Exploring BC

---

Arriving into Vancouver on Saturday morning, and after finding the bus and then the hostel, I went to explorethe local neighbourhood. I had arrived on the first day of the "Festival of Light" a 3 night firework competition, the first night was China. I have no idea how they judge a firework competition however China's fireworks were awesome. I liked the smiley faces ones for the novelty factor, also they looked happy! I was staying in west Vancouver in near Davie street, which is in the "gaybourhood" even the zebra crossings were rainbow coloured and the bus benches were all pink. It is a colourful, vibrant and friendly place. There is a community garden which was built on top of a old service station which I thought was a cool idea, and the best part was that I was only 3 blocks away from English bay and Sunset beach and about a 15 minutes walk to the beautiful Stanley park.

I spend my first few days in Vancouver walking along the sea wall, stopping in the shade of a huge tree when it got too hot. Meeting some raccoons and a blue heron along the way as I went to explore Stanley park, walking along the trails in the cool shade of the trees. I went on Erik's tour to Lynn Canyon on Tuesday. The guide was a 74 year old volunteer who had so much knowledge and energy we were hard pressed to keep up with him! In the first park of the tour he showed us some of the building and unusual architecture in the city, then we took a bus out to the beautiful Lynn Canyon. Where we trekked though the forest, had lunch by a cold clear river, found a waterfall and walked along a short suspension bridge, that swung back and forth with every footstep. Just one stop left on his 9 hour tour was the library. A bit strange yes, but the library was designed like the Colosseum in Rome, with huge windows with lots of light. He showed us the film and sound recording studios in the library too before we headed back to the hostel. During the tour we saw urban, forest and coast and travelled by foot, diesel bus, electric bus and ferry, sadly for $14 we didn't make it into the air!

Wednesday arrived and myself and some of the people I had met on Erik's tour decided to go to the pool at Second beach, there was no shade and lots of children but the water was nice. That evening was the second night of fireworks, this time it was Brazil, a lots of green and red colours and just as spectacular as China. This time instead of watching from English bay we went to Burrard Bridge. Where we had a lovely view of the sun setting over the bay as well as all the boats. Thursday I went to explore some more of Vancouver, I ended up at Gastown, where I saw the steam clock, and saw the steam pour from the whistles on top. Then back to Granville Island for a bit of street performance. Friday was my last day and I decided to go on Erik's other tour to Capilano Canyon. This tour brought us to a different park of downtown Vancouver on the waterfront, looking at the Olympic village, and old Yaletown with its roundhouse and steam train. We then got a ferry and a bus to north shore mountain area, here we spent the better part of the late morning and into the afternoon exploring the beauty of nature following trails and discovering and old railway line that was built to get the huge logs out of the forest, as well as looking at the effect that the drought was having on the water levels. A mild winter and the hottest spring/summer on record meant that the water levels were far below what they usually are. We stopped for lunch at a salmon inhabited river by a salmon jump, where we watched the salmon jump up the fish ladder against the fast flowing current. The last stop on our tour was for the kids, well kids at heart, we stopped at the Capilano Suspension Bridge, where as well as crossing one of the worlds largest suspension bridges we also explored the tree stops and did a cliff walk, before we returned to the hostel worn out from our day. It was then time to leave Vancouver for Whistler.

I first stayed in Whistler Creek very close to the foot of Whistler Mountain. There was a BBQ festival on and I got to sample lots of pulled pork and BBQ chicken, before heading to cool off in the near by Nita Lake. I tried my hand a SUP (Stand Up Paddle boarding) which I am not good at, I spent as disproportionate amount of time in the lake rather than on the board, much to the enjoyment of the little kids who were just showing off at this point! Eventually I did figure out how to balance and paddle at the same time. I then moved to Cheakamus Crossing, a new village that had played host to the Olympic athletes during the 2010 Winter Olympics. I explored some of the lakes and trails, as well as watching the Crankworx freeride mountain bike festival. I was worried about the bears as every bus stop and park sign it telling you to be BearSafe, but I didn't see any. I did see some tiny toads crossing the trail in the Lost Lake park.

Whistler is beautiful, and so many trails and treks to explore. I had wet misty weather for 2 days and the other days although hot and sunny were very over cast, which meant the mountains were sort of lost in the hazy distance, but even this couldn't take away from the beauty. I followed some parts of the 40km Valley Trail, discovering Rainbow parks and the many lakes. Another day I explored the Lost Lake area, following trails and enjoying the beautiful views. The drive from Vancouver to Whistler is gorgeous, with amazing views, but sadly the bus doesn't/can't stop. There is lots to see in the nearby areas, but its only accessible by cars 😞 even still it was one of my favourite places.



Untill next time

Dee 😊

---