Day 26 - From Worst to Best

Following yesterday’s events, we took it easy today and enjoyed the McDonald’s free Wi-Fi and the Olympic sport climbing competition.

The Worst Night Ever

After yesterday’s events, we decided to set up “camp” in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Turns out this place isn’t made for tents…

The combination of the evening’s events, the hard pavement to set our tents, the other sketchy people roaming around the lot and the lights constantly on during the night made for the worst night of our trip.

We barely slept all night, but at least the view wasn’t half bad once we got out of our tents.

A quick stop by Murrin Lake

After spending most of the day at McDonald’s working on the blog, watching the Olympics, and drinking way too much (well needed) coffee, we eventually headed off towards Vancouver. On our way, we stopped by Murrin Lake Provincial Park, where we had fun traversing a boulder we’d seen yesterday.

Stargazing at Bowen Lookout

After our quick stop at Murrin Lake, we headed off towards Cypress Provincial Park near West Vancouver to make our way up the Howe Sound Crest Trail and find a camping spot for the night. About 2km into the trail, we came across Bowen Lookout, offering a gorgeous view of the sound and, notably, of Bowen Island, where ferries constantly came into port and went back towards Horseshoe Bay, where we were yesterday morning.

The view there was amazing and the floor was flat so we figured we’d set up camp here for the night. While we were waiting for the sun to set, we talked to people coming by and met a group from Sherbrooke, where Tim is from. We were then treated to a stunning sunset over the mountains across the sound.

With no rain clouds over the horizon, we decided to sleep under the stars, without our rain-flys on our tents. We were then amazed by the light show in the sky, with a faint glimpse of the milky way, obscured by the lights of Vancouver, and quite a few falling stars across the sky.

What a wonderful way to end a day that started so badly.

Day 25 - Up and down, highs and lows

To make up for yesterday, we didn’t stop for one second throughout the day, taking the ferry back to mainland bc to go climbing in Squamish!

Back to the Mainland

We woke up early today to make sure we didn’t miss the ferry back to the mainland. We arrived a good 45 minutes to an hour early which gave us the chance to go explore the pier and enjoy the morning views. Before long we were called back to our car to get on the boat, making our way across the strait of Georgia. With the morning fog slowly making its way down the approaching mountains

Back to Squamish

A few days ago we passed through Squamish and knew we had to come back here to climb outdoors. Tim knew before even leaving for Calgary that we would want to come here to climb, but bringing our climbing gear would have cost us at least another 120$ for the bag in the plane. So we had to look for climbing partners here. Fortunately, we managed to find a few Facebook groups for climbers and Squamish and made posted that we were looking for climbing partners for today. With our great luck going strong so far, John answered our call and we were going to climb with him today !

Learning to Lead

There are different types of rock climbing, as some of you have been introduced during this year’s Tokyo Olympics, that is, Bouldering, Top-Rope, Lead/Sport and Trad.

Both of us started off our climbing adventure a few years ago with bouldering, that is, climbing problems on a pretty low wall with no harness or rope, only a mattress to catch us when we fall.

Top-Rope climbing is your normal run of the mill rock climbing, where both climber and belayer are wearing a harness and the rope is set a the top of the wall where the climber is heading towards. Tim started to climb top-rope in April this year, whereas Marty only started climbing and belaying top-rope during this trip.

Now, Lead is another level above that. in Lead or Sport climbing, the climber sets the rope as he climbs and the belayer must constantly adjust the amount of rope in the system. As the climber ascends the wall, he attaches Quickdraws, also known as dog-bones, on metal eyelets on the rock face and then secures his rope into the Quickdraws. If you’re following this logic, you’ll have figured out that most of the time, the climber is above the last safety he set, and therefore, if he falls, he’ll fall for a good while.

All that to say that to say that lead climbing is an incredibly thrilling experience compared to top-rope climbing, and having the opportunity to learn it here in Squamish, one of the best places in the country for rock-climbing, was an incredibly fulfilling experience !

Our awesome teacher

We’ve met a lot of great people on our trip and John was definitely one of them, we feel very lucky to have met him. John is a paramedic and a rope access supervisor, as well as an avid Trad Climber and it turns out that he’s also a Quebecer!

Trad climbing is where you set your own protections. Where in sport climbing you clip your quickdraws and rope in eyelets already bolted to the walls, in trad climbing there are no bolts already set in the stone; you have to set your own protections, be it cams, nuts or ropes in cracks, trees or other features of the wall.

With all of his experience, useless to say that we felt safe being taught lead climbing by him! John taught us everything we had to know about climbing outdoors and lead climbing, from setting our anchors to belaying lead, the correct ways of clipping in and different mistakes to avoid when doing so. Overall, John is a great teacher, and incredibly generous to show us all of this for free. We definitely had to buy him a beer after this !

Howe Sound Brewery

After a great afternoon learning to climb outside and lead climbing, we jumped into the lake at Murrin park and decided to grab some food and a beer at Howe Sound Brewery with our new friend John, to whom we were so grateful. We shared our stories about climbing and John told us about the different mountains and rock faces in the area. All in all we had a great time and stepped out of the brewery as the setting sun was shining a golden light on Goat Ridge, behind the Stawamus Chief, Squamish’s famous multi pitch rock face, a wall we definitely want to climb the next time we’re here !

Coming back down

After such a great day, we had to find ourselves a camping spot for the night. Having camped in Squamish a week ago, we thought that we’d stay at the same place we’d stayed last time, since it was such a nice and peaceful camp site. Things turned out differently once we arrived there however.

The moment we arrived at the Raffuse Creek Recreational Area, we figured things would be a bit different. The parking was pretty much full this time around, whereas there was only one or two cars a week ago, we still did not know how bad things would go. There was still a free parking spot, so we figured there would still be at least one free campsite, having made our way up 8km of forestry service road, we didn’t really want to turn around without having a look for a campsite first, and it being already around 10:30 in the evening we hoped we wouldn’t have to find another place to sleep.

Events unfolded swiftly after that. We got out of the car to prepare our bags, opened the trunk to get our things. As soon as Marty donned his headlamp, three guys stormed out of the woods brandishing baseball bats and screaming nonsense at us. They went to Marty at first and were blinded by his headlamp, then went on to Tim spouting nonsense about Squamish people and bears and proceeded to cross check him with a baseball bat. They then continued their way screaming and swinging their bats at nearby cars, breaking taillights.

At that point we immediately jumped back into the car and got away. Halfway down the mountain road we decided to call the police, as we figured things were still dangerous for the people at the recreational area. After a short talk with the dispatcher, we were put through to a RCMP agent to whom we explained the situation and wanted to meet us at the RCMP station.

We met up with RCMP agents to explain the situation more in detail, but unfortunately, they couldn’t do much about it. the campsite we’d been to was about 30 minutes away up a pretty rough road and the agents figured it was too risky for them to get up there.

We then asked the agents if they knew any place where we could set up our tents for the night, as it was nearly midnight at this point. They suggested we sleep at the nearby Walmart parking lot, and so we did. That was definitely the worse night of the entire trip!

Day 24 - Rest day

We did absolutely nothing and it was well deserved.

Taking it easy

After 23 active days in a row, we needed a bit of a break. Today being our last day before heading back to the mainland and not having a roof over our head, we spent the day resting on the couch, watching TV with Buddy, Ryan’s dog.

Saying goodbye from far away

Today marks a very sad day for Tim. A week ago his mother told him that Mitsou, the dog he grew up with, was suffering very badly and that her time was coming soon. It turns out that her time came today. She was 9 years old, which is the expected lifespan of a pure-bred boxer.

I will miss her very much.

Day 23 - Surfing in Tofino !

Today is one of the days we’ve been really looking forward to! We made our way to Tofino to go surf the west coast waves.

Misty Mountain Roads

We woke up at 4 this morning, having surf lessons at 9 and a 3 hour drive to tofino. After a quick breakfast we where on the road through the central mountains of the island. The drive itself was really something; a thick fog was covering the road between the mountains giving a very eerie vibe to our morning. The lakes and mountains disappearing into the fog created such a cool atmosphere that we had to stop at a few places to take it all in.

Surfer town Tofino

Finally arriving near Tofino we could see glimpses of the ocean through the trees, this truly excited us for the day to come! In Tofino, almost all the cars had surfboards on their roofs and in general the town had a real “West Coast Surf” vibe to it. It was really cool to see and explore before our lessons!

Surf lessons!

After what seemed like forever it was time for our surf lessons! we where super excited going in and our coaches where so rad. They gave us some wet suits before we made our way to the beach where they started the security briefing. We drew some surfboards in the sand to learn and practice how to approach a wave, how to get on the board and the proper stance!

Surfs up!

Without further ado it was time to throw ourselves into the cold waters of the pacific ocean. The first few time we had trouble getting used to getting on the board and riding the large waves but after a few tries Marty got the hang of it and before long Tim was surfing along as well! through all our time in the water it didn’t mater if we got thrown around or we managed to surf we had a smile across our faces. Surfing was really thrilling and fun, Marty now wants to buy surfboard!

Surfing is all about falling

Although Marty got the hang of it pretty quickly, Tim had a bit of a harder time staying on the board. He managed to get a few waves on his knees and even a few waves crouching on the board near the end! As for Marty, he managed to stand on the board in the first half-hour, he was one of the best students of the lesson. That’s not to say that he did not fall however. He still fell 5 out of 6 of the waves he managed to catch, and so did the more experienced surfers on the beach !

Surfing is way more about falling and getting back up than about riding the wave !

The Old Giants

On our way back to Tofino, we had to stop by Cathedral Grove, a stop we couldn’t make on the way out for a lack of time. This grove is home to some of the biggest trees in British-Columbia

Day 22 - Gone Fishin’

Today, we woke extra early to go fly fishing with Ryan. As always, we stopped at every waterfall on the way

beautiful morning drive up north

Waking up at 4am this morning was barely possible as we snoozed our alarms a few times to end up waking up at 4:45. Needless to say that we left a bit later than our planned 5am departure. It was definitely worth it however, after a small breakfast we started our drive up north through the mountains towards Elk River, where we would go fishing. The mountains on the island are different than the coastal mountains and the Rockies but they are still a stunning sight to see.

The stunning Elk Falls

On the way towards the river we stopped at Elk Falls to go explore the area. after a small hike from the parking towards the river, the forest opens up to reveal a huge canyon with a tall waterfall at the end. A suspension bridge leads to a Viewing platform across the river, but the view from the bridge itself is much better than from across the river !

our training grounds

After the falls we continued our drive along Elk River until the Lady Falls parking lot. We had to bushwhack our way out of the parking lot and under a bridge to get access to it but once there, the river was really beautiful with huge mountains surrounding it. According to Ryan, the water level was incredibly low, usually it would be more than 3 feet higher. This turned out to be a good thing for us, as it meant that we could wade through it with only our crocs and shorts, no need for waders, as we would have if the water was higher. This meant that we had to get our feet wet, and being one of the only 2 cold-fed rivers of the island of Vancouver, the water was incredibly cold!

Introduction to fly fishing

Throughout the day Ryan taught us how to find fish pools and the general basics of fly fishing. When fly fishing you have to make the fish think that the fly is actually food floating down the river, being carried by the current. To do so you must keep the fly moving with the current as best as possible. That may seem pretty easy, but in actuality it’s pretty challenging and you have to constantly pay attention to your line and cast it back upstream. Its very different than reel fishing but a lot more fun and interactive having full control of the fly.

Hard catch

After being generally unlucky at the first two pools, our luck switched towards the end when we both caught a nicely sized fish each ! Unfortunately we couldn’t get the net in time and they both swam away. Baiting the fish and getting a bite are pretty challenging on their own, but actually reeling in the fish is where the real challenge comes in. The hook in the fly is a tiny one and it’s usually only held in their mouth by the upward pressure we put on the rod. Therefore, to actually catch a fish you must be very careful you don’t lower your rod, otherwise the fish can get away. And that is what happened to both of us. Nonetheless, the thrill of actually catching something was exhilarating!

Chasing waterfalls once again

Being parked at the Lady Falls trail head, we couldn’t avoid going to see the falls. Surprisingly, Ryan had never hiked up to see the falls, even though this was his preferred fishing spot for many years! The falls were once again very different from the other waterfalls we’d seen on this trip. These falls were going through huge gaps in the granite that had fallen, probably shaken off by earthquakes.

A great steak after a great day

After a 3 hour drive back to Ryan’s, he fired up the grill and made us the best steak of our lives. A huge tomahawk steak so tender it melted in our mouths with flavor. It was our first time eating a tomahawk for both of us, but it’s certainly not the last!

Day 21 - Off to Victoria

Continuing our exploration of Vancouver island, today we set our sight towards Victoria.

Southbound

Having no set plans for today we enjoyed our breakfast then decided to head down south to explore Victoria and go rock climbing over there. The drive down was very nice, we stopped at Cowichan bay for lunch. The views there were refreshing, they reminded Marty of back home, with the exception of the mountains in the background.

BC’s capital

Arriving in Victoria we found a parking spot near the water where we set out to walk on the beach. Its pretty neat to see the differences along the coast compared to the east or even mainland BC. We could see the American mountains in the distance as well making the walk very picturesque.

Mile zero!

Being on a road trip where we spent a few thousand kilometers on the TransCanada highway, we had to go to the starting point of the road at the mile zero monument. Hopefully we’ll be able to go to the other mile zero monument on the other side of the country one day!

downtown parliament

After meandering through the streets behind the Victoria Parliament, walking amongst the California-styled houses, we eventually arrived at British Columbia’s parliament building. Resembling a much smaller version of Canada’s parliament in Ottawa it was cool to see the old governmental buildings right next to the piers.

the best gym so far!

To keep with our plan to climb everywhere we go, we made our way to the local climbing gym, Crag-X.

As soon as we got there we knew we were in for a good time, huge 15 meter walls surrounded the entire gym filled with routes of all types from lead to top rope to auto belays. The gym has two different bouldering areas, as well as two different heights of top-rope walls. As always, we passed the belay test without any issue, then had the time of our lives climbing here. The routes where really fun and the big wall was thrilling being so much taller than anything we’d climbed so far. It’s definitely the best gym we’ve been to so far!

Unfortunately, being the long weekend in BC, the gym closed early at 6pm instead of the usual 9pm of a Friday night. Tim still managed to squeeze out 3 different routes in the last 10 minutes of opening, on the tune of Semisonic’s “Closing Time”, a classic of Climbing Gyms to throw people out

The way back north

On our way back north we stopped by a rest area with an awesome view. Tim decided to fly his drone to get as good a view as possible, and was it ever a great view!

The Grill Master at it Again!

Knowing we’d be coming back to Ryan’s pretty late, we let him know that we’d be OK to make our own food tonight as he usually wakes up very early to go to work. He insisted that he’d wait for us to eat dinner, and so we made our way back to the home base. When we arrived, Ryan the Grill Master had prepared us some great ribs with potatoes, mac and cheese and salad for dinner. What a good meal once again !

Day 20 - A Day of Shellfish

On our second day on the island we went out to explore the surroundings and enjoy the local culture

The dried-out Ammonite falls

After another relaxing morning, we set out to find the nearby waterfall that Ryan told us about, Ammonite Falls. Arriving at the parking lot just a few minutes away from our home base, we started the 2.3km hike in the heat. As we were looking at the GPS to see how far we were from the falls, we turned the corner and were faced with a construction gate with multiple signs marking the falls as off-limits and under construction, as well as danger signs. As you could expect, we ignored those signs and went ahead down to the falls. To our great surprise, they where almost dried out! It’s been over 45 days since the last rainfall. Only a thin sheet of water was falling down. We took advantage of this to go climb behind it and take a nice shower and skip stones on the calm pond at the bottom of the falls.

Going Crab Fishing

After hiking our way back down to the car we went back to Ryan’s for lunch. On our way back we decided that it would be fun to try our hand at crab fishing for the afternoon. After seeing the locals fish for crab the previous day at the pier Ryan had told us we could borrow his trap and try our luck! We bought some chicken legs as bait then made our way to the pier, we also picked up some more Nanaimo bars on the way, as we HAD to try different Nanaimo bars (after all, they couldn’t all be as good as the ones we had eaten yesterday!). On the pier we met up with some locals and threw our traps in the water. As it turn’s out we were right, Nanaimo bars could be even better than yesterday’s bars!

Luck of the Catch

After a few hours of fishing, we learned that we were either a bit early or a bit late for the optimal time to set up our trap. It was only towards the end when we started catching shellfish. Unfortunately we couldn’t keep what we caught because they were either too small, female or simply a starfish!

Another great meal

Tonight our great host and BBQ wizard Ryan prepared some great sausages and burgers, with a side of salad and fries for dinner. Before arriving in Nanaimo, our “luxury” dinners were usually a pack of sidekick noodles with some beef jerky or pepperettes as a protein source. No need to say that we are feeling incredibly lucky to be treated as we are by Ryan ! (sorry for the lack of good pictures of the food, we were too busy enjoying it to think of taking good pictures)

Day 19 - First day on the island

After a good night sleep with a roof over our heads, we enjoyed our morning watching the tokyo olympics before heading off to explore the harbor town of Nanaimo.

Nanaimo bars in Nanaimo

On our first day on the island we went out to explore Nanaimo. Walking on piers, we saw everything from kayaks to yachts and even sea planes taking off! We also had to stop somewhere to enjoy some great Nanaimo bars along the way. All around we really enjoyed the town, it’s a lot less touristic than the other ones we’ve been through and has a big small town vibe.

Romper room climbing gym

To end our exploration, we went to romper room climbing center, the local climbing gym. This unique gym strangely didn’t have mattresses everywhere but gravel (although it had movable mattresses for bouldering) this made it seem as though we were climbing outside. Having only belayed once before, Marty was a bit stressed for the mandatory belay test we must go through at each and every gym we visit, especially as this time we would belay with Tim’s ATC rather than a gri-gri as he had learned with. The stress went away after meeting the evaluator and seeing how friendly and understanding he was. He helped Marty with what he had forgotten, and as Marty’s belaying technique was very good for a beginner, he passed us. Overall, it was a really cool experience, the routes where fun and people there where really helpful and friendly. Some holds were even made of real stones, those were Tim’s favorite for sure.

Amazing halibut dinner

This week we’re on a break from camping as we are staying at Tim’s cousin, Ryan’s place. Ryan, being the awesome guy that he is, received us like kings. Tonight, he managed to get his hands on fresh caught halibut from the First Nations People whos land he is currently working on. Both of us having never had Halibut before absolutely loved it. The halibut is a huge fish commonly caught in the pacific, however, with the license necessary to catch the fish being so expensive and mostly controlled by big corporation, it is very expensive. Fortunately, it is not necessary for first nations to have a government issued license to catch this fish. Therefore, we had the opportunity to taste this great western fish.

Day 18 - Exploring Squamish and howe sound.

today, we took advantage of our rest day to go explore the town of Squamish and its amazing surroundings before heading off to horseshoe bay to catch the ferry across the Georgia Strait towards Nanaimo

Relaxing morning

Waking up sore this morning from yesterdays hike, we took our time packing our bags before making our way downtown to go explore Nanaimo. this small town on the edge of Howe sound is surrounded by lush rainforest and huge slab mountains. Its just our first day here and I already want to return! We made our way to a nice coffee shop with great views to enjoy a great latte.

Exploring the local shops and climbing culture

Back in Kamloops, we got recommended ‘‘climb on climbing shop’’ in Squamish. This small but very friendly climbing shop has everything relating to climbing, their selection and knowledge was really helpful. Marty got himself his first harness here! (renting one every time is going to get expensive!) the climbing in Squamish is legendary, some of the best in the world. we could see climbers on the side of cliffs all around us. Climbing here is now on the top of our bucket list!

Shannon falls

What better way to explore then to chase waterfalls! After a very short hike just outside Squamish, we found Shannon falls At 335m high this waterfall is really impressive, you hike through the huge rainforest trees to arrive at the foot of a huge wall where the falls are located, we spotted climbers climbing there way up the slab just next to the falls!

(We really want to climb here now)

roads through the sounds

After exploring Squamish and its surrounding we hoped back on the sea to sky highway towards horseshoe bay where we’ll catch the ferry later tonight. Getting on the sea side of the highway, the scenery is absolutely breathtaking, driving along the cliff of the sound, you can see forested mountains in front glacier filled mountains reflected in the waters below. the diverse landscapes of bc is simply amazing.

Making our way across the bay

Arriving in Horseshoe bay we settled down to eat our supper besides the marina looking on into the sound. Towards 7:30 we took our place in line to board the ship, before departure we explored every deck then settled on the top to witness the magnificent views of the mountains. finally leaving port toward Nanaimo, seeing the mountains with a glowing orange halo due to the setting sun was a sight we’ll never forget. If the strong winds didn’t sweep us off our feet, the views definitely did.

Day 17 - Lakes, Meadows and Volcanoes

Today we got up early to hike up to garibaldi lake, a gorgeous, but strenuous hike up to the bluest lake in Canada.

A Hard but Beautiful Start

To say that the trail starts off intense would be an understatement, you climb 800m in the first 6km through relentless switchbacks up the forested mountain face. Climbing through the old growth rainforest is absolutely beautiful though, looking at the giant trees and lovely views we distracted ourselves from the strenuous climb.

Volcanoes and Meadows

After finishing the final switchback we where rewarded with the beautiful views of Taylor meadows mountain flowers as far as the eyes can see with giant glacier filled mountains in the back ground looking on at the black tusk, a pillar of black volcanic rock towering over the volcanic crater of the black tusk stratovolcano.

First View of the Ultra Blue Lake

Walking through the flowers, we arrived at the edge of a mossy forest where we caught our first glimpse of the ultra blue waters of garibaldi lake. Excited, we forgot our exhaustion and made our way through the beautiful lichen coated forest.

Indescriptible Beauty

Making our way down, we arrived at garibaldi lake. The sheer blueness of the lake made us speechless.

The Barrier

The immense stone wall Marty is facing is called the Barrier, it was formed by multiple Volcanic eruptions from the three volcanoes surrounding Garibaldi lake. On our way up the first 6km towards Garibaldi lake, we went off course on an unofficial trail, leading up to a lookout at the bottom of the wall. We decided to take a break at that point and take in the view of the snow capped mountains we were facing in the distance. After a few minutes there, we started to hear a faint rumble in the distance. We looked up at the Barrier and noticed something was weird. Upon closer inspection, we realized that a rock fall was under way, and we were standing in a rock field…

First Sight of Squamish

After our longest hike yet, we were looking forward to settle in at our campsite for the night, although we had yet to find where we’d sleep. We did, however, know that we wanted to sleep near Squamish, so we headed that way. Upon seeing the valley where Squamish lies for the first time, we were completely amazed. The giant slabs of rock on either side of the valley were begging us to climb them.

Our Campsite at the River Fork

After another bit of off-roading, as with most other campsites, we found our way to a BC recreation area on Mamquam river, just out of Squamish. As with most other campsites, there was no table or seating, so we improvised as always and set up a log as a table and gathered stones in the nearby river to use as chairs. We were then ready to eat and play some cards before going to bed.

Day 16: out of the badlands and into the mountains

Waking up with ash covering our tents, we left as fast as we could to go through the badlands and onto the beautiful highway 99 through the valleys towards whistler.

Wild Wild West

Waking up with the sound of the cows, our car and tents was covered by a thin sheet of ash from the wildfires nearby. Not wanting to burn alive, we made our breakfast and coffee, packed our tents then swiftly made our way out from our questionably legal campsite to start our drive towards Whistler. Between the Rockies and the Coastal Mountains, we passed through small mining towns, burning valleys and badlands. It really looked like we were passing through time in the wild west.

The beautifully fun ‘‘sea to sky highway’’

Arriving in cache creek, we started our journey through highway 99, the Sea-to-Sky Highway. This is by far the funnest road we have ever driven and one the most beautiful ones as well. Filled to the brim with hairpin turns, twisting its way through magnificent valleys, the views of the snow topped mountains and glaciers at every turn is some of the best we’ve seen thus far.

‘‘I am obligated to return here with a motorcycle’’

-Marty

mesmerized at every stop

Slowly making our way to Whistler through this beautiful roller coaster of a highway, we stopped on the side of one of the rivers where we found a wooden bridge looking on at the glacier filled mountains in front of us. A bit further along the way we stopped at a random lake besides the highway reflecting the mountain range behind it.

It seems that every turn and every stop we made on the highway became more and more beautiful.

Whistler!

Arriving in Whistler we stopped for the day to explore the village. Being the weekend, the town was packed with tourists and mountain bikers. Marty was drooling over the slopes all around us seeing the legendary mountain bike park just ahead. Sadly, it was wayyyy too expensive to rent and ride here; We’ll just have to return when we’re not on the student budget!

Off-roading to our campsite again!

After exploring the town it was time to find our campsite for the night. Being a tourist town, finding a free camp spot was a bit of a challenge, we had to go a bit out of town in between Squamish and Whistler where we off-roaded up a trail, up one of the mountains that led us to a nice open campsite with a view of the nearby mountain.

After building a makeshift table and chairs out of nearby rocks, we enjoyed a nice drink and played a few rounds of frime before heading off to sleep

Day 15 : Out of the enchanted forest and into the fire

After exploring the magical rain forests, we made our way through the fire and the flames to Kamloops where we rock climbed, swam and rested.

Chasing waterfalls

Waking up in the enchanted rainforest, we set out on our quest to find the mysterious waterfall nearby. With no trails or maps we bushwhacked our way through the lush and mossy forest floor, following the river. Feeling like true explorers, we arrived at the edge of a cliff overlooking Frog falls.

Going through the fires

After finishing our little adventure, we made our way out of the forested valley and into the plains between the Rockies and the coastal mountain ranges. In less than an hour, we were out of the giant trees and into the savanna, burnt grass all around with scarce trees. It’s astonishing how fast the landscape changes. In this burnt valley we found ourselves surrounded by wildfire and the smell of smoke was everywhere making it hard to see past a few kilometers.

Arriving in Kamloops

Making our way to Kamloops, the city was covered by a blanket of smoke making the sun shine red. We then made our way to Costco to restock on bananas and peanut butter (the lifeblood of our trip).

Cliffside climbing gym

Wanting to rock climb everywhere we go, we went to the local rock climbing gym : Cliffside rock climbing. We really enjoyed the atmosphere, the staff was super friendly and the routes where really fun and challenging. It was Marty’s first time belaying and we where lucky enough to get a course free of charge! We stayed at the gym for about 3 hours trying the top rope routes and making our best efforts in the bouldering caves.

Diving, swimming, relaxing and showers

After two days of rock climbing without shower our smell made it pretty clear we needed to find one before the night. We made our way to the Canada Games Aquatic center where for only 4$ each, we had access to a hot tub, a steam room, diving boards, a lap pool and showers. We felt like kings relaxing and having a blast in the pool.

Apocalyptic scenery

After shedding out layers of dirt, it was time to head west to find a camping spot as far away from the fires as we could. After checking with the bc safety fire map, we ended up finding a spot in the middle of nowhere next to a huge copper mine and a field full of cows. The atmosphere was nerve-wracking to say the least, we where a few kilometers in between two wildfires with ash falling from the sky like snow. it felt like the end of the world and we where just playing cards by the cows.

Day 14 : Glacier national park

Making our way out of the freezing valley we made our way to and through glacier national park where we hiked and explored the western side of the Rockies.

A cold night

Getting out of our sleeping bag this morning was one of the hardest things we had to do. Camping next to the river is a beautiful thing but the humidity lowered the temperature to the point we could see our own breath! thankfully we had warm oatmeal and coffee ready in no time to warm us up.

Entering Glacier national park

With the raging wildfires on the bc side of the Rockies, the smoke limited our view of the mountains. Thankfully, this led to some beautiful landscapes. Layers of mountains each covered more and more by the smoke led the way through the valley with towering snow covered peaks above.

Great Glacier Trail

We made our first stop of the morning to go hike the great glacier trail. This great 4km hike started out nice and flat to warm you up then arrived at the foundations of an old luxury hotel of the 1800s. After the small history break the path leads you up the mountain besides a beautiful creek with huge boulders and rock gardens surrounding it. A few switchbacks through the forest later, you find yourself above the tree line with an amazing view of the mountain in front and the waterfall filled glacier behind. The trail ends after a small scramble on a huge rock face where we took a break before making our way back down.

Explosive lunch

Stopping for lunch at one of the viewpoints, we learned that to be able to control the abundant avalanches, the park bombards the mountains sides with artillery shells… This is the more overkill solution I have ever heard!

Whatever works I guess.

Another beautiful highway to the list

The highway going through this national park is truely exeptional, you wind your way down a narrow valley, making your way through the canadian rainforest, going through avalanch tunnels and swirving above and bellow steep cliffs; all with amazing views at every turn of the mountains and glaciers above.

A very different sight compared to the equaly beautifull icefield parkway.

Rock gardens

After lunch we went on a small hike exploring one of the rock gardens scattered throughout the park. these jagged rock looked like the ruins of an old monument but are in reality the results of the numerous avalanches and rock slides.

Old growth inland rainforest

Our last stop in the national park was a small interpretive walk going through the rainforest.

These old growth inland rainforest are only found in bc and are populated by a huge variety of plants unique to this forest, including, old red cedars, these giant trees stretch out to 60m in height and make way for a mossy floor filled with lush vegetation.

the diversity of landscapes in the west is truly outstanding, just in our trip we saw the plains, badlands, deserts, mountains, glaciers, alpine forest to lush rainforests and there’s a lot more to come the more west we go.

Forest fires are a thing

Making our way to our campsite, we came across a devastating sight; across the lake on the side of a mountain was an out of control forest fire. Being so big and far away, we saw it slow motion from our perspective. Like a campfire, we couldn’t stop looking, it was ever changing but always the same. Mesmerizing.

From the safe side of the lake we could see the firefighting helicopters making their rounds fighting the fire with huge water buckets.

Campsite in the rainforest

A few kilometers away of the fire, we made our way to wap creek where we found a very nice secluded campsite in the middle of the rainforest near a hidden waterfall. With huge red cedars surrounding us and a lush mossy floor, it looked like we where transported to an enchanted forest.

Day 13 - Off to BC for Real

After a rough night at Abraham Lake, we’re back on the road towards British-Columbia.

Peaceful Morning

After a rough and cold night of strong storm winds at the head of Abraham Lake, the wind finally died down to give us a marvelous view of the pristine blue lake at its most peaceful state. We ate our daily oatmeal and drank our much needed coffee before setting off on our journey towards BC.

On the road again

The last part of our journey on the Icefield Parkway was as wonderful as every other bit of it going up and down. Seeing all the mountains, glaciers, valleys, rivers and waterfalls we’d seen going north from a new angle was truly a sight to behold. Although, it felt as if we were only getting a glimpse of the true beauty of the rocky mountains with the smoke in the air limiting the distance we could see.

Into the heat of Golden, BC

Going into Golden, BC, we saw our first forest fire. We’d already seen the damage that such a fire could do to the forest near Maligne Lake and even this same morning going back onto the Icefield Parkway from Abraham Lake, where a forest fire ravaged a huge swath of land in the Kootenay Plains in 2014. However, we still hadn’t seen any live forest fires until now.

Dogtooth Climbing Gym

Two days after our first climbing gym since arriving out west, we stopped at our first climbing gym in BC, the Dogtooth Climbing Gym. This gym was a nice, outdoors-style set, climbing gym. The grades of the routes were much harder than what we were used to! Marty had a great time pushing his limits on the harder routes, he almost managed to send a pretty challenging V6, but we’re not here for the grades, we’re here to have fun! Unfortunately we did not get to try out their renowned top-rope climbing wall, as Marty didn’t know how to belay, not to worry though, he’ll learn soon enough.

Camping in Donald

After a good climbing session, we needed our rest, so we looked at the trusty iOverlander app. We found a good looking camping on our way towards Kamloops or Kelowna, as we don’t yet know whether passing by Kamloops is a good idea with all the wildfires in the area. After validating with the BC fires map, we settled for a campsite near Donald, BC, in the middle of nowhere. The campsite was awesome, but the night to come was going to be a cold one with the glacier river right next to us.

Day 12 : final day in jasper

After 4 days of exploring jasper it was high time we set off to see the rest of the west!

Back to jasper we go!

After waking up a bit later than we wanted we made a quick stop in Hinton to restock. Going from the Hinton airfield, where we slept, we made our way to the Jasper airfield to eat our breakfast before making our way back into jasper.

Rock climbing, Swimming and SHOWERS

It was one of the sub-goals of our trip to rock climb everywhere we went, having not gone yet, we made our way to the Jasper recreational center where we found a small but fun bouldering gym. We were a bit disappointed by the size, but the problems were fun, there was a pool where we cooled off and there where showers!

This was our first shower in a week! To say it felt amazing would be an understatement.

Elks of pyramid lake

Feeling completely refreshed we made our way to Pyramid Lake for lunch. Although we couldn’t find a place to eat, we found a whole family of elks cooling off in the lake!

They were majestic and not shy at all, chilling next to the kayakers, doing their thing.

Goodbye jasper

After lunch we said our goodbyes and made the decision to head back down the Icefield Parkway instead of heading straight west to try and avoid the wildfires of northern bc. this gave us the opportunity to stop at the places we didn’t have time on our first trip up. On our way back down the Parkway, we found a waterfall we hadn’t noticed on our way up! we took the opportunity to fill our water supplies in the fresh water of the snow runoff creek of the waterfall.

another one off the list

Continuing south along the parkway, we saw a few cars stopped on the side of the road. As we’d learnt the previous day, this could only mean one thing, wildlife was near ! And indeed it was, there was a group of mountain goats grazing on a cliff by the roadside.

This was a new species checked off our to-see list; so far we’ve seen a black bear, a coyote, a deer, big horn sheep and elks. There’s still so much to see !

Making our way to parker ridge

The absolute beauty of this highway will never get old, we were left in awe at every turn seeing the monolithic mountains piercing the sky while glaciers made their way into the bright blue rivers bellow. Along the way, we decided to hike up parker ridge; this relatively small but steep 4km hike took us up the ridge where we were rewarded with a magnificent sight of the two adjacent valleys. seeing the winding highway making its way through the mountains on one side and the Saskatchewan glacier making its way through the valley on the other was a truly spectacular sight.

Back to Abraham lake we go!

Midway through the parkway, we decided to head back to Abraham lake for the night. To make things different, we made our way to the other side of the lake where the water went from silty white to a tropical turquoise with white cliffs surrounding it. It was a completely different landscape than the first time we went here.

It was much windier at this end of the lake however. I guess being a 32km long lake makes for a fairly long corridor for the wind speed to pick up.

Blood Moon

With all the wind at the campsite, we decided to spend the evening in the car to work on the blog and some of the previous days’ photos. When the sun finally set, around 10:30 (the sun sets incredibly late in the “north”-west of Alberta!) we got out of the car and were surprised to see the nearly full moon tinted a rich blood red by all the smoke in the air !

Day - 11 Smoky Atmosphere

waking up to a fiery red sun truly set the mood for what was to come of the day, we made our way into Maligne valley then headed further north into Hinton.

wildfire smoked sunrise

Waking up at mount Robson our amazing view of the mountain was replaced by a thick smoke screen covering the valley, a fiery red sun took the place of the normally golden sunrise. even after we made our way to the base of the mountain at the observatory, we where unable to see the top of the mountain, all due to the numerous wildfires happening further west into bc.

Maligne Canyon

After enjoying our morning we made our way back into jasper to go explore Maligne valley. we started off by stopping at Maligne canyon. A 4 km hike took us over and along the canyon where we could see the very narrow but very deep canyon. At 52m deep but only a few meter wide it was quite a sight to see. the fissure in the middle of the mountains looked almost surreal, looking down the canyon made us lose our sense of depth.

Medicine Lake

Making our way up the valley we stopped at Medicine Lake. A few years ago a raging wildfire devastated the area leaving only burnt pillars where the forest used to be. In the middle of the destruction, on a small island in the middle of the lake, we saw a bald eagle’s nest where the mother was protecting her young ones.

Mighty Maligne lake

our final stop at the end of the valley was Maligne lake, the biggest and most pictured natural mountain lake in the Rockies. Normally, its azure waters would reflect the nearby mountains and glaciers leaving an outstandingly beautiful sight, but the smoke covered the lake making it impossible to see the mountains and tainting the bright waters with a more somber tone. It was still a sight to behold with a seemingly endless lake disappearing into the distance with large mountainous silhouettes on each sides.

Back to off-roading the rental car

At the end of the day we decided to head on over to the public land use zone near Hinton for some free camping. The road going there was nice but when we arrived we had to do a fair bit of off-roading, avoiding rocks, ruts, and almost tipping the car over avoiding a large patch of water! Fortunately we didn’t flip it and made our way to an huge field with a gorgeous mountain view where we set up our tents while a friendly deer looked on.

Day 10 - Wild Rockies

Back from the backcountry we had the pleasure of witnessing the diverse wildlife of the Rockies; all while continuing our wonderful journey in the west.

Waking up by the lake

Following yesterday’s hike, we woke up this morning at Celestine Lake, a wonderfully peaceful campsite in the Jasper backcountry where we ate our breakfast, drank our coffee and said our goodbyes to our newfound friends before starting our hike back to the car.

BEAR !

It was bound to happen sooner or later. On our way back down the trail, Tim spotted a black bear in front of us, eating berries, living his best life, not a care in the world, we immediately froze while a mix of fear, excitement and adrenaline rushed through our bodies. Talking loudly to make sure he spotted us, he eventually wandered back into the forest letting us continue on our merry way.

Watch out !

back at the trail head we realized we still had a fair bit of off-roading to do before we where out of the woods. taking it slow ripping through the trails in our little rental car we spotted a coyote running across the road! Not long after, we had to stop as a dear was meandering in front of us.

Goats

Finally out of the trail, we where making our way back to Jasper when we spotted a family of bighorn sheep just chilling on a cliffside on the outskirts of the village, all in one morning we went from seeing practically no wildlife to having four different encounters!

Back to BC we go

After a relaxing afternoon in Jasper we made our way back to bc for that free camping and to visit mount Robson, the highest peak of the Canadian Rockies with a height of 3954m. A bit further into the valley, we found our campsite which had an amazing view of the mountain from atop a small hill behind the trees.

day 9 : backpacking in jasper

After three days of no reception and pure backcountry, we made our way into jasper to restock our consumables before jumping back in the backcountry for a short backpacking trip to Celestine lake.

Cant get enough of the beautiful mornings

Waking up from the sunlight we made our way back to the lake to enjoy our breakfast and coffee in front of a magnificent view. Somehow, the lake got even prettier with the morning sun rising over the mountains where clouds ran down the steep slopes making their way into the valley. We could really get used to these beautiful mornings.

the final stretch

With our spirits high we continued on the final stretch of our journey through the stunning icefield parkway. We took a short detour along the way to stop at Athabasca falls, a set of violently raging waterfalls carving its way into narrow canyons; as the canyons tapers and becomes narrow, the faster the water flows making the falls overwhelmingly fast and powerful.

the five lake hike

On our final stop before jasper, we decided to go hike the valley of five lakes. This very nice hike takes you in and around a set of five magnificent lakes. It was really warm today so when we saw a dock where people where diving off, we immediately decided to join them! the icy cold water was shockingly welcomed after hiking in the heat. Swimming, jumping and flipping into a lake was one of the things we looked forward to do and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

a quick stop in jasper

Finally making it to Jasper we made a short stop at the grocery store to re-stock our eggs and bread before heading off again to go on our little overnight backpacking trip to Celestine lake. we didn’t have time to explore and take in the cute mountain village because we had to make a tight time window to go on the one-way mountain pass going to the trail head.

Off-roading the rental car.

As we started our way to the mountain pass we realized that it was more of a wide ATV trail then a road. Bumps, rocks, small river crossings and big puddles were scattered along the dirt road. At few points along the pass, we were driving along a crazy narrow road carved in the side of a mountain, vertical rock wall to our right, vertical cliff to our left. driving this was nerve-racking but thrillingly fun to say the least. Our little rented Hyundai Kona took it like a champ taking us there with no problems.

The hike to the lake

Making our way to the trailhead we ate supper, packed our bags then started our 6.5km hike up the mountain to the lake. the hike was a nice winding double track full of switchbacks, we sang our hearts going over rivers, birch forests and a few small lakes before arriving at our campsite. We set our tents up then met with a small family of bikepackers who already had a fire going. Meeting new people from all around is one of my favorite parts of this trip, sharing stories and adventures while laughing over a fire next to a lake was just my definition of a good time.

day 8: beauty of the forces of nature

Up north amongst the glaciers and lakes where reception is non-existent, it was nice to completely disconnect from the outside world as we continued our trip through the back country mountains and took a lesson of the forces of nature.

astonishing morning

after a particularly windy night fueled by the neighboring thunderstorm, we woke up to an amazing view of the mountain range reflecting on the lake. The sun was peaking above the higher clouds forming god rays on the mountains, it was a beautiful sight while we enjoyed our breakfast.

continuing our way up north

hopping back on the icefield parkway, the overwhelming beauty of the mountains and glaciers was humbling. everything here is amplified, hills become huge mountains, creeks become raging rapids and snow becomes enormous glaciers. we stopped everywhere we could to take it all in.

Lesson #1 : fire

passing through the valleys devastated by forest fires, we saw the remnants of forest that where once lush and green turned into flower field with black pillars scattered where the trees where. seeing the total destruction of the valley left us stunned with mixed emotions. its really interesting to be able too see the valley mid change.

Lesson #2 : ice

Our first major stop along the icefield parkway was the Columbia icefield. This icefield boasts an impressive 6 glaciers! The most iconic glacier in this region is the Athabasca glacier, which has receded more than 1.5km in the past 125 years. It’s incredible to walk towards the glacier and going past markers showing their recession over the years. It concretizes our impact on global warming.

Along the path we also got to witness the huge gashes and striations in the rock caused by the glacier slowly moving across them over thousands of years, grinding the rocks down. Now that’s the huge power of nature !

Lesson 3 - Water

Resuming our journey up the Icefield Parkway, we made a stop at Sunwapta Falls where we witnessed the power that water bears. violently carving it’s way through the bedrock, it forms canyons and waterfalls. The sheer amount of water going through the Sunwapta Falls was truly humbling. Every river we came across had a distinctively different color form the last depending on witch glaciers they came from. From silty white to bright baby blue all the way to emerald green, its a wonderful sight to see.

Our home at honeymoon lake

Stopping at a random ‘‘first come first serve’’ campsite at honeymoon lake we set up our tents before making our way to the lake. in the middle of a forest beneath the giant slabs making the neighboring mountains lies a ridiculously calm lake acting like a mirror reflecting its beautiful surroundings. we sat on a bench in the water marveling and immersing ourselves in nature.

Day 7: A full week out west!

Time flies when you’re having fun! a full week has past since we landed in Calgary and so much has happened, but the adventure continues on. We’re only getting started!

Eating breakfast during the sunrise at moraine lake

Waking up at 4:30am this morning was pretty rough, as we set off to lake moraine to attend the magnificent sunrise. surprisingly we weren’t the first ones there, not by a long shot. but we did get there in time to set up at a nice spot on the rock hill to get breakfast started. looking on at the beautiful blue lake reflecting the 10 peaks surrounding lake moraine, we sipped our coffee and ate our oatmeal while taking in every inch of the sun tipped mountains in front of us. it was an amazing experience to see the mountains and glaciers slowly getting bathed in the morning sun.

Up north we go!

After saying goodbye to our campsite in lake Louise we started our trek along highway 93, icefield parkway. I know that we are starting to repeat ourselves but this was once again one of the most beautiful highways we’ve ever seen. It seems that every road we go on keeps getting prettier and prettier. Driving along the valley you can see peaks after peaks, each one looking taller and more grandiose than the last, hosting glaciers atop most. This highway sparked a wave of emotion, making me shed a few tears once again at the marvelous display of beauty in front of me.

A devastating display of power

Heading for our campsite at Abraham lake we arrived near the Saskatchewan river crossing were we started to smell and see more and more smoke, realizing that the bc forest fires where just over the corner of the valley, we heard fire fighting airplanes in the distance. Driving along, we saw the devastation of past fires, it left us in awe at the destructive power of forest fires. Thousands of acres stretching the entire valley floor was burned to the ground leaving only traces of the forest that once was.

Life goes on

After destruction comes creation. Where devastation happened, life flourished. The forest floor where the fires raged just a few weeks ago was now covered with an endless bed of flowers making for a spectacular sight; burnt pillars from the dead trees rise above colorful flowers stretching out as far as the eyes can see.

Random camping at Abraham lake.

Arriving at Abraham lake, the water was a bright silty white reflecting the snow tipped mountains across the lake. We settled ourselves in a nice campground filled with tents and vans, all of which came here for the spectacular free campsites the lake has to offer. Despite being in Alberta random camping in this region is encouraged and very simple, unlike Kananaskis which required countless paperwork. after setting up our campsite we made small campfire, roasted some marshmallows then strapped ourselves in for an interesting night as strong winds started flowing in and we could hear the rumble and saw the light show of an incoming thunderstorm.