The Final Trek North

Our time in Glacier and Yoho National Parks was brief. Due to inclement weather we did not do any hiking and didn’t get our first glimpse of the Rockies until late in the day when the clouds began to lift. Once we were in Banff National Park we hiked the loop around Emerald Lake, this was Court’s first view of the incredible turquoise colour of lakes in The Rockies. The colour of the lakes and rivers is due to a combination of rock flour (fine silt eroded from glacial movement) and pristine water giving off a majestic turquoise colour.



Court and Aurora at Lake Louise

From Emerald Lake, we drove to a campground near Lake Louise for the night. This campground was surrounded by a live electric fence to keep the bears out! This was pretty wild! We rolled into the campground in the early evening and after dinner we went to an informative bear talk given by a Parks Canada interpreter. After this talk we were pretty excited to see a bear (from a safe distance).

Bear Jam, Park staff stopped the highway traffic in an attempt to reunite a mother bear with her cubs on the other side of the road.

On the 27^th we did the full tourist route, we saw Lake Louise, Banff (and the Banff Springs Hotel) and we were in our first “bear jam”. These locations were beautiful, no doubt; but they were packed with tourists (mostly European). We hiked Johnston Canyon Falls in the afternoon. This hike was about 5km and consisted of many suspended boardwalks lining the canyon walls and following the turquoise coloured river. There were two sets of falls and they were both beautiful.  We camped at Castle Mountain campground with plans to get up before the rest of the campers and hit the trails.

Suspended boardwalks at Johnston Canyon

The 28^th was a big day. We saw many mind-blasting things. Although we didn’t get up as early as we intended, when we got to the Castle Mountain Lookout trail there was only one other car in the parking lot. This hike was a 7.4km trail with 580m elevation gain. This was one of the highlights of Banff National Park for us. The view was spectacular and we had the whole trail and lookout to ourselves. We ate lunch at the top and enjoyed the panoramic view. When we got back to the parking lot there were probably 20 cars in the lot. Along the drive to the Columbia Icefields we stopped at Peyto Lake and Crowfoot Glacier.  



Brad on Castle Mountain Lookout



Peyto Lake

In the Columbia Icefields, we hiked to the Athabasca Glacier. The glacier was unreal. In just seven years since Brad was there last, there was notable difference in the size and appearance of the glacier. Seven years ago Brad and Alex walked out on the glacial toe, now a large meltwater river separates the trail from the glacier. The park has set up signage of furthest extent of the glacial toe since the 1840s. The speed at which the glacier is melting is enough to make you cry. In the past 100 years the glacier has lost 60% of its volume. It is forecasted to be completely gone in the next 100 years.

Athabasca Glacier



Year 2000 marker, note tiny person for scale.

After leaving the Athabasca Glacier we saw three bears; two black bears and a grizzly. The best sighting was in Jasper National Park where we saw a black bear munching away at some soapberries. We have tried these and I must say that this poor bear was either very hungry or has a very different sense of taste than we do, yick!

We stayed at Wabasso Campground for the night. It was another rainy evening (our 4^th in a row) so we used picnic shelter and played some cribbage.

The 29^th was another doozey. In the morning, we spent about two hours at Mount Edith Cavel. This could possibly be the ultimate trip highlight. While standing on the Angel Glacier (that’s right, standing on it) a massive portion of submerged glacial ice calved free and emerged to the surface. The surface of the water heaved and gave way as a tennis-court-sized chunk of ice exploded out of the glacial lake. The sight and sound were pretty scary and we both felt far too close for comfort. As rocks started to fall from behind me (Court) and towards the now turbulent waters, I worried I might be going for a hypothermic swim. We both made a pretty speedy dash off the glacier and onto solid ground. Not 30 minutes later we heard another terrible crashing sound, this time from the top of the glacier as a huge chunk of ice broke off and came crashing down the mountain. We watched as the meltwater waterfall turned into a slurry of rock, ice and water. Rocks tumbled out onto the glacier about a hundred meters from us.



For scale: the shear glacial face at the edge of the water (blue with brown stripes) is about 10 stories tall!

  

Newly emerged bergs!

The current size of Angel Glacier is minuscule compared to its coverage only a century ago. The glacier is melting fast (as we witnessed) and is predicted to be gone in three generations.  It was interesting to hike on the moraines and in the glacial spillway and to see new plant life struggling to eke out an existence in the gravel till.

We left Mount Edith and drove into the Jasper town centre. We walked the busy downtown, had a beer and chips at The Whistle Stop Pub and did some interneting. While enjoying the sunshine on a park bench we ran into a friend from Waterloo! Dan (who Court worked with at the Region of Waterloo) gave us a great recommendation for a must see in Jasper. So later in the afternoon we explored Pyramid Lake. It was a secluded sandy beach with great mountain views. We had a great dinner down by the beach and Aurora went for a big swim.

In the late evening we returned to Jasper and found a spot to boondock for the night. We sat on the tailgate drank beers, discussed past travels and future endeavors and counted train cars as they went past (one train had 160 cars – we figured about 3 km long).

The morning of the 30^th was sunny and bright. We drove north to the Miette Hot Springs. The spring was developed into four pools of various temperatures. We spent close to two hours dipping in each of the pools – it was refreshing and exhilarating to go from hot to cold (and vice versa). After our time at the springs, we said goodbye to Jasper and drove north to Grande Prairie. GP is a city of 50,000+ about an hour from Dawson Creek. We stopped here to have one last night ‘on the road’. Thus concluding our trip.

Today we will arrive in DC. Deep Breathe.

Trip Summary and Final Thoughts

What We’ll Miss

What We Wont Miss

·         Waking up in a new place every morning and asking “Where do you want to go today?” ·         Talking to fellow travelers ·         Constantly being surrounded by immense natural beauty ·         Cooking our camp favourites out of the drawer ·         The simplicity of life on the road, our greatest worries and concerns (where to camp for the night, what to eat for dinner and where to set up the tarp) are trivial at best.

·         Aurora’s tether and it’s aptitude to tangle (often around ankles) ·         Tarps. Period. ·         Awkwardly getting dressed in the back of the truck ·         Shaking out the sheets. Josie can attest to our facial expressions when we send up a cloud of dog hair, dander and grit. ·         Buying gas multiple times a week. ·         Sporadic showering

Thanks for following us along on our adventure. See you in the funny pages.

Peas and Love

Total Distance Traveled	14, 859Km
Number of Days on the Road	85
Total Nights in Hotel/Motel/B&B	0
Total Nights in Campground	26
Number of Meals Out	8
Number of Photos Taken	1156

Maple Ridge to the Rockies

For the first time in three months, Courtney and Brad were not together 24/7. I (Brad) had a canoe instructor course which left Courtney to explore Maple Ridge and the surrounding area. A little about the course: it was five days long and I was one of four students being taught by a master canoeist named Dave Woodridge. The course progressed through basic and advanced tandem and solo canoe paddling and finished with instructor training. I now have the ability to perform super cool paddling maneuvers and can operate canoe instruction courses that certify people with the BC canoeing association. It was a terrific week, I learned a ton and had a blast with the folks in the course. A few of highlights included:

·         Playing a game called ‘dead fish polo’ that involved flinging wet sponges at fellow participants

·         Learning a stroke called the ‘sculling pry’ that looks like you are making the canoe move away as if by magic

·         Learning to maneuver a canoe with no paddles by squatting at the extreme end of the canoe and bunny-hopping the canoe forward - this is quite a sight!

The canoe course changed locations daily so we traveled around the area visiting different communities and enjoying the hikes around the various lakes. Courtney spent the first couple days of the week hiking with the dog and exploring Maple Ridge and the second half of the week visiting with Josie.

After Brad finished the canoe course we rendezvoused at Josie’s and headed north to Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park. We stopped along the way in Squamish at the Howe Sound brewery for dinner and to pick up a few growlers (these jugs of beer look like giant Groelsh bottles and hold about 3 pints each, we are particularly fond of the Howe Sound Nut Brown) for the weekend. We drove through Whistler and continued north towards Birkenhead. It was a stunning drive and we even saw a black bear up on a cliff! Very cool!  It was about a 3 ½ hour drive and we arrived at the park around 10:00pm.

We camped Friday night on a logging road just outside the park.  Saturday was a beautiful and sunny day, the camp host said it was the first nice day in over a week! Lucky us J We set up camp within the provincial park and made a picnic lunch that we enjoyed by the lake. The water was incredibly cold but it didn’t stop Josie from taking a plunge. We hiked to Goat Lookout for a great view of the valley and surrounding snow capped mountains.

Aurora didn't mind the fridged temperatures and enthusiastically retreived sticks. 

In the afternoon we rented a canoe for 4 hours. We paddled around the lake with Brad as our new expert canoe guide. After paddling around and taking in the unreal surroundings for about an hour we pulled into a sheltered bay where Brad gave Josie and Court lessons in solo canoe strokes. It was a fast and furious lesson but it is plain to see that Mr. Booker has a lot of new canoe expertise. A favourite paddle stroke for all of us is the solo sculling pry.

Brad demonstrating some cool solo strokes for Jo and Court to try

In the evening we had a campfire and went for a midnight stroll for some spectacular star gazing by the lake. It was a stellar day.

On Sunday we packed up from our site and went to the day use area to soak up the beautiful views and have a picnic lunch. We were all on the road and heading our own ways by 1ish. We made it as far as Shaswap Lake Provincial Park. This was another beauty. We arrived late, about 7pm. But we spent Monday morning swimming in the lake. This lake was the perfect temperature for swimming. Court could have stayed in there for hours. It was awesome! From here it was on to Revelstoke. Another gem. We did a hike to a beautiful waterfall called Moses Falls, in the evening we enjoyed some live music in the closed off downtown core. The band was called The Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers. They were pretty fun to watch, 6 piece band with a tenor sax and trumpet.

Court at Moses Falls

Today we are driving through the mountains, headed for Yoho National Park. It is overcast right now but every once in a while we get a stunning view of snow capped mountains.

 

Next we are onto Lake Louise and Banff. Oh, and we've finished our belts, they are now tooled, dyed and cured.  Nice bums, eh ;)

Vancouver to The Okanagan

We finished our visit with Josie about a week ago. We spent our final weekend together exploring Commercial Drive, hiking in Lynn Valley and enjoying a free concert. The City of Vancouver is 125 years old this year and to celebrate, the city is funding all kinds of fun, free public events.  On Saturday night, we saw “The New Pornographers” and ate corn on the cob in Stanley Park. The weekend weather was beautiful, and since it was a free event, everyone and their brother was there. It was a bit of a challenge negotiating travel to the packed park. We walked from the sea bus (yup, there is a passenger ferry as part of the public transit in Vancouver) to the park, about a 40 minute walk. The city did offer a free shuttle but the wait would have been more than 40 minutes; so we walked amongst the crowd, like a herd of well trained sheep. After the performance we caught the free shuttle back to the sea bus terminal. It was a fun show.

At the New Pornographers free concert

We spent Sunday soaking up eachothers’ company.  We went to the farmers market, bought groceries and more yummy local suds. We passed the evening away by making maki rolls and playing Make n’ Break.

From Vancouver we drove about four hours to Manning Provincial Park in south central BC. We were shocked by the remoteness of southern British Columbia. The area is densely forested mountains and towns spaced hundreds of kilometers apart – it was important to fill up when fuel was available. Our campsite was again nestled in the mountains and backed onto a fast moving river. It rained in the evening so we cozied up in the back of the truck and read “The Long Walk”.  

Next, it was onto Princeton and Keremos. Keremos is the fruit stand capital of Canada and we got our fill of delicious fresh fruit and veggies. We got a ‘primitive camping’ recommendation at the visitors centre. Using some sketchy directions we found our way to Tunnel Mountain Forest Service Campground (there were 3 sites) along the Ashnola River. Our campsite was surrounded by Saskatoon Berries and we saw many lovely birds enjoying the ripening fruits. We ate some too but found them seedy and time consuming to eat. We did however add them to our gin and tonics in the evening.

We stayed here for two nights enjoying the serenity of the valley. On our second day, we had horizontal showers in the frigid Ashnola and dried off in the heat of the day on a perfectly shaped lawn chair rock. Later in the day we worked some more at our bow-drill fire starting technique. It was a success all the way round! Both of us got our tinder to flame up. What a thrill!

From here we drove back through Keremos, got more fruit and veggies (and delish homemade pakora) and drove to Okanagan Lake Provincial Park. On the way we stopped at the Penticton Public Library. The Okanagan Valley is a beautiful place. The mountains surround pristine looking lakes and there is more fruit than you can shake a stick at. We have eaten more cherries than is probably healthy, but they are so damn good!

While playing with Rora at our campsite in the Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, we roused our neighbour from his afternoon nap. He unfolded himself from his tent, sent out the peace sign and coolly strolled over to our table. We had an introductory conversation about our trips and when we asked how long he was on the road for, he shrugged and said, “I don’t know, whatever”. Amazing. We were immediately captivated by his chill vibes and friendly persona. We invited him to join us for dinner and he warmly accepted. Glen is a professional hockey coach, currently traveling around the west coast on his beautiful BMW touring motorcycle. We spent the night sharing stories and international experiences. Glen was a super cool guy we enjoyed his company immensely. In the morning we invited him for breakfast and we started our day with fresh cherry crisp and hot coffee.  It was a great experience and we hope we’ll cross paths with him again one day.

After our second free shower at Okanagan Lake PP we hit the road and headed for Peachland. This was another lovely little community along the same lake. We passed the day away checking out shops, hiking to Pincushion Mountain, eating lunch on a patio and searching the waters for Ogopogo (Okanagan’s version of the Loch Ness).  

Yesterday we drove from Peachland in the warm and sunny valley back west into the rain. It was an uneventful travel day. Tomorrow Brad starts his canoe certification course so we will be in the Maple Ridge/ Vancouver area for the week. In a week’s time we will be making the final trek north, up to Dawson Creek through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Back In Canada

We arrived in Victoria on the evening ferry. We cleared customs smoothly and were welcomed to our new home province. The ferry terminal in Victoria dropped us off in the heart of the downtown. We parked and walked the bustling streets. There were dozens of street venders and performers to entertain us as we walked. We found a nice city park in the suburbs to park for the night. We drank beers and played backgammon on the tailgate as the sun set.

Our next day in Victoria started with a trip to the library. We used the internet and researched topics such as fly fishing in BC, harmonica and pottery. We wandered the streets again and found a downtown jazz festival with live music. We got fantastic curry wraps for lunch and enjoyed the serenade. We left Victoria in the afternoon and pushed further north up Vancouver Island. We went to a jam-packed provincial park hoping to spend the night. The park had no vacant campsites but we did manage to use their showers and fill up our water jug as we drove through. Instead of the campground, we went to a movie theater, watched Bad Teacher (some inspiration for Brad) and camped in the parking lot.

The next day we enjoyed walks on a boardwalk and a picnic along the coast in Parksville. In the afternoon we continued north to Bowser to visit with our friends Aisling and Andre.  They are friends from Kingston and recently moved to a beautiful house along the coast of the Georgia Strait. We shared stories, cocktails and supper. The next morning we set a crab trap in the low tide and went on an exploration north on the island. We drove through Courtenay/Comox, Campbell River and on to Sayward; it was nice for us to take a backseat and have tour guides. We stopped to explore the towns and did a couple hikes into the temperate rainforests. We were back at their place around 7pm and began preparations for dinner. They had no boat to retrieve the crab trap; instead, Andre donned his full scuba gear and swam out for the trap. The trap only caught one crab, so Andre went hunting and returned with a mesh bag filled with five dungaree crabs. We had a feast of fresh crab, corn on the cob and asparagus quiche for dinner.



Andre returning with a crab bounty



Andre and Aisling - dynamo hosts

Before our departure from Bowser, Andre taught us how to start fire with a bow drill. What a time! The bow drill method of fire starting relies on a kit of: a slightly curved stick with a string (the bow), a spindle that spins in the bow, a bearing block to hold the spindle in place and board to receive the spindle and create the ‘ember’. Every little detail of the kit can make (or more likely break) your fire-starting abilities. We worked at it for hours to prefect the kit, the method and to eventually make a fire.

After much 'drilling' the ember was gently blown to flame

      We left Aisling and Andre’s place in the early afternoon, our stay was fantastic and definitely a trip highlight. We went to a provincial park near Nanaimo for the night. Upon arrival to the park, we scoured the forest for a dry, dead piece of western red cedar to make our own bow drill kit.  We spent the next morning building our kit and practicing the method – lots of smoke, but no flames yet.

We left our camp and headed to Nanaimo to meet Josie at the ferry terminal. We had a quick supper and ‘root beers’ (as far as the ferry terminal security is concerned) before heading south, back towards Victoria. We spend the night in Metchosin on the beach. We wandered down the beach to a few folks having a fire. We thought we might join their fire until they informed us that they, “had just done some drugs and shit was about to get real”. Feeling unwelcomed and unsure what ‘real’ meant, we decided not to join. Instead we sat further down the beach on some big driftwood and laughed the night away.

The next morning we drove to the trailhead of the Juan de Fuca trail at Sombrio Beach. We prepared our packs for a two night hike along the south coast. The trail was 7 kilometers of rise and fall topography along the Pacific. There was a welcome mist that kept the temperature prefect for slugging our heavy packs along the trail. With the regular rain that the coast receives, the trail was a muddy soup in many spots. Despite the mud, it was a beautiful trail with great views of the ocean and the mountains in Washington. Aurora thoroughly enjoyed the hike; she carried her own food and treats. She probably did the distance of the trail twice over with all her running back and forth. She had a great time except for crossing a 60 ft long suspension bridge which she was a little scared of.

We spent the night on Chin Beach; we had a fire and listened to the tide come close and the waves rolling throughout the night. The next day we were beach bums. The sun was out full and we relaxed on beach; taking naps and combing tide pools. We had a beautiful campsite; it looked like a tropical paradise. The hammock was up and heavily used. As the day progressed, the beach became quite busy with long weekend hikers. Tent spots were prime property and we guarded our site like trolls when the hordes of hikers approached.

The next day we were up at dawn and the first group to retrieve our food bag from the bear cache. We had no time piece (and no reason for one) but we assume we were on the trail before 8am. We hiked out like champs - in half the time it took to hike in. We were back at the truck at 11:11am. We left the park and bee-lined it to a fish’n’chip trailer outside the park. We had been dreaming about a greasy feed since we hit the trail.

After satisfying our grease-tooth we went to a rec centre to get clean. We showered, played in the pool (monkey in the middle, rope swing and diving board), and hit the hot tub. All cleaned up, we went to Victoria for a great night. We wandered around the craft markets with half of the Canadian population, went out for beer and apps at Surf Pub roof top then went to Irish Times for fantastic live music (and more beer ;) Check out Calvin Cairns for mind-blasting, toe-tapping fiddle playing. (yup, we bought the CD).

The next day we drove back towards Nanaimo. We searched along the coast, with the help of a backroads map, for a free campsite. We ended up in a reserve and had an interesting conservation with a fella that readily shared that he has killed three people in ‘boxing’ matches in his youth. He seemed friendly enough, but we decided to move on. After some searching, we found the Blue Heron Park to camp in for the night. We talked to many locals about our truck set-up and made friends with a cool dude who welcomed us to call him up if we are ever in the area again. We sat out along the shore and drank “Summer Picnic’s” (gin, tonic, cucumber and fresh ground pepper, yum). We ate a great dinner and played several hands of cards by lantern light.

The next day we took the ferry from Nanaimo into Horseshoe Bay. From the ferry we drove about 25 minutes to another great hike (man, this province is full of ‘em), Shawamus Chief.  The hike was only 2.5 km long, but had 500 m gain in elevation! What a view, and what a work out!  After this hike, we had earned a good meal and a tall beer, so we went to Howe Sound Brew Pub in Suquamish. We ate delish woodfired pizzas and drank tasty Rail Ale Nut Brown. Great meal, great service and a Jim-fantastic price of Josie’s treat! Next it was ‘home’ to Josie’s lovely apartment in North Vancouver.

The four of us on "The Chief"

Now, Josie can’t get rid of us and we are becoming very comfortable in her pretty and well appointed apartment. There is even a pull out, (we haven’t slept indoors for 2 months); there are serious benefits to the indoors, namely a bathroom mere steps away. We have been having a great time here in North Van. Yesterday we went kayaking, Court got her hair cut, and we did errands. Josie has been keeping us busy with great hikes and recommendations in the city, but mostly we have been chilling out, and enjoying this vacation from our vacation. Tough Life.

Courtney's new do

Josie in her favourite piece of furniture

Next on to Whistler and then the Okanogan.

Couchsurfing in Oregon to National Forests of Washington and into Canada

Surprise! We are back in Canada! Last night we took the ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria! So, what have we been up to for the past week? Well, let us fill you in!

We had our first couch surfing experience in Eugene, OR with a cool dude named Kaz. He made us and, a fellow surfer from Montreal, a great dinner. He took us on a walking tour of the up-and-coming area of Eugene. We went into a cool little pub with live music and tried some local suds. It was a great experience; Kaz had lots of recommendations for us to check out in Oregon. He was also a backyard gardener which we of course love. The season on the west coast has been very damp and cold so the growing season has been stunted. Despite the wet season, we have had nothing but sun. During our whole stay in the great USA we had only 3 days with rain. We seem to be delivering summer instead of chasing it ;)

We left Eugene and headed to the Willamette (pronounced Wil-AM-it) National Forest for some free camping. Here we stayed along the McKenzie river. The river was the clearest, fastest coldest river we’d ever seen. We walked out across the river on a huge fallen tree (which by Ontario standards might as well have been a bridge) but quickly decided that a fall into this river would likely be the end of one’s life.  We felt much safer back on dry land. The water was an unbelievable colour of blue and the river was radiating cold air. We found our campsite by driving down an unmarked single track dirt road until we reached a clearing with a fire pit next to the river; it was a beautiful find. We drank beers next to the river and practiced fly fishing in the fast waters. 

It was a drizzly day when we continued into the forest northeast towards the summit of the Cascade Mountains. We spotted a sign for hot springs. We followed the road to a ‘by-appointment-only resort’. We asked a lady camping along the river if there were free hot springs. She happily gave us directions, saying “listen close to Mamma Spencer, now”. We parked along the road and took a subtle trail into the forest. The trail led to a flood-ruined building next to the river. There were remanents of tile flooring and bathtub-like depressions. There were a variety of hoses coming out of a spring and filling the tubs. The water was scorching and it took a long time to adjust. The hot bath was just what we needed on the cold drizzly day. Unlike sulfur hot springs, these ones were odour free, a decided bonus. We relaxed with a Russian couple in the hot baths until a crowd of people crashed our serine party, then we headed out.

We carried on into the mountains and as we climbed in elevation the snow depth increased greatly. There was four feet of snow covering the roads where we wanted to go, so we had to turn around and detour our route. Thwarted again by snow, this time in late June. Who knew?

We drove towards Portland to avoid the snow and cut back east into the Columbia river gorge. Since we were now out of the National Forest and a few days out from our last shower we stayed at Ainsworth State Park. This was a decent park, at $20 for a full hook-up we were sold. We charged everything that charges, filled our water jug and each had 2 free hot showers. It was a good use of $20 we think. Although we are usually pretty regimented in our meal times, this night we didn’t eat dinner until 10pm. We spent the night chatting with a mid-aged couple from Colorado. They were big talkers and to be quite frank, we were both thankful to be able to talk with someone other than our spouse. After 6 weeks of 24/7 presence, new people are welcome for conversation. They shared some beer with us and we shared some snacks with them. It was a fun night by lantern light.

On the 20^th we did a hike up to the 6^th tallest falls in the US. Multnomah Falls were pretty, we walked the 11 switchbacks to the top.

As we noted in our previous posting, many of our days begin with an Aurora paw to the face. Unfortunately on the 21^st she made direct contact with a left hook to Brad’s open eye. Luckily the eyeball wasn’t cut and no permanent damage is evident. Brad spent the day in the passenger seat  involuntarily ‘crying’ and Aurora was less than apologetic.

Before crossing the border into Washington we stopped at a U-pick strawberry farm to celebrate summer solstice. We had a fest of fresh fruits and veggies for dinner (along with a couple bottles of wine). 

Riding on the running boards searching for salmonberries.

Salmon Berry Jam: While trying to find a free place to camp in  a National Forest in Washington, we came across an extensive patch of salmonberries (a relative to the raspberry) along the sides of an old logging road. While Brad drove, I rode on the outside of the truck standing on the running boards hopping on and off to collect the ripe berries. It was a hoot. We both agree that if Mom (Eva) was with us she would be riding on the driver side of the truck, likely with a berry basket around her waist fashioned from an old rice-milk jug and some rope. (Wish you could have been there, Mom!) We made the jam that night with the berries we collected along with some apple for natural pectin and about a cup of sugar. It's delish!

Next we were up in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. We stayed in a campground along Quinault Lake surrounded by beautiful rainforest. On the morning of the 23^rd we did a great hike through some lovely forests and along the lake. It was a great way to start the day. We broke camp around 1 and headed north into the Olympic National Forest where we were tipped off to an amazing campsite along the river. We were at the confluence of two rivers, names unknown, where we spent the next day and a half. The waters were so pristine. Our campsite was surrounded by rainforest sized ferns, tall trees and lots of bright green moss. It was a sight! Brad practiced his fly-fishing. His roll-cast and false casting are coming along swimmingly (alas, no fish for dinner).

Another beauty (&free) campsite

Our second day at this site was on again, off again rain. After about 16 hours of this we figured that we weren’t going to get the sunny day we were hoping for. And once the tarp became saturated with water, it stopped working as a tarp and started acting more like a sieve. 

Aurora wasn't a fan of all the rain. She would pout beside the truck to be let in! What a suck!

Due to the heavy rains, we made lunch and headed for Port Angeles.  Although it wasn’t our plan, we boarded the 5:30pm ferry to Victoria and said a hasty ‘goodbye’ to the States. (We rushed our last hour in this fair country by booking it to the grocery store to buy 4 packs of our new favourite brand of cookies and stock up on salsa verde and cheap American Beer.) 

We arrived in Victoria around 7pm with 3+hours of sunlight left in the day. We scouted a place to boondock for the night and drove back downtown to explore this beautiful city. 

Now we are off to visit friends and family in our new home province!

Peas and Love