Norvan Falls (07.12.09)

Yesterday the VSO played their annual concert in the park at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, so Rich was tied up all day after church. Yay for work!! LOL I have gone to these concerts in the past, & I much prefer the concert hall setting to see the Symphony, so I had a free afternoon/evening.

I’ve been itching to do some hiking in our local hills, and since I would be hiking alone, I chose to do a hike I’ve done before in a location that would have people. I decided to head up to the Lynn Headwaters to tackle the Norvan Falls hike.

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve been tracking my trail miles, is that every resource you read about the same hike lists a different length. The length of Norvan Falls ranges anywhere from 11.8 km on the park map & kiosk, 13.5 km in our Dawn Hanna book, to 14 km on the Vancouver Trails website (Norvan Falls hike link, above). My policy is to take the longest length I can find, LOL. Since it took me the same amt of time to walk from the car to the trailhead as it did to walk a km, I added a km each way to the distance, making it 16 km, or 10 miles. Four hours from the time I left the car to the time I got back to the car. Including my stop at the falls. Whew! No wonder I was tired when I got home!

So, I’m up to 47.25 miles this summer, w/ 102.75 to go before Labour Day. Gulp. Wish the snow would melt at Mt Baker. I really wanna head up there for the Chain Lakes loop!

Peak 2 Peak Gondola (07.08.09) & Other Assorted Ramblings

You know, it’s not scary at all. Piece of cake! (ooh, cake…)

So yesterday, Rich & I went up to Whistler (2.5 hrs) to see his cool cousins from California who are on vacation up there.  We took the “old” gondola up Whistler mtn to the Roundhouse lodge (6069’) & then caught the Peak 2 Peak to the Rendezvous lodge on Blackcomb mtn (6102’). Then we walked around the “Alpine Walk,” a 1-mile “easy” trail (hard for these other folks on the trail, visiting from Tx: “And this is the *easy* trail??!!??!” Hahaha I reminded them at it’s at least cooler here!), but it was a nice little walk for us. (But you bet I added it to my summer hiking log! LOL) Then we took the P2P back & the Whistler gondola back down.

I gotta tell ya, this thing’s a piece of cake. You barely know you’re dangling 1400’ or so above the valley below. Heck, you hardly know you’re moving, if you don’t look out. It was absolutely safe & secure & smooth, which, frankly, was a little disappointing. I was kinda looking fwd to that slight feeling of panic-stricken terror you would expect to have in a situation  like this. I was kinda looking fwd to feeling safe & relieved when we got to the station at the other side. But ho-hum, there we were, gliding thru the sky, relaxed & chatting & taking pictures like we were on a train or on a boat. Only it was smoother than that.

So, since there isn’t much more to report, here are some pictures:

It was kinda rainy… Most of the views out of the front looked like this. So I started taking pix out the back, LOL

With rain comes rainbows… (look how far down the trees are!)

We saw some mtns…

On the trail we saw a marmot. When I pointed him out to the gals from Tx behind us, one actually placed one hand on her chest & the other on her rib cage & gasped. Too sweet!

Isn’t he cute??

 Bonk! The trail should have a height limit, like at the amusement parks: You must be under this height to go on the trail…

Peek! There I am! (Notice the gloves? It was kinda chilly – there were patches of snow around, & we even saw some snow mixed w/ rain on the P2P over to Blackcomb)

Trust. Descending into … um …

Whew! There is a world on the other side of the fog…

Whistler Village in the distance. This is kinda how I like to see the Village – from a distance! (see ramblings, below)

Rising back into the clouds & up Whistler Mtn from the bottom of the cable sag

Those who know us by now know that we’re not really into the whole Whistler scene. It just kinda makes my skin crawl. As one of my residents used to say (she probably still says it, I’m just not around to hear it): “Too much too much.” Too much buildings, too much people, too much money-spending, too much affluence, too much materialism, too much opulence, too much frivolity, too much mountain bikes (!), too much greed, too much bourgeois.

OK, so I do recognize that the world will be descending on this little village in 6 mos for the Winter Olympics & there has been much building in preparation of this, but Whistler has been “too much,” to me, anyway, long before Vancouver won the Olympic bid.

On the one hand, it’s great that so many people want to holiday in the mountains & have the opportunity to experience the beauty that surrounds Whistler, but on the other hand, it totally defeats the purpose, y’know?

If you wanna party, go to a friend’s house. If you wanna buy stuff, go to the mall. If you wanna eat something, cook (yes, we did eat in restaurants twice yesterday, so call me a hypocrite!). But if you wanna go to the mtns, take a hike.

(and, yes, I feel the same way about cruise ships)

My Desolation Wilderness water bottle (the one I got at the Ranger station in Lake Tahoe – the one that caused us to re-route our way home thru Mt Lassen) has the slogan: “Altitude – Solitude – Attitude” on it (Now see? Totally worth the re-route!). That totally sums it up. That’s why I go to the mtns. I’m perfectly glad to leave the partiers behind!

Rich’s cool California cousin’s 23 y/o daughter just completed a spell in an orphanage in Guatemala, where she used some of her own personal savings to buy diapers for the babes there. It was so hard for her to return home to the affluence of middle class America, let alone to experience the opulence of Whistler. So much work could be done in the world with the amt of money that is spent in just one day at Whistler! It’s really sad, if you think about it.

Later this summer we will be spending a week in another centre of opulence: Banff. Banff & Whistler are very similar. The thing about Banff, tho, is that solitude is very close by. You simply have to walk a mile on (almost) any trail to lose the crowds. And if you’re on a crowded trail (like the oh-so-touristy Johnston Canyon), just go a little further. The tour busses only stay for so long, so the folks don’t have time to go far, LOL.

We are staying in the Banff townsite strictly for financial reasons (a place w/ a kitchen in Banff for $109/night? Are you KIDDING me?), & I’m expecting it to be a real dive, but honestly we don’t plan on spending much time at “home.” Just sleeping & meal prep (oh, & blogging, LOL). The rest of the time, the revellers in Banff will be looking at our backs as we hike away from them into the amazing mountains that surround the town, the glorious mtns that the partiers probably don’t even see.

Altitude – Solitude – Attitude
The first two definitely affect the third.

Upcoming Stuff…

I’m pretty excited about some stuff that’s planned in the not-so-distant future.  This is the Peak 2 Peak Gondola in Whistler-Blackcomb (site of the 2010 Winter Olympics). Just to strike a little terror into you, the length of the gondola is 4.4km (2.73 miles); 3.024km (1.88 miles) of which is unsupported. Yup 1.88 miles between towers, traveling 436m (1427’) over the ground at its highest point. And I just found out that there are some gondola cars w/ GLASS BOTTOMS!! This puppy can move 2050 people an hour (one way), crossing its distance in an astonishing 11 minutes at 7.5m/sec., with gondolas leaving the station every 49 seconds (not 50, but 49!). There is the potential for a LOT of people on both of the peaks!

And I’m gonna ride it tomorrow! Rich’s cool cousins from the Bay Area are in Whistler & we’re gonna get together w/ them tomorrow for a gondola ride & a picnic. Fun times. Would have missed it if I was working… Forecast is for rain in the morning, but it’s clearing a bit in the afternoon in Whistler. I’m not sure if I’m glad or sad that we might not see anything from the gondola, if you know what I mean…

Oh man, I hope I don’t totally freak…

At the end of the month, we’re going back to Redmond for some family stuff w/ Rich’s family. Then it’s down to Mt. Rainier (above) for three nights! I haven’t been there in years, & I’m so excited to return, leaner, stronger, fitter, to tackle some butt-kicking, high-altitude trails! Since we’ll be there two full days (unlike when we were in Cannon Beach for just one full day), we’ll be able to spend a day in Paradise (yes, it’s really called that) or Ohanapecosh (yes, it’s really called *that* LOL) & a day in Sunrise. We might even get up early enough for Sunrise at Sunrise, but I haven’t told Rich that, yet. I did that several (!) years ago, & it was amazing to watch the morning alpenglow blush the Mountain. (That was in the days of film, so I don’t have a picture handy, but there is a similar picture on the Sunrise link, above.)

Oh, I just saw that the road between Paradise & Ohanapecosh might still be closed in late July due to flood repairs. There is an alternate way around, but it will take longer. Oh well. I did Sunrise at Sunrise from Yakima. This has gotta be closer!

I just made our reservations today at the Mounthaven Resort. Super nice mom-n-pop campground/cabin place 1/2 mile from the Nisqually Entrance (southwest) to the park. I mean, after dealing w/ these folks, they’re the kind that you just wanna hug when you 1st meet them face-to-face. And, they assured me there hasn’t been a mouse sighting in years! We’ll be staying in the “Birch” Cabin. Probably no internet (that’s what we thought about Tahoe, too), but I’ll post the blogs when we find a signal.

Other than being super excited at our next trip in a couple of wks, I’m also very proud of the new banner I made for the blog. I love that picture Rich took of me at Cathedral Lake at Tahoe. I just had to write something today to show off my handiwork, LOL.

Look fwd to hearing about the Peak 2 Peak tomorrow (or the next day)!!

(ps, Cindy, no drop shadows on the pix today b/c I imported them from the net. If I took the time to save them to my pictures, & then uploaded them from there I could have used the drop shadow, but I was lazy & saved a step or 2, LOL)

Then & Now – Cape Lookout, 11 Mos. Later

One of the cool things about travelling w/ a laptop is that you’ve got a bit of your personal history w/ you. Last August, Rich & I spent a wonderful week travelling down the Oregon Coast, en route to Medford. We planned our hotels around hikes we wanted to do (not the other way around, as in most cases, I suppose). We weren’t able to book the Ecola Creek Lodge last year, as it is owned by Cannon Beach Conference Centre & Luis Palau just happened to be in town when we wanted to be, too. I guess Luis is a bigger draw than we are, LOL. So I think it was when we were staying in Cape Kiwanda that we went on our Cape Lookout hike.

Enough of the unimportant details. We had a wonderful week hiking up & down the Coast last year, but Cape Lookout was a bit of a disappointment, only b/c it was so foggy. We’ve heard it was a great hike, & from a trail perspective, it was. From a scenery perspective, it was a wash-out, or rather, a white-out.

It was on this hike, the Cape Lookout hike, that we heard one of our favourite hiking quotes last year. The trail was quite muddy last year, & after we traversed one particularly gooey section, a hiker coming the other way gave us this gem:

“If your boots are clean, you’re standing ste-ill” (southern accent). That’s kinda been our mud motto since! This year, the trail was dry – just one little muddy section, making the boardwalks seem silly (they seemed silly in some places last year, too, but b/c the trail was so muddy that even the boardwalks didn’t help much).

Here, I’ll show you what I am talking about. Pictures from last year, side-by-side w/ pictures from this year:

August 5, 2008 – Pretty foggy (& muddy)…

July 2, 2009 – Beautiful!!


At the trailhead - (L) Aug. 5, 2008; (R) July 2, 2009 (the sun is even casting shadow on my face from my silly hat!)

One of the clearer points on the trail last year. Interesting taht we took almost the same picture!

Top – Last year; bottom – this year. Much clearer! Look at the colour of the water!


The brave little tree that grows on the side of a windy, rocky cliff. Last yr & this yr


We almost stood on the same spot… Funny – I had that red shirt in my pack yesterday. I could have been wearing the same thing, too! Hahaha (Looks like I’m wearing the same socks… but I only have so many pairs of hiking socks…)

For some reason, the author of the trail book we used called this hike “Moderate.” I guess b/c of elevation gain? After seeing what was in the “Easy” day hikes book at Tahoe, this hike would easily fall into that author’s “easy” category. I didn’t show you the picture of the crowd at the terminus of the trail (the point above), but there were lots of people on this trail, including little kids. One lady even hiked in holding her sleeping 2 y/o (?) in her arms. She said she didn’t want to do that again! Pretty easy – some ups, but pretty easy. The “moderate” rating really stumps me.

Today (what is it, the 3rd? Friday??), we leave the Coast & head to Redmond to spend a couple more days w/ MIL. Then it’s home. Wow, this trip is almost over. But we’re having fun looking fwd to our trip to the Rockies in August. If the patchy fogs clears this morning, we’ll head over to Ecola Park (literally, just up the road) for a quick hike from the picnic area to Indian Beach (or vice versa) before we hit the road.

But 1st, here’s my parting shot for the day… We went to Ecola Park for sunset last night. Here’s what we got:

Cannon Beach

Yup. 1000 words a picture is worth.

This one’s only worth a couple hundred (yes, it’s that same tie-dye shirt again! LOL):

But this one is priceless:

 

And now for a pastoral scene:

Ahhhhhh…….