Big Red

The snow has finally started falling and the mountain operations have finally opened. Missed the opening weekend due to a quick but important visit to Winterpeg (it was good to finally feel a real cold though) and a quick week of working have left me without a full day to actually explore the mountain. Hopefully that will change tomorrow and I will be able to shred it up!

But when there is a month between being hired and the mountain opening, one gets antsy to actually ski regardless of the effort that it takes. Time to get the hiking boots and shoulder geared up for some boot packing trips to the top!

The first picture is verrry early hike up. The mountain there is Red Mountain, we (Christine and Todd from the Hostel in Rossland) hiked inbetween two mountains, that was enough hiking...

But ended up with a good pair of rock skis as the snow was all powder and no base....

But that did not detere us from another gallop up the mountain, this time to the very top of Granite Mountain beside Red which offers much more terrain. Erik is the other fellow in the picture, the freestyle pro roomate here in Trail.

 So a 3.5 hour hike up the hill along the ski out brought us to the top of Granite Mountain.

Oh right and of course Naomi stopped by for a visit and was the official photographer of this trip.


But after 3.5 hours, spirits were still great, perhaps it was from walking past all the untracked pow on the runs on the way up, or the fact that it was actually snowing, or maybe it was the fact that we actually had hot coffee when it was -15 around us, but most likely spirits were high because no matter what, it was going to be a great ride down after the effort it took to get to the top.

And it was a great 30 min ride to the bottom, well the last half was quite icy and chunky, but nothing beats untouched pow! no matter how bad we skied. So Erik and I actually did a couple of trips like that, you know it kills a whole day, which counts for something. But now that the lifts are open, it only takes 20-30 minutes to get to the top and much less walking, but there is a greater appreciation shared among all of us of innovation in the ski industry from 100 years ago when the Rossland ski club first started skiing on Red Mountain. Before all those lifts and parking lots and money for lift tickets.

Anyways... so that is how I spent a few days lately, work has taken over but yea will hopefully make it up tomorrow! Would love to hear from anyone reading this! if anyone is reading this.... Thanks!

Its Been Awhile (Continued)

So, hopefully I haven't lost too many readers with my lack of updates. It is surprising how the day goes by when there isn't a to do. I have been meaning to write something here for a week now but just never got around to it. What have I been doing? I am not too sure....

Well first things first. With snow and rain falling fast on the coast mountains, skiing is in the front of my mind, and has been for awhile. My last update was waiting to hear from a interview I had at Red Mountain. Well after waiting most of the day, pacing around whereever I was and contemplating what to do, I got the good news phone call! So officially I will be working at Red Mountain (http://www.redresort.com/) in the rental shop/retail!! Rossland is near by, but it is a little expensive... so I will be spending my evenings eating smoke (http://www.trailsmokeeaters.com) in Trail (about 10 km away down the valley). So that solves that.... But the mountain has not seen the snow or rain that whistler, mt washington etc has seen. So I think it won't open until Dec 18th. So what to do until then? I did go for a hike up and ski down a little while ago with some people from the hostel in Rossland. That was awesome and I do have pictures but I forgot the cable to connect my camera... But the snow was up to my knees and got a few good turns in and hit some serious rocks but it was all fun.

So, I have about a month. Well... I haven't been this close to Calgary in a loooong time (I can't remember the last time... maybe I was 12?) so why not head out to Calgary and see my cousin Lucas and Chris and uncle Harold. So that has eaten up a week and that is where I am currently. Unfortunately, both the BC Lions and Stampeders lost yesterday so the Grey Cup being held here at the university next Sunday doesn't hold my attention as much, although I know the rider fans love to party so I am sure it will be fun... I did make it to a flames game as well.... haha it was wierd as a canucks fan but alright as the Blackhawks destroyed the flames 7-1. So a big thank you to Chris for showing me around and taking me to the game, Uncle Harold, and Lucas for having an awesome place to stay on the campus of the University of Calgary! I will have to repay the favour at some point....

And yea... that is life right now.... Ol' Betsy is still running great, but we'll see how she handles the cold and snow and such. Spirits are high and life is good! So hopefully I can post a few pictures eventually and hopefully a few people are still reading... if you do let me know how your doing!

Its been awhile

Wow, over a month ago since the last post. It has been a wild ride the past month and its not over or even close to being over. The dream/plan was to go in search of snow and fun for the winter. It has taken me to places such as Penticton (Apex Mountain), Kimberly, Nelson, Grand Forks, Oliver. Lots of small towns along highway 3. It has been great to tour the area but not much happening in the way of employment.

I am currently in Rossland, near Trail. Just an awesome little town that I think regardless I would like to stay at for the season. Red Mountain is 5 minutes up the highway and offers the small ski resort atmosphere that I have been searching for. I really hope it works out here and I will have much more tales to bring forth soon. The blog and the nomading isn't done yet. Will it ever be done? haha I have no idea.... But tune in and I'll let ya know.

Fraserbench Farms and the Cariboo (My thank you)

So fall has hit and the leaves are changing and it is all beautiful and all that. The changing of the season has a new meaning for me though because my time in the Cariboo and the Chilcotin area has come to an end, for the time being anyways...

It was a very special time for me and a a lot of people have contributed to that awesome experience. For everyone and anyone that I have met and actually reads this... THANK YOU!!

First and foremost, Naomi has been my connection and travel partner and positive spirit that was needed to experience everything the past few months, basically my in. (p.s. sorry Naomi, had to post a picture of you without your permission..... I think it's a good picture though)

Of course a biiiig thank you! to Dave and Diane Dunaway (Naomi's uncle and aunt) at Soda Creek! Naomi and I stayed with them for a few weeks in August and helped with various stuff around the farm including bee keeping which I would never had imagined doing! The picture is of Diane passing a couple of frames, notice me being tough in the gloves handling the frames with Diane doing the bee keeping without any gloves. I got stung a few times but not near as many and it probably hurt a lot more to me as well. The other picture is an aerial view of the ranch and surrounding fields and the river is the mighty Fraser River that empties out near Vancouver.

So that connection allowed us to meet Charlie and Lynda at Fraserbench farms down the road. They needed a farm sitter for a few weeks and so what else were Naomi and I going to do? Our time at Fraserbench involved getting up early to record the temperature, harvest vegetables, bake, cook, pickle, jam anything possible, and of course the Williams Lake farmers market on Friday mornings! A biig thank you to Charlie and Lynda if you read this, and sorry about the bear getting in.... I think I saw it crossing the river a day before we left. In the morning I was just looking out at the river and thought I saw a log in the river. I watched it for a bit and realized it wasn't following the current of the river. It was going against the current. After a few minutes this black shape got to the other side, got up onto the banks and walked into the forest. It was big, black/dark brown, and while I couldn't see very well.... it kind of looking like it was on two legs... I am thinking sasquatch, but most likely it was a bear swimming across to the other side. Well, where it got up and ran into the forest is about 1 km down the road from the farm...

Of course it was great to meet everyone else in Williams lake, Jean (Naomi's 95 year old grandma with the spirit of someone in her early 20's) and Connie (Diane's mom). And Chris and Terri who were trying to make a go of an organic farm in Williams lake and experienced a ridiculous thunder storm out at their farm one evening.  And everyone else I talked to, saw, or whatever else the connection. It all contributed to a very memorable experience and left a great feeling about the area in my mind. Thank you!

So that is it for the "north" for now. Where to now? I haven't quite formulated a plan yet, but then again I rarely have a plan, but I don't even have an idea so it is wide open. All that I know is that I haven't experienced the Rockies, okanagon, interior, kootney's and that whole area of B.C. so perhaps that will be the next place to go. All I know is that I want to ski/snowboard/snowshoe basically anything outdoors in the winter... So I suppose that is an idea, plan, whatever you call it.

But I'll leave this post with a few pictures of Soda Creek townsite, the cemetery with bones on the ground no less, the prison, and of course the social house with a movie theatre still "in tact".

Adventureland!

Hey all! Sorry for the lengthy reply, I know my last one was vague and yea this one might be as well but maybe with a few pics to tide you over. I will leave it to you to look these places up... I know I could put some sort of google earth graphic or something... but too lazy at the moment...

but lets start where we left off. So there is a wilderness lodge on Whitton lake called Nuk Tessli, here is the link http://www.nuktessli.ca/. It took a $60, 20 minute float plane trip in from Nimpo Lake on Highway 20, about 4 hours west of Williams lake. Naomi was my connection as she is friends with the owner, Chris. The picture to the right is the sunrise and a few of the monarch ice field.

It was quite the experience but it was all about hiking the area. In 4 days there we climbed a few peaks, one being Wilderness mountain and slept on the beach on Wilderness Lake. The following picture is of Wilderness Lake in the morning.

And the next picture is of the peak, just surrounded by other peaks and rocks and lakes and not a whole lot else. It was quite the hike, and quite the humbling experience!

This is all well and good but there is a forest fire in the region. The knott lake fire is raging over a ridge from the lodge so we had to go see it. That was the next hike and here is the few of the fire.

So after a 12 hour hike out of there back to "civilization".... it was time for another adventure back to Williams Lake and the farm sitting gig at Fraser Bench farms in Soda Creek.

And what else is in the area but more forest fires. Now we took a dusty road down to chilko lake. On the way back there was a "shortcut" towards Williams lake and along the chilko river to Alexis Creek. There is a raging fire along this river that someone warned us about but that was a week before, it had goten cold and a bit of rain so the fire had to have subsided, this is the lava canyon fire. Well driving along 10 km we hit the first warning of a fire devestated area.

But the road was clear up to this point at least so it was passable and so we kept going. Choppers flying over head. Real smokey but the road wasn't closed, just a warning of a fire in the area and to avoid the back country. So lets keep going. Well A few logs accross the road didn't stop us, we had the can do attitude. So after 3 hours and 3 km of doing this every 50 metres or so we get to a point, it is 6 pm, hungry, tired, the sun is going down and we encounter this huge log accross the road. The chain saw was left in our imagination, the little hatchet wasn't going to cut it, and our super human strength was missing (canned spinach is hard to come by). So all that hard work and we had to turn around..... the next picture is of the tree that downed our spirits...

But that's ok we saw some wild horses on the way back. Beautiful creatures!

And we also had some marshmellows, but there was a fire ban for obvious reasons and so we were relagated so the stove with mediocre results.

And that brings us to the last 2 weeks at Fraser bench farms in Soda Creek, unfortunatly my time is up on the library computer so I'll get some more pics and some more adventures up here shortly. Hopefully soon. This gig is over early next week and then I am free. Don't really know where to go or what to do yet... It will come and everything will just work out like it always does. Alright thanks for reading! Hope to hear from ya!

Onto the wild!

If the weather/fires hold up, I will be taking a flight into a cabin near Tweedsmuir tomorrow. A float plane in, then 2 day hike out starting next Friday. The rest of the time will be spent exploring the area. The link will go to the google map of the area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.nuktessli.ca%2F&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.993337,-125.371857&spn=0.316679,0.891953&z=11

I don't really know where we will set up a base, but kind of near the southeast corner of Tweedsmuir park. And then on Friday we will hike out back to highway 20.

Sorry for the brief update but got to hit the road to make it to charlotte lake before the sun goes down...

Home Home on the Range

(warning - I did not have the patience to figure out the formatting of pictures and text on this site. It is very raw.... I apologize)

Hey! So I have finally been in the same place for a good week now. Hanging out in Soda Creek on the Dunaway Ranch. The Aunt and Uncle of Naomi run it. A small operation with a slow internet connection so over time i'll get some pictures up. Yea so I have been helping out a little bit, eating some awesome food! But over the next week or so we will work a few days and help out with the honey harvest. Diane runs a bee operation called "Bee Happy Honey" and it is some awesome honey! She also edits the BC Bee Keepers magazine called "Bee Scene" www.bcbeekeepers.com

I'll start with the Chilkoot trail. You remember before I posted a picture of how the trail looked back in the day when it was heavily used. Thousands of people packing their goods up this slope. They had to make 40-50 trips to get their years of supplies over the pass for RCMP inspection. Anyways, here is how it looked on the day I hauled my days worth of supplies over.  So a nice view, nice and foggy. Real cold too. I was in my sweaty t shirt and summer clothes and got serious chills. But it was a fun scramble over the top. Real steep and slippery on the rocks. I was on all 4's at some points.

Next I'll go to the Dempster highway. 750 km up to Inuvik from Dawson City of gravel, rough road. So after a climb up Mt. Anglecomb in Tombstone park, the most scenic part of the Yukon I thought, the view says it all....

So we (Jo and myself) finished the hike around 2:30 pm, still 700 km from Inuvik, the end of the road. So we thought, lets go! Drove straight there, the next picture is the midnight sun in the NWT. Real small spindly trees. We arrived at 3 am to some real bad, expensive chinese food, because what else are you going to get at 3 am in Inuvik? And the last picture is of Inuvik itself, not much to look at, a town... But all of the buildings are on stilts because you can't build into the permafrost. All of the plumbing, pipes, wires are all above ground. There are bridges for the roads that go over the sewer and water pipes. 

And the last picture is of the long drive back near the NWT border. Lots of grass, clouds, wind!

And then the sunrise on the way back. Bastion, this cyclist hoping to cycle down to Argentina from Alaska had to stop and take several pictures....

So that is all I can handle uploading for now. I'll get more on the go as the days progress and I feel like being on a computer, which is pretty rare lately. Hope all is good for everyone and you are enjoying the August!

The North

Hey, sorry for the wait between posts. It has been hectic, crazy, awesome (one band at the Dawson Music Festival coined the term Dawsome) month. I think Nathan (A friend I met in Dawson that basically put the stamp on the entire month up north) put it best that it is like the Blues Brothers. Things just happen.

I left off being bored at Canadian Tire in Whitehorse. After that was a rainy cloudy climb up a mountain in Kluane Park. The peak was called Decoeli Peak. Hmmm, it seems so long ago but I remember it was wet, cold. I left on the trail at about 9 pm, camped at the base and then summited the next morning. I was already exhausted at that point and it was a tough, dangerous scramble up to the top. From the top you are supposed to be able to see the highest peaks in Canada, Mt Logan and about 4 of the other highest but as soon as I got up there, the clouds socked in. Wind, rain were in store for me. Me, not thinking much of anything, did not pack anything but an apple and camera to the summit. It got cold and disorienting fast! Guessing my way down back to my bag was tough and nerve racking but I made it to discover a herd of sheep had taken over the grazing area where I left my bag. It was a nice end to the climb but I still had to hike out. It was a cold, wet hike out. I had planned to stay another night or two out there but for some reason, my motivation was gone. Maybe I was thinking on to the Dawson City Music Festival. But you know things happen for a reason. It was because of my lack of motivation to keep on hiking and camp out there that led me to the Dawsome experience that was about to play out of the next few days.

Just everything fell into place over the next few days in Dawson. I had thought I would just show up and volunteer, get a free ticket to the weekend. Turns out they didn't need any volunteers so I was a bit down. Anyways, it is a long, complicated, once in a lifetime experience that led me to meeting some great friends, a ticket, a place to stay, and most importantly, memories that will stay with me forever. The music festival put a cap on everything that the Yukon and the north in general are about.

In terms of the music, well...... I don't remember seeing much, but a few bands stand out. If I could recommend seeing anyone live it would be the band Headwater, out of Vancouver. They were in Atlin as well and again just life loving people playing music. A Whitehorse based band really capped off the weekend. Sasquatch Prom Date played two shows at "the pit". The locals bar. A rockabilly band that brought everything that was needed to the weekend. The festival ended with a canoe full of ice and beer, bbq ribs and meat balls at the VIP party afterwards. Well, then a swim at the pool and some breaky and tobasco sauce at a restaurant.

The actual weekend though didn't end until the next day (Tuesday) where we had to say our goodbyes to Nathan, Jesse, Alan, and Emily. Really, they were the reason the weekend happened. It brought out everything that the Yukon and Alaska were about.

But still another week to go before I had planned on heading to Prince Rupert. Where else to go but Chicken, Alaska. I made there after several attempts to leave Dawson City left me right back at the campground. A flat tire and mulling over whether to repair or get new tires left me in Dawson for a few more days where all of the transients I met over the past few weeks all congregated in the same campground at the same time. But Ol' Betsy got 2 new, cheap tires. Hopefully they hold out for a year or two....

But on to Chicken, Wrangell St Elias Park and back to Whitehorse where all roads seem to lead. I was pretty sick during this stretch so there was a lot of loafing around creeks and lakes just reading and such.

But back to whitehorse where everything came to an end. It was tough to leave Whitehorse. I had picked up a hitchhiking couple and dropped them off at the Robert Service Campground just outside of Whitehorse. Just walking around that campground and running into sooo many people I had met previously and had shared experiences with really made it tough to leave. But it was time to go, time to try something new.

The North to me was not so much about the wild, untamed land. It seemed like all roads led to the same place, all people went on the same roads to the same place and were all in the same head space. The North was about the people. About the 30 000 or so awesome people all looking out for each other, all with one goal in mind and that was and is to enjoy life in all its wonder.

There was a lot of people time and socializing but it felt like it had runs its course for me. It is time to get back into myself and the trees and such. So a long 2.5 days of driving in the heat lead me to Prince Rupert where Naomi had finished her own adventure living in a kayak for a month. A short month she describes it as and I would too. July has already come and gone!

Anyways, I should probably go and not abuse the "free" internet service at the hostel I haven't paid for. So yea back in B.C. Loving the smell of the ocean, the tall big trees, the foggy mornings and sunny afternoons and just enjoying the coast again!

I would love to hear from anyone, how their summers are going. Let me know! I had hoped to get a picture or two up here but I am feeling lazy and did not feel like sorting through Ol' Betsy trying to find a cord I haven't used in a while so hopefully next time!

Anyways, I hope august is kind to everyone!

Skagway to Inuvit to Whitehorse to Atlin

(Warning - this post is long and boring.... but I am bored and had lots of time on the computer at Canadian tire....)

What a whirlwind. It all started with dropping off Naomi and Leah in Skagway for their ocean kayak adventure and ends in Whitehorse, sitting in Canadian Tire waiting for an oil change and hoping they don't find anything pricey that "needs" fixing.

So Skagway is another Gold Rush town, this time it was more of a hoax than anything. Thousands of "miners" took to the oceans up to Skagway in hopes of striking it rich in Dawson. This involved carrying a ton of goods on the Chilkoot trail to a lake where they built small boats and braved rapids along the Yukon River and ending up in Dawson to find that there was actually no gold except for at the private mines. This went on for 2 years 1897 and 1898 and reading some of the diaries was pretty sad. These people quit their jobs around the States to come up here and spent thousands of dollars and some died on a 4 month journey to Dawson where most realized nothing was going on and headed back within a month. Some of the diaries kind of sound like mine.... Although their journey was much tougher. The RCMP required all miners to carry enough food and goods for a year. This equated to a Ton of supplies to be hiked over the Chilkoot pass.

I hiked the Chilkoot pass last week. Took 3 days, 2 nights, 53 kms starting at sea level and ended up over the tree line. It wasn't too difficult, but then again it is really popular today. I needed to buy a permit from the parks department and a train ticket back to skagway because they wouldn't let me hike to the highway from the end of the trail. $150 all together... Met lots of people on the trail as well, mostly older folk. A couple were struggling at 75 years young trying to make it. I hope they did. I met them just after the summit and they were struggling but the hardest part was over. The image is of the Golden stairs, the toughest part of the hike. This was in April where there is still lots of snow. I did it in July where it was foggy and no snow. Lots of rock climbing which was fun though! I took a picture from a similar point and was hoping to compare to the olden days.

Anyways, with the gold rush over, it was back to Skagway for July 3rd and 4th. Skagway is a real small town that runs on Cruise ships stopping through. Everywhere you look you recognize someone you talked to previously, so had lots of conversations. Luckily, this group of Quebecers came up to me and asked for a bottle opener on the 3rd as we waited for the fireworks. We got to talking and I met this girl from Montreal, Jo, who wanted to head to Inuvit and then to Atlin before the end of the week. I had a vision a few hours earlier of heading to Inuvit and going for a swim in the ocean so I was super excited to be able to split the cost with someone. So after July 4th festivities where I hung out with this group from Quebec, we took off to Inuvit on July 5th. It was 2 hours to Whitehorse, 4 hours to Dawson, then another hour to our first stop, Tombstone park where we climbed a mountain, and enjoyed the treeless wonder of the land full of mountains and wildlife. Then another 600 km to Inuvit the next day. Inuvit is in the northwest of the NWT. The most northern town in Canada. There are more northern communities but none more than a few hundred people. Inuvit had 3000 inhabitants.

So we arrived at 3 am, the sun was shining, a chinese food restaurant was open so we ate. Set up camp amoung a cloud of mozzies and slept. The next day, hung out in the town and we met 2 guys that biked the highway up to Inuvit. I guess I should mention that the road to Inuvit is 700 km of rough gravel road. It took them 10 days to get up there. One guy, Ed from Colorado was going to bike back to Colorado. The other guy, Bastion? from Germany, was biking down to South America and starting in Inuvit but his bike was not going good and no one could repair it in Inuvit, so we gave him a ride back to Whitehorse. So after a huge drive up there, 1.5 days in town the 3 of us took off back down the Dempster highway. After about 100 km, there is a river crossing that requires a ferry. I got out of the car to stretch my legs and heard a hissing, the first flat tire. Well the tire was changed and the only place repair that flat tire was 100 km more down the road so we had it repaired there. Unfortunatly they did a horrible job and it was flat again within another 100 km. The spare had to be driven another 300 km to the next service station at Eagle Plains where the garage just closed at 10 pm, we arrived at 10:15. We went into the lounge for a beer and the mechanic was there and we got to talking and he repaired our tire after hours but we had to buy him a drink. Its all good though. So a repaired tire and the sun setting at midnight we took off for the rest of the way to Dawson where we arrived at 6 am, took a nap and then drove on down to Whitehorse.

Sounds like a pretty boring story but it was exciting.... I think pictures will help but I don't have my camera with me....

Anyways, the next stop is Atlin in Northwestern BC where a music festival starts today until sunday, and then on to Dawson where another music festival happens next weekend. Hopefully I can volunteer or something and get a free ticket...

Sorry this was such a long post.... I had time to write so I wrote.... I think pictures would help... But as for myself, I am feeling good, feeling excited for the next corner on the road. There is nowhere else I'd rather be except for maybe in the woods, by a lake, frying up a trout.... But one can dream can't they? I am itching a little bit to get into the woods and hike some more but it has been tough to find good trails up here. I think people just make their own trails but I don't feel comfortable yet doing that by myself. So it is on to the open road for now on to enjoy some music. Look forward to hearing from ya!

The Great Northwest Territories

G'day

Sorry I haven't been around a computer for awhile, not since Smithers really.... It has been eventful, but I write to you from Inuvik. After a week in Skagway Alaska hiking the Chilkoot and surrounding trails and experiencing July 4th in America, we drove 2 days up to Inuvik along the Dempster Highway. Ol' Betsy is holding up for now.... I don't have a lot of time here so I'll just leave it at this.

This sun didn't set last night, it won't set until August. We arrived at 3 am and a restaurant was open. Had some chinese food to celebrate and set up a tent in a cloud of mozzies. Slept and awoke soaked from rain and itchy. But loving every minute of it! I'll try to write more later, I only have 1 more minute...

A few pictures

Finally remembered my camera and have high speed internet at Naomi's friends place in Smithers so figured I'd use this time to post a picture or two, just a sampling.

The first is a picture from the road up to Cape Scott past Port Hardy. It is a little tough to see but a car has been smashed by a falling tree, yes that is not expected when you are around large trees in clear cut areas.

This next picture is of the sloquet hot springs. This remote host springs south of Pemberton after a few hours on a pretty good gravel road, meander into an active logging area and if you believe it, you will see this sign saying there is a hot spring down this steep trail. To my surprise, this swiss couple was there hanging out. They left expectantly but met up with Fletcher and Alexi happened to mosey on down. Ended up camping and having a great camp fire that evening. Nothing like hot mineral water all over your body in the middle of the night. And a big thank you! To Fletcher and Alexi for the coffee the next morning! Sorry all I could offer was the cheapest beer possible....

And finally, a picture of the old trail that has changed the whole province of British Columbia, the Cariboo waggon trail (the "waggon" is spelt that way on purpose, but I have no idea why....) Anyways, it was this old trail that wagons and hopeful prospectors would go on up to barkerville from Yale. It is not used much these days, in fact it is not used at all, it was supposed to be a hiking trail up to Barkerville but I got turned around after a few kilometres because of an impassable river... Lots of old buildings, artifacts, graves, and history to spark your imagination in every step. I was very engulfed by the spirit of this area....

Alright.... time to rest up and hit the open road tomorrow morning up to Whitehorse hopefully by friday.... We'll see.....

Prince George (what a handsome fellow)

I am not too sure who Prince George was, but I am sure he would be proud of this place. So after 1.5 months on the road, I have finally reached the geological centre of British Columbia. What a vast province! Almost too much. A sensory overload is around every corner, in every tree, in every breath.

The last few weeks have been in the Cariboo Chilcotin area. Wells/Barkerville/Quesnel/Williams Lake/Likely. Just all awesome towns with awesome people. It seems that the locals really know where to go. In Wells, this real small (Population 200) just before Barkerville (A tourist stop), I stopped in at the visitor information centre. The girl there could tell I wasn't looking for the usual. I started asking about hikes and snow shoes and the sasquatch and stuff, you know, general conversation and she told me about this lake that only the locals know about in Wells. You have to go down this small road that doesn't look like more than a trailhead. You just have to believe it's there she says.

It led to this lake (I can't think of the name right now... oh yea Wandel? Wendle? Wandle? Something like that). So it was pretty much the best spot possible to park a van, light a fire, go for a swim, fish, hike, and just let the soul explore anything that it wants to. I went back twice to this lake, I couldn't get away.

The second time though was after stopping in at a ghost town called Stanley, nothing left but some rubble and garbage. We create sooo much waste these days but if it wasn't for the garbage of yesterday, this rubble wouldn't have been as interesting. It gave insight into the way of life out there. Anyways after exploring a bit, it was time to try to strike it rich, gold panning! I truly believed this was my time, history repeats itself and gold rushes will happen again. After a few cold wet hours, nothing but rocks... probably valuable to some people, but not the right people. Oh well.

So I don't have my camera with me otherwise I would post a few pictures, not that I have been taking many because they all look the same after awhile, the typical mountain senery shot, but some are nice, well we'll see if they are nice.

Anyways I see some people have replied, and some have commented and some have signed up to follow which is much more than I ever expected. Thank you everyone! And sorry, for the previous e-mail, it is not a burdan to hear from people or anything, I love to get updates from anyone! I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed but it is getting better so please anyone, everyone let me know how they're doing! and like I said, i'll try to try to reply!

Hope everyone is enjoying that beautiful world out there, ciao!

Gabe

First Update

I write from Williams Lake/Quesnel today.... haha after a good week near Wells and Barkerville and surrounding Ghost Towns I came back to Williams Lake for an afternoon or day, we'll see how it goes, but I got 1 minute left on the library terminal so yea I'll try to get something better up soon.....?

Not a huge fan

Greetings all! I will be up front about this that I am not a huge fan of "blogs". But after a long, fierce debate with myself, I figure this might be the best way to get an update e-mail to everyone without having to actually e-mail everyone. You see, I am a very lazy person when it comes to keeping up social contacts.

Anyways, I write to you from the awesome gold rush town of Lillooet. I can't write long as I am at a library, but I can tell you I took my first shower in weeks and it feels awesome!

Over the comming weeks I hope to post a picture or two, let you know where I currently am and where I've been. It has been a crazy month and a bit living out of the van. Met some awesome people, saw some awesome sights, but I am still "only" in Lillooet, some 250 km from Vancouver. You think I'd be further, but the lower west coast of British Columbia has been so great to me, it has been tough to leave, but I have left. I'll let you know later on.

Thank you all for reading, I look forward to hearing from anyone who reads this, let me know how they're doing and I will try to respond personally. To all who just read, thank you but I am sure there is something better you could be doing with your time.... haha but I do lead an interesting life, at least in my mind....