Tofino to Hot Springs Cove, July 26 - 29

In June we paddled for a short 3 days across Clayqout Sound to Hotsprings Cove. Weather was mixed, but came with light southerlies – permitting us to get easily around the rough outside of Vargas and Flores Islands.



The hotsprings were excellent as always, especially since we were the only visitors for the evening. We were told that earlier during daytime hours the springs were crowded by as much as 90 people.



Got a motor boat ride back and watched a grey whale breaching very near us. What an amazing creature!

Ramblings and Explorations - May and June 07

Didn't quite do as much hiking and scrambling as I hoped for this year, but got a couple of nice one day hikes in:

Three Brothers Trail in Manning Park with amazing splendor of flower just after the snow retreated.


Elkridge near Chilliwack treated us to more flowers.


Jones (Wahleach) Lake – a rough 2WD road leads up to lake with stunning backdrop. Peaks from the left are Welch, The Still, Stewart, Baby Munday, Knight, Lady. Cheam is off the right side. Foley is to the left, also not in the picture.



Sumallo Valley from Sunshine Valley east of Hope – Silvertip, Rideout, Rideout's Pup and Payne. Picture coming soon.

Spius Creek, June 2

Spius Creek was good fun! It's a remote +20 km run, flows from the south into the Nicola River, west of Merritt, dissecting the triangle formed by Coquihalla and Fraser Canyon. Thanks to Sandy for showing us this great run!

At the high water level this weekend Spius had several III+ bits and one IV- canyon section (Big Box Canyon), the latter is a mandatory scout which required some scrambling up a steep hill to peek into the canyon and make sure it was free of wood.
In total there are 3 canyons, the Upper (a short squeeze between cliffs), Big Box Canyon (the mandatory scout and about 500 meter long) and Little Box Canyon (nothing much - can be seen from the shuttle road). Below the confluence with Prospect Creek between the Upper and Big Box Canyons is a busy class III+ hole/boulder garden section There were also two log jams that demanded attention.

Pictures at the VKC Forum.

Last Ski Day - May 28

Didn't quite make it into June. May 28th was the last of our after-work ski run on Mt. Seymour. Soft snow - at least until the sun set - and amazing views of Vancouver and the Straight. What an awesome place to live and play!


Taking in the View. Photo K. Serrano


Girls in Red. Photo K. Serrano