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 ;)