Two Ducks in Bear Country

September 15, 2012

Our guest-house in Clearwater, BC

I’ll try to be short today, since Katrin is preparing dinner and I don’t want to miss it. After a good nights sleep, we got up early and managed to leave earlier than usual. We got breakfast at a nearby bakery (“Flour Meadow Bakery”, the owner was from “Sachsen” and proudly displayed it in his restaurant), which were probably the best bagels with cream-cheese we’ve had so far. Then we headed into Wells Gray Provincial Park to look at a number of waterfalls. The park was nice, but not that spectacular. We saw a couple of deer on the main road, and the usual amount of chipmunks, but that’s about it. The waterfalls were nice (especially Helmcken Falls), but it did require some driving in the park to get from one to another. At some points the road was pure gravel, up the hill, with a lots of potholes deep enough to exceed our measly ground clearance.

View from the Green Mountain observation tower

After the park we drove on towards Valemount, BC, where we had booked a lodge for the night as our last stop before Jasper. The drive was basically just Clearwater (where we had stayed), Blue River (two gas-stations and a general store) and then Valemount. The problem was that these three villages are strung along the Route 5 over a distance of 200km, with pretty much nothing in between. No Tim Horton’s, no gas station, just the river, train tracks and telephone masts.

Helmcken Falls

In Valemount we had booked one night over the Internet and were just amazed at the room we got. We have the complete basement level of this lovely home (Mountain Driftwood Lodge) to ourselves, including a bathroom, washing machine, kitchen, living room, etc. The couple who owns the house is just lovely, and right now they are busy making and tasting their own wine, among other things.

So, not many photos (I was driving all day after all), and dinner is ready in a minute, I’ll leave you guys with that. Hope I can write from Jasper tomorrow, in another time-zone by the way ;)

September 14, 2012

Whistler Olympic Village

Today was an uneventful day. We had stayed at Whistler yesterday so that we’d have the full day today for driving some distance on our way towards Jasper. That also meant that we only stopped a few times for a short break. We started with a breakfast at a small bakery in Whistler Village and then strolled through main street. The drive after that was not as beautiful as the rest of our journey, and especially around the Kamloops area it reminded us a lot of Arizona or something like that. But we got to see our first black bear today. As we were coming around a corner on one of the many steep winding mountain roads we saw the bear sitting on the side of the road. We slowed down (it was blocking the road after all), but it hopped over the solid barrier before we had a chance to get the camera out.

This looks like a good spot to relax

Right now we’re at the Half Moon Guest House near Clearwater, which is right at the entrance to the Wells Gray Provincial Park. We got here a little later than anticipated. Our host had left us a note, stating that she would be back at about 7pm. The other two couples which are staying here tonight are from Germany and Switzerland, so there was no problem showing us around the small house and to our room. Right now Katrin and I are sitting on the porch, looking at the horses right in front of us and enjoying the clear mountain air and the absolute silence. The internet is kinda slow, so there won’t be that many photos on flickr.

Katrin testing the waters

In case anyone is wondering: We’re having temperatures around 25 degrees during the day, for the last few days. At night it does get a little chilly though. Tomorrow we’ll visit Wells Gray before heading towards Valemont, our last stop before Jasper.

September 13, 2012

Today was a relaxed day, in terms of distance covered on the road. We started at Squamish and drove up to Whistler for some breakfast. After that, we headed back a few kilometers and entered Garibaldi Provincial Park at the Black Tusk parking lot. We set off at about 10:30am with the goal of making the 9km hike up to Lake Garibaldi and back in a timely fashion. Mount Garibaldi is a well-known potentially active volcano in BC, its summit at 2,678m.

View from “The Barrier”

The trail started easy enough, with the first part heading gently and straight up the mountain. The going got steeper soon enough, and after about 3km we found ourselves drenched in sweat despite the cool temperatures of the forest floor. Each kilometer brought a sign which announced the distance and elevation, and we soon realized that we would have to climb a few more hundreds meters in the next few kilometers. The first real vista was at “The Barrier”, a lava-rock wall towering high above a valley filled with dangerous boulders. As yesterday, chipmunks had already taken possession of this spot to snuggle up to the many hikers passing through.

Moving on, the next open views were across Barrier Lake and Lesser Garibaldi Lake, both fed from their big cousin on the top of this mountain range. This was probably our first glimpse upon the characteristically turquoise clean mountain lakes which everyone knows from Canada.

Not quite Garibaldi Lake yet

We finally made it to the Garibaldi Lake and it was well worth the effort of getting there. The lake is a glacier lake at about 1,500m, surrounded by multiple large mountains and their glaciers. It’s cold and blue, just like you’d imagine, yet still warm enough to stick your feet in for a few minutes. What surprised us most was the amount of activity around the camp site and the heat of the sun at this time of year. We saw a bunch of people which had hiked almost three hours to the top just to lie on the shore of Lake Garibaldi, sunbath and read a book. Amazing!

This must be it! Garibaldi Lake!

Tired from the 9km in distance (and 900m in height) we had covered, we replenished our strength with good old fashioned peanut-butter bread and other snacks before heading back down. Not surprisingly, it took us less time and effort to get down, still we didn’t arrive at the parking lot until about 5pm.

Katrin in front, glacier in the back

As you can see from the photos, the hike as well as the lake are simply stunning. What’s sad about it is that the parking lot and the trail are not very visible from the road (99), and that you don’t hear a lot about it elsewhere. The well-known spots might get all the attention, but parks and trails like this one at Garibaldi deserve more credit. Remember that its just a 150km drive up from Vancouver to get here, while Jasper and Banff are much further away. The good thing about these trails is that they are exhausting yet don’t put any demands on gear, like shoes or warm clothing. You can take your running shoes, put on your bathing suit and take along some water and food and be on your way. If the nice elderly asian couples we met on the way can do it, you can probably do it too ;)

Turquoise. ‘Nuff said

Tonight were staying in a very very nice hotel in Whistler (Aava Hotel). Whistler was home to many 2010 winter olympic contests, and what we saw from the village is really cute. We’ll check out more of it tomorrow morning before we hit the road for some serious driving.

September 12, 2012

Sunrise behind our hotel

Yesterday evening, we decided to extend our stay in Squamish by one night. We had planned to hike a few beautiful routes and felt that having to drive to the next town on the same day might be a little tight. It turned out to be the right decision. The photo above shows the sunrise as seen from our hotel window.

View from Stawasmus Chief

We started our day with a light breakfast at Tim Horton’s (our favorite fast-food chain) and then drove a few kilometers to the Shannon Falls Provincial Park, where water tumbles down the rock from more than 300m. Nice, but the 200m walk from the parking lot didn’t even allow us to take of our gloves. Next up was “The Chief” (Stawasmus Chief), a big hunk of rock with some steep climbing routes to its peaks. Here we had our first slight miscalculation in difficulty, and ended up taking three hours for the 2km hike up and down the first peak (see the photos and imagine 600m in height).

The first part of the route was already steep and demanding, with “steps” made from boulders, large rocks and wooden steps. Near the summit, the route was basically naked rock, and in a few places there were ladders and chains bolted right onto the rock to get past a particularly difficult spot. The view from the summit was all worth it though, as were the cute chipmunks which tried to solicit snacks from us by climbing up our legs.

You got some snacks I might like?

When we got back to the parking lot it was already afternoon and our knees where burning, so we decided to finish the day with a hike around the Four Lakes Trail in Alice Lake Provincial Park, also close to where we were staying. The hike was nice enough, and each lake was unique. There were bears in the area, so we tried to whistle and clap at each sharp corner. The majority of hot-pants-wearing, iPod-listening people with dogs on the trail didn’t seem to share our concern.

Katrin testing her balancing skills

We arrived at the hotel with some time left before dinner, so Katrin convinced me to try the Sauna. It was a big disappointment however, with temperatures below what you typically encounter in car that was parked in the late-September sun.

Tomorrow we’ll head to Whistler, to check out the Olympic sites as well as some hikes. After that we’ll probably have to take a bigger leap towards Jasper to make our rough schedule.

September 11, 2012

Today we drove to Hertz on Granville to pick up our car. After some waiting, and a free upgrade, we drove away with a cute Mazda 3 (don’t really know how that is an upgrade, but I’m glad I didn’t see our intended vehicle size). Before we had strolled along Granville Bridge, waiting for the car.

The first thing we did with our new car was head right back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and then we drove out of downtown and into the “real” Vancouver, which is south of downtown. We took the Burrard Bridge and kept on heading south until we came upon the 16th Avenue. This road (west) took us straight through the beautiful neighbourhoods in Vancouver and the University Endowment Lands. On the way back we passed (among other things) Kitsilano Beach, where we hopped out for quick look around.

By now it was past noon and we still had to stock up on groceries. So we drove straight through Stanley Park, over the Lions Gate Bridge and into North/West Vancouver, where we stopped at the first mall we came upon. With a lot of blueberry-induced food (yoghurt, cupcakes and bagels) we felt safe enough to make it all the way north on Marine Drive and the 99. We stopped a few time, mostly for the absolutely stunning view across Horseshoe Bay. Our final destination for today was Squamish, where we had booked a room and are now planning our trip for tomorrow.