Bugaboo Adventure

Where to start. This is going to be a long post as I have so much to write about. About a year ago, my friend Glenda and I decided that we would hike the Bugaboos with our husbands (who have hiked them previously). We set a date, July 26 to 30, and we anxiously awaited the day we would begin our adventure. Of course, preparation for the adventure involved dropping some serious money at Mountain Equipment Coop (every penny spent was well worth it!).

We drove to Bugaboo Provincial Park on Monday and were met with a parking lot full of vehicles. I don't think any one of us was expecting it to be that busy. Fortunately there was enough space for all our vehicles and Glenda and Eric's tent trailer (which by the way was heaven in the wilderness). You have to wrap chicken wire around the bottom of your vehicles and secure it with posts and rocks to prevent porcupines from getting under your vehicle and snacking on the tires, brake lines etc. In the background you can see Hound's Tooth and by the end of the hike up the next day, we were looking down on that.

After a very restful sleep (tent trailers are becoming much more appealing..), we set off on our adventure. Also joining Glenda, Eric, Tim and myself was a former coworker of Tim's, Jim who is no stranger to the Bugaboos himself having hiked it numerous times in the past.

Pictured from left to right, Jim, Tim, myself, Glenda and Eric.









I thought I had an idea of what the hike would be like but never in my wildest dreams would I be able to fathom what it really is like. I can honestly say it was by far the most physically demanding thing I have done in my life. I had my trusty Garmin with me and total hiking time (up and down) was 10 hours and 7 minutes, total distance 10.72 km with an elevation gain of 1,027 meters. And to top it all off, I was carrying a pack that weighed approximately 25 pounds.

The hike up took us 5.5 hours and it was uphill the entire way. There may have been a couple of flatter sections and maybe even a slight downhill at times but believe me, all I noticed is that we just kept having to go up and up and even when I thought I could not take another step up, I had to go up some more. The first part of the hike was along the valley floor, with some boardwalks on the marshy parts and then a climb up the toe of two minor moraines before reaching a small boulder field. This picture was taken just before the small boulder field.

The climb begins here. The trail moves up through forest and then an avalanche slope. Rather than continuing up the avalanche path, the trail climbs some rock slabs where there are steps made out of rocks and in some places concrete, wire cables that supply a handhold for some very narrow ledges (with very steep drop offs on the side) and for me, one of the most memorable parts of the hike was a ladder that scaled a 8 meter high rock wall. Then there is more of the rock steps and wire cable before the trail returns to the more usual rock and dirt path.

We had our lunch at the Conrad Kain hut and cooled ourselves off in a extremely cold glacial stream. It was sunny and hot, which left me very sweaty and with sun burnt ears!) I also couldn't believe the mosquitoes which were out in full force.

The hike from the hut to Applebee Dome was brutal, probably the most grueling of the entire hike. It was 1 km in length and Jim, the numbers man figured out it was at a 27% grade over rocks and boulders and near the top, through snow. From the hut looking up, I seriously wondered if I was going to make it. However, quitting was not an option and I was bound and determined to make it to the top.

Notice the green roof of the Conrad Kain hut near the middle of the picture. Gives you some perspective on how high we had to climb (and I think we were just at the halfway point then.)

Almost at the top!

At the top, we were surrounded by four mountains and two glaciers - Snow Patch, Bugaboo, Crescent and East Spire Mountains and Bugaboo and Crescent Glaciers. It is truly the one of the most spectacular sites I've seen and the challenge of the climb was soon forgotten. It was very crowded with tents and hikers/climbers at the top but we were able to find an area large enough to fit out 3 tents. We had borrowed our friend Glen's tent and it was spacious for the two of us and it was nice in that each side had a zipper access so we didn't have to crawl over each other if we had to get out at night. I also had Glen's sleeping bag and even though it was quite cool up there, I was toasty warm (so thank you Glen!) I was also very glad I had my down booties, down pull over, Gortex jacket, merino wool turtleneck (all Mountain Equipment Coop purchases), hat and gloves.

Dinner that night was a feast. Glenda and Eric packed up crackers and hummus, wine and a bottle of coke (no wonder Glenda and Eric's packs were heavier than ours!) After the appetizers and drinks, we heated up our Indian dinners, rice and naan, followed by a cup of tea with honey. All that drinking made a trip to the outhouse a necessity and I made Tim come with me to navigate the steps to the outhouse perched on the side of the dome. With the number of people there, it was inevitable there was a line up.The view from the outhouse was spectacular. I can honestly say that is the first time I have sat on the toilet and said to myself, "Wow."


My night was not a restful one for a couple of reasons. One was that my thermarest was on a bit of an angle and my sleeping bag kept sliding down towards the end of the tent and the other is that my husband is quite the snorer. However, he did not grumble once when I woke him up and asked him to walk with me to the outhouse. I had visions of missing a step and plummeting over the edge.

In the morning, Eric, Tim and Jim went for a hike on Crescent glacier to Snowpatch Spire while

Glenda and I relaxed at the campsite. I would have loved to have gone with them but my knee was bothering me a bit from the hike up from the hut to the campground and I figured I was going to need everything I had to make it back down to the parking lot that afternoon. We left a little after noon with the plan of eating lunch at the hut.

Pictured left is Snowpatch Spire. Notice the 3 little men hiking in a line towards the spire.

Ladder on the way down!

It took us about 4.5 hours to get down to the parking lot (and the tent trailer/heaven) and by the end, my knee was extremely sore. I had such a feeling of accomplishment when I reached the parking lot, never in a million years did I imagine myself doing something like this. I'm especially grateful to Glenda because without her, I would not have even thought it possible.

The next day we had planned to hike the Cobalt Lake trail to the Black Forest Ridge and then head into Radium Hot Springs to Redstreak campgrounds and a soak in the hot springs. I was a little hesitant about this trail because there was a warning on the website about a grizzly bear in the area and that hiking wasn't recommended due to aggressive behaviour. However, we met the caretaker of the hut the day before and she said that the grizzly had not been seen since July 2 and that she would have no worries about hiking that trail.

Cobalt Lake Trailhead

For some reason, I had envisioned the Cobalt Lake trail to be a short, relatively easy hike and imagine my surprise when I read the sign at the trailhead saying the change in elevation was 900 meters and it was 6.5 km to the Ridge. It was an easier trail for sure, more like a path through the forest as opposed to climbing up rocks and boulders, but it still was a long way up.

When I reached the base of the ridge (picture above), I turned to my husband and said I didn't think I could take one more step. However, I didn't go all that way to stop at the bottom of the ridge knowing that I would be missing the amazing view from the top of the ridge so I dug a little deeper, put one foot in front of the other and next thing I knew, we were almost at the top. The view was incredible, we could look over and see where we had camped the night before.

In a way, I'm glad I didn't know what I was in for because if I had known, I probably would have opted not to do it for fear I wouldn't be able to do it. When we were done, I really felt like I had pushed myself beyond what I had thought I was capable of and was pretty darn proud of myself.

It was late afternoon when we headed off to Radium Hot Springs and the adventure continued for Eric and Glenda who had a flat tire on their trailer. By the time we all got the campsite, it was late and I think we were all too tired to even think about anything other than having a bite to eat, a shower and off to bed. Again, we slept in the tent trailer and I can know see why people haul those suckers around.

Thanks to both Glenda and Eric for the trip. Not only were they excellent company, they had great food (which they freely shared) and I can't forget the tent trailer. They were both so supportive and encouraging throughout the entire hike and many times it was Glenda's "Laurie you can do it" that kept me going. I hope we didn't impose too much on their hospitality and that another hike may be a possibility in the future.

Brent Mountain Birthday Hike

Sunday June 27th was Tim's 46th birthday and for the second weekend in a row (previous weekend was Father's Day), he was treated like a king. I guess that would make me a queen but I certainly didn't feel like one. The birthday person at our house gets to choose what they want to do that day and what they want to eat. This year Tim chose to go hiking up Brent Mountain with our friends Glenda and Eric. These are the friends from the Sun Run and we will also be going hiking with them in the Bugaboos in 4 weeks.

Brent Mountain Trails lead into undisturbed rolling sub-alpine/alpine areas which include Brent Mountain at an elevation of 2200 m - offering outstanding panoramic views of the Monashee Mountains and the Okanagan Valley. Due to the excellent view there is an old forest fire lookout tower at the top. It was a beautiful day, just the right temperature and according to my nifty gadget the hike was 10.1 km with an elevation gain of 490 m.









This is a picture taken near the beginning of the trail showing Brent Mountain in the background (just to the right of me).








View of the forestry lookout at the top of Brent Mountain.


















At the top of the mountain we were able to take a small detour to check out a plane crash that occurred where 2 men were killed. These 2 pictures below were taken by some of the wreckage left behind.

Both Tim and I had a great day and are looking forward to our Bugaboo trip. It is going to be a bit more strenuous (especially once I add a 30 lb pack to my back) but I think it will be an amazing experience.

July is going to be a very busy month for us. This Thursday I am doing the 5 km Peachland Beach Run. My goal is to beat my time from last year but I would be surprised if I did. I've been running regularly for the past few weeks and my nifty gadget is telling me I need to pick up the pace if I hope to beat my time. I guess I should just be happy I'm out there doing it.

Our friend Steve is visiting us this weekend from Victoria and he is bringing along his fiance who we haven't met before. That should be a good visit and I am sure she will meet our standards to be Steve's wife.

Cherries are ready. Tim had planned on picking some tonight but it poured at dinnertime so it was a little too wet to pick. Hopefully he will pick a few tonight so I can have my cherries and frozen yogurt. We usually pit and freeze a hundred pounds so I will be quite busy pitting over the next few days. Thank goodness we have a skookum pitter but it still is a lot of work. Tim is also very busy with his bees. He took a queen rearing course a few weekends ago and has already made 23 new queens and nuke (spelling?) boxes. These are small hives with only a few frames and we now how 23 of them in the orchard along with all his other hives. He is anticipating a bumper crop of honey which makes our customers very happy. Some of them have been waiting a long time for honey.

Tim has his GST trip (Glen, Steve and Tim trip) the second week in July, Tim's parents are coming the next week and then the week after that we are headed for the Bugaboos. Right after that it will be August and it won't be long until summer is over and hockey season starts again.

The Canucks are Coming To Town!

It was announced today that the Vancouver Canucks will be holding their training camp in Penticton at the South Okanagan Events Centre. The camp starts on September 12 and I bet you can never guess where I will be! Oh, I am excited to say the least.

More news on the hockey front, with the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup, Duncan Keith will be bringing the cup to Penticton this summer. Last year he helped organize a charity game in the summer and there will be another one this summer. Last year Duncan Keith, Jarome Iginla, Shea Webber, Danny Heatley, Chuck Kobasew, Ryan Smith were just some of the players that were there and this year it looks like most of them will be back along with Andrew Ladd and Brent Seabrook.

I know, there's more to life than hockey!

Go Go Gadget

After years of hinting for a Garmin GPS watch for Christmas or my birthday and not getting one (that makes me sound kind of selfish), I finally went out and purchased one for myself. However, I must say Tim did look into one for Christmas last year but he could only find the super duper really expensive ones.

I love gadgets and anything that helps motivate me to be active is in my opinion, a good thing. It tracks my route, distance, time, pace/speed, heart rate, elevation change and I can upload it to my computer and display it on a map and make really cool graphs. I can even export the information and view it on Google Earth.

This map is from biking last Thursday.
Total distance - 17.22 km.
Total Time - 1:22:29.
Moving Time - 1:03:39.
Elevation gain - 36 m.
Elevation loss - 113 m.
Calories - 609.
Average moving speed - 16.2 km/hr.
Maximum speed - 33.5 km/hr.

Last week was bike to work week and I was captain of the Library team. Our team was very small - 3 of us rode our bikes but we did have a few people use alternate forms of transportation (walk). Of course these people don't own vehicles or are too young to drive, but I still counted them towards our totals for the week. We didn't win any big prizes but one woman did win a gel bike seat. I am very proud to say that I rode my bike to work every day and home 4 days. I didn't ride home Thursday night because I work until 9 p.m. and I figured that was a good enough excuse not to have to ride home. They had "celebration stations" set up around town every morning with free coffee and muffins for the bikers and I made it to every one, even though some of them were not convenient to my work and it was raining 3 mornings out of 5. It's amazing what I will do for a free cup of coffee. In total last week I rode 92.11 km and burned 3,416 calories.

I'm going to have the house to myself this weekend. Tim is going to a queen rearing course in Williams Lake leaving me to be farmer for the weekend. He is so excited about this course and I am concerned that he will come home on Sunday with news that he is going to quit his job and be a full time beekeeper and farmer. If that is the case, he'd better hope he wins the lottery on Saturday night. I don't have any big plans for the weekend. Tonight Lisa and I are going out for Indian food and then to a movie, farmer's market tomorrow and then on Sunday I have a picnic to go to for a coworker who is leaving us to go live in Regina (what is he thinking??)

Another Amazing Weekend

Boy, life is good. Tim and I went up to Vanderhoof on the long weekend to visit my brother Steve, his wife Christine and their kids, Dylan and Evan. It's a long drive (11 hours or so) but so worth it. It's been a couple of years since we've seen them and both the kids are looking older (not Steve or Chris though!) Dylan is absolutely beautiful and extremely smart and quick-witted (maybe she takes after her aunt) and Evan is so kind and thoughtful and polite. I don't think I heard Evan say one negative comment the entire weekend. It was nice that Evan went along with us on a couple of hikes and a bike ride and we really enjoyed a walk after dinner one evening with Dylan, Evan, Steve and the dogs. Too bad Chris hurt her back and couldn't join us. On our next visit we will have to fit in a trip to Prince George and the mall for Dylan.

The company was wonderful, the food was fantastic (bacon, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs - meat, meat, meat!) but too bad the weather wasn't the greatest. It was cold and rainy for most of the weekend but we were able to get out on the Sunday for a good hike to Greer Creek Falls (see picture below - notice that I am a real hiker now with my Gore-tex jacket) and a bike ride. I'm glad I brought along a lot of warm clothes.

One thing I did find bothersome this weekend was that my brother no longer pays much attention to hockey (however, he does seem to watch a lot of Arthur, Sponge Bob and Franklin). I couldn't believe it, how could that have happened. However, he did PVR the Chicago game for me on Sunday and we watched it later Sunday afternoon. Well, my brother watched the first period and then made an excuse that he had to go barbecue the chicken (and what a good chicken it was!), the kids where playing video games, Christine went and joined Steve at the barbecue and when I looked over at Tim, he was sound asleep! I'm glad Chicago won (even though they did beat out Vancouver). The finals should be good, I don't like Philadelphia and Duncan Keith (Chicago) is a local boy so you know who I'll be cheering for. Hopefully he'll be bringing the Cup here in the summer.

And while we are on the subject of hockey, my hockey season is finally over. My last game was on May 16th and now I have to figure out what I'm going to do to keep up the same level of activity. I'll have to start riding my bike to work everyday, hiking to prepare for our trip to the Bugaboos in July and keep training for my 5 km run in Peachland on July 1. But for tonight I am not going to do anything except sit down with a cup of tea and read my library book (which is now 3 days overdue).

So thanks to Steve, Chris, Dylan and Evan for making the past weekend a great one for both Tim and I.

Most Amazing Weekend!

This past weekend we went to the Sun Run in Vancouver with our friends. We arrived a little before lunchtime and went straight to Mountain Equipment Coop where we proceeded to put a huge dent in our bank account. I got a Gore-Tex jacket, a down liner, down filled booties, hiking poles and socks and a new bike jacket. Tim got a Gore-Tex jacket, a down filled vest, a new camping stove and some fuel. We also picked up a couple of freeze dried meals for our Bugaboo trip. Bugaboos here we come.

We then went to our hotel which was right on English Bay, close to Stanley Park. There was a bike rental place right across the street from our hotel so we rented some bikes and went for a ride through Stanley Park and then along the sea wall. It was great. It was warm and sunny and I had the best bike (now I want a new bike!)






Above in the picture is our friends Glenda and Eric.











In the morning we headed out to the Sun Run. It was about a 20 minute walk to the start and the start area was just jammed packed full of people. There were over 51,000 people in the race. The race started at 9 a.m. but we didn't actually start moving until after 10. It was a little hard dodging all the people - reminded me a lot of being in China.



















I knew with my hamstring and knee problems that I wouldn't be able to run the whole thing but decided I would try running 3 minutes and then walking 1 minute and see how long I could keep that up. I was able to keep it up for most of the race but near the end had to change it to run 2, walk 2 but we ran the entire last kilometer. I finished in 1:21:22 which is better than I had hoped for. We then had to walk back to our hotel which was about 30 minutes away so by the time I got back to the hotel, I was feeling pretty tired. This picture was taken at the start of the race so I was still looking and feeling pretty good. I'm not going to post the picture that was taken near the finish!

I had a good snooze in the truck on the way home and felt good enough to play hockey tonight. I didn't have much energy out there and it wasn't my finest playing, but I worked up a good sweat. You'd think after all the day's activity I would be tired tonight but no, here I am all pumped up. Hopefully the tiredness will kick in soon so I can get some sleep. I'm a little concerned about how my body will feel in the morning but that is what Tylenol 3 is for!

In all, this weekend was amazing and I am so glad my friend Glenda talked me into doing the race.

Bugaboo Training

This morning Tim and I went for a hike at Skaha Bluffs in preparation of our big hiking trip to the Bugaboos this July. If you click on the picture you will be able to read the sign and notice that is says it is for fit and agile people and since I had no trouble with the stairs or the hike, I must be fit and agile! However, at times my heart did feel taxed and poor Brodie had a hard time climbing over some of the big rocks. Glory, a friend from my work was over in the afternoon. She has caught the "bee fever" and is keeping a hive of bees at our place and learning everything she needs to know about bees from the Bee Man.









Even the chicken wants to know everything!














And look, there's the crazy chicken lady leading her flock through the orchard!







Tim and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this pas Friday. Hard to believe 22 years has gone by and I am amazed that he has stuck with me for this long. We went to Theos, a local Greek restaurant and then out to a play. It was a very enjoyable evening and I am looking forward to the next 22 years.