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The flight to Toronto was pretty much uneventful, though it did break Dianne's principle of not crossing the Atlantic on less than four engines, we only had two. But there was plenty of leg room and wide seats, so the flight was comfortable. As we crossed the Labrador Sea between Greenland and Canada, icebergs came into view. On the approach into Toronto we had misty sightings of the CNN tower and the Skydome.
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On to Vancouver. Got up at 6.00 to catch our 9.30 flight, but we could have stayed in bed longer. Most of Toronto's Asian population seemed to be booked on the three morning flights going out to Canada's west coast. We had to wait for over an hour in a long queue to get to the check-in whilst late arrivals for earlier flights were taken to the front. But at last we were booked in, all we then had to do was make the long walk to the very opposite end of the building to the departure gate.
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On the flight were seat next to a young Chinese man who had studied English at Beijing University. He had been at the Tienaman Square demonstrations in 1989 and was disappointed that the high hopes of those days had been crushed and was now planning to live abroad to further his aspirations.
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He re-enforced the views that we had built up of China the year before, of a country struggling to balance the high hopes of its young educated population with its economic needs. We felt that in China there were now many freedoms but he explained that although he was free to express his views in general conversations, if he stood up at a meeting and expressed them then he could be in trouble. Also, exit visas had become more difficult to obtain recently.
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We were collected from Vancouver Airport by John and Lynda who drove us to their home in North Vancouver, where we would be staying for the next week. Still catching up on jet-lag, we relaxed watching the women's under 19's soccer world cup. But as soon as it was finished we were taken for our first hike, just to stretch our legs, up the Grouse Grind, a steep 800m climb to the gondola station on Grouse Mountain. This is a walk that many Vancouverites use just for the exercise, we completed it in a very satisfying sub sixty minutes..
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At the top there were fine views over Vancouver and a number of visitor attractions, a cafi, walks, wood carvings and some grizzly bears in a large enclosure, that we watched for a while. The bears were ones that had been orphaned and if not held in captivity would have had to be put down.
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Rather than walk back we caught a cable car that dropped us at a stomach churning speed back down to the bottom.
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Drove out to Squamish and climbed up the Stawamus Chief 2nd peak (550m). With the rain falling gently we make our way up through firs and occasional cedars, climbing steeply at all times. The Canadians seem to like to take their mountains head on. On a sunny day the views and scenery would have been magnificent, unfortunately it wasn't one of those days. To help us on our way steps had been constructed from rocks and timber, with bridges here and there. The top consists of bare granite, to scale it we were provided with chain hand rails and at one point a ladder. The rocks weren't too slippery so long as we avoided the tree roots and chose our steps carefully.
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On the way back down we diverted by Shannon Falls, an extremely picturesque waterfall that despite the rain was attracting many visitors.
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Finished off with a drive up to Pemberton to walk in the sunshine along the Green River up to the powerful Nairn Falls.
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Over night there had been a heavy rain at Whistler Village and high on the mountains fresh snow had fallen.
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Being optimistic, despite the unpromising start, we drove to Rubble Creek to follow the trail up to Gariboldi Lake. Unlike previous days the track was gentler and the surface was reasonably even.
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Most of the trail was through heavy forest set on the sides of steeply sloping hills. Moss and ferns grew between the trees and Spanish Beard hung thickly from the branches and on the trunks. Occasional Douglas Squirrels scurried by.
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After 90 minutes of steady climbing up a zigzag path we reached a look out point to view The Barrier, a large slab of lava, the face of which gave way and crashed into the creek 150 years ago, so resulting in the name of the creek.
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At the look out point chipmunks kept us entertained.
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Garibaldi Lake
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Returning to the trail we continued climb past Barrier Lake and Lesser Garibaldi Lake. As we gained height the forest thinned out a little and patches of woodland flowers became more numerous. We reached Garibaldi Lake in time for lunch, just as the rain started to fall. The lake is fed by glaciers giving it an beautiful emerald colour, overlooking the lake are the mountain peaks of ?, unfortunately they were in cloud.
By the time we had finished lunch the rain had also stopped so we made our way back the way we had come. By the side of the lake a dipper amused us bobbing up and down.
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Took a short detour to the Taylor Camp Site with patches of alpine meadow, but at this time of the year they did not have the colours that they would have in spring.
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Continued back down the trail, at one point being entertained by very tame whiskey jacks that would fly down and settle on outstretched hands.
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For the evening, as we had never eaten Japanese food before, we went to a Japanese Restaurant to eat sushi. It worked out very reasonable at only C$15 each, even though we ate our fill on a variety of dishes.
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For a rest day from walking we travelled over to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, the provincial capital of British Columbia. It meant an early start, as the journey was 3 1/2 hours starting first with a 75 minutes bus journey from the downtown bus station to the ferry terminal. Followed by a 90-min ferry crossing and another 45-min bus journey.
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With the sun shining brightly and a flat sea, the ferry sailing between the Gulf Islands in the Georgia Strait was pleasant and beautiful. The area on Vancouver Island between the ferry terminal and Victoria was a bit of a surprise, we were expecting more trees but it is mostly farmland and commerce with quite a high population.
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On reaching Victoria our first call was to the excellent visitors centre where we picked up information on a walking tour of the city, and then undertook one of the walks described. The city was a mix of old and new which co-existed exceedingly well to provide a lively and attractive environment.
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For lunch we visited a cafe on the wharf for a tasty halibut burger and a salmon burger with a chowder, at a very reasonable C$10.50 each.
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In the afternoon, having already seen enough of buildings, we walked around the southern shore of Victoria, parts of it were quite picturesque with piles of driftwood washed up on the pebble shore, but much of it was also boring with the route running through expensive housing.
Returned by bus and ferry to central Vancouver and then made use of the Skytrain and Seabus to get back to Northern Vancouver.
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Tallest Totempole
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Another early start in order to get out of Vancouver before the rush hour for a drive over the border down to Mount Baker in Washington with another Vancouver friend Arlene.
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Had a short delay at US immigration whilst we were questioned on our travel plans and were told that our visa would expire on 4 November (we had not planned to leave Hawaii until the 9 November). Then we realised that the immigration official was miscalculating and that 90 days would be 4 December. For the last week they had been issuing visas that expired after 60 days and not realised it! It was a good job it wasn't a major crossing point.
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The route we planned to walk was the Skyline Trail on Mount Baker. The trailhead was at the end of a forest track high up the side of a hill so reducing the height we would have to climb.
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As we climbed the sun peeked through the trees ahead of us. Nearing the ridge, after an hour the trees thinned out to be replaced by meadow, still abundant with flowers even at this time of the year. Large patches of snow were all around as we walked along the crest.
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Llama
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Although the views that we had were spectacular, many peaks, including Mount Baker were in cloud and so we turned around to return to the car to try a different track that might provide better views.
As we descended we were surprised to meet a group coming up the other way with their kit packed on the back of a llama!
For the afternoon we drove around to Artist Point, at 5100ft the highest point that can be reached by car, to walk along the Chain Lake trail in the hope of getting better views. Mount Baker was still mostly in cloud though in did clear slightly now and then to enable us to take a photo.
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As we walked along the level path a shrill whistle could be heard, we were told that this was the hoary marmot warning any other marmots to keep its distance.
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After 30 min it started to drizzle and the views were not improving, so we returned to the car, and back to Vancouver.
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A visit to 'The Tomahawk' restaurant for an excellent meal consisting of soup, grilled chicken with rice, and a slice of pie all for C$12 each, completed the day.
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For today's walk we started off from Horseshoe Bay and walked up along the Baden-Powell Track with the first objective being Eagle Bluff, a rock promontory, and then Black Mountain. The start of the trail, as with most trails in BC, was through natural pine forest. Rising slowly, and although narrow in places, the going was firm under foot with scattering of pine needles and fallen tree trunks lying around.
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As we climbed up towards Eagle Bluff, we came upon a bolder field where we were able to enjoyed a steep scramble. Along the sides of the path red huckleberry grew.
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Stopped above Eagle Bluff for a snack and to enjoyed the view over Horseshoe Bay before continuing on to pass numerous small lakes, often containing water lilies that were still in flower; around the rim were the prints of animals that had been to drink, including what we thought was probably a lynx.
Finally we reached the peak of Black Mountain and made our way down past the top of a ski lift along a forest road to Black Mountain Lodge, with Steller Jays chattering away near by.
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Bowen Island
in Horseshoe Bay
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Just a short morning's walk as we needed to get cleaned up ready for our next trip. Drove over to Lynn Creek, a forested area close to the city with extensive maintained trails that were being much used by hikers and bikers as well as people just out walking their dogs.
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The water in the Lynn River, that runs through the area, was quite low but the falls were still picturesque. The waters were also managed to encourage fish, especially salmon, to spawn in the river.
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The woodland had been extensively felled in the early 1900's and most of the current trees were no more than 100 years old. The huge stumps of the old trees which could live for over a 1000 years were all around some with new trees growing from them. Alders, that are quicker to grow in cleared areas, were also abundant.
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After 3 hours of exploring the area we adjourned for lunch.
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Up at a reasonable hour to pack and drive over to the Vancouver bus station for our Greyhound journey down to Seattle.
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The first part of the trip was on the same road as we travelled on our way to Baker, earlier in the week. The bus driver provided light heart instructions on the bus facilities and the requirements of US customs and immigration.
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Crossing over the Fraser River, with rafts of timber floating in it, brought us out onto the flat farmland to the south of Vancouver
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For once crossing over into the US was the most relaxed and informal, and soon we were on our way again across the Washington State.
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Almost on time we pulled into Seattle Greyhouse bus station, with a long queue at the ticket desk and no information boards, we were unsure of whether we needed to catch the bus out to the airport from there or some other point. So we butted in at the front of the queue as soon as possible and found we had to walk a couple of blocks to the pick up point. Initial impression of Seattle was not good.
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Deposited our bags in a locker and set off to get something to eat and find the pick up point. With time to spare we strolled out to REI equipment store for some shopping before catching the airport bus to and then a shuttle to the hotel for our nights stop before joining the Canadian Parks Walk.
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