songza, and looking at cat pictures (here is also entertaining).

Time to look back and re-cap some good times this autumn. Photo creds go to a few random ultimate passerbys, Rod, and Sam’s wedding photographers.

I had a great time playing Pumpkin Pull this fall, one of my first tournaments back after my knee injury and my first one sans-brace.   We benefited from all of the competitive players being down in Florida for US Nationals, but were still very happy to have finished a close 2^nd in the A-final on the Sunday.  Since it was Halloween everyone was dressed up and our theme was “It ain’t easy being green”. 

Unfortunately some of us had removed parts of our costumes by the time this photo was taken,  but we had Green Lantern,  a Cuban revolutionary (Dev), Sailor Jupiter (note the awesome cleat coverings Jason made for his costume!), a Green man (a little too tight Pete…), an  M&M and I was Peter Pan (I had a hat but it got too hot by the end of the game).

More Green Man action:

For those of you not familiar with the Green Men, they're Canucks Fans who don skin-tight spandex suits and sit next to the opposing team's penalty box (or not sit; they also like to do hand-stands against the glass and rub themselves against it, much to the distaste of whoever is in the penalty box at the time).  They've been inducted into the ESPN Hall of Fans, but have been asked not to touch the glass.   I'm not sure if they're around for the recently-kick-started 2013 hockey season.  

I also went to Rod’s sister’s wedding.  Rod was a rock star and wowed everyone with a song at the ceremony and then was a charming MC at the reception.  Great job honey!

 

But most important of course are the bride and groom.  I love how happy they both are in this shot!

The cake was pretty classy too.  I’d get one just like this, except I’d have to insist on ice cream cake.  Not sure how much that would set me back at Dairy Queen. 

Quick trip up the gondola at Whistler with some friends visiting from Idaho.  Too bad I didn’t get any good photos of them….

It's starting to get foggy on the West Coast, but that didn’t stop Allison, Hannah and I for a quick hike to Eagle Bluffs. We didn’t spot any eagles but we did see a Momma black bear with two cubs on our hike out.  The zoom on my camera is pretty pathetic and it’s hard to make them out, but it was probably better that way!  

Finally, Rod and I did an energetic hike up Lynn Peak on the North Shore.  The fog closed in while hiking up (the title shot is from this hike) and it felt like something out of Sleepy Hollow.  More sunny snowshoe pics to follow at some point!

Black Tusk, BC

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone’s holidays were enjoyable; I had a relaxing Christmas vacation in Alberta hitting up Canmore, Calgary and Edmonton.  It’s always great to visit the usual suspects and see my friends’ cute kids, but unfortunately there weren’t many exciting pictures.  Instead I thought I’d rewind a bit and show some shots from a late fall hike up Black Tusk, part of Garbaldi Provincial Park.  Photos are mainly mine, but credit also goes to JS and Rod.

This is a highly recommended hike off the highway between Whistler and Squamish.  It’s got everything – mountains, glaciers, turquoise alpine lakes, flowers, meadows and a freakin’ volcano!  I was excited since it was my first hike since recovering from my knee injury.  It was a bit of a struggle to get up the shale at the end, but the views were definitely worth it.   30 km and 1740 metres of elevation gain isn’t too shabby for a day hike, although it made for a long day. 

Not too early of a start at the trailhead.  Looking a little tentative before starting the countless switchbacks to get us up the mountain. I'm keeping warm with some thermal layers while JS follows the adage "be bold - start cold".  

Caught our breath at a lookout with the Tantalus mountain range in the distance.

Garibaldi Lake was our lunch stop.   Glacier-fed and surrounded by mountains, I’d definitely return here for some backcountry camping and a nice sunset.

Fall colours in Taylor Meadows

  

Onwards and upwards!  My first glimpse of the black lava tusk poking out the top. 

Getting closer….trees and shrubs are starting to become sparse.  The tusk looks almost unnatural with its dark, jagged edges.  The weather is amazing - could I have asked for a better day?  

  

The trickiest part is climbing the loose shale which slides with each step – it felt like it was one step back for two steps forward.

 

Made it!

It’s crazy looking back and seeing what we just did – looks pretty precarious although you’re further from the drop-off than it looks. I like that this picture captures the long line of people struggling up the slope in the background.

Other Black Tusk trivia:

·         Black Tusk is a stratovolcano characterized by “a steep profile and periodic explosive eruptions”.  Krakatoa and Vesuvius were both stratovolcanoes.

·         Formed ~1.1 million years ago, it last erupted ~170,000 years ago (hopefully no more “explosive eruptions” in my lifetime).

·         To the Squamish First Nations it is known as the “Landing Place of the Thunderbird”

Views from the top

Tofino/Ucluelet, Vancouver Island

Where better to spend an extended September long weekend than hanging out on the beach in Tofino and Ucluelet and attending a fabulous wedding?  Rod’s friends from his Montreal-days converged on Vancouver Island for a week-long party/sight-seeing adventure, where we made it out for a few days of pre-wedding fun in Tofino.  Photo credits go to myself, Rod, Derrick (all the professional looking ones are his), Trish, and a random British bloke on our kayak tour.

Tofino is a small surf town on the West side of Vancouver Island.  It’s a harrowing drive to get there on winding roads where one is inevitably stuck behind mega-large-RVs, only to pass one after 50 km (passing lanes are few and far between) and promptly get stuck behind another equally-large RV.  But when you finally arrive, you are blown away by the beautiful endless stretches of beach (one beach is literally called “Long Beach”) and the incredible realization that there is nothing but Pacific Ocean separating you and Japan. 

But before doing the drive you first have to take the ferry across to Nanaimo, where we caught a beautiful sunset and enjoyed hamming it up in the extreme wind on the sundeck.

We rented a cute little house with four others just across the street from Chesterman Beach.  The bride, groom and some of their friends however splurged on an absolutely gorgeous house right on the beach which was the place to be.  They were right on the doorstep of the world-famous deluxe Wickaninnish Inn  (say that 10 times fast!), which glowed beautifully in the evenings.  It got chilly at night and a campfire was pretty much a necessity.  I can't believe some of the guys are still wearing shorts in ~4 deg. weather!

The beaches were picture-perfect but unfortunately there were no waves for surfing (those people in the title photo were probably tourists who got ripped off at the surf shop).   After some unsuccessful frisbee throwing (too much wind for one of us ;) we decided to rent bodysuits and boogie boards and just hang out in the Pacific.  More hilarious but unfortunately with no photographic evidence was us struggling to get out of our wet wetsuits and then help another friend in.   Also funny were the stereotypical surfers at the board shop.  Hard to believe, but one guy actually said “excelente” at the end of every sentence (e.g. “Everybody got a suit?  Ex-cel-en-te.”)

On our last day in Tofino we took a kayak trip to Meares Island (pictured in the background).  It wasn’t quite as athletic as I would have liked, but I guess on a beginner’s trip they have to make it easy enough that any couch-potato can handle it without drowning.

Lots of majestic red cedars on the island.  Plus we all got to wear Crocs (this trip may have convinced me of their comfyness).

Three cuts from a log the guide swore weren’t carved in any way (well, at least the last one on the right).  Do you see the resemblance to three bear cubs?

Cool panorama from a British guy who dared take his camera out on the water (unlike this scaredy cat).

After Tofino we ventured down the coast a little to Ucluelet where the wedding was taking place.  Unfortunately the weather got  a little cloudy but a short hike along the Wild Pacific Trail still had some great views.

The Broken Islands peeking out of the fog

Amphitrite Point Lighthouse

All along the trail there were buoys with protests against the Northern Gateway pipeline.  Definitely attention-grabbing.

 

Wedding day!  Which way’s the beach?

The beach ceremony was followed by a reception at the swanky Black Rock Resort (pictured in the background).   Highlights were the Pimm’s cocktails, delish appetizers, candy bar (although some kids beat me to some of the good stuff) and of course the great company and dancing.  Like any ultra-successful dance party, the guys had their ties around their heads by the end of the night, although I don’t think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle look is particularly attractive.   Unfortunately embarrassing photos of this haven't emerged yet!