On Saturday, Thom and Hannah took us out for our first time on Stand Up Paddleboards and we both loved it. Unfortunately Milky couldn’t come. We had a bbq in the evening before a more relaxed day on Sunday, with a short ride around Vancouver for some well needed donuts/doughnuts.
On Monday, we left Vancouver and headed 1 hour north to a town called Squamish, famed for outdoor pursuits. Another reason we wanted to visit Squamish was to catch up with one of our new friends from Heart and Soil, Minouka. She gave us a great tour of Squamish, including Quest University, one of the best located universities in the world and organised a pot luck for Thursday evening.
Most of the remainder of the week has been filled with a lot of hiking, so prepare yourself for lots of blue skies, blue lakes and big mountains. Thanks to COVID-19, the hikes have been much quieter than normal. BC parks have established a limited day pass system, which goes live at 6am every day. Our routine has been to wake up at 5:55am and quickly get on the internet to get the required pass for the day. Today the passes were all gone at 6:01am!!
On Tuesday we hiked the Stawamus Chief, which has great views of the Howe Sound. The only issue is that it is very steep and some sections require ropes (thankfully not snakes) and ladders.
On Wednesday we hiked up to Elfin Lakes, situated in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The first 5km was through forest, but after that the ridge-line we followed was extremely pretty, with impressive mountain views and opportunities to spot bears (none for us though). There is a pretty awesome campsite at the lakes. We were so jealous of the people setting up their tents that, the following day, we ordered a tent ourselves!
Today we planned a 18km hike to Garibaldi Lake and back. The hike itself was average and Rosie was bitterly disappointed that she had forgotten to bring garibaldi biscuits, but the lake was amazing. The endorphin rush from our cold swim made us decide to add an additional 14km to our walk, to get to the top of Panorama ridge. We were glad that we did, the views were spectacular. This further fuelled the endorphin rush and Rosie was actually seen overtaking people going downhill! Hopefully our legs won’t feel the 1800m of elevation gain tomorrow.
We thought a fitting way to end this blog would be to discuss something we are still coming to terms with. We started watching Pom Poko, a Studio Ghibli anime about raccoons, with rather mystical powers…
Roaming Rollie 
This looks AMASING. So glad you have made it out on the trails. It does make me want to ride my mystical racoon over to see you. Also good show on the paddle boarding!
(P.s how are you getting time and internet to watch films?!)
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That actually should have been in last week’s blog. We downloaded it at our last workaway and started watching on the ferry over from vancouver island. We haven’t had a chance to finish it yet haha
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Also, we wish you could all come visit! We could all go on a family camping trip. We might have to carry parents’ gear up the mountains though, cos they’re old
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Just an excuse to go back another time maybe!! I may be able to.give at least one parent a piggy back for about 10 metres.
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I have seen it before… It’s rubbish.
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My goodness, I have nothing but envy this week on reading your blog. This is the trip you were planning, finally, and not as crowded as Everest! May the deformed racoon dogs of Pom Poko break your fall from the slippery ladder of life my young ones! ( The crazed dreams of one who has eaten too many wasabi KitKat’s, if you ask me!) Blessings be upon you .
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I’ve just listened to Into Thin Air and have been educating Ollie on some of their mistakes… Eg. Not getting so knackered on the way up that you can’t get back down and agreeing a turn-around time and sticking to it
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Once again my pot of envy is filling up! So glad that you are getting chance to travel and see some AMAZING countryside. I’m loving the Whiskey Jack – I had to google it of course! Wish the Jays round here would come and sit on your hand! Just one question: What is a ‘pot luck’ and did you get to have it? x
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I love the Whiskey Jacks! We fed them pieces of apples when we went skiing in March. A pot luck is a party where everyone brings a random food item/dish, usually that they’ve made themselves. Then everyone shares. Not very COVID safe…
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P.s. That raccoon has a serious haemorrhoid problem by the way!
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Here is some incidental music for the next time Ollie stands in front of Black Tusk
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Oh cool! They have a few tracks named after geological features around here!
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Breathtaking. Are ALL the Passes for the day allocated at 6am on the computer? Doesn’t seem fair on the computer illiterate.
I have in the past coined the phrase “rambling is a good birdwatch spoilt” therefore if I was there you would have had to leave me behind half way up to took at birds/insects/plants/geology (+unfitness? nononono.)
In 2014 it was predicted that the five remaining Glaciers on Vancouver Island would have melted in 25 years. So if you go back in 19 years in August (ie at my age) there may be no white stuff left.
Do you have a panorama lens for the fancy camera?
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I was thinking the same thing about people without access to the internet. I’m not even sure there is a phone number. Access is sort of down to the discretion of the park employee on duty, so I hope if someone showed up and explained that they weren’t computer literate, they should be let in as a one off!
We wouldn’t leave you behind because the birds/insects/plants/geology changes as you go up – so you’ll want to see it all!
My camera has a setting where it takes lots of photos whilst you move the camera, then it stitches them together for you. 🙂
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