Red River Gorge

I've been in Kentucky for just over one week now, and the trip is going well so far. I'm staying in a cottage near the gorge with a few friends, and am enjoying socializing with them and climbing, of course. The rock here is very abrasive, so I'm taking lots of rest days, but that's good both for my shoulder health and for my latest guidebook project (I can do a lot of work when I'm resting).



The fall colours are beautiful right now, and I'm enjoying being out east and hiking in the fresh, fall air. This area is extremely crowded right now, but on the plus side it's nice to meet new people and have others to talk to when at the cliffs. We met a nice couple from the Canary Islands yesterday who recommended it highly for a future Christmas trip.


Health-wise, my shoulder is doing well (knock on wood). I'm climbing reasonably well and managed to complete one route I was happy with (Angry Birds, 5.13c). Hopefully the trend will continue for the next couple of weeks.



I miss Pam and Elise a lot, but am having regular phone and video-call conversations with them to stay abreast of what they are doing back home. We are all looking forward to a winter of skiing and our Christmas trip to Italy!

Marc

Thanksgiving

We travelled to Penticton for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was a last-minute decision, but the rainy forecast in Squamish pushed us in that direction. After three weeks of storms, it was nice to dry out in the pine forests surrounding the Skaha bluffs. We stayed with Casey and Brenda and enjoyed their company and hospitality. It was a relaxing weekend. Pictures...

In the new parking lot for the Skaha bluffs. This new parking area has really made climbing here more pleasant. The approaches to the cliffs are much nicer, allowing for shorter days and hikes with kids. The old approach was arduous and involved a serious climb up a never-ending set of stairs.


Casey, Pam and Elise after a nice day out at "Flake Cliff". Elise is holding up a bag of rocks. More about that later...


Elise climbed a number of routes over the weekend. Here she is climbing at the right-hand end of Red Tail wall. She also climbed two good routes on the Daycare cliff. Her climbing skills are definitely improving, and she absolutely loved climbing on the steep indoor wall at Casey and Brenda's house!




In the parking lot. She made up this photo on her own with no suggestions from me.


On Saturday, we toured around and did a few different activities, including visiting the new swimming pool in Penticton which is amazing! The waterslide is huge! This photo was taken on a nature hike at the north end of Vaseaux Lake, which we enjoyed on a sunny morning.


Elise on the boardwalk.



Poison Ivy! We taught Elise the phrase "leaves of three, let them be" and she repeated it all weekend.


That's definitely not a photograph of the Coast!


Elise has taken quite an interest in geology now. We found an old rock collection in the basement and gave it to her, and now she's obsessed with them and with collecting rocks when we climb. Casey pointed us to this road cut near his house that had some very interesting rock types and intrusions. We spent some time on Saturday morning collecting rocks. I asked her what her plans are now for the future - marine biology or geology? She's now leaning toward geology!



Casey and Brenda have a new cat, Coal. He's a rescue and he's a wonderful cat - very friendly. We all enjoyed his company over the weekend. This cat has it made!


It's back to school and work now. I leave for Kentucky next Saturday and Grandma Bourdon will be visiting over Halloween while I'm gone. After that, skiing and then Italy! I read a news item last night predicting that this will be the coldest winter on record for Vancouver! Hopefully that means lots of snow, and not just cold weather!

A Milestone

Elise started kindergarten today, and it felt like quite a significant event, both for her and for us. I cannot begin to convey how excited she has been about this. She's talked about it for months. In fact, as we drove back from our weekend in Washington yesterday evening, she reminded us over and over that today was the big day! It's so cute she's so excited, but I'm sure that she'll be singing a very different song in ten years or so...


We had a nice weekend in Washington, although it involved much driving. We left Friday morning and drove to Coupeville and caught the ferry to Port Townsend. It was a glorious day and we enjoyed the 30-minute trip across which, by the way, only cost $14.00!!!


View of Mt. Baker from the ferry.


Once on the other side, we drove to Lake Ozette in the Olympic National Park, stopping along the way to pick up our backcountry permit and bear-proof food container. When we arrived at the parking lot, we did some last minute gear sorting and then hiked three miles in to the Sand Point beach area. The hike was along mostly flat boardwalk, which was perfect for Elise. She kept commenting on how big our packs were (ours, not hers).


As we got closer to the beach, we could hear the roar of the waves through the forest. Elise seemed quite taken by the fact that we were NOT going back to the car that night. Upon arrival, we choose a place above high tide on the sand and pitched our tent. Mistake number one: putting the tent right near the access trail for the beach (loud and drunk hikers bothered us well into the night). Mistake number two: not putting the fly on the tent immediately. Little did I know the marine fog and mist would slowly soak anything exposed as the temperature dropped throughout the evening. Luckily, nothing go too wet... Beach camping is new to me - lessons learned!


Strange tracks in the sand. We'd seen elk in this area before, and wondered if that's what made these impressions.

The beachcombing was good, but not as good as around Tofino the weekend prior. We did see a few interesting creatures, including this sea star.

Truth be told, Elise spent almost all of her waking time "minnowing", in other words, catching small sculpin with her fish net. She is absolutely obsessed with this activity right now and it can go on for hours if unchecked. In fact, she'll stand in ice cold water so long that she gets mildly hypothermic and we have to drag her out shivering. She is pleased in this picture because she's captured a couple of lunkers - one that's at least an inch long!

The sunset was beautiful...



There are sea stacks in this area, making the landscapes very dramatic.

After dark, we retired to the tent and played cards. This is the point at which my camera battery died. I put in the spare battery (carrying a spare is smart, right?) and the display said "battery exhausted! Pam looked at me and said, "You brought the charger, right?" Not to the beach I didn't! That would be trip mistake/lesson three I guess: Always check to make sure the spare battery is charged before carrying your camera into the backcountry.

Anyways, this is my last picture of the weekend. Enjoy...

Vancouver Island

We arrived home from the Rockies after a long, but uneventful 12-hour drive. The trip was good, and we felt like we'd had a nice summer vacation. Here's a few stray pictures from our last few days:

Climbing at Carrot Creek. Our last week was quite hot and this location is north facing beside a cool creek. It was a good place to escape the heat and Elise enjoyed playing in the water. This is me at the crux of American Standard, 5.13b.


Elise making her own pizza at the Flatbread Co., a popular local pizza restaurant. She asked about this for weeks, and we finally relented. She looks pleased...


On my last day in the Rockies, Derek and I hiked far into Echo Canyon and climbed an excellent 7-pitch route called "The Tall Storey", 5.11c. The rock was excellent and the climb stayed in the shade for most of the day, which provided perfect summer conditions. Derek let me lead the entire route, which was a nice treat on such good stone. Thanks Derek! These are all pictures of Derek on the climb.





A couple of days after returning to Squamish, we headed off to Vancouver Island for the Labour Day weekend. We are trying to pack lots of outdoor activities into the summer and fall because Pam is starting work full time and Elise is going to Kindergarten this year! Preparation for the weekend was rushed, but we had a really nice time once we got across the straight. We climbed two days at Horne Lake and spent some memorable time at Pacific Rim National Park - a real treat! Elise enjoyed the ferry ride, swimming in the lakes, camping and, of course, the beach!

Here we are cooking dinner in the Wikininnish parking lot at Pacific Rim National Park.


We were super lucky to get the last walk-in camping spot at the national park campground - we were prepared to sleep in the van)! This is a pancake breakfast, again in the parking lot (because it was sunny and warm).


The beach combing was superb. We went down to Green Point at low tide and found tons of interesting sea creatures. Elise with a large starfish...


Goose neck barnacles.


Elise is obsessed with catching minnows. Much of the weekend was devoted to this pursuit, both in freshwater and in saltwater.


The starfish were thick!




Sea anemones.



Big waves at Green Point below the campground.


We spent an evening at Wikinnish walking the beach, looking for shells and enjoying the view. The sunset was truly spectacular. I couldn't stop taking pictures. These are a couple of my favourites.



We spent our last evening in Nanaimo where we had a good Mexican meal and walked the seaside promenade, watching people fishing for salmon at the river mouth and for crab off the pier. We got home around midnight - it was a long day! Next weekend, we are planning a short backpacking trip to Sand point at the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. We'll camp overnight at the beach will be a first for Elise. So far, September is starting with beautiful weather in Sqaumish. We hope it stays that way!

Marc