Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit

 Photo spew!! Okay, here is the last 24 days photo-journal style....

 One of the first stops of the trip as at Moraine Lake, near Lake Louise.  Neither of us had ever been up there before and WOW was it spectacular! Definitely a gem in our own backyard! There is a lot of climbing and hiking up there as well, so I am sure we will be heading back there in the near future to explore it further. 

 Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks

  

Cam getting his exercise doing stairs on the trials around Moraine Lake

 Cam helping with dinner in the Camper.   

Traveling with a camper is soooooo easy! It's really great to be able to pull over whenever we need to and make a meal or just let Cam work off some energy before we continue on our way. We've ran into a lot of rain this trip as well and having a dry place to hang out is a blessing. 

 Along our way we passed a new development area called "Regal Ridge" that had huge metal statues of animals at each entrance to the community.  There were elk bulks, cougars, eagles, moose and.... a Sasquatch?!?!  We couldn't help but stop for a photo with arguably one of our countries most regal creatures.

 When we got to Penticition we finally got really good weather and we were able to bask in the sun at the beach and get some great climbing in!

 Teddy and some laundry hanging on the line to dry off the side of the camper in the Skaha parking lot

 About to start our fateful hike in Skaha

The Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit 

We did an extended version of the Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit, adding 14km and a 1km portage to that start and end  of the normal circuit.  In total we paddled over 80km and did about 30 km of portaging trips (we had to do at least 2 trips with gear for every portage).  Kyle, Lisette and their little ones had to leave after day 4, as Finn was quite sick and not having a good time, but the rest of us continued on and finished the rest of the loop in record time, paddling over half of the circuit in just 3 days.  In total we paddled for 7 days. We had several days and nights of rain but some lovely warm and sunny weather as well.

 After meeting at Strathcona Park Lodge the evening of the 14th and getting a good nights rest squatting up the road to the bog walk we (Jason, Jen, Kyle, Lisette, Finn (3), Lily (1), Paul, Cam and Myself) spent the morning of the 15th getting boats ready and doing some last minute packing for our trip. 

 Jason loading the boat

 Reloading and casting off after our second portage (1.1km, uphill the whole way - of course!)

 It had been a long time since most of us had done any paddling and portaging was new to most of us. We all were feeling the strain of the unusual body motions and hauling heavy gear at some point in the trip.  A casual pace for the first few days seemed to help ease us into it, but as we kicked things into a higher gear towards the end of the trip the fatigue set in.  Thankfully we had no injuries aside from a few blisters!

 Pace setting was interesting with little ones in the boat;  Often there was only one person paddling as the other took care of the kids.  We were not out there to set any speed records. The trip was planned for ten days to accommodate a slow pace and give us a few extra days in the case of rain or just needed a day off, so we could take as much time as we needed!

Saying that, the kids really did great in the boats!  There were moments of tears, but for the most part they were stoked to play and take in the views.  Paul and I found that putting Cameron in the baby backpack was a sure way to get him to nap and keep him happy while we tried to cover some good distances. 

 At the start of the trip we were pretty sure Cam would wiggle himself overboard at some point, however we had no wet babies and no flipped boats!

 Lawson Lake

 Portaging went great, but was a lot of work!   We had a lot of gear to haul, 3 boats and the 3 kids that had to also be carried/convinced to hike and then looked after while the rest of the gear was brought to the next lake. At the start of the trip our big green haul bags must have weighed nearly 80lbs each - I needed help getting them up onto my back before I could slog down the trial.  Paul somehow managed to carry both at the same time though... crazy!

 A group photo before the group split in two on day 4. 

It was really too bad that they were not able to continue on with us,as we had a great time having them with us!   There are already other trips in the making that we would love to try together, so we will have more adventure together again soon!

There were a lot of small lakes/ marshy ponds with yellow water lilies, reeds and Labrador tea covering much of the water surface.   It was really beautiful to paddle through. 

 About to go up the wrong creek... oops!  Definitely added a few new scratches to the bottom of the boats with this wrong turn...

 The fist few days were rainy but as the trip went on the weather got better and better. 

 Jason and Jen on calm waters as we head up Upper Campbell Lake in our final stretch of the trip.

 Paul and Cam both caught the same flu that Finn had.  Cam thankfully didn't get hit hard from it till the last day of paddling and has been pretty ill since then. However, Paul wasn't so lucky and was feeling rough for the last half of the trip and was particularity ill on the last day of paddling

June Adventures

As most vehicle owners know, keeping your transport running is often a never ending battle.  In the past two years we have been waging a parts war with the old dodge truck; Paul's replaced the alternator, the fan clutch, the starter, both of the batteries, the clutch and the power steering pump.   It very fortunate that Paul can do all the work himself, but it has meant a lot of hours under the truck and no small cost to us.   Again, the first few days of our trip started off with Paul up to his elbows in grease out at his parents place but now the truck is running great and has gotten us all the way out the island without any major issues (just small job to fix the leaky transmission).  

It's been a casual trip so far thanks to the ease of having our home with us where ever we go – we have yet to pay for camping or a meal and we are able to stop whenever it works best for us.   The first day we made out lunch stop up at M Lake, went for a short hike and took in the sights with the rest of the tourists and then we made it just past Golden to Quartz Creek to spend the night in a snowmobiling staging area.  Then we were off to Revelestoke to do some laundry, make some lunch and browse a second hand store (got a great baby carrier for $10!) and decide where we should go next.   After consulting the weather in an A&W with free Wi-Fi and finding that it was raining throughout the interior, we went south to Nelson.  An afternoon there the next day and then a quick stop over in Osoyoos before we went up to Penticton where we finally found hot (high 20's) weather.   

Skaha, is a surprisingly large collection of cliffs and rock outcrops up on the hill above Penticton and one of our favorite climbing destinations.    With a lot of baby friendly crags, we found it fairly easy to manage the little guy and still get a few climbs and a lot of hiking in each day.   The last day we were there we got a little more hiking in then we anticipated; we had slogged into "Claim it all" one of the furthest crags for the parking lot with an hour approach, did a climb each before the rock became too damp for the light showers and then decided to take a different way back to the truck.  After taking a 'scenic alternative' off the main trial we found ourselves cliffed out and having to back track over hard ground to get back to where we had started our detour. You would hope that it would be clear sailing from there, however the main (loop) trial is no walk in the park, especially in the back where it does not see a lot of foot traffic; there is a lot of steep elevation gain and loss as you go over passes between valleys, the faint trail fades off and before you know your bush whacking and then there are sections of boulder fields that we had to picking our way through and the path took us through the Shady Valley and under some impressive overhung walls.   Cam couldn’t of been happier though- he pointed, cooed, babbled and made all sorts of other noises as he took it all in from his backpack.  He fell asleep right at the end of the hike and by the time we made it back to the truck we were both more than ready to do the same.  I am not sure how far we hiked but I would be surprised if it was around than thirteen kilometers.  At least we were ready to sit in the truck for a while.

After a visit with Lowelle, Heather and their little one Brier in the Greater Vancouver area and then a quick stop to see Paul's Great Aunt in Naniamo, we are now in Courtney (good to be back here!) getting a few last minute things done before we meet up with the rest of the crew and take off into the back country for ten days.  Paul's brother Jason and his partner Jen as well as our friends Lisett, Kyle and there 2 little ones Finn (2 1/2) and Lily (1 year today) will be meeting us at Strathcona Park Lodge later this afternoon and we  are going to have a chance to organize gear, pack boats and go over our trip plan.  Tomorrow morning will be our first day of the extended Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit, which will have us paddling over 80 km of lakes, doing 10km of portaging over 10 days and should be a heck of an adventure with 6 adults and 3 kids under 3.  We will be taking lots of photos and I will be doing an update when we return.  Till then, wish us good weather! 

I will post photos later - no time right now!!

May update

It's been one of those months....

With barely a moment to spare at any given time, it was one of those months where you just have to go with it and try to enjoy the ride.   At a glance since we last wrote; Cam is a fully mobile disaster kitten, I got job, Paul and I both got more certifications, Race the Rockies, bylaw insanity, and camper living. All in all it was enjoyable despite the craziness, but man, are we ever stoked we are now on vacation for all of June. 

Here there and everywhere

Yep, he's mobile – fully.  Cam is a running, climbing, jumping, flopping, throwing, pointing, nearly two foot disaster always on the lookout for the opportunity to strike.   There is no slowing him down - he is on the go constantly.   We have been doing tons of playing outside at the park and in the yard, chasing chickens, Doug and cats, as well as improving on his household furniture climbing skills (bookshelves, chairs... everything really), mastering the stairs and discovering a love of balls of all sizes.   It has been so much fun and I am amazed daily with how fast he is learning.   We are very excited to have such an active little guy!

In other kitten news, Cameron has sprouted the four front teeth on the top and the two lower front teeth are fully exposed.  He is also very vocal these days; he has some great trouble making monster noises, purposeful communications and sound effects for every sort of activity.  He is getting really good at pointing at the right images in books when asked (mostly cats, dogs, chickens and balls) but just enjoys pointing at things in general.  It's amazing that he will be one year old right away... so much change so fast!

Workin' Momma

Probably the biggest game changer in the past month was that I scored a fully time, salary position with the Outdoor Centre as the Climbing Program Coordinator.      I am in charge of bookings, scheduling, staff training and hiring, program development and marketing strategies. It a pretty exciting opportunity and I think that I will be able to do a lot of interesting working through it.  I started on the 8^th of May and thankfully I have very flexible hours so we were able to rock the parenting tag team gig where (for the most part) I would work early (7-3), Paul would drop the little guy off with me on the way to work at 2 and then work himself till midnight.   It meant that we were really only seeing each other for a few moments when we did the kitten exchange, but it works.  Come the summer Paul's hours are going to be very irregular so hopefully we will be able to swing a more favourable arrangement.   Ideally, I would love if Paul could stay at home with Cam, but with looming student loans to pay off it may not be possible at the moment.

Certifications up the ying-yang

As if the week days were not busy enough, certification courses on the weekends keep the insanity level constant.   Paul was accepted to take the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) Top Rope Climbing Instructor program, which certifies him to take clients climbing outdoors.   In typical ACMG style, the course was a long haul, spanning two weekends (Sat-Monday of the long weekend, and Sat and Sun of the following week), ten hour days with homework to complete on top of that and two whole days of examination.   As icing on the cake, the course was being run in and around Canmore, meaning a lot of commuting time and seemingly even longer days.   Then at the end of it, for some unknown reason they won't anyone if they actually passed or not.  

At the same time as Paul was starting his ACMG saga, my work enrolled me in the Leadership Level 1 (Hiking) course offered through the Outdoor Council of Canada (OCC) which certifies me to guide clients in Class 1 hiking terrain.   It was a super fun course that is on its way to becoming a standard qualification within the outdoor professions.  I am actually really interested in following up with the other bridging courses offered by the OCC that will expand the certification to cover winter, overnight and canoe guiding.

Every cert is another step forward in the outdoor profession and although it seems that our list of courses to still complete is longer than the list of ones that we've done, we still have a lot under our belts and are enjoying the process of expanding on our skills. 

Race the Rockies

In July of 2009 I raced in Race the Rockies Golden as a soloist – I felt challenge mentally and physical, had an amazing time and instantly wanted to do more.  Injuries and then the whole baby thing prevented me from racing up till now, but over the past ten months I have been fairly seriously committed training.  Adventure racing is multidisciplinary race, much like a triathalon but for outdoor pursuits, it involves mountain biking, trekking/trail running, paddling, and ropes with an underlying orienteering component.   It quite the undertaking to prepare for, but loving all of those sports and doing them for fun anyways certainly helps!   

I raced in Race the Rockies Calgary on May 26 with Karl, a rad and very experienced adventure racer with 8 years of participating in numerous local and international races.  This race was a 6 hour (max) urban experience focused around Calgary's park systems, had a weight challenge (1 min of time taken from your final time for every pound of food carried in the first section of the race), involved mountain and street biking, running, a lot of map work and zombies (!!!!!!) who chased us to forcing us to sprint hills that we would of otherwise would have jogged.  It felt great to be back at it and I had so much fun!  Karl and I finished in 3 hour and 51min, putting us in 4^th overall in 2^nd in coed.  I am already looking for more races to do!

Feathers Flying

Having had hens now for just over a year, I have to admit that I truly adore having them as pets.  Chickens are truly an all around beneficial, multipurpose animal that supports sustainable and environmental living; They eat organic matter that would otherwise end up in landfills, are most environmentally friendly bug control and soil fertilizer that you could possible imagine, they weed the garden, trim the lawn down and provide us with a steady supply of tasty eggs that are far  healthier than anything that you can get in the grocery store.  All without any of the downsides you hear so much about (smell, noise, pests – I will elaborate some other time).  However, in a matter of a few weeks we received 4 visits from bylaw about our hens, 1 visit about a reported grow op and 8 squad cars blocking off the streets around my house and 10 cops on my front lawn to break up a party that our nearest neighbors did even know was happening.  Where all the reports came from is mostly speculation, but I do know the lady across the street made the first call to bylaw and then was very offended when I approached her to discuss it and try to find some sort of common ground (probably prompting some the following calls?).    In the end though, no harm was done; the chickens are still happily pecking around the yard, the bylaw officers got a long winded lesson on aquaponics and our party, which was already winding down, ended a bit more abruptly then anticipated.  With the verdict on Bruce Hugh's challenge of Calgary courts for the right to have chickens delayed (....again) till September we are in a lovely stand still where no action can be taken.  

Truck Casa

In more exciting news, we recently bought a 1980 Vanguard Camper.  It is in amazing condition (it was stored indoors and lightly used for most of it life) and has a 3 burner stove, a small fridge, a sink, has a queen bed above the truck cab, and the couch/table can be converted into another bed with a fold down bunk above that.   It's pretty cushy living and should make traveling and living out of the truck very comfortable and easy with the little one.    

We will be putting the new home to the test this coming month as we both have all of June off and are going to be traveling through British Colombia.  The plan is to go rock climbing, take on a ambitious ten day lake paddling trip on Vancouver Island, and do whatever else we can squeeze in between!  We are really looking forward to it and will be sure to keep you updated on what we're up to!

Squamish in the spring time

This past weekend, Paul received the opportunity to go to a conference on Experiential Education in Squamish and so we excitedly packed our things into the little blue car and drove the 12 long hours out to the West Coast for a few quick days in one of the most magical places that I know of.   The trip was a bit rough, but not due to road closures like the past few times (the highway was down to single lane traffic at one point because of a rock slide, but that's all!), instead though Paul was sick with the flu.

We carpooled with our broken roommate, Dre, to Golden and both her and Paul were getting hot and cold flashes with nausea the whole way.   We met Dre's partner at a cafe in Golden and he was also not feeling that hot.... it was a bad sign of things to come.   After a few stops on the highway after that we called it a day in Merritt and got a hotel room for the night.  Lucky Cam and I both seemed to escape it for the most part and were in great spirits, so we spent the rest of the evening playing in pool and hot tub while Paul slept the sickness off in the room.  

 Cam crawling over drift wood logs

The next days travel was substantially better, but a uneasiness of stomach stuck with Paul for the remainder of the trip. We arrived in Vancouver Thursday afternoon and stopped for lunch and to stretch our cramped legs and soar bums on the beach.  

 Paul and I

 

 It's so good to be near the ocean again

 Exploring beach life

 Setting up camp (and eating the forest floor\)

We camped in Squamish at the Climbers campground at the base of the Chief, although officially closed still allowed campers to use the walk in sites, left the outhouses open, but did not have water.   We were one of only 3 or 4 tents in the whole camp ground and had our pick of the sites nestled in the thick of the forest.  The coast forest is generally a magical place, but there is something about the Stawamus Provincial Park that speaks to the soul - its the 700m of vertical granite rock face that hang above you, the thousands of massive mossy boulders scattered at the walls feet, the ancient ceders and firs, a soft smell of the ocean... its beyond description.  If you have not been there, I truly recommend you go.

 The painted wall; strains from iron seeping from the rock created beautiful streaks down this vertical, featureless wall half way up the trail to Summit 2

The Conference started at noon on Friday and was a series of engaging lectures, actives and workshops on the concepts, methods and delivery of Experiential Education programs.  Several staff from Enviros were there, as well as some familiar faces from our travels. 

 Playing in the tent

While Paul was getting paid to learn rad  things from some pretty awesome people in the field, Cam and I were free to frolic in the mountains. We did lots of hiking about, biking, swimming at the pool, and even a bit of climbing once Paul was done for the weekend!

 

Stairs, stairs and more stairs

The first day we went on a big bike ride in the valley, met a good friend for lunch at the Zephyr (amazing!), bike back to the campground and then took on the hike to Summit 2 of the Stawamus Chief;

I had forgotten what a grind that hike is!   Its literally 600m of steep, uneven stairs - some built of wood, but most of stacked boulders, a bit of steep trail hiking and a few technical sections that have fixed lines and ladders to help you get through it. 

Making it to the top with baby was well worth the work though!  We got an amazing view of the Howe Sound, the snow capped peaks around us and it was even pretty warm up there!

  Cam on Summit 2  with Howe Sound and First Summit behind him 

 Sharkies?

 Geribaldi with a cloud hiding its peak - as always

Not actually a water falls as much as a very steep river.

Cam was a great camper and did great with all the traveling.  We cant wait to take him on more outdoor adventures!

Finally Made it to Sicamous!!

Sicamous

We checked the road report, packed everything we could possibly need (and some extras) and loaded in the car to try to go see Paul's brother, Jason and his partner, Jen in Sicamous.  We had great road and awesome weather, but when we hit Golden we were super surprised to find the highway to Revelstoke closed  - again.  It had been closed down since 2:30 that afternoon, so thankfully we had left late and only ended up waiting for about two and half hours before they reopened it at 8:30.  I found it a bit nerve racking to be driving at night with heavy truck traffic on the road, but at least the roads were mostly dry with only a few wet spots.  Definitely made a long trip feel even longer though!

 Cam and Jen

It was really good to spend some time with Jason and Jen since we had not seen each other since early this past  December.  The trip was also a really need break and a chance just to have some quality down time.

 

We made sure to bring our Cross Country skis with us, and decided to check out the Larch Hills Nordic Center which is just 30 or so minutes south of Sicamous.  The first day we did a awesome 7 km loop with an exciting downhill section at the end. We were stoked by the area's good vibes; lots of big Larch and Ceder trees, neat single track ungroomed trails winding all over the place and beautiful scenery.  It reminded us a lot of skiing at Mt. Washington and that brought back many good feelings. 

 Paul (rocking wild hair) out skiing

 Cam enjoying the outdoors - he is so great out skiing; he typically just falls asleep. This time though he was alert and happy, gurgling and cooing to himself for all but the last bit of trip when he finally did nod off.

 The next day we went back for more skiing adventures, but this time we brought Jen with us. 

 We did a bit of a longer loop (10km?) which snaked about the area and though some amazing boggy spots where the forest opened up and took a single track short cut that felt like we were following tracks into the backcountry.

 A boggy clearing in the forest

 It was Jen's first time cross country skiing in a long time and it was really fun having her along!

 

 Cam exploring in the log cabin that is the ski area's "Nordic center".  A really awesome little building with the same community center feel that the Dawn Mountain Nordic Center had.

  Baby!

Driving!!

This was actually taken on the way home when, once again, we found the highway closed because of an accident.   At first they told us that it would be at least and hour and a half and because we were in a high avalanche area we couldn't leave the car.  Thankfully, we were not stopped for long - after about 20 min they managed to pull the four wrecked vehicles off to one side and let the traffic sitting in high risk spots thru.  The rest of the drive went flawlessly and Paul got me to work with 20 min to spare!

Daddy looking concerned 

 Naked!