Evan Hunter's Round The World Diary

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Vancouver to Whistler

Today I awoke about 8am, and Annerieke, Jeroen, Laura and I had breakfast - Pancakes, made with pancake mix Annerieke had bought yesterday, served with some blueberry jam she had also bought, and the strawberries I had bought. The were quite satisfying.
Jeroen was werking on the car, after this, and thought he had found yesterdays problem - a rusty bolt on the ground battery strap, which was causing a high resistance earth. I offered to help, but he didn't want help, so I went with Annerieke and Laura to the cafe/restauraunt where we went on Friday night, and we had chai latte's. On the way back, I bought some extra supplies for a possible hike in Whistler.
When I arrived back at the house, I was told Jeroen had fixed the problem, so we were going on the planned day hike near Whistler. I packed my gear while Jeroen put the car back together, and picked up Steve (a work mate).
We all squashed into the Land Cruiser after a quick lunch of Annerieke's soup, and started the drive north. The morning's rain had stopped, and the clouds had lifted, so that we could see the mountains surrounding Vancouver. We passed Lions Bay, Horseshoe Bay, and the ferry terminal, with very steep mountains on one side, and water, studded with islands on the other.
After some time, we approached Squamish. Here the mountains were very high and steep, with snow on top. Then we passed a huge waterfall, and could see "The Chief" - a huge sheer faced rock wall mountainside. It is used for rock climbing. Continuing north, we followed the valley for a while, before turning off onto a dirt logging road. We drove up the logging road for quite a while, and as we went up, it seemed to become steeper, rougher and narrower, until we arrived at the Brandywine Meadows trailhead. I think that I was the only one who had done rougher 4x4 driving. We set off up the hill, into the forest, and immediately found it was a very rough track - covered by tree roots and either had mud or water on the track in many places.
Anneriek and laura told us to go ahead, since Laura has a heart condition, which somewhat limits her fitness. Moving fairly fast, Jeroen, Steve and I continued up, through connifer forest. Soone we could see a sort of tree line, where logging had been done some time ago. It was probably because we were distracted by the tree line, with the possibility of views, that we missed where the trail went, and went up instead into the logged area, having seen some pink ribbon flags. There were some very good views of the surrounding area - several of the mountain ranges were jagged rocky peaks, and all were capped with a lot of snow.
We pretty quickly realised that the pink ribbons were actually marking the edge of the logged area, so decided to go back down, and whilst doing that, we heard Annerieke calling us.
We found Annerieke and Laura on the proper trail, and they said Laura's heart was racing, so they were going back down. Steve went with them, but Jeroen and I decided to go on for a while longer. Soon after continuing onward, the track became mostly covered in snow. It became difficult to walk on, and somewhat dangerous, as snow compressed or collapsed underfoot. It was however quite beautiful.
After about 20 minutes, we decided to turn back as well, as it would be getting dark in a few hours, and we didn't want to keep the others waiting too long, and the snow was geting deeper.
The walk down again was quick but hard on the wet tree roots. We caught the others right near the trailhead, and we all piled back into the car.
As we were driving back down the logging road, we saw 3 big Black Bears munching the fresh grass on the side of the road. We took many photos as we approached each of them, before they noticed us and ran off.
Turning back onto the main highway again, we headed north to Whistler, where the others dropped me off at the Southside Lodge, which was a small place occupying the top two floors of a small 3 storey building.
I went out to get some food, and settled on a pizza, but realised after ordering that it was a fresh made take home and bake type and I didn't know if the place I was staying at had an oven. Fortunately they did have an oven, and the pizza was very good.

Monday, May 16, 2005

Garibaldi Lake Hike Day 1 - Whistler to Taylor Meadows

After waking fairly late, I bought some breakfast at subway, and hot chocolate at the service station, then packed my gear. There was no-one around at the hostel so that I could check out - I had to ring one of the managers and he came over a few minutes later and took my key and gave me my key deposit.
I tried ringing the visitors centre, to find out conditions near Garibaldi Lake, but just got an answering machine. I went across the road, and sent an email at a cybercafe, then went down and tried to hitch a ride to the trail head.
After about 45 minutes of trying to hitch, I decided to check out if there were any other options, and rang a taxi service only to find it would cost $50 to the Black tusk trail head and $35 to the Helm creek trailhead. Unsure what to do, as I didn't know the conditions, I decided to take the bus to the main part of Whistler.
The visitors centre was entirely useless - they said that they had no idea of conditions, and suggested I ask at "Escape Route" climbing store. They also said that no busses would stop at the trailhead.
After wandering around looking for the shop, I eventually found it, and found they didn't know conditions either. I bought a bear bell for my pack ther, then got some Nachos for lunch.
I walked back to the bus terminal, intending to go to "Function Junction" to hitch (my original hitching spot was not very good), and went into the visitors centre to go to the toilet, where I found the Greyhound desk was open. I asked, and the woman said I could probably be dropped off, but to ask the driver. After asking the driver, I ran back to the booking desk, got a ticket, and boarded - only $4.50.
On the bus, it started raining lightly, and soon we came to the dropoff point. I got off, and started walking up the road, away from the highway.
The road went uphill fairly gently through connifer forest. The rain continued lightly, but after a while, I put my raincoat on. Soon the road started to parallel Rubble creek. There were several signs about landslide danger, and when I reached the road end, I found on the information board, that "The Barrier" is a huge pile of volcanic debris which was once held back by a glacier, but now can cause huge landslides. There was a payment machine there which was locked up, and a container with payment envelopes, but I couldn't find anywhere how much I was supposed to pay.
I started walking up the track, which was a very good, benched track, and soon met an older man, who said he had gone up to the meadows, but it was too snowy, so he turned around. With him were several youths, also coming down.
With my bell jingling, and, calling out to bears, or singing, I continued up the trail, and discovered there were kilometre/altitude markers. After about 2.5 km of moderate climbing, the track went into a series of switchbacks, which lasted for about another 3.5km.
I reached an intersection after traversing a little snow. Since it was closer to Taylor Meadows, I turned off toward them.
The 1.5km to Taylor Meadows were very snowy and, nearing the meadows, the ground was covered with 50cm - 1m of snow, except directly under the trees. Often I was sinking to my knees in the snow, and my feet got very wet with the snow entering my boots. I reached the camping area (about 3 hours hiking) which has toilets and pulleys for hoisting food. I stomped down an area of snow, and pitched my tent.
It was cold cooking my dinner (cous cous) on a small patch of bare earth under some trees. I'd bought dried mixed peppers, thinking they were capsicum, since they were red and green, but they were chilli, hence my dinner was accidentally a lot hotter than planned.
After hoisting my food, I went to bed, but saw some nice sunset colours before going to sleep.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Garibaldi Lake Hike Day 2 - Taylor Meadows to Garibaldi Lake

I discovered last night that my thermarest is not adequate for camping directly on the snow, as I had to put all my spare clothes on top of it to provide extra insulation against the cold snow.
The sky was almost completely clear when I rose at 8:30, and I could see the Black Tusk for the first time. There was a dusting of fresh snow on my tent and on the trees. As I was eating a little breakfast, and using the toilet, the clouds came over, and enveloped the Black Tusk, covering much of the sky.
I packed slowly, and as I did, two birds which had hung around whilst I was cooking last night, arrived. one bird tried to steal my apple right from my hand - whilst I was between bites!
I set off, intending to go the short distance (2km) to Garibaldi Lake, since without snowshoes, the track to Helm creek would be far too snowy to be passable.
I crossed Taylor creek, and found there was a locked hut with an open, muddy front shelter, with two dry log seats. I stupidly didn't carefully read the sign there, and continued along the trodden snow path.
There were sections which were quite firm, where I only sank an inch or two, but often, it was knee deep, and once or twice, I broke through a cover of snow over a tree's branches, and fell in up to my waist.
After about 20 minutes, I'd become convinced I was on the wrong track, as I was heading for the base of the Black Tusk. Unfortunately the map only showed an undetailed, "general area" line for the track, so it took a while before I became sure.
I backtracked to the hut, and right outside it, I fell into a snow hole up to my thigh. The snow formed a plug around my ankle, and I couldn't pull my foot out - I had to dig it out with my hands!
ILooking at the sign, and the ground more carefully, I found some footprints heading off behind the hut. After a short break in the shelter, I followed the right path. I found that this path didn't stay in the deep snow long, as it went into the forest, where there were only scattered patches of snow.

Soon I came to a junction, and continued toward the lake. Soon I glimpsed the lake, and it was quite a sight - covered by ice and snow!
Decending and crossing Rubble creek, there were amazing views of the frozen lake, and Panorama Ridge. Cloud enveloped the top of the ridge.
The track now followed the lake shore around to the camp, but as it was a north facing slope, this was the most treacherous part of the day, as it went over small boulders which were hidden by snow, and over ice, at the lake edge, which cracked underfoot.
I found there was a very nice shelter at the camp site - enclosed with big lexan windows, a cooking bench and sink, and two tables with bench seats. The hut was far surpassed by the view it had over the lake to snowy and rocky mountains on the far side.
I pitched my tent and bed before taking my cold wet boots off. This time I pitched it on the only patch of snow free dirt I could find, which wasn't really big enough or flat.
I spent the rest of the day eating, drinking, listening to music, admiring the view, writing, and especially, trying to say warm, which was quite hard. Outside, it alternated between overcast, rain, and snow.
After dinner, I packed my food and hung it in the shelter, and took what I needed back to my tent where I wrote for a while before bed.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Garibaldi Lake Hike Day 3 - Out to Vancouver

It was raining and snowing on and off when I aswoke. After eating breakfast at the shelter, I dropped my tent, and packed, hoping for a break in the rain/snow.
It was still raining as I left the shelter, and walked through the deep snow drifts on the south side of the lake's outlet. Crossing the outlet - Rubble Creek - I followed the trail down toward the highway. I soon came to Lesser Garibaldi Lake, which was not frozen. Then further down, I came to Barrier Lake, which was frozen. Immediately after this, I went into cloud, which hung in the Barrier / Rubble Creek valley.
As I was walking I heard a rumbling sound in the distance, which grew louder and louder, then dissappated again - a landslide. I couldn't see it through the cloud, but further down the track, when I was back into the switchbacks, I saw a part of the Barrier cliff where countless landslides had created a huge pile of rubble, through a break in the clouds.
The rain continued lightly as I descended, and eventually reached the car park. There was no-one at the car park, and no cars, but the payment machine was now unlocked, so I used it to pay the camping fees.
It was still misting rain as I walked the 30 minutes down to the highway.
After checking around the corner for hitching places, I started walking toward Whistler, sticking my thumb out whenever a car went past. I got to the bridge, about 200-300m down the road, when a car, coming away from Whistler stopped, and turned around. The driver had apparently seen me, and turned around up the road. He had a big friendly dog in the back, who was poking his head through between the front seats for most of the trip. (Partly because I was patting him so that he wouldn't try to lick my face)
I soon got dropped off at Whistler creekside, where I retrieved my non-hiking gear that I'd stored at the hostel. I then caught the bus to Whistler Village, where I ate and had a hot chai latte whilst watching the rain, until the greyhound desk opened at 4:10.
The skies had cleared a little, and the rain stopped by the time I boarded the bus.
It was a pretty quick trip back to Vancouver, taking only about 2 hours. I booked into the Samesun Hostel again, (The HI across the road was full) then after a shower, I headed out to get dinner and use the internet. Before bed, I did my laundry so I would have something to wear in the morning.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Vancouver to Tofino

After buying some breakfast, and checking out of the hostel, I did some stuff in town, like using the internet, checking on my passport application, and finding the bus stop for Horseshoe Bay.
After getting some lunch, I retrieved my pack from storage, walked to the bus stop and caught the bus ($3.25). It took about 40 minutes to get to the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay, where I boarded the big vehicle ferry ($10.15). Unlike the trip to Victorica, There were few islands - they were mainly to the north. There were views in the distance of downtown Vancouver, and the coast mountains.
Soon we were pulling into Nanaimo, and I found that the Tofino bus was there, waiting for me ($35). I jumped in the big van, and we set off. Strangely, I seemed to be the only tourist on the bus, all the others were Tofino locals, or on a working holiday visa, working in Tofino. I talked to them for most of the 3 hour trip. We were on a big highway until Port Alberni, where we stopped briefly, then the road became quite windy, with mountains enveloped in rain and cloud all around. At one point, we were following a river, then a lake shore, all the while, in thick forest, then, as we neared Tofino, the rain stopped, and the clouds lifted, so I could see Clayoquat Sound and the mountains in and around it.
The "Whalers on the Point" hostel has a great view, over the entrance to the sound. The bus dropped me off, and I found that the inside of the hostel was pretty nice as well.
I bought an expensive but good pizza for dinner, then talked to some of the others at the hostel till I went to bed.

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