Kathy Reesor

Test of Humanity

2011-09-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Kari and I did a mountain bike race down in Summerland called the Test of Humanity. It was a fundraiser for the local food bank as well as for Ethiopia. It was a cooler, overcast day out which made conditions great for riding as many laps as we could in 4 hours. It had rained the night before, but it was still pretty dusty. The trail was in good condition, scenic and rolly terrain and I could ride it all except the really steep uphill parts. I don't like courses that go straight up and then straight down. I only had 2 minor wipeouts and no new injuries!!!!! A feat for me this summer as I've been the wipeout queen - no serious injuries at least. Kari won our open 40+ ladies category and I was happy she only lapped me right near the end of the ride as she's smoking fit right now. I managed to get 3rd in our category. Not bad after having a bit of a "Bridget Jones" month.

Girls Camping August Long Weekend

2011-09-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well my usual August long weekend backpacking trip didn't happen as there was so much snow in the alpine this year. We ended up doing the opposite and stayed at an RV camping park on beautiful Lake Chelan, Washington and 2 blocks from town and the nearest Starbucks!! We had showers and everything:). Spent one day driving to Steven's Pass where the Pacific Crest Trail is in the area as I wanted to check more of it out for when I one day complete the trail. Had a great hike to a lookout, but after that there was still lots of snow. Drove back to Leavenworth which is a Bavarian style town. Very cute place although touristy, but worth checking out.

The next day we went to Soap Lake which is a whole lake full of minerals, etc in it and has a soapy taste to it. In the 60s there was a hospital built right on the lake for its healing properties. We went for a soak and covered ourselves in mud. Like a free spa!!! My skin did feel soft the next day!! Had a fun weekend. Next year maybe we'll get to backpack.

Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Final Leg 7 Tehachapi to Walker Pass and Bakersfield

2011-06-19T01:57:00.000-07:00

It was sad that this was to be my last section before heading back home. I didn't get my ultimate bit of trail majic of getting an email from work saying that they had found coverage for me and I could stay hiking all summer long with my new friends on this beautiful trail. There was a lot of pressure to quit work, but that didn't feel like the right thing to do.

We got a ride back to the trail and the next section was about 8-9 miles between a couple of roads so we dropped off our full packs and got to slack-pack this section. How wonderful it felt to not have our packs on!!! It was still through the wind farm in Tehachapi and we seriously lucked out that there was minimal wind!! The rest of the day was a bit slower as Free Range's foot was very sore so we took more rest and found a great lunch spot under an oasis of Joshua trees.

The next day, Free Range's foot was ++++sore and she needed to take it slow. As I wanted to finish this section with some rest afterwards, I hiked slowly with her that morning as it was to be our last time together for this hike. It made me very sad to leave her at the next water source. We had become good friends and made a great hiking team - except that she was raring to go early than me in the morning:). Craig and I hiked the rest of the section together. That night I had my first campfire on the trail. It had been very dry and windy at some places, and most of the time we were tired as we hiked until after dinner a lot of days so no time for a fire when I was tired after long hiking days.

My cold was well under way by now and we had lots of time to finish this section so we didn't go too hard. I was very sad at times during that last couple of days as I was loving hiking this beautiful trail with all these new, wonderful people that were like trail family. An Australian gal ahead of us was counting the kilometer markers as it was higher numbers and marked the 1000km point. I did do just shy of 1/4 of the whole trail.

We got to Walker Pass a couple of days later. We could finally see the Sierra Mountains. The terrain changes here from desert to more lush and higher mountains. There was 600% amount of snow there and the next section was to take quite a while to get over the high passes. Since I had to leave, it was a good place to finish. Of course, more trail majic shade and food at Walker Pass. Got to end on a high note:)

The next day we hitched and bussed to Bakersfield to have 3 relaxing days before I flew home. We had about a mile to walk from the bus station to the hotel area when a man drove by and stopped for us. Turns out he did the trail in "77 and was a speaker at the Kick Off!! I didn't hear him as it was the day I hiked the first 20 miles. He offered for us to stay with his family for the time we were here!! The trail majic never ends. He was also going to head back to Walker Pass that weekend to help out so Craig could get a ride back then. It was such a great surprise and they let us use their spare vehicle as well. Not a lot to do in Bakersfield, but it was warm and sunny and just great to relax there. There are a lot of settlers from the Basque area of Spain there and the Hacker's took us out for a traditional Basque meal which was a great experience. So many great things and positive people surrounded me that it was very, very hard to leave, but I did. I was very sad on my travel day home, but at least when I landed I was relieved to notice that I live in a beautiful spot. I'm still trying to get coverage to go back and join my friends for more hiking this summer if possible, even for a couple of weeks. Craig is still hiking the whole thing as he needs to get this out of his system. He's done the whole thing in sections, but for some reason needs to do it from start to finish. Who am I to question the craziness of it all? Guess we'll see what's in store for me next.

Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 6 Agua Dulce to Tehachapi

2011-06-19T00:57:00.000-07:00

So leaving Agua Dulce was another warm day. There were a few 20something hikers who decided to do the beer a mile challenge as the next family to host hikers was 24 miles away. They carried their normal packs, plus a 24 of beer. We had a couple of "designated hikers" to look after them through the day, plus look after the mileage to let them know when to drink. I caught up with them about lunch time. They were full on into it by then as they started at 5am. It was entertaining for a while, but I didn't want to wait for them every mile so I hiked ahead. I'm glad they were being looked after as someone could have got really sick and/or dehydrated. Only 2 fully finished the challenge and one was a gal!! The rest of them slept on the trail, but they were OK. The things I might have done 20 years ago!! Had a beautiful rest spot with more trail majic at the Oasis Cache with comfy chairs.

Made it to the Anderson's - Casa de Luna - for taco salad!! They love putting up hikers and have a great big wooded yard that makes for great camping. Frisbee golf to boot!! They are very relaxed and love to have a good party here and apparantly the following night was the only one to witness the Hershey's chocolate syrup wrestling. After wondering about Hikeaholic(Craig) all day, I decided that if he chased one of us down for 2 weeks, we could rest another day and also witness the wrestling so that's what we did. He was very surprised that we were still there and he had just about given up on catching us fully!! That night was quite the party. Mrs. Anderson got dressed in a red leotard with a tutu, angel wings and a red cape. She got another young gal to team up with her. Two very drunk young guys took them on. It was crazy. Mrs. A's idea of wrestling was grabbing at the guys privates and trying to get their clothes off. We were laughing so hard my cheeks hurt. Between that and someone throwing around a cock bunny, the level of entertainments was getting lower. For the record, I did not wrestle and only watched. They were wonderfully generous people and a good place to hang for a day. Did I mention they had other Hawaiian clothes to wear?? Was great to wear anything different than my hiking gear.

The next day the three of us hiked together. We didn't rest much as the wind was cold and strong. Craig didn't like our not resting much and maybe was questioning his motivation to hike with us:). We camped with some car campers who happened to bring a ton of water with them for us hikers!! Amazing as the water source was fine but full of debris and we didn't want to clog our filters. I slept in the next day as we were hiking a half day and I felt like a cold was coming on so hiked alone until Hikertown.

Hikertown is another unique place. It's like an old movie set of a town. A lot of the stores are places to sleep with beds. I stayed in the tattoo parlour. Like a hostel, it had a common area, shower, laundry etc. We were definitely getting spoiled on this leg of the journey!! As soon as I got there, there were people giving us rides to the store/cafe. Not only a ride, but in a 70s Rolls Royce!! My first time in a Rolls and I was in stinky hiker clothes and dirty, not in the evening gown I had envisioned myself in while in a Rolls. It was such a treat!! Plus more good food!! I finally found out that it was me Craig was chasing. It was about time to find out!! This was definitely more encouraging that the fellow back home who was pushing me away as Craig was pushing to catch me. Little did he know how hard that was going to be:). A++ for effort!!

The next day was a hike along the desert floor. We had a late start as we had breakfast with fresh eggs from the chickens at Hikertown. Breakfast was great, but not a good idea to start late when travelling along the desert floor aqueduct with little water and shade for miles. We lucked out as it could have been much hotter and much, much windier!! We eventually found shade under another bridge for a couple of hours until the worst heat was gone. It's kind of fun being hiker trash under bridges!! I was lying on my food bag and the blue dye got all over my face when I slept. It was that hot!!

The next day was a nice hike until the end through one of the biggest wind farms in the US to get to the road to Tehachapi. We weren't going to take a full day off there initially, but did anyways. Free Range's foot was really sore. Plus I knew by then that I would have had to push really hard to get to the next town before heading back to work. I chose to do the slower option so I'd have a few rest days before heading back home. That night was the first game of the Stanley Cup Final series between Vancouver and Boston. It happened that Craig grew up in Massechusetts so we were duking it out during the game. We won the first game while we were watching at the local pub. I was the only person cheering loudly. Didn't notice at first and, then, didn't care when I did so cheered again! Had a great relaxing day in Tehachapi.

Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 5 Wrightwood to Agua Dulce

2011-06-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

Felt good even after just a nero here in Wrightwood. Good to rest as we were starting our biggest and highest climb of the desert section from here. Mount Baden Powell was another area that we were warned about the safety here. An experienced mountaineer/hiker died on it last year so we werent' sure what to expect and I still only had my hiking poles and Yak Trax. It was a steady climb up to over 9000ft. There was quite a bit of snow which made it a little hard to stay on trail. Free Range had a great GPS that she had programmed the topographical maps along with the PCT on it sowe knew exactly where we were all the time!! Good person to hike with! There were lots of day hikers on the mountain and so there was a well formed trail through the snow. There was also a guy just ahead of us with full crampons on making good steps for us. I could have put on my yak trax, but with my poles, I was fine. The part at the top that comes out to the ridge to is very steep, but with little snow still left on that exposed part we were fine. Again, a couple of weeks earlier I would have wanted my safety gear. We had lunch at the top of Mt. Baden Powell at a 1500 year old tree!! Very cool. At the end of the day we camped down at a picnic area back at that closed highway #2.

Highway #2 was to be a bit of a pain in my side for a couple of days. We kept going back and forth over it. Most normal people would have just hiked or driven down the road, but not the PCT hikers. I was happy to be done with crossing that highway many times. Apparantly, we also did some extra miles, by not avoiding a closed area to protect a yellow-legged frog. Bad for the frog and more tired on our legs:(. We were getting to be done for the day, but the ridge was very windy and cold so along another detour we hiked down a logging road for 5 miles to get lower and to the next water source. It was at a construction site for the new ranger station. We, legally or illegally, slept in the half-finished ranger station that night. We all got up earlier than normal in case workers were coming in early. We left just before 6 and one guy was heading in. He was friendly and we just got out of there.

It was a bit of a longer hiking day and the last 2-3 miles were very frustrating with the switchbacks again. We could see our KOA campground for that whole time, but took a bit to get there. Seems worse when you are really tired at the end of a long, hot day. I kept covered up most of the time with my fair skin and put on lots of sunscreen!! We got there after the KOA store was closed:(. Some who had got there earlier had leftover meals they had delivered there for I got Sunshine's spaghetti and meatballs:). There was a shower, but no soap, but it was good to rinse off. The bad thing is that once you are clean, it's really, really hard to put on your stiff, stinky, dirty clothes after that. We had an easy short day to get to Agua Dulce for a nero and then a full zero. Free Range wanted to push on, but I wouldn't. I wanted the rest.

Agua Ducle was amazing. We hiked by Vasquez Rocks which was beautiful coming into town. The people were all friendly to us. We first stopped at a cafe to get some lunch. A fellow offered to take our packs to where we were staying as he was volunteering there. There were bikes where we were to be staying so other hikers who had them took our groceries back for us as we had to hike another mile - then some guy offered us a ride anyways. Things were going well here and only got better.

The Saufley's are a couple that have hosted hikers for years and call it Hikerheaven. There is nowhere to stay in this town, let alone do laundry,etc. They have everything extremely organized. They had big tents with cots in them with a couple of RV's for couple's for some privacy. They have laundry bags and spare clothing so I spent the half day in a 70s purple tent dress, but it was cool, comfortable and something different to wear. They had an info board with so much stuff to read, supplied the new water report, had 3 computers for internet and had the post office stuff right at their place!!! As mentioned, they had many bikes to get to town as we did not walk to walk any more than we had to. There was a couple of horses and Sunshine got her first real hose ride so that was fun to watch. Their bathroom had scrub, clippers, body butter, etc and anything to fix up or bod in there. I was in there for a while. There was probably 40 of us there that night and not quite as many the next night. Lots of socializing!!

The next full zero day brought myself quite a surprise. It had been a month into my hike. I had met and talked with lots of people. As some of you know I had started seeing a fellow just prior to my trip which had mostly been going well, but had a little blip before I left. I had been happy to wait and see how things went after I got back. I saw that he had not only still been his online dating site, but changed his profile and pictures along with an email saying things that basically were pushing me away, not trying to get closer to me. I told him I'd just call him when I got back and give him the room to date others. I was quite sad and in my quiet time hiking, I realized that he was not in the headspace to make anything work between us so I had let him go in my mind while on the trail. After seeing that he hadn't responded to an email of mine, literally seconds after that, a fellow I hadn't seen in 2 weeks showed up and all I hear is "Hard Ass"!! I've been trying to catch you guys for 2 weeks, wanna do lunch?? Did we ever. Unfortunately, we weren't sure who he -Hikeaholic- liked, but both thought he was cute so spent the rest of the day hanging out amongst getting our stuff ready for starting to hike the next day. Free Range had previously dinner plans with a friend from LA so I had him to myself:)(see the guy to my right). We had yet another once-only catered dinner trail majic that night!! The next morning he asked up to breakfast as we were leaving. I took him up on it. I still wasn't sure if he just had fun hanging out with us or what so I still hiked that day while he had the day off.

Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 4 Big Bear to Wrightwood

2011-06-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

I really needed a full zero in Big Bear!! It was heavenly. There was still stuff to do like going to the post office, groceries, laundry, etc but much less than before. Our first night there, the hostel was almost full, so the owner treated everyone to yet another free BBQ and beer for just that night only!! We are scoring on the free food!! Free Range and I are hiking off and on with Balls and Sunshine, and now we are starting to almost catch the 20something crowd. No wonder I was so tired!! The post office in Big Bear also took photos of the hikers and posted them up on their wall with your trail name. Lots of support and fun for us hikers!!

There was a fellow, Sherman, who helped out at the hostel and also gave a few of us a ride to where the shops and post office were. When we hitched back, we happened to be picked up by Sherman's girlfriend of all people. We noticed that she had a massage table in the back of her truck and we booked for a massage later that afternoon. It was amazing!!!

I did treat a couple of people that night as I had done so previously on the hike. Lots of ankle sprains and a couple of knees too. Most hikers wear lower cut, lighter hikers for the weight, but also because it was really hot in the desert. I didn't want to see anyone's dream come to an end over a simple injury so did my good deeds and put my skills to use when needed. One guy named "Sourdough" that I treated got his name because he has a 30 year old sourdough starter!

I had tried my new Esbit stove which was great for it being very light and small, but it took forever to boil water and was very stinky. There was another guy who was finished hiking at this point and he gave me his popcan alcohol stove. Still small, but you needed to carry alcohol so slightly heavier. Turned out to be a good, happy medium between the Esbit and my gas stove so I sent my gas stove home. At least I got that figured out finally.

Got a ride from Sherman back to the trailhead. The weather wasn't supposed to be that good, but it turned out OK. The day before a few people came back to the hostel as the weather was miserable. The elevation was so easy compared to what we just had done, we did our biggest mileage up to that point, 27 miles, but it didn't seem that hard. At one point, there was a turnoff point at the Cougar Crest Trail. Free Range and I were calling ourselves the Cougar team as we were the only gals of cougar age that were on our own. We had to get a pic by the trail sign. In being so close to this sign we saw engraved in it that we were to go back up the hill to the PCT where there is an easy-to-miss hairpin turn. A lot of people did extra miles here, but we didn't because of our "cougarness":).

The next day, we were supposed to do a detour around an area where there had been rock slides. We had spoken with a couple of people at the Kick Off who had started really early and had already been through that section and said it was fine. The biggest reason for wanting to go through the normal trail was that it had amazing hot springs at Deep Creek. Most of us went for it. They were probably the best natural hot springs I have found so far in my travels. Many different pools that were right beside a cool river with a rock to jump into the cold water and rope to climb back up. the campsite was right there nestled amongst the mountains. We "nero-ed" that day to spend time here.

I was being told by Sunshine everytime I said the Canadian "eh". She found it quite funny and I didn't realize how often I said it. Now that I'm home, I'm noticing when others say it. Weird that I've not noticed it before. There were definitely a few other Canadian words that I used that kept others entertained a little. Not as well as the Aussie gal, but a little. Even "toque" - no one knew what that was!

The next day was a steady day with one big river crossing, but it was shallow, just very wide. It was a hot day and for lunch the only shade we could find was under a bridge so we officially became hiker trash:).

Hiked to Silverwood Lake where we camped. Toilets and running water here!! Balls knew a trail angel who was happy to come a take a couple of guys to REI and back. We also ordered pizza and this fellow also brought us back pizza!! What a surprise!! We even had picnic tables to eat it from. How cultured!!

The next day was a mixed day. Late in the morning we came to an interstate where there wasn't much there except a McDonald's which was even on the PCT sign. Very sad that we were all excited about the McD's. There was about 20 of us stinky hikers there. A couple of the young guys did the dollar menu challenge and one couldn't keep it all down. The level of entertainment is certainly deteriorating as the hike is going on. Called my brother and niece/nephews from there and they weren't really getting their aunt's excitement over McD's. My brother asked where I was and I told him somewhere NE of LA. He said so was he which was a classic line:). We hung out there for a couple of hours before we had a long, steady climb ahead of us for the rest of the day.

The next day we had a half a day hike to nero in Wrightwood. We came to the highway, which was closed in one direction, but the direction to get to town so no cars were driving that way very much. There was a ranger who gave us a bag of fresh cherries. He was off for a hike so couldn't give us a ride. Luckily, there was a gal there that I had camped with her and her husband at the Kick Off. She couldn't continue because of a sore foot so was supporting her husband. She had a motor home so gave us a lift to town. Fellow hiker turned trail angel. You never know what can happen. It was a good afternoon. Not a lot for me to do beyond the usual as, finally, all my gear was organized. Actually watched some TV which seemed weird after none for weeks.

Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 3 Idyllwild to Big Bear

2011-06-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

I am breaking these legs up into the sections in between my day's off as this is how I planned my trip and seems to be a good way to share my adventure. As mentioned, Free Range and I were a few miles into this part already. The next day we were a little worried about as we were told that Fuller Ridge could be dangerous and we might need crampons and ice axes. I only had Yak Trax with me and my hiking poles. Best time to do this in the morning but not too early to soften the snow just a little. Turns out it was nothing but patches of snow in the trees. It would have been a lot more dangerous probably only 2-3 weeks prior, but nothing for us thank goodness. Fuller Ridge the following day where I am pointing to.

The next part was probably the most mentally challenging of all days. Remember the gentle grade and many switchbacks the trail can make - well we saw the same view for 15 miles (almost 6 hours) down to the highway 10 near Palm Springs. It was great of the trail crew to make sure we saw every little canyon and speck of that hillside. It was so very frustrating!!! It was tempting just to hike straight down the hill except that it is rattlesnake country so we needed none of that. BTW I did see 2 big rattlers my whole hike!! We finally make it down to the bottom of the hill for our next water source. My most grumpy moment the whole trip!!

The next day was full of trail majic!! A box of oranges in the morning. More food and drink under the bridge going under the highway. The Mesa Wind Farm office was open so we had air conditioning, frozen meals for sale along with drinks, flush toilets, etc. That was lucky!! Had a great day of hiking - anything was better than those switchbacks. We took a small half mile detour off the PCT to the Whitewater Preserve. There was a cold water hole that they let us soak in as it was a pretty hot day. There was another guy, Buck 30, with BBQ and the works including salad!!! Hung around there for a couple of hours before heading on to one of my most favourite campsites by a river.

I was tired the next day and we had a big climb up to do. Probably all the "quality" food we ate the day before didn't help. There was an old cabin with open windows and doors that we slept in, but at elevation it was still cold at Coon Creek.

The next day wasn't quite a full day to take us to the road to get to Big Bear for a much needed full zero!! When we got to the road, it was a strong, cold wind. There was a cop on break there talking to some hot blond which prevented anyone stopping as we were trying to hitch a ride. Another cop came and he said that the one stopped there was leaving soon. This new, very cute cop was going the other way so couldn't give us a ride and also if he did, he would have to search us. We just laughed as we were 4 days in the bush and very dirty and stinky. We finally got a ride to the Big Bear Hostel.

Pacific Creat Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 2 Warner Springs to Idyllwild

2011-06-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

I felt a million times better after having a day off and it was almost NOT painful to put my hiking boots on. Plus, I had mailed some heavy gear ahead to the next stop as they had an outfitter there so I could reorganize my gear for the rest of the month. It was also nice not to have to worry about having so long in-between water sources as well. Still had some trail majic at the end of this first day as a fellow had a BBQ for us. You could camp there along had a bunkhouse where a bunch of us slept in. Did I mention the pot-o-potties? Yes, small things are nice out there in the backcountry. It was a cloudy, windy night so nice to have the shelter. It wasn't so nice the next morning and people were waiting for it to clear, but we just started anyways and it cleared up pretty quickly and had a great hiking day.

The next day was another story, rainy and a little windy. Free Range wanted to go into town and have a day off and dry out. She had a very ultralight tent which didn't do so well in this weather. I wanted to spread out my days off, plus I wasn't sure my gear I had forwarded would have got there yet, so she went into town with a couple of others while I went ahead hiking by myself. I was feeling tired that day and it was nice for a couple of days to just go at my own pace and rest when I felt like it. Not that it was lot different, but it was a nice change for a couple of days. As the day went on, it was getting very windy and cold near the top of the mountains so I went off the main trail down to some shelter where there was also a spring. Good choice as a lot of people who stayed up top on the ridge had a miserable night. I woke up to snow around my tent!! Up on the ridge was something I don't think I've seen before as there was frozen condensation on the trees, but only on one side. Very unusual. Had a long day up the mountain, but it was one of the more beautiful areas so far. Free Range and a bunch of others just slackpacked backwards in 1 long day what I did in almost 2 with my full gear so I saw them heading in the opposite direction. Great that I saw them and they had a place for me to stay in their warm cabin that night.

To get to the town of Idyllwild, you have to hike 2 miles downhill to a parking lot. Luckily there were some locals there to drive me another 2 miles into town. Very cute little place that all rustic and lots of wood. For us, it was one of the best places to stop - I had a "nero" there - as there were a lot of different shops and you could easily walk everywhere. I would definitely go back there.

They had an outfitter where I bought a new smaller, lighter pack that actually fit me. Because of my decreased pack size, I had to get a smaller pot. Crumbs also found me an Esbit stove in a hiker box. An Esbit stove is a very small tin thing with a fuel cube so I thought I'd give it a try until the next stop. Also, there were "hiker boxes" at the different stops, where you could leave stuff you don't want or had extra of and others could take stuff. Good source of extra food if you needed to. I had to get this huge box to ship my other pack and gear home. Even though my pack was a little heavier than most others still, it was tons better than before. After running around all day, I needed rest, but Free Range had organized a ride back to the trailhead to get that slog of 2 miles uphill back to the actual PCT. It seemed like a better idea than getting up super early!! Of course, we went a few miles further to Strawberry Flats. Free Range and I have similar personalities in sometimes we think more is better. Not always the case, but at least we were on the same page most of the time.

Pacific Crest Trail (Desert Section) - Leg 1 Mexico Border to Warner Springs

2011-06-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

I have had a dream of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail for several years now. It's a 2650 mile trail that goes from the California/Mexico border up to Manning Park in BC. You can only hike or horse the trail and because of the horse option, the grade of the trail is very forgiving and gentle. Most of the time it's great, but other times it makes a ton of switchbacks and you feel like you are going nowhere and can be extremely frustrating!! There are also great views most of the length of the trail which is amazing! I have more photos on Facebook!!

Initially, I had 4 months off to do most of the trail this year and for many reasons, I ended up with only 6 weeks off work instead. I figured this would be enough time to get the desert section completed. This was a great year to do this section from so much snowfall that there was more water sources than normal. To start the trail going northbound, the end of April is the most popular time to start due to weather/snow conditions, etc. They have a big Kick Off party down near the border so I went to that to take in the festivities and also meet some people as I was going down there solo. From the Kick Off and throughout the whole hike, I was amazed at the community of people from the hikers to generosity of others to support us hikers along with the maintenance of the trail. A lot of work by many people is put into that trail by those who love this trail. A lot of Trail Angels who pop up unexpectedly with BBQs, drinks, beer, etc (Trail Majic) to those who give rides to and from towns at our resupply stops. I feel grateful and fortunate to now be a part of such an awesome community of people.

I arrived at the airport in San Diego and met a few fellow hikers. They were all looking at the size of my pack in awe - well, fear- about how big and full it was. The general consensus was "You need to do something about that pack - really!!" As a seasoned, but old school backpacker, I was introduced the world of "thru-hiking" and ultralight gear. Little did I know. I found it really makes a difference when you are planning for weeks of hiking as opposed to a few days. My days of packing-like-a-girl were numbered and finally had caught up with me. I got a ride with a few of these hikers to Lake Morena Campground for the Kick Off party. It was a great way to meet some fellow hikers and gather more info that I would need for my adventure.

As the campground was 20 miles from the border, most people "slack-packed" this section, which means they just carried gear for the day without all the full gear. I had to learn this new "thru-hiker" lingo. My first day was hiking this section with Crumbs, Free Range Amelia, Balls and Sunshine. Guess I need to mention that everyone gets given a trail name eventually. Not sure why, but it was kind of fun and kind of weird to hang with people for days and never know their real name. Balls and Sunshine are a father/daughter team and she is only 11 and wants to be the youngest to complete the whole trail including the snow sections. I ended up hiking with them quite a bit and she's one awesome gal - so is her dad. Because of her being so young, they had a ton of sponsors and were full of good info on gear, etc. You can follow them on their trail journal if interested. Free Range's is www.trailjournals.com/amelia. By the way, my trail name became Hard Ass. I went down with my Club Fat Ass shirt on, but noone seemed to be able to call me Fat Ass which I didn't care as that's not where I put my fat. Plus the fact that my pack was so big and I had my Ironman hat with me - Hard Ass seemed to stick. Amazing that I can get that name going down where no one knows me, I'm exhausted and out of shape. Guess there are some things you can't escape. Here's us at the monument at the Mexico border.

It was a beautiful hike and a great way to start getting back into shape after just finishing my osteopathic exams the week before. Met lots more hikers of all ages and from around the world, including, of course, a few fellow Canadians. Made it back for talk about bears and campfires before calling it a day. The next day they had a great talk about the Sierra Mountain section and safety. My next job was to get a new tent. My heavy duty 3 season 2 person tent was big and heavy so I got a lighter, smaller tent as it was just me.

Here's the gang of us current hikers and past hikers at Kick Off.

Organized all my food and gear for the next 3 weeks to ship ahead. Lots of other talks, they provided food and just all around a great but busy day. The next day was the first "real" day with all my gear. My pack was still very big and heavy and I went from this:

To this on my last hiking day (notice same hiking clothes which I got a little tired of):

Because I was moving a little more slowly than my first day hiking buds with my big pack, I ended up hiking with a fellow Canadian, Michael, for 3 days which was fun. We learned to get up early and not hike in the heat of the desert sun mid-afternoon. There was a big climb to do directly in the sun and he wanted to wait until next day to climb it in the morning. There was some trail majic there also of food, drink, shade and water guns! It was only 10:30am and I didn't want to sit around all day so I hiked on like only a Hard Ass would in the middle of the hot day. It was a hard day, but I'm still glad I went. Met some new people as well which is always fun. Not only that, but the next water source wasn't until the next day so I started with 6L of water just to add to it all.

The next day was another hot day and with the water source several miles away - our water report mentioned that there might be dead mice in there so to make sure we filter. And we were looking forward to any water, mice or not. Surprise of Trail Majic with BBQ, smoked salmon, beer, drinks, shade, etc. What an amazing surprise!!! I hung out there for 2-3 hours eating and resting and treating a couple of sprained ankles. Yes, I did a little work out on my holiday, but I didn't want a little injury to stop people from living their dream so I did help a few people out along the way. The biggest surprise while at this Trail Majic was seeing my friend, Free Range Amelia, show up!! She was one of the people I hiked the first day with and I thought they were all ahead of me. Turns out she missed a turn and did some extra miles. She was my hiking partner for most of the rest of my trip.

Free Range and I wanted to have a shower badly and not put our hiking shoes on the next day that we hiked the last 8 miles to Warner Springs Resort and got there in the dark at 10pm. It was well worth it. I felt also too tired to scrub my body down, but it felt great to have a shower. The next day was a "zero" or day off. You can also "nero' which is almost a day off in thru-hiker lingo. It was well needed and to soak in the hot springs there was amazing. Just got cleaned up, reorganized a bunch of gear and enjoyed hanging out with the gang. Here's what can happen to you if you carry a pack that's too heavy and too big for you that's sits right where your underwear is. Had to get a new pack and lose the underwear. It was very, very sore!!

First Mammogram

2011-04-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

So I am embracing my 40s with more grace than last year. A client of mine kept asking if I had my first mammogram yet and I tried to avoid answering as I hadn't gone yet. No problems with them so it wasn't a priority. That, plus I heard how horrible they can be. I finally went after she bugged me a few weeks in a row so I finally wanted her to stop it, as well as it being a good idea. It wasn't as bad as people made it out. Not that it was the most fun, but no big deal. I do feel sorry for those women who are smaller and have to be pulled etc, but no biggie for me. Those that seem to like it too much need to talk to their partners to give them more attention:). I hope my results are clear but at least I went and I encourage any of you over-40 to get it done. It's worth an early detection - especially when I just found out one of my super healthy co-workers just got diagnosed with cancer - not breast - so you never know.

Lost and in a Blizzard

2011-02-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

No, I am not lost, but I am into Lost. A couple of weeks ago I rented the first season on a weekend when I wasn't really well. I got so hooked and especially when you can find out what happens right away it's been hard not to watch just one more episode. My roommate and I are a sad state of affairs with it.

This week I am in a conference in Oklahoma. Was supposed to be in Palm Springs but they changed it cause the instructor lives here. Not nearly as nice or exciting or as close. Now, there is a blizzard here and everyone is stranded at the hotel. Kinda fun in the middle of chaos and I now have a roommate as she can't get back to her hotel. Too busy to miss Lost, but will definitely resume when I get back.

Revelstoke Road Trip

2010-09-12T15:48:00.001-07:00

I just had a great week with my friend, Pete, who was just out visiting from Ontario. We spent a few days up in the Revelstoke area. Camped at Revelstoke Lake at Carnes Creek Rec Site which is beautifully situated right on the water. Campfires were allowed now so that kept us warm:).

Went up to Rogers Pass for a long day of hiking. We were heading up a certain trail that I had been on a few years ago, but we missed the turn and ended up on another trail, which was fine, but shorted than planned. There was a lot of rock past the trail, but cairns led the way up to a beautiful saddle just tot he right of the peak in the photo. It looked like the trail went up and over the ridge and I thought it would hook up with the trail I had initially intended so we went over the saddle, down a steep slope and saw that the trail was over on the next ridge. Being the safety mountain gal that I am, we decided not to travel through a treed valley in bear country and go back over the saddle the way we came. It was a long day and was very tired by the end of it, but it was a beautiful day and quite an adventure. I was thankful that the hot springs were open late to soak our weary muscles. Had to give Pete a story to take home with him:).

Was stormy the next morning and we were tired from the hike so we drove up to Mica Dam and past that to Sprague Bay, just to see where the end of the road went. Could make use of my 4x4 option:). Love my vehicle:). On the way back, we stopped at an RV resort to try to find a small store to get a couple of things. We asked a bunch of people who were outside around a campfire. There wasn't a store, but next thing you know we were around the campfire with these friendly folk and had dinner and lots of laughs. Fun things happen when you don't plan them.

The couple who run the campsite recommended a mountain bike trail - Keystone Standard - so the following day where we had to drive almost above the tree line up 12-15km. It was a beautiful single track along the mountain ridge. I was so stoked!! It was still cloudy, but could still get some great views. My shifter broke and luckily Pete is a bike mechanic extraordinaire so he rigged it up so I could still ride. We didn't make it to the end of the trail where there is a cabin. I have to back and do that trail again for sure.

Our last day was very rainy and gloomy so hot springs here we come!!! Great adventure to end the summer.

Tattoos

2010-08-07T02:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend had a great camping weekend in Nelson. For those who don't know, Nelson is about 5 hours east of Kelowna and is a hippie town with an abundance of pot. It also has awesome mountains and surprisingly awesome beaches too. Did some hiking in Kokanee Glacier Park - we pretended we were the Kokanee Cougar girls. Watch out for the porcupines there!! I had never seen this. As we got 15km up a logging road to the parking lot, just getting out of her car was a friend I hadn't seen in years who just got married in BC and was touring around!! What are the odds??? Went for a hike, but it started to thunder and lightening so got out of there fast.

Went to the Sat market and got tattoos:). Fun, fun, but they failed to tell us that Muskol isn't nice to them. My "truth" tattoo became "person". How boring. Now it just looks like a marker randomly on my ankle. Gotta take that off. Had fun visiting a good friend who moved there a couple of years ago, hanging at the beach when it was sunny, biking, etc. Not the hot weather of Ont, but still not bad. We came back to Kelowna for a lot of smoke in the air from so many fires. At least they aren't close and I'm not on evacuation alert like last year.

Holidays

2010-08-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

OMG. I finally got a break in July!!! Feeling mostly recovered from heartbreak and my courses were finally done for now. I had just been cooped up inside for months and was so excited to get to Ontario for a family visit and relax at the cottage. Had a great time, great weather and lots of fun!! Can never get to visit with everyone, but saw lots. Even met up with my first beau that I found on Facebook. Great chat after all of these years.

After a couple of weeks of learning to wakeboard, playing with my 6 niece and nephews, waterskiing, etc, I get back to BC and have a big wipeout while running downhill on the trail!! After 2 weeks, can almost straighten my knee. My ribs are still sore and it has seriously slowed me down and I really don't like being slowed down. Nothing serious and recovering well, but the warm weather seems to only be here for a short time and I want to get out and do more things. Oh well - "crash" is still around.

Sex in the City

2010-06-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

No this isn't about my sex life while visiting Vancouver this past weekend:). Saw the newly released movie in Vancouver with some girlfriends. Yes, like the critics say, it's somewhat predictable, cheesy, but you expect that. I thought it was hilarious and laughed my head off. I highly recommend it for a good laugh and time with the gals.

Slightly Famous

2010-03-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went for a XC ski in the morning where I have a pass. I was interviewed for a TV segment on the low snow pack. Didn't think I would get on, not that I cared much, but the journalist had interviewed Ross Rebagliati, the Olympian snowboarder, just prior to me. I thought he would be more newsworthy than I. Someone cared about what I said??? Anyways, I get kinda of nervous around the camera. You can check it out on the link below. Click on the link for Mon March 8. The segment is on between 14:40 and 16 minutes. I'm on at the beginning and at the end. You can check out my new, but dirty, wheels:).

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080124/BC_Vid_Newscast_080124/20100301/?hub=BritishColumbia

Spinster

2010-02-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm now officially a spinster. I'm thinking back to many years ago when a gal who is 40 years old, single, never been married, no kids is a spinster. I also see a woman who's hair is in a bun, she is not very happy, has a cat and teaches Sunday School. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but I'm not any of these last things. The Oxford Dictionary describes a spinster as an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage. There is no "usual" age any more, but I'm definitely beyond the average. Obviously from this post, Pete and I did just break up. We couldn't in our hearts come together on the kid issue. He really doesn't want another one and I'm not quite ready to give it up yet. I'm exhausted from this dramatic turn of events and also very sad. Maybe I'll never have kids. Who knows what is in store for us, but we can't be together right now and honour what we both really want. When will love just be enough???

Olympic Torch

2010-01-26T21:56:00.001-08:00

It was cool watching the Olympic torch run through town today. Traffic was jammed up and people out on the streets waiting to see it go by. It is a cool looking torch also. You can feel the excitement in the air as it was going by. Reminded my of some past big sporting events of mine to capture the excitement and this is on a much bigger scale. Even though it's busy in Vancouver right now I'm sure, there must be a lot of excitement in the air. I love that about sports.

Honduras

2009-12-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

The week after by birthday, Pete and I went to Honduras for a wonderful week on the beach. Pete had always wanted to head back to Central America after being there with the military many years ago. We have some friends who have been there and recommended it so we thought we'd check out somewhere a little different. It was a long haul to get there, just with the layovers we got on our cheaper, last minute fare. This year a company went under that would get us from Vancouver to Honduras directly. Hopefully someone will get these flights running again.

It was a week where everything just kept getting better and better. We got there and it was really rainy and there were calling for rain part of the week, but that was the only rain we saw. The weather was awesome, around 26 and little humid all week!!! Our luggage was on a flight behind us so we could have waited another 4 hours to get our luggage, but we were tired from travelling overnight so we just went to the hotel. They weren't going to deliver it to our hotel either and words were exchanged over that. Hard to do with a language barrier. We got to our hotel and they didn't have our reservation. I had the computer printout showing our paid confirmation and the hotel, Palma Real, wasn't busy so we got a room. The only catch was that there was no hot water!! The next morning we checked on our luggage and luckily we had chosen not to wait as it wasn't going to come in until this next day. The new gal at the front hotel desk got our luggage delivered to our hotel. Amazing what one person can do when another can't. The general motto down there is "manana" which means tomorrow.

Pete and I had some shorts and sandals in our carry-on which helped. There was nothing open that first day. It was election day in Honduras and there was no shopping to do, no tours going out, NOTHING. It truly was a day of rest so we plunked ourselves down by the ocean. I love hammocks so spent a lot of time in one. Later that afternoon, we went for a walk along the beach and met an American who was taking treats to some orphans so we went with him. We, then, came across a B&B on the beach with an outside bar. There were a few people there so we went to check it out. Remember, everything was closed this day cause of the election, and this was the only bar open in the whole town - well 30 minutes out of town. This Irish couple that live on a boat in the Cayman Islands came down here just to get a drink. Can they stop drinking those Irish?? It was fun chatting with people who live down here. We finally got our bags so could get settled in.

The food there was good. I liked it more than Pete, who thought it was bland. I was happy to have choices that were healthy and didn't make me sick as I've been sick in Mexico both times I have been there. We had a la carte menu for the first couple of days as there wasn't enough people to have a buffet yet. Sometimes we got food that wasn't what we thought the Spanish word meant. It was a culinary adventure:) and we remembered our Spanish/English dictionary more often. They had a lot of food that they thought us gringos (whiteys) would like and we wanted some more local fare. Later in the week, there was a government conference there so more people. There was buffet food with more local fare. With more people at the hotel, which seemed to coincide with the hot water repair guy coming (yeah right), we got hot water!!!!! Like I said the week kept getting better and better.

Pete and I had a glorious day snorkelling out on these Islands - Cayos Cochinos just off the coast. It was a marine preserve area so we had to check in and snorkelled in two different spots. Saw lots of coral and fish - even a barracuda!! We had lunch on this island that has a fishing village on it. Still amazes me how some people live and how much we live in abundance back home. We had local fare to eat which was great. We had a guy chop off the top of a fresh coconut with his big machete and we had fresh coconut juice and the meat inside. So good. Funny how they live near the water in wood with fresh, natural food when we want more of that in our culture and somehow got away from this.

The next day we went for shopping in the closest town, La Ceiba. The economy has been hurting there also, especially with some of the political issues there as tourism is down. We encountered no problems with this. Maybe it helped that a different party was elected in and people wanted a change. At the resort, we met a gal who is Brazilian and Hondurana and who worked at the Brazilian embassy in Honduras. When the president had been snuck back into Honduras, he was at the Brazilian embassy. This gal was only one of a couple of people who knew he was there. Needless to say she was at the resort to relax after that stress. Back to shopping, there were lots of assertive vendors, but it was tame compared to Mexico and Nepal where I have been before. Honduras does have a lot of guns and security everywhere. It's just normal for most people to carry a gun. It's not like they get used a lot, but if everyone has one, you better have one too just in case. Luckily Pete could scope this out with his military experience so I definitely felt safer in the daylight and having him with me. It was suggested not to go out at night so we didn't. While we were shopping, there were definitely things that were cheaper, but a lot of things that were about the same price as back home - especially household items. This city, known for it's night life in the country, features a week long carnival in the spring. The country doesn't have the same don't litter policy as we do. Sometime this will need to change if they want tourists to come, but there's litter all over the beaches. Our resort was fine as they have hired help to clean up, but outside of that, there were plastic bottles everywhere!!

The next day we were picked up and travelled down the coast to a different area for an overnight stay in Trujillo. It has a beautiful bay and beach there. Even better than where we were staying. It is an undiscovered area so we were checking out one of the last unspoiled Caribbean beaches!!! Beautiful jungle and things are really lush there. There was still a lot of poverty there, but we were with a local who was showing us around and knew where good places to eat, etc. We stayed at this awesome cabana right on the beach that would have been a great place to stay all week. The place was called Tranquility Bay. It was good for 2 of us with a little kitchenette and a porch to look out at the ocean. Did I mention that the Hondurans like to play their music very loudly??? When they do and even at the resort you can hear a bit of a thud at 7am. Again the volume when down as the government conference people came - again things kept getting better. At this cabana, there was no music and for the short time we were there the quiet was relished. I did NOT want to leave. I kept saying that over and over. Our resort was still very nice, clean and well kept and we enjoyed our stay there amongst everything.

We went back to La Ceiba for last minute shopping and then back to the resort for our last day. I was sad to be leaving. One week is never enough, but we had to get away for the time we had. Had to spend a little more time in the hammock:). I did go out of my comfort zone and did some Karaoke. I've always been scared to do it. I wasn't amazing, but I did it. We also tried out our salsa lessons, but we were crappy compared to the locals who grew up with it. We tried. The hotel was putting on some show our last night so we took a "shuttle" to it. Turned out it wasn't far down the beach and it was a tractor pulling a wagon with seats:). Did I mention it was a 3 star?? It was funny actually. The show was very late and we had an early morning departure so we just left and walked back.

What a fabulous week we had!! I did catch a cold down there so it limited my activity level, but it didn't take away from seeing the country or getting know the culture there. We were to have very short stopover on our way back but Houston had snow - which we think we heard that it had only had snow 5 times since they starting recording it. It delayed our flights and had an overnight in Seattle. We got back to the first of the winter cold in Kelowna. I was not just missing the beach and the warm weather, but the people, speaking Spanish and the culture. Will have to go back.

Turning 40!!!

2009-12-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

No way!! I can't believe that I am now the big 4-0. I guess I'm officially a spinster. 40, not married and no kids. Not the way I thought my life would be a this age. Other things are better than I thought though. I don't feel like a spinster and I, hopefully, don't look like one. Guess I have to redefine what spinster means. I have been growing my hair long for the past 5 years when I became single after a long time. I figured that I'd want to have long hair one more time before I got too old for that. The thought of it also made me smile at a time when I needed to be smiling. I am still liking it long for now, but maybe one day I'll get it cut short. I just went really red for the holidays. Pete feels like he's having an affair cause I look different:).I did celebrate by getting away to a warm tropical beach in Honduras with Pete for a week. Check out the next post.

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

2009-11-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Back playing hockey yet again. I keep getting better every year, but still not that good yet. I'm not one with my stick quite yet. Got some good tips from my dad, but he did tell me that I skate like a penguin!!!! Just good form from my figure skating days and avoiding getting "hockey butt" :). My friend, Marcia, who is now moving to Kelowna - yippee for me - is also wanting to get back into hockey and these are photos from hockey practice.

Big Rig

2009-10-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

Pete just took me on my first haul in the biggest, heaviest trucks you can put on the road without a special permit. It was a day trip to Castlegar with a Super B truck which is one with 2 trailers and lots of wheels:). It was cool being up high, but such a heavy load - glad I wasn't driving. We also had to take it on the very twisty, narrow mountain roads. Would have been so crazy in the winter. Glad Pete has lots of experience and is a great driver. Never thought I would do something like that, but you never know.

New Vehicle

2009-09-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to finally have a new vehicle after all these years with the same one that was getting to be an old beater. It was a great little car that was reliable and could actually hold a lot of stuff. It was just time for the relationship to end as it was starting to new repair upon repair. Sold it privately to a client of mine and now have a newer Honda CRV '05. It feels like more vehicle than I need, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. It's great to sit up high again and can do some 4x4ing. We took it on a road trip and tried it out on the dirt roads and got it all dirty. It"s much bigger than a civic which was a pain trying to parellel park in Vancouver this weekend. Still feel like I'm driving someone else's vehicle. The best part is that now I actually have a car that's worth more than my road bike:).

Fires

2009-07-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about the fires up here in Kelowna. They were all man made and 3 houses were burned down and some damage to a mill in town here. There are many pics on the Internet you can check out. I was on evacuation notice on Sunday. That was a bit freaky as I've never been around fires like that before. I was amazed at how fast it could all happen, but that was also due to the very high winds that night!!. Most of the fires are now contained and shouldn't pose any more problems. New fires could start and they are calling for thunderstorms in the next couple of days. The rain will help, but not the lightening. I'm hoping to go camping this weekend and it should be fine, but no campfires allowed.

Summer Solstice and Bingo

2009-07-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Marcia came up to visit me around the summer solstice weekend. We had a great hike up the High Rim Trail. It is about 50+km and goes up the east side of the lakes to Vernon. We only went out for a couple of hours, but it would be fun to do the whole thing. At least in sections as there are some different access point.

We had a rainy day and decided that we would go to bingo. I treat a few older ladies and they talk of bingo. I had never been so we went for a couple of hours. I didn't know there was so much to bingo with all the different games and rules, etc. It wasn't smoking - actually quite clean and quiet. I got lots of cards and got dizzy by the end of a few games for looking quickly at all the cards. We even had to buy our own dabbers. We were trying so hard not to laugh too much and annoy the serious regular. Neither of us won so we yelled BINGO in the car on the way home:).

That night was the summer solstice and there was a celebration at the Summerhill Winery. There is a pyramid there that they let their wine sit in to get the pyramidal energy, etc. I need to take a proper tour to find out more. At the top of the pyramid inside is a huge crystal. There was a meditation, potluck veggie dinner and, then, drumming and dancing afterwards. It was very cool and would go again.

Mom's visit

2009-07-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hi there. It has been a while so here are some things to catch up on. Mom came out for the visit. She flew into Vancouver while Mark was there and we had a couple of days there together while I was on my course. She drove back to Kelowna where we spent a good few days here. There were some photos she took, but she hasn't sent them too me yet to put on here:). Come on Mom!!!!

Sponsoring

2009-05-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

Guess I just want to share in my feeling good that I just sponsored a little girl in Nepal to go to school. This will be an ongoing thing for a few years. The cost is very nominal to make a difference though. It is organized through a friend's sister so I know that the $$$ is actually going to where I think it will be going. Hope she does well and this will give her more options as she gets older.

Summer is FINALLY here!!!

2009-05-17T18:50:00.001-07:00

Today we finally got some heat!!! It went up about 10 degrees in a day and supposed to nice for the next few days. Got a sunburn riding of course. That's not so good, but not really caring as it's not freezing anymore!!! Happy, Happy!!

gone mac

2009-05-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have ventured over to the OTHER side. I just got a Mac laptop and trying to figure out the differences. It's pretty nice and will be great once I get used to how to do things the "Mac" way. Hopefully there will be no viruses and it will work fabulously with little maintenance. A little maintenance was fine when I had guys that were good with computers, but Pete is handy in other ways. So a Mac it is. Helpful for school too.

Personal Worst

2009-03-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday I had a personal worst time in a half-marathon here in town. The course was beautiful and even a little downhill. I seem to having lots of personal worsts here and almost coming last in races. Not sure what that means except that I'm signing up and getting involved no matter what my fitness level. Guess that's a good thing. I'm glad that spring is starting to show itself - FINALLY!!! Putting away the skis and hockey equipment for the year. Time to get my bike out.

Driving a Big Rig

2009-02-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

Some of you may not know, but Pete, my man, is a Class 1 Instructor and a former long haul trucker. He was doing some side work this week and I went on a couple of runs with him. He was on a dirt road on private land and he had me get in the driver's seat on this flat, straight part. Not exactly what I thought - plus, kinda illegal, but there wasn't anyone else around. He changed the gears, etc and I only drove maybe 50m, but still. I have never done that before - and, don't really need to do it more. It was cool to drive around up really high though. Thanks for the lesson and I did something I never thought I'd do.

Cypress Snowshoeing

2009-02-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

I was just down in Vancouver for, yet, another course. Saturday night after my course a group of us met up at Cypress for a night snowshoe. Once I finally got picked up downtown - the street was blocked since I hadn't looked to see that there was a hockey game, monster truck show, opera, plus the UFC fight so getting through downtown was a nightmare. Certainly don't miss the traffic. It was a beautiful clear night which was a surprise since they had forecasted rain/snow that evening. Good to see friends who seem now to think I'm the social planner in Vancouver and I don't even live there:). It was a great night and I do miss snowshoeing and just tramping around in the snow on the mountains where it's quiet and peaceful.

Winter Camping

2009-01-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend I've crossed two things off my "bucket list". See the movie if you want more info on that. I've always wanted to sleep in a snow cave for just one night and, then, never again. Pete, being a former mountaineering instructor, seemed like the perfect person to take me since I didn't want any avalanches or the snow cave to collapse on us. We went up just past the Big White area to Idabel/McCullough Lakes. We snowshoed in a little ways. There wasn't a lot of snow so we had to shovel the snow to make a big mound for us to dig out then. Lots and lots of shovelling. It certainly wasn't the size I had thought of sleeping in. We got lots of pine bows for flooring for warm. Since the cave was small it was quite close to the entrance, plus I had busted a hole in the roof so it was really cold in there. We got the tent out instead. Pete used the stove inside the tent to warm us up. I would have been too scared to burn the tent down, but that's why I had my "guide" with me. Pete was freezing all night and didn't have a great sleep. I have never camped and woken up to everything inside the tent frozen with frost on the walls too!! Not exactly what I was looking for but at least I experienced it and don't need to do that for quite a while. Two things off my bucket list in one weekend with a willing partner. The things I make him do:).

Salsa Dancing

2009-01-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to try salsa dancing for a few years now and finally just signed Peter and I up for lessons. We had our first lesson on Fri night and they have a practice sessions for all the different dances that their company teaches. We were starting to get the hang of it and shaking our hips:). It was a fun thing to do on a Fri night. When we get better it should get sexier since it's not so sexy yet!

Ears Pieced

2008-12-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, I just got my ears re-pierced last night. I haven't had them pierced in years. I was getting infections in one of them so let them grow over. Got them repierced and the same thing happened. Maybe it was bad metal that my skin can't tolerate. I, since, haven't had my ears pierced in 15+ years. I wear my hair down most of the time and it was also another thing to take care of so I just haven't bothered. I have thought about getting it done off and on and it has been suggested by previous boyfriends also. This past birthday, my current man, Pete, took the bull by the horns and got me a gift certificate to get them done. He made sure that if I really didn't want to do it then I could get the $$ towards something else. He created what he wanted and I just got them done last night. Hurt like #$%#$#. Now I have sparkly earrings on. It feels weird to have them done, but I'll get used to them in no time. Guess I'm more "girly" now.:)

Pub Relay Run

2008-11-16T22:43:00.000-08:00

How old do I think I am anyways??? How long has it been since I've run and drunk beer at the same time?? Before today, so long that I have forgotten, but it happened again today. My friend, Kari, who got me into hockey, had signed her team up to do this pub relay run. I'm not yet good enough to play on her hockey team, but when they needed another runner, I was in. The legs weren't too long - I had the longest of 7km. Once you finished your leg, you had to chug a beer before the next person could go. The last person, Kari, had to chug before AND after. Lucky gal!! One of the other teams around us was supported their teammates by handing them jello shooters instead of the typical water bottle. They provided me with one - that was a first!! We had such a fun day and didn't come in last!!! Here are just a sample of pics.

Biking with Mike

2008-10-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

I was down in Vancouver for Thanksgiving weekend with Pete's family. Yes, met the family and, of course, I seemed to charm them:). I hope so. We hooked up with my cousin, Mike, who just finished riding his bike across Canada with a few friends for charity for MD. Mike had never asked to go biking before so this was our first ride together ever. He's now got this ripped cycling bod - guess Jessica is sure happy:). We had a great ride out around UBC and to the airport area. He was sure kicking my butt, although I'm just getting over a cold. He did have thicker touring tires on also. It was a great morning!!

Clearwater Lake

2008-10-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

The next adventure took us to Wells Gray Provincial Park. There are several lakes there, but Clearwater Lake had a rental place for canoes right on the lake so we chose that one. We had glorious weather on the Sat. The lake was very calm and hardly any other people. This was my first ever canoe camping trip. I've done boating and kayak trips, but never in a canoe, even though I had canoed a lot at our cottage. We had a campsite all to ourselves and they are very well kept. There are lots of different campsites that you can only access by canoe and for all different distances depending on how far you want to go. That night it rained hard, but was just cloudy the next day as we canoed out. We didn't have any bugs, but I have heard they can be quite back in the summer. Would love to go back.

Mt Frosty

2008-10-04T15:57:00.001-07:00

Pete and I went to Manning Park to hike up Mt Frosty a couple of weeks after the last trip. Both him and I had a dream of one day hiking the Pacific Crest Trail(PCT) which goes from the California/Mexico border up to Manning Park. It can take 3-6 months to do the whole thing or you can break it up if you want. We thought we'd do our first backpacking trip together and go and check out the end of the PCT. I had seen it once before.

The weather was awesome for the hike. We chose not to summit up the loose scree to the top, plus it was getting later and we just got lazy. There was a great meadow just in the basin below the peak which we camped at and had to ourselves. Beautiful views there too.

The "official" campground was down in the woods with no view and not the privacy so we scored big time!!! Pete was trained in the army to have a big cup and a spoon attached with a string to it. I called it his "remedial" cup and spoon, but it works:). After the weekend, we weren't sure if we wanted to backpack for 3-6 months, but it's fun to dream.

Kooteneys

2008-10-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

Labour Day weekend, Pete and I took a trip to the Kooteneys which is about 4-5 hours south east of here. I had never been or at least I didn't remember much of it when I was 12 years old passing through that area. The town of Nelson is known as the alternative, hippy crowd and a lot of US draft dodgers nestled there. It's a quiant town that is growing and bustling. Very outdoorsy and a great feel to it for my liking. We camped almost an hour north of Nelson near Kalso. Just a very smaller town like Nelson. Had a great day checking out both town and their markets.

The next day we drove north west to mountain bike to a ghost town. We made sure we had a whistle since it is grizzly bear country all around there. Part of the mountain bike ride was along the old mining rail bed up there. The town of Sandon was bustling about a century ago, but now there's not much there but a few old buildings.

We were going to go for a quick hike afterwards, but saw a guy in the parking lot who had talked with another fellow who had seen 2 grizzlies on the trail. That along with the fact that it was raining hard made us decide to keep driving. We drove up north of Kalso to Meadow Creek where we were told that the Kokanee salmon were spawning. Also there was a good chance of seeing a grizzly bear from the car and we were all over that. I've never seen such a sea of red in the water as that's the colour that these salmon turn while spawning. No grizzlies though and we were disappointed about that.

We went to check out Johnsons Landing Retreat Center along this dirt, narrow, twisty road, but didn't have the directions so missed it, but it's supposed to be a great center. We, then, drove back and went to Ainsworth Hot Springs which has part of it in a cave!! Very awesome at the end of the day.

The next day we drove to Rossland to meet up with a friend, Marcia where we went mountain biking in the hail. Not so fun, but it was a great tour of that area. Can't wait to go back.

Bear in the Yard

2008-10-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I had a bear in my yard about a month ago. Was looking out the window after meditating and writing in my journal and saw a bear in the yard. It looked like it was about 2 years old and I have since been told that that's when their mothers let them loose to fend for themselves. Apparantly, with the crazy summer weather, the crop of berries that they like weren't so good this year so they have to look for food elsewhere. I came downstairs to take the picture below. The house owner's daughter was here with her 2 dogs visiting then and they woke up so I yelled at her not to let the dogs out yet!!! Haven't seen one since, just lots of bear poop in the trails.

Personal Worst

2008-08-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

I just did a personal worst in the Olympic distance triathlon today at the Canadian Championships here in Kelowna. It was a sad race, well mostly just a sad run. It's not like I expect to race as I used to, just want to be consistent with how I am working out and have been feeling not too bad lately. Anyways, had an OK swim and bike, but my legs just did not want to run fast today. It was a personal worst 10km time. At least I finished and just ahead of Pete still. I knew the announcer again, but luckily he didn't say anything embarrassing. It was a great course and well organized race. Oh well. I'm experiencing new things in Kelowna in my races - almost last and personal worsts. Oh well, guess it's gotta be good for me.

Fruit Trees

2008-08-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

I have several fruit trees in my yard. I was picking cherries a couple of weeks ago and now the peaches are almost ready. One of the peach trees was bending a lot from the weight of the peaches even though they weren't quite ripe, I had to pick them to save the tree. It's great to just go out and pick your own fruit in your yard.

Facebook

2008-08-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have just succumbed to the Facebook pressure and signed up this weekend. It's fun contacting some that I haven't spoken with in a very, very long time. Something else to play with anyways and it is better for keeping in touch with those who are one it since little messages are posted frequently that they may not put on a regular email. Anyways, another addiction.

Moving Muscles Ride

2008-08-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, my cousin, Mike McDonald, was biking across the country for Muscular Dystrophy as one of his good buddies has MD. They just finished the ride this week after 3 months. They raised almost $150K. I just writing this case I'm proud of what they did and will miss reading the blog to find out of his adventures. If you want to check it out, click here.

Kettle Valley Railway - Myra Canyon

2008-08-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) was part of the TransCanada Railway system. It is now a great spot to mountain bike along for miles and miles. Great for families to bike and camp along since it is mostly flat. There was some big fires here in Kelowna in 2003 which wiped out a lot of homes and burned down the KVR trestles. They have since been rebuilt in the Myra Canyon and reopened a couple of months ago. My friend, Marcia, was up here staying with me while doing some work here. We went to check it out yesterday. It was a great canyon hike although you could see the charred remains in the forest. I'd love to go back with my bike next time.

Revelstoke National Park

2008-08-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

On the August long weekend, my friend, Helen, and I went backpacking to Revelstoke National Park. Seems like this is becoming a yearly thing for us - not last year since I was Ironman training. The other two weekends we ran into a British couple, but there weren't in Revelstoke this year. Revelstoke is northeast from here on the way to Banff. It is grizzly bear country. There are grizzly bear statues entering into the town. Lots of shops,restaurants, etc have "grizzly" in their names. We were a little spooked. We chose to hike in the National Park since we figured it would be a popular spot with more people, therefore, less chance of bears around. I did take my bear spray and my bear bell (thanks Aunt Polly:)).

We hiked into Eva Lake which was not quite a couple of hours. There was one other party there who was a family from Kelowna. They had a couple of kids and this was their first backpacking trip. The kids loved it and were great to hang around.

The next day we did a day hike up to Jade Pass and onto Jade Lake and back. There was some snow to go around and the area was quite open so we just went off trail down to the lake. There was one area that wasn't very open but we made lots of noise and didn't see any wildlife. Not a wise thing to do, but it really was quite an open area. Helen had thought we were going to hit the trail again, but I had assumed she could see that the trail went around the other side of the lake. A little miscommunication there, but we managed. My response was "You want a trail??" The footing off trail is harder and took more energy so we were tired by the time we got back to our campsite. I guess another "hiking with Kath" story, but there were no mishaps.

The bugs were bad, but there was a small shelter there if we wanted to be in there. It was relaxing by the cold lake. I know it was cold as I washed in there. No one else joined me. Cold wimps :)! The alpine flowers were in full bloom. The marmots there are well fed as they were quite big. We had a short hike out, but another awesome trip again!!!

Canmore

2008-08-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

As I'm typing lots of stories in one go here, I realize how many trips I've had recently with still a couple more to come. Anyways, I was invited to Canmore, which is near Banff, for a weekend. My friend, Sabina, who lives in Edmonton has a brother-in-law with an amazing cabin and we had to go and help her celebrate turning 40!!! Who was I to say know to that. There was a few of us and we just hiked, chatted, shopped, chatted, biked, chatted, drank and chatted. The cabin had it's own steam room which was great!! Not much view from the place, but nicely settled in the woods. It seemed like such a short trip for the weekend and it's so very beautiful up there, we all wanted to stay at least a couple more days. A teaser for next time.

Abba

2008-08-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

There was a "Abba Again" concert up here as part of the July long weekend celebration. A couple of friends were up for the weekend and we all went. It was fun to sing Abba songs and sit out on the grass. Look forward to seeing the Mamma Mia movie even though I have seen the play. Here's a pic of Pete and I at dinner before heading out. Don't let the grey hair fool you - he went grey young. He can mostly keep up:).

Nakusp Hot Springs

2008-08-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

In June, I was wisked away to Nakusp where there are lots of hot springs. I have wanted to explore east of here since I haven't seen much of this part of the province since moving to Kelowna. Pete, my current man, is a hot springs fan and took me there. It's about 3 hours east of here with only one small ferry ride. It was good to have a weekend away and do some mountain biking too. There are hot springs that are in a pool that you can pay for or you can drive down a logging road and hike down a steep path to natural ones. We went for the latter. They were right by a cold river, but it was great to relax there. Apparantly, there are a few areas of hot springs east of here which I look forward to check out.

Colorado

2008-08-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

I know that I'm in trouble for taking a while to write here. I just hadn't sat still enough to download my pics from the Colorado trip in May until now. I went with my friend, Lisa, who lives in Victoria. We both drove to Spokane, Washington where I left my car and we drove down to Colorado. We did a very long day of driving the second day to get to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. There was still lots of snow to do a lot of hiking with no snowshoes, but we did some along with some riding. The road through the park is the highest road in the continental US. It was to be fully opened at the end of the week so we couldn't go though it with all the snow still.

Estes Park is the town by the park and known for weddings there as it is really pretty. Elk were everywhere including this really big one with really big antlers!!

After a couple of days there, we drove down to Edwards which is near Vail to stay with a friend of Lisa's. We spent the next day riding part of the Copper Triangle Ride which is a very popular ride, but very tough. Beautiful, but a climb up a pass!! The Vail area a great, but getting to be touristy. Didn't have any Trista and Ryan (from the Bachelorette) sightings :)

We, then, drove up and over the Leadville area. This is above the tree line and the home of the most famous trail running race 100 miler at this elevation. Must be so very tough. Don't have any aspirations as this point to ever do it right now. I won't say never cause I seem to end up doing it then. There was snow driving there as we were up so high.

We got to Colorado Springs to the home of Pikes Peak. It's a well known hike/race there as it's over 14,000 ft and is on it's own with no snow in the summer so anyone can hike up there with no technical experience. We could only get up to 12,000 ft cause there was snow afterwards and we didn't bring any equipment for that. Beautiful hike, but don't need to do a straight up race for hours. I prefer a little more rolling terrain. Saw a unicyclist coming down - brave man! There was the combination of red rock and forest which was beautiful. Went around the Garden of the Gods rock formations - reminded me a little of Arches National Park in Utah.

We did have some relaxing time during this quick 10 days also, but we wanted to see lots the state. I would definitely go back. Lisa wants to move there at some point. Lisa was continuing her trip from there and I flew back to Spokane.

Riding for a Cause

2008-05-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

My cousin and 4 of his friends are currently riding their bikes across the country to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. One of the guys riding is also one of Mike's best friends has MD. They started in Tofino on Tues with no support vehicle and will take 2 1/2-3 months to complete it. They have raised a fair amount so far and hopefully will continue with the awareness of MD. Feel free to follow them on their trip with their website and blog click here. You can even see the news clip on the blog from when they started. Check it out at and you can make any donations here also. Here's to the spirit of adventure!!

20th Century Technology

2008-05-16T05:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry that I haven't written in a while, been quite busy and also dating a lot. Anyways, notice I said 20th century, NOT 21st century. I finally got myself a digital camera!!! Will be using it on my trip to Colorado next week. Was going to get one for a while, but then was always around/dating someone with a camera so never got one. Will have fun with it. I have also learned to text message. I know this has been around for a while, but I'm slow on the new technologies.

Work Life Just Gets Better

2008-03-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

Have I said how many good things are happening in Kelowna for me??? Not sure if it's me or Kelowna or both. Anyways, just found out today that I can pick whatever work hours I want. That can mean almost anything and as much or as little as I please, within reason of course. Never in my 17 years as a physio have I had this option. I was a little in shock and now I have to decide what I want to do and what groups I want to join rather than thinking of what I can join with my schedule. Weird for me but awesome. Life just keeps getting better and better.

Housesitting Extended

2008-03-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

This is so amazing!!! I just found out a couple of days ago that my housesitting is going to be extended. The guy who is in Europe is proposing to his Polish girlfriend this weekend. They are both planning to come back here in August - which was when I was supposed to be here until - for 3 weeks for her to check out Canada. The plan is for them to go back to Poland for at least another year. His father is going to continue working up north unless something goes back with his health, but he seems pretty healthy right now. They want me to stay if this situation remains the same. I can't believe my luck!!! It's still so great living here.

Dogsitting

2008-02-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

I am now dogsitting for the month of February. It's the dog that normally lives here. He, Porter, will be going to the sister's place in Victoria once she moves into her new house, but the dog can't be at the friend's house where she is staying now. He was at another friend's house, but wasn't getting along with the other pets there so they asked me if I would look after him for a month. With the deal that I'm getting on this house, how could I say no?

He is a boxer and mostly well behaved. He looks like the picture on the link and is a medium sized, but very strong dog. He doesn't bark much which is great. He's a pretty energetic dog and luckily there are trails really close to here. He doesn't always listen while out walking so he's getting used to his leash more and it's less stressful for me. I would not have been doing this if it weren't for my past training in what dog behaviours were - thanks especially to Sean and George for this. I've come a long way!!! Blue, Sage's dog, is still the easiest dog that I've ever dog sat for. I'm just getting used to the routine of taking him for walks, etc and will get in a groove just in time for him to go. I'm sure I'll miss him then, but still not used to a wet nose following me around EVERYWHERE. He has interfered a little with my already little social life up here, but it's now only for a couple more weeks. At least he's happy in his own home here.

Fast Food Frenzy

2008-02-16T12:35:00.001-08:00

I couldn't believe it last week. I was going to a movie in an area with some strip malls. There was so much drive through traffic for the Wendy's/Tim Horton's at that dinner time, that there was a man out directing traffic in the parking lot. I couldn't believe it. Someone gets paid to make sure there are no accidents while getting fast food for dinner. What's the world coming to?

I Just Moved to the Least Affordable City in Canada

2008-01-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

Check out this article in today's Vancouver paper. I sure know how to pick them.

World-class housing prices in B.C.
Kelowna home costs rank 13th highest in six-country survey
Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008

It's official: Homes in Vancouver, Abbotsford, Victoria and Kelowna are "severely unaffordable" and among the top most expensive housing markets among six countries surveyed.

The high housing prices are not because they're desirable places to live, but because urban planners and governments limit urban sprawl, according to the fourth annual report by a U.S. public policy firm called Demographia.

There's "one clear conclusion: The affordability of housing is overwhelmingly a function of just one thing, the extent to which government place artificial restrictions on the supply of residential land," Donald Brash, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, wrote in the 2008 report.
Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, says it's time to rethink B.C.'s Agricultural Land Reserve, which restricts development near urban areas such as at Garden City and Westminster Highway in Richmond.
Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, says it's time to rethink B.C.'s Agricultural Land Reserve, which restricts development near urban areas such as at Garden City and Westminster Highway in Richmond.
Gerry Kahrmann - The Province
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"The pathway to affordable housing is abundantly clear: Remove urban growth boundaries."

In Metro Vancouver, that means the Agricultural Land Reserve. Developers say it's time to reopen the debate on whether the ALR still makes sense, decades after it was brought in.

The Demographia report ranked affordability in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand based on how expensive housing is in relation to incomes, with a rating of three the cutoff for affordability.

Canada overall was rated at 3.1, which means it takes three years of median household income to buy a house at the median price, the midpoint between the highest and lowest.

Vancouver's 8.4 rating means it would take 8.4 years of median income to buy a house at the median price.

That news comes on the heels of an RBC housing affordability forecast that found Vancouverites would need 70 per cent of their net income to buy a house.

The numbers are painfully real for Carl Larouche, 44, a Vancouver teacher who recently bought a one-bedroom apartment on Great Northern Way for $265,000 after discovering 400-square-foot bachelors were fetching $300,000 in the West End.

But Larouche, who is from Saguenay, Quebec, the second-cheapest place in Canada to live, where houses cost about $100,000, said, "I would never go back there. Those are the sacrifices you make to live in Vancouver. I would be happy in a tent here."

Even though Vancouver's rating is up from 7.7 last year, Vancouver moved down to 15th spot overall. And Victoria, with a rating of 7.3, inched up one spot to 22nd.

Kelowna was ranked for the first time this year and vaulted ahead of Vancouver into 13th spot worldwide, with a rating of 8.5. Abbotsford, at No. 59 worldwide, was also ranked for the first time. Both are less affordable than Toronto.

Report author Wendell Cox argued that scarcity drives up prices and limiting growth limits supply.

For instance, housing is affordable in the large, vibrant cities of Atlanta and Houston because city planners don't inhibit growth.

In Vancouver, Philip Hochstein of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association said it's time to rethink the ALR, which makes up 20 per cent of Metro Vancouver's so-called Green Zone. It includes parks and public spaces and accounts for 70 per cent of Metro Vancouver.

"It's one of the things driving up the cost of housing," he said.

"Supply is being restricted by the land use policy."

The ALR has become a "sacred cow," he said. "Meanwhile, my kids can't afford to buy a house."

Hochstein said 60,000 hectares set aside for agricultural use isn't being used for agriculture. He said it may be unrealistic to anticipate that the Lower Mainland could be fed by food grown on that land, a goal when ALR was born.
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"We shouldn't be afraid to have the debate over whether it makes sense anymore," he said.

But urban planner Bob Ransford said, "If we develop all of the Agricultural Land Reserve, what would we do then?"

He said Demographia is an advocate of urban sprawl.

The report doesn't factor in other costs, he said, the largest of which is commuting, and intangibles, such as quality of life.

He also said Vancouver is more restricted by geographical factors than public policy. "They've got it quite backwards. By containing growth, we can lower house prices."

Sad Matthew News

2008-01-22T19:51:00.000-08:00

It's a sad day for us single gals out there. Matthew McConaughy is having a baby with another gal. At least she doesn't look like a bimbo and is quite beautiful. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Matthew??? I don't really get ga-ga over stars, except for Matthew. Not just that he's super, duper gorgeous, but his mischieviously dimpled smile just makes my knees weak. The dream is gone forever and it's a sad day. I am happy that he's happy, blah, blah, but still. Oh well. The other man of my dreams is still out there :).

My First Loppet

2008-01-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

So I did my first ever loppet today. Lots of firsts right now. For those of you who have no idea what a loppet is, it is what they call a cross-country ski race. I'm sure that there is a reason for the name, but I have no idea what. Anyways, this race was 15km classic skiing and 15km skate skiing. I hadn't classic skied in over 15 years and had bad rentals and really don't like it so much. There weren't a lot of people at the race, but I was dead last coming off the classic ski. Not a position that I'm used to that's for sure, but I was out there. I can't tell you how happy I was to get on my skate skies that I do regularly. I was so tired after classicing, physically and mentally and was having quite a low energy week on top of it. But I finished the race and was second last!!!! I was almost looking forward to coming in last for the first time ever. The only reason that I didn't was because one guy did the whole race classicing which is slower that skating - so I probably would have come last. The announcer, Steve King, knows my tri history so I really didn't need him saying things there when I had such a slow race. Oh well at least I got out there. I came back to my pad for a huttub and nap so things were good again.

First Kelowna Date

2008-01-13T18:05:00.000-08:00

So I had my first Kelowna date last weekend with a couple of follow ups since. I wasn't even feeling quite ready to date yet, but met him at a talk I was at and got along so we went out afterwards. We have since discovered that we are not meant to be together forever especially since he doesn't want any more kids. I have found a good friend in him here though so that's great. It rarely happens that I go somewhere and my number one pick of men at a place wants to go out too. Things are looking up.

Laser Tag

2007-12-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well I work with a fun bunch of people. Just different than Lynn Valley, but still fun. One of the gals takes her 6 year old for laser tag every Sunday. The clinic owners had organized a big clinic celebration earlier this fall - opened 15 or 20 years, I can't remember - so they hadn't organized a Xmas party. So Lona decided that we were all going to play laser tag and then head to her place afterwards. I had never played before - only paintball. It was lots of fun and much better than paintball. Less messy, but more importantly, less painful. We'll have to go again.

Life in Kelowna and Hockey

2007-12-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

Ok folks, I realize it's been a while since I have been in contact, but I've just been getting settled and sleeping sooooooo much. The first week I slept more than I had in a long time. I just got my home Internet hooked up a week ago too. Life has been quite good here so far. I'm getting organized in the big house and loving the hottub:). No pics yet as I haven't got that organized. Chris' dad is here now for a couple of weeks and we get along well so that won't be any problem. Oh yeah, I also found out that Chris is in Poland for a girl so don't get any ideas.

Work has been quite good also. It was slow the first week, but now is very busy so that didn't take too long, but was a little stressful at first since it was a big paycut for the first bit. My very first client happened to be from London, Ontario also and had my father as a high school math teacher!!! What were the odds? I'm now going to a gal's nite with her next week. My social life is picking up - 2 friends!!! My co-workers have also been very welcoming and making sure I'm settling in OK.

My other friend, Kari, has been great at making sure I settle in OK also. Had a couple of nights out with her. One was a gals nite ornament exchange party so I met lots of gals there and even met a new hairdresser and got a free haircut as a draw prize. Kari plays hockey and got the gals on her team to get some of their old equipment together and I'm now playing women's 3 on 3 hockey once a week!!! I've only gone out once and I really sucked as the skates are so different from figure skates. I was falling a lot, but trying hard and had lots of fun. I'll go again this week and I have no excuses not to go as it's right by where I'm staying. I went public skating last week to practice too. The gals are lots of fun and encouraging so I can't think of a better place to start. They even passed me the puck and let me have a breakaway!! I didn't score, but that's OK. It's such a great workout to so I'll play this season and then see.

We got a dump of snow, but most of it has melted. My friend, Angela, was passing through town during the dump of snow so we got up to XC ski at Sovereign Lakes near Vernon. Good early season skiing, but the local XC skiing isn't open yet. Cold, but not much snow:(. Hopefully soon.

Saranne, who owns the clinic in North Vancouver, was so very generous to buy me a flight back to Vancouver for the Xmas party. So I was just there this past weekend and had yet another 40th birthday party to go to. It was very fun and most of my Xmas visiting, shopping, etc is done so I can chill out now. On the way back, my flight was delayed and I ran into my good friend, Lisa, who lives in Victoria. She was just on her way back from Africa where she had been for the past 3-4 weeks on a mission. To check out her cause for AIDS orphans, click here. It was great to see her photos and hear her stories while they were fresh. Glad to be able to see her which I wold have probably missed her had my flight not been delayed.

Overall things are good here. I've been so busy here that I haven't had much chance to miss Vancouver yet, but not missing the rain at all. I'm sure there will be things soon enough, but not yet. I like the quieter pace of life here so far and people seem a little more friendly here also. Anyways, just recovering from a busy year so enjoying some quiet time and rest.

Moving my life to Kelowna!

2007-11-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

That weekend I got all of my worldly possessions in a Uhaul to drive up to Kelowna. My stuff was finally out of Housesitting 1 so they could have more space. I don't have a ton of stuff and loading went quite quickly. It was raining quite a bit and I was worried that the mountain passes were going to be ugly on the roads and I needed to get to my storage locker before 4pm. I had already organized and paid for this before the housesit and didn't know what kind of set up Chris had so it was just easiest to put it in storage.

My friend, Marcia, kindly offered to ride up with me and then unload everything. As we crossed the toll bridge which is just over halfway, we drove under a rainbow and into the sun. The roads were totally clear and my good luck was just continuing and we just made it to the storage locker in time. We were quite tired once we unloaded and got some dinner. Then, it was time to see where I would be living.

My luck just got even better!!!! The house is on a hill with a view of the lake and city. It's huge - around 5000 sq ft so no problems with running into his father. It's like a bachelor heaven. It's got the big hottub, pool table, pinball machines, big screen TV with more DVDs than anyone needs, the big deck with BBQ. He also has a leather lounge chair that massages, heats and the arm of the chair opens up to have drink holders with a cooling system in it. It's ridiculous, but very great. Chris is going to Europe until August!!! That's right. I'm in this beautiful, big house until August and all he wants is maybe some utilities covered!!! I couldn't believe this. Once I get up there, I'll post some pics. There's obviously more than enough room for visitors too. Given my luck I have bought a couple of lottery tickets, but not so lucky there yet :).

Oh yeah, about the guy. Good looking, energetic, friendly, smart etc, but too urban for me. He was mentioning which gym had the best machines with TVs in them. He was being helpful, but it's just not me. I need more of an outdoorsy guy, but hopefully, I have another friend in him in Kelowna.

Housesitting 2

2007-11-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

Sounds like a movie now. So I now have an amazing house sit organized for up in Kelowna. One of my clients and his wife have become friends now as well. He came in the morning of the Billy Joel concert for one last tune of his low back. While he was in, he mentioned that his best buddy from Kelowna was visiting in town, but was heading to Europe for a while and maybe I could stay at his place. He had also been trying to set me up with this fellow for a while also, but he was deemed GU - geographically undesireable!! I thought it would be worth talking to him about so he was going to mention it to him that afternoon.

I called the guy, Chris is his name, on the way to the free Billy Joel concert and he was all for me housesitting for him. The only catch was that his father works up in northern BC for a couple of months and then comes back to the house for a week. The house apparantly was big enough that we wouldn't get in each other's way. The place also has hottub!!! Love hottubs!! Chris mentioned that the yard was secluded so that you could run around naked, but I wasn't allowed to with his father:). I could agree to those terms. He was happy to help out a friend of his best buddy and have his house looked after for a while. I was to go up to Kelowna that weekend with my Uhaul to put my stuff in storage so I figured we could meet up then. What luck I've been having!!

Billy Joel....for free!!

2007-11-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine has been dating online and had been chatting with this guy, Jeff. She had determined that she wasn't so keen to meet him after talking with him, but he was persistent. He, then, happened to win tickets to Billy Joel and persuaded her to go with him. I love Billy Joel (also piano music) and told her to let me know how the concert was as he put on a good show a few years ago that I saw. She called me back a couple of hours later and said that he still had a spare ticket. So I was going to Billy Joel for free, on the floor, for my friend's first date with this guy. Bizarre, but I was happy!!!! The concert was pretty good. He didn't have any new album out, but played some of his older songs that weren't so well know. The date didn't go as well as the concert, but I had a great time.

Moving to Kelowna

2007-10-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

So I'm making a big move. I have been thinking of moving to the Okanagan for a few years now. I tried to get Sean to move there with me a few years ago with no luck. When we broke up, I actually had a couple of job interviews up there, but the right job didn't happen so I stayed in Vancouver. From my earlier postings, having been evicted, recently single and not quite back full-time at my position in North Vancouver, I figured that maybe now could be a time to make a move. I called my top clinic of choice in Kelowna out of the blue and someone had just left there, but they hadn't advertised yet. That person was parttime, but they would be willing to accomodate the right person full time. After meeting with the owners and getting along well, I was faced with the real possibility of moving!!! Did I really want to?? Why did I want to?? Leave my friends??? I finally decided that the worst case scenario is that I give it a year and come back if I don't like it. I would have to lose my position at the clinic that I've been at for 7 years. It's been a great clinic overall, but there are lots of jobs available if I came back. I figure it's a 7 year itch :).

I start work in mid-November there. Still need a place to live, but will stay with a friend for a couple of weeks if needed until I find a place. It's all happening very quickly.

So for those of you who have no idea where the $%^%$ Kelowna is, here's a run down. It's 4 hours inland from Vancouver. It's got all the outdoors stuff - well most of it - like the coast - of course no ocean, but is on a big lake. Click on the previous link for some great shots on the photo gallery. It's much, much drier which I'm really looking forward to and it actually gets some heat in the summer. It really is like the desert and Napa Valley rolled into one. There are tons of wineries, the Kettle Valley rail for biking (good for families), lots of hiking etc. There are a lot of people retiring here and someone just told me it's the fastest growing city in Canada. It's around 110,000 so I'm hoping it will be big enough for me as I've never lived anywhere that small. West Jet flies from London/Toronto to Kelowna for all of you Ontario-ites. So that's what I've been trying to figure out the past couple of weeks so I haven't written here. I'm hoping the man of my dreams will be there and angry that I never got there sooner :).

Housesitting

2007-10-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

So I'm now housesitting for the month of October for friends who are galavanting around Europe for the month. This came about mid-September so I have all my stuff in their basement - got rid of a bunch of old furniture too!! Time to lighten the load and refresh. My parents decided to have a visit so they were awesome in helping me pack and move most of my stuff - along with my friend, Lisa, from Victoria who was over for a conference. I, then, had signed up a few months ago for a physio course in Seattle this past weekend for 4 days. At least I got some sleep this weekend!!! I have been just exhausted. Then, my aunt from Ontario was out so we had a good Thanksgiving dinner last nite at my new temporary place. It's been such a whirlwind this month. I haven't known where to land, but just get through the days. Now, I need to think about where I want to live. Just a minor little detail. Have thought of the North Shore again, but just need some quiet time to sort it out. Was going to have some quiet time this afternoon, when I realized that I hadn't put in my daytimer that I was working a double shift today. I can just never get any down time!!! Nothing bad and only good things happening, but I just want some quiet. Those of you with kids will not feel for me one bit and I can understand that, but I'm just burnt out after Ironman or I'd have the energy to deal with it all. I'll update you when I have my new address. Cheerio.

Single Again

2007-09-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

This was the name of a post from last summer as well. At least I got in some good summer adventures in with Mark this time. We decided that, as usual for me, that it was a good relationship, but it wasn't great and we weren't THE ONE for each other. It was a very mutual and friendly parting although sad of course. The last couple of weeks have been quite busy and tiring, but something amazing must be just around the corner for me. Can't wait to see what/who it is!!!

Skookumchuck Rapids

2007-09-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

After finishing Ironman, I went for a relaxing weekend up the Sunshine Coast. I camped out at a friends cabin up there. One of the nights I did a short hike/run to see the Skookumchuck Rapids which is up near the ferry to Powell River. At certain times when the tides are the highest/lowest there is a large amount of water funnelling through a very narrow area. Whatever is on the bottom there forms this really large standing wave which is quite uncommon. Whitewater kayakers love to surf on the wave. There are lots of dangerous whirlpools around the wave so they have to be very careful. You can check the best times to view the standing wave on the internet or at the info centre at the start of the hike. Good to see and the hike is for any level.

Evicted!

2007-08-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

So I get back from Ironman only to get an eviction notice from my landlord. Not that I had done anything, but either they are going to live here or a close family member. I have 2 months to find a place. No rest for the weary!!! I had been thinking that it was time to move out of here - yes, keep my address in pencil still - so at least this forces me to take action. I just laughed for several minutes when I got this. Couldn't I at least get a couple of days rest??? So I guess that's my new project for now.

In The News

2007-08-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

After I got back to where I was staying for the race, my friends came back and we were just chatting while I was getting some food into me. One of the gals, Lisa, had been talking with a reporter from the Okanagan Sun during the run portion and she was noticing all the support I was getting from friends. The reporter thought this might be a good slant for part of her race coverage. Lisa told me that she would be calling me the next day for a phone interview!!! Holy cow!! How funny, but very cool. So I had an interview with her yesterday and the paper comes out on Thurs. She said it could also be viewed online at www.oksun.ca so you can check it out here. If I can, I'll try to post the article here on my blog.

My friend, Lisa, has been an Iron"woman" finisher many times, is a coach for women and put on many women's races especially in the states. She also put on the first ever adventure race for women and was writeen up in Sports Illustrated for Women for that. She is a free-lance journalist who has written many articles for triathlon magazines and websites. As I write this, she flew off from Penticton to Germany to cover the World Rowing Championships. With this background, she was asked to write a book for women in the sport of triathlon which is called "Triathlon for Women". Even as an experienced triathlete myself, I picked up a few pointers and it's always good to refresh the basics. She will also be written up as a book review in the above paper so check it out. Thanks for being such a great networker and friend!!

Ironman Canada Finished!

2007-08-29T01:38:00.000-07:00

I finally finished Ironman Canada a couple of days ago!!! Yippe, yahoo, it's done and now I can relax and rest!!! My legs are still a little stiff, but loosening up nicely. I'm tired, but not completed wiped out like last time. I have a few blisters which are healing, but not letting me get into running shoes too soon which is fine by me right now.

I was nervous leading up to the race since I had been burnt out and was also having a hamstring that was bothering me. All I could do was just try to stay steady and stick to my race plan and see what happened. Before the race, you get so busy just preparing, registering and visiting with friends, not to mention menstrual cramps (at least it wasn't on race day!) that I didn't have time to get too nervous once I got up there.

The day of the race was a little cooler than normal. I'm not sure what the temperature got up to, but it wasn't too hot. It did get quite windy especially on the bike and part of the run. There was a little rain on the bike, but nothing much to worry about. The female winner said it was her windiest race there ever in her few times doing it! I was afraid of starting the swim with almost 2800 people. Lucikly I swim off to the right a little in open water and was on the edge of the masses of people so didn't get beat up much and just kept it steady for the entire swim as I had a long day ahead of me. I came in just a few minutes longer than I had hoped, but no big deal. Had a fairly quick transition and off on the bike I went.

I had a ton of people pass me on the bike especially lots of men. At leat they had great legs to look at :). I just focused on my own race and constantly kept monitoring my heartrate. This was new for me as I usually just raced like a bat out of hell and just would hang on to the end. It was great having the heartrate to focus on also. My friends, Carol and Helen, had spray painted (water-based) messages along the course so it was great to try to look for them which also kept my mind occupied on something other than the long day ahead of me and some of their messages were quite funny. Thanks to them sooooooo much for putting in that effort! I did feel stiff on the legs and back on the bike which just kept getting better and then not so good, but were quite stiff by the end of the bike so I just took it easy than to try to get them ready to run the marathon.

I had to walk through the next transition since my legs wouldn't run yet. There is a big change tent for each the men and women and you get your own volunteer to help you with your transition clothes, etc. By the way, the volunteers at this event were so absolutely amazing through the whole thing. Always smiling and encouraging from the time of registration onward. I had a great surprise that my volunteer was a client of mine so we had a big hug and it was fun to chat for a couple of minutes while I changed.

Starting the run was tough as my legs were so incredibly stiff. Again, I just went back to monitoring my heartrate, looking for signs on the road and looking for all the people I knew during the race. It was an out-and-back run course so you could see everyone!!! It was great to cheer my friends on no matter where they were in the field. Of course, my diligent supporters were amazing in cheering. My bowels were also doing funky things and had to stop a couple of times. This happened last time also. It's tough getting the exactly right electrolyte/fluid balance which I obviously haven't figured out for myself yet. My legs did loosen up a bit, but I would feel my hamstring when I tried to pick it up. Since I wasn't going to win anything at that point I didn't need to have an injury on top of it all so I just kept it steady. I didn't run nearly as fast as I had hoped, but I did the best I could on the day, stuck with my race plan and finished quite strongly at the end since I wanted to break 12 hours at that point and did with a time of :

I was finishing as a guy was asking his girlfriend to marry him just before he was crossing the finish line!!! It was great to see all the varied shapes, sizes and ages of people finishing the race. One lady was the first to finish in the over 75 year old category under the time cut off!!! So amazing. A funny thing at the awards banquet was a bike company figured out who they voted had the worst bike in the race and gave them a free Cervelo bike!!! How cool is that!

My original plan was to try to qualify for the Hawaii World Championships in my age group. In the previous few years there had been 5 spots allocated for my age group and the last person to get a spot was around 11:10-25 which I thought was doable for myself. The number of spots in each age group is determined by the number of participants in the age group as a percentage of the total participants and then you get that percentage of the availabe spots for Hawaii. So this year there was only 3 spots in my age group and the gals were so smoking fast in my age group that the last spot was 10:30 which was so much faster than my time goal - even faster than my man-if-I-feel-so-incredibly-amazing time goal. So I didn't qualify, but was happy that I just didn't missout either. I still haven't scratched Hawaii off my list of things to do, but I'll figure that out later after I recover and rest. By the way, I didn't sign up for next year. I told my supporters not to let me while I was out running, but I didn't get the urge to either. You can check out the official results at the IMC website (click here).

I want to thank everyone for their support as it was incredibly great knowing that I have such awesome friends and family that care. Thanks to those who were free and made the effort to come up in person to cheer. Thanks again to Pamela for being the hostess with the mostess. Not sure what my next step is from here. I'd like to do some trail running races and try to keep some of this fitness up for now and see what's instore next time.

Burned out!

2007-08-13T04:43:00.000-07:00

The weekend after the camp I slept soooooooo much and didn't exercise for 4 days, which at this point in my training isn't ideal, but I was officially burned out. Since then, it has been an effort to get out the door some days and some days I just turn around since I have been overtired. My energy is starting to come back and I just hope it will in the next couple of weeks. Would be too bad to do all this work and not have a good race. I was feeling really good at the start of July so I'm just trusting that I'll be on fire for the race. Slept a lot yesterday also. There is also a city workers strike here in Vancouver so the pools are shut down. There are a couple of private pools open and I have just been going there and to other municipality pools. Not exactly good timing, but what can you do?? Anyways, that's my updates for now and you have an idea of why I hadn't written in a while. Hope everyone reading this is having a great summer.

Lots of Penticton!!

2007-08-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

After our holiday, we had a couple of weeks with visitors in town amongst the training a getting my work schedule sorted out. Only a little busy. From my last post, we hadn't planned to be in Penticton on our week off and I had signed up for an Ironman training camp 3 weeks later. I, also, thought that part of the camp included a short course race which I sogned up for, but I got my weekends mixed up. So I was in Penticon 3 out of 4 weekends and for those who don't now BC, it's 4 1/2 hours away. It's so beautiful up there, but this was getting ridiculous.

So I did the Peach Classic Triathlon which is an Olympic distance race. I was tired from having upped my training distance and intensity. Just missed out on the podium for my age group, oh well. Then we had a 3 day camp the following weekend with the Leading Edge Triathlon Club whom I've been doing some training with. Some people stayed up after the race for the whole week, but I had already had that previous week off so couldn't do it. The days were long and tough, but got us quite prepared for the race. It was great to go over the course again, but more importantly get to know other fellow Ironmates which will make my experience that much more enjoyable. Our coach, Andrew was awesome and the group works hard and knows how to have fun. I'm glad to be a part of that group. I was very tired after that camp, but that was my longest distances over with. Yippee!!!

June Holiday

2007-08-13T03:57:00.000-07:00

Ok folks. I know that I haven't written in a while and been bloody busy but here I am again. The last week of June I had a week off so Mark and I went up to the Sunshine Coast. For those of you that don't know it, it's still the mainland north of here, but there are some big, big inlets so you have to take a ferry to get up there. We actually went right to the end which is 2 ferries. We had a 3 day kayaking trip in Desolation Sound. It only rained a little bit, but lucked out on the weather since having some overcast skies are nice for kayaking in. We had our own little island to camp on by ourselves and did day trips from there.

We, then, decided to hike part of the Sunshine Crest Trail. It's 180km route from the end of the peninsula past Lund and goes all the way to the ferry terminal at Saltery Bay. The last 100km hadn't been cleared from the winter fall downs, overgrowth and snow so we were just going to so the first part. It was great that we found out about this as you can't find too many backpack trips to do at that time of year that aren't still covered in snow. The first part of the trail has a lot of road access points so it's easy to organize or just do day hikes on it. We took a water taxi from Lund to the very tip of the peninsula to where the start of the trail can be found. Had a great hike to a lake - again all by ourselves and didn't see any one else on the trail that day. The next day was getting really, really rainy and our feet were soaked. We ran into some trail maintenance people and they mentioned that it supposed to rain for the next couple of days also. After a few choice words between us, we decided just to bail out and look for somewhere that was going to be sunny.

So, off to Penticton we went. It looked like the best place to go for weather and for the activites that we'd both be happy doing. We went and rode most of the Ironman bike course the next day. Mark was such a trooper as he'd prefer to be mountain biking and had never been on a road bike for that long. It was good for me to ride the course again and get used to what I'm in store for. The next day we went rock climbing at the Skaha Bluffs which I had never been to, but has such amazing climbing there. We got to this place that Mark thought would be good for both of us to climb at as he's a much better climber than myself. We were getting ready to climb and some guys came up and mentioned that someone had died on that wall the day before and sure enough there was some blood stained rocks that we hadn't seen. We did find out that it was a rappelling error and had nothing to do with the rock or the bolts along the route. Scary what a little miscommunication can do. We kind of took it easy climbing after seeing that though. It turned out that Mark, as well as another friend, had known that gal who had passed away. I love that Mark is such a stickler for safety. Anyways, the weather turned out great and was a good time away. Although we were busy, we still had our time to relax. We also survived a week together :).

Victoria Half Ironman

2007-06-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a half Ironman in Victoria - well it wasn't a true half-ironman as the bike was only 80km instead of 90km and the run was 1km short. This is a well put on race, but hard to get into as it filled up within 2 or 3 days after registration opened up in January so I was lucky that a friend let me know this so I could register right away. I did this race in '95 so I wanted to do this specific race to give me a good idea of where I was at for the Ironman at the end of August. I was dating myself since I seemed to be the only gal racing in her bathing suit which we all used to do. Now, people wear shorts and shirts for comfort. Didn't make a difference, but I did feel a little silly. Oh well.

The weather for the race was perfect. Overcast and a little cool, but no rain!! Hadn't done an open water swim for a while so I was reminded of the pushing and getting hit a little at the start and, also, navigating to the buoys. Think I kept going to the right a little but still did OK. The bike is on a very pretty rolling course. The night before the race I realized that I had a flat in my back tire so changed it, but didn't bring my high-pressured pump with me and the people we were staying with are cyclists, but only had a low pressure since they mostly only mountain bike. So I used Mark's back tire since we have the same wheels, but the gearing was lightly off so it kept skipping. It was quite frustrating, but what do you do?? There was a rule about no swearing at others in the race or get DQ'd, but I didn't think I'd get DQ's swearing at my bike. Broke the golden rule of not trying new equipment on race day. Broke it twice actually since I ran in my runners without socks on which I hadn't done in these shoes and have some really good blisters now on my feet. Dumb, Dumb. Oh well. The run is 2 loops around Elk and Beaver Lakes on a nice flat path so is really nice to run on.

Overall I was happy with how the race went especially given the stress I've been feeling lately (see last post). I think my Ironman goals are within my reach, but with a lot of work in the next couple of months. This is a great race for anyone considering doing a half Ironman. Mark is now considering turning into a tri-geek after watching this. The true mountain man may becoming more urban, but I'll have to figure out how to get him to shave his legs :). Cheers.

New Job Mishap

2007-06-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I've been doing physiotherapy for quite a while and, even though I do like what I do, I've been looking for a change of some kind. I decided that I would leave Lynn Valley parttime and take a position at a clinic that does mostly craniosacral therapy/osteopathy. It's a different approach and more holistic in it's approach. I was so looking forward to the change and excited to use more of my skills than I can at Lynn Valley. I was to work with someone with years of experience in this field so was eager to learn from her.

I was to start last week and there was an apparant miscommunication in things, but minor things(I won't go into details) at least from my perspective. She bailed out on the whole thing the day before I was to start for reasons that still don't fully make sense. Not a way to act when she's wanted me at her clinic for a few years now. Needless to say how angry and upset I was. Now, I have to find parttime work elsewhere which isn't too hard to do, but still takes time organizing everything and not what i need coming into my hardest training period, and I'd given up my shifts at a place that I really enjoy. Of course I found someone to take my shifts so they are gone. I know something great will come along to fill it's place, but right now I'm still a little angry and disappointed. I will just look forward to whatever else that may be better to come my way.

False Advertising

2007-06-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

With all of this Ironman training and trying to stay on my naturopathic diet, which certainly doesn't happen all the time, I'm shedding the pounds. A lot of clothes are falling off me, even ones that I bought just a few months ago. Not that I'm complaining one bit, but I don't like shopping and this could get expensive :). I did notice that in a couple of bras, I'm not filling out the cup any more!! I feel like I'm promoting something that's not there - like false advertising. My boobs haven't been this small in a few years and they certainly didn't have the bit of sag that they do now. Not a good benefit of leaning up, but you can't have it all. Off to go bra shopping.

Taken Away Camping

2007-05-30T02:42:00.000-07:00

On the May long weekend, I was wisked away camping to somewhere that I'd never been before. I don't think anyone had ever done that before, even though I've gone on some great weekends with others. So this was a treat!!! Just to not make the plans and just to pack camping gear - which I did get in trouble for bringing too much stuff, but I'm a girl?!?! Mark is the current man who I did meet online. Actually, for the record, we had met years ago through mutual friends of ours, but I was with Sean and he was with someone else then. It was an interesting first date that's for sure. Back to camping - the weather was supposed to be really rainy here on the coast, so we went north of Whistler towards Lillooet and then another hour west of Lillooet towards Gold Bridge. Beautiful mountain country up there.

We got up there quite late on the Friday night and camped in a free BC Hydro site. There's quite a lot of them up there and are free!! In the morning we weren't woken up by anyone, but soon after there were a LOT of ATVs zipping around camp and the tunes from big trucks were fired up. Not exactly what we had in mind. We went out for a ride and quickly came across Mowson Pond where noone was camping so we headed back to move camp for some quiet.

Being "taken" camping also meant that I had to not do things the way that I'm used to doing them. That was good for me to let go of having my way, but put my foot down when it was important to me. Had to bring my cooler for car camping so I could have fresh veggies and fruit. Not used to letting someone else that I'm involved with take the lead in the wilderness, but again it's good for me. Mark has done more than I so I trust him that he knows what he's doing also. The next day we headed off towards Spruce Lake on our mountain bikes. We had to travel on some dirt and logging roads before we hit the single track. Most of it was ridable for me, but as we went on there were so many trees blown down along the trail that it was annoying so we didn't make the lake and just biked back around another way to camp. I have a couple of pics of me biking, but had problems uploading those so you don't get any - sorry. Here's a view of the valley that we were hanging out in.

We managed to escape most of the rain so Mark had picked a great location. It's also one of his favourite places. Apparantly, I need some lessons in being more gutsy on my mountain bike. I am a bit of a chicken, but I don't like wiping out and am also more hesitant since I don't want to get injured for my Ironman training. He was very patient in waiting for me, but he can't wait until Ironman is over so I can begin my biking lessons. He is that good of a mountain biker, and he also understands the desire to ride/hike for hours and has trained with me on the bike. That is certainly a selling feature of him. Anyways, the weekend was great and look forward to seeing where we head to next.

Momar

2007-05-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

I just did this adventure race called the Momar (Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race) up in Squamish. They usually have this race series on Vancouver Island, but this was the first time on the mainland. You can do it solo, in pairs or in a team of 4. I chose to do it with my friend Colleen since she's lots of fun, we are pretty evenly matched in the disciplines and would have the same attitude towards it. We wanted to try to do well, but have fun and enjoy it too. It's hard to find someone who is so closely matched in the different sports and we were - she's a little better on the technical mountain biking though and was patient enough to wait for me at times especially when my bike was cooperating. In Squamish it's really, really windy - which is why there is good kite and windsurfing there - but there was no paddling for us. :( Sad for us as we are both good paddlers - her better than I - hence, our team name of "Where's the Paddling?".

We lucked out on having a warmer, sunny day for the race. We only knew that we were starting at Alice Lake and we going to be hiking, running, navigating, rappelling and mountain biking, in no particular order. An hour before the race started we were given the map of most of the course except for the first 7 checkpoints. These checkpoints are throughout the race to make sure you stay on course and you must stamp a passport given to you. We had some time to study the map since there are lots of trails in the area so we had to mark on the map key areas where it may have been easy to make a wrong turn and lose time and energy. We both knew some of the trails and were lucky enough to have had a training ride a couple weeks before on the first part of the bike course. So glad we did that!!!

Just before the race began, we were given another map in an envelope which we all opened at the start of the race together which had the first 6 checkpoints in it. It was a run and we could get the checkpoints for this map in any order we wanted. Colleen and I took our time at the beginning to make sure we had read all of the instructions and made a plan before running all over the place. We did lose a lot of time, but mentally we were good since we worked together as a team and felt good with what we were doing. My only beef was that the map showed a "paved" road at the beginning so we looked at little, but then there was only a gravel road in the area so we took it - losing more time!!! Here we are trying to find the "paved" road.(click for photo)

Here we are running on the "paved" road. (click for photo)

The route was a great trail run that I'd like to go back to. We had to cross an old wood bridge when one of the boards broke under Colleen and she was up to her hip on the bridge. Holy scary. Not that it was high, but that she could have seriously injured herself. Luckily all was good. There was one checkpoint that we could have bushwacked to and saved some time, but we took the safe way just in case we missed it, but bushwacked. Oh well. Live and learn.

We got back to the lake and had to get on our bikes for a good ride. Some technical and some not. Compared to the other gals, we certainly lost time on the technical parts, but oh well. I'm not up for riding down a black diamond yet. It was faster and safer for me to run down. We made one small navigational error, but not too bad. We kept leapfrogging the other team of two gals for first and second - depending on where the technical part of the bike was. We, then, got off our bikes and changed into our running shoes, but the other gals just had runners on so got ahead of us. It had looked like we might be stronger runners, but we didn't see them anywhere so we just did what we could. The Stairway to Heaven was great, but it just kept climbing and climbing. Who knew Heaven was so far up!! At least it felt like Heaven not to climb anymore. Would go back and do that hike again for sure as it's quiet with fantastic views!!! It was great to do some trails that I hadn't been on that also had great views for most of the race.

Back on our bikes we got and made it to the rappelling. It was a short rappel - 30m. Colleen had only rappelled for the first time a couple of weeks beforehand and did awesome!! I'm proud of her for overcoming her fear of heights for the race. Back on our bikes again into the town of Squamish. Here they gave us a map of the town and some clues about the last checkpoints. Some math and word scramble to figure out an address. We made the mistake of not reading through all of the clues, but a really nice man mentioned that there was a checkpoint that we almost ran by so that we wouldn't have had to come all the way back to there. How lucky were we?? There was another one about finding a bike shop near the Chubby Chicken. We didn't see a restaurant called that, but there was a guy who looked a little disgruntled running back towards us and he said that it was in the plaza we had just passed. Huh??? Anyways, we got the checkpoint and they told us that you could get Cubby Chicken at the A&W. Who knew?? I don't have cable or eat at A&W. We are adventurers and I don't need to adventure into Chubby Chicken.

We got the last couple of checkpoints and finally finished after about 5 1/2 hours!! Phew. It was fun, tiring and a great day overall. We still didn't know what happened to that other female team we had been racing with since they weren't at the finish. We hoped that they hadn't got injured, but finally came in 30 minutes later as they had taken a wrong turn on the Stairway to Heaven. Good for us, but thankfully they were ok. We were just lounging at the finish and a big gust of wind came up and blew the whole finish line down which was a pretty solid structure. Luckily no one was standing under it. After we had some food, we left and retrieved our bikes.

The post race dinner was a great buffet. The whole event is well worth the $$$ and is very well organized. Brian does a great job and the volunteers were friendly. They did have a band and slide show afterwards, but we were "lame" and tired so left before the party got going. This is certainly an event for all levels if you can go for a few hours. I would do one again, but not this year. It's all about Ironman and I can't afford to crash on my mountain bike too much and avoid injuries. Colleen had done a Momar last year solo and said she had much more fun doing it with someone else. So all you adventurers out there, check out the Momar site.

First Tri in a Decade!

2007-04-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! I did it. It's been 11 years actually since I did my last triathlon. Can't believe it's been that long when it was such a big part of my life back then. Anyways, since I'm doing Ironman I had to get back in the saddle. It was suggested to me since I haven't raced in so long that it would be a good idea to do some shorter, more intense races to get used to pain, digging deep and working intensely since the longer steadier stuff is much easier for me. My friend, Kari, who was my most excellent crew person for the Kelowna race (see below) was doing it so I thought it would be fun to do together. The race was in Delta and well organized. It had over 300 competitors and luckily it was a nice day although windy. The course was very flat and fast. I had just got some new bike equipment so was getting used to that also. Had to work out the kinks. Anyways, I felt pretty good in the race especially considering that I had a cold last week, but still have more kinks to work out and some leg chaffing to heal up - ouch! I did win my age group which surprised me a little. The age groups around me were faster - guess all the gals in my age group are having babies or something. Kari also won her age group so I'm glad she's not in mine. Mark was the most excellent tri crew person also especially for his first live triathlon. Pic is compliments of him. So it's another positive step towards my Ironman goal.

Kelowna Ski to Sea

2007-04-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Well, the start of my racing for the year has just begun. Yesterday, I competed in the Kelowna Ski to Sea race as a solo competitor. It involves downhill skiing, nordic skiing, mountain biking, road biking, running and canoeing/kayaking. I thought it would be a good, long, fun training day in my Ironman preparation. It was also a great excuse to visit with friends up there also. Much thanks to Kari for being the most excellent crew person!!

The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. The ski conditions were definitely spring like and this was the last weekend that Big White was open. First we took a chair up and then ski part way down to get to the start. This involved hiking up this steep mountain in ski boots and with your skis. What a way to lactic right away!!! We had to ski around gates which I had never done and I'm a bit of a downhill chicken so a bunch of people just flew by me. That was fine with me since I had a long day ahead of me and most people were in relays and of course I didn't want to get injured. The XC ski was soft snow again and I didn't tie up my left boot tight enough in my haste to get out of the transition area quickly and wiped out 4 times downhill before I figured out what the problem was. Duhhh. Nice area to XC ski on though.

The next section was mountain biking, but they changed the course since there was so much snow on the trail. It was literally a road ride down the mountain, but you had to use your road bike. Part of it was just to see how much speed you could tolerate on some of the long downhills. Being a bit of a downhill chicken, it certainly wasn't my forte, but still did OK. Luckily I got some slicker tires put on my bike once we found out in was on the road so I could go faster. I, then, hopped on my road bike to continue riding down the mountain to get into the city. I had ridden this part the day before easy and got 2 flats and sliced open my tire. At least it happened the day before, but I had to hitch a ride back to town to make sure I got to the bike shop before it closed.

The run part was flat and beautiful along the Greenbelt and, then, along the lake. It seemed like it was never going to end, but of course it did finally and I could give my legs a rest. They had to alter this transition since there was construction around this area. For those on a relay team, once the runner reached the check point, they would radio to the kayak/canoe area and do a virtual hand-off that way. Because I was racing solo, they gave us up to 12 minutes to walk to the kayak. You could use less, but any more they would add on to your time. It was good to get the heart rate down before I started to kayak. The water was calm and flat which was good as the winds have been known to pick up on the lake.

There were only 3 of us solo gals. The winner led the whole way, but wasn't that far in front of us. The other gal and I leapfrogged a little bit during the day. With the run/kayak transition, she must have used less time than I as she was a ahead of me finishing the race so I thought I was a very close 3rd, but with the adjusted transition times, I actually got 2nd by 8 seconds!!! I'm thanking Steve(Kari's husband who was on the winning team overall - congrats!) for lending me his faster mountain bike tires. A bonus for me was knowing that she competed in the Hawaii Ironman last year in my age group, so I'm feeling like I'm not doing too badly in my training now. It's given me a confidence boost that way.

I was impressed with the great organization of the race and the volunteers were friendly. Not many would do it solo, but it's fun either way. Look for downhill bikers if you are going to do the relay is all I can suggest.

Pacific Populaire

2007-04-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the first day of April, I went in the Pacific Populaire ride which is put on by the BC Randonneurs. This club does a lot of long distance bicycle trips - as in the shortest ride is usually 200km. I'm not kidding when I say long!!! In this annual ride, you can do either 25km, 50km or 100km. There are all kinds of bikes, lots of kids, refreshments at different stations and just lots of new and fun people. The day was great out, only a little rain and wind, but mostly clear. I did the 100km to get some training in and met some fun people. I did push it a little just to see where I was at and I definitely felt my legs the next day. I would definitely do it again as it's well organized, good for all different levels and ages and would recommend it to others for sure. Check it out next year!

Paddling Time Trial

2007-03-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

So I have been trying to get out to outrigger canoeing practices through the winter as a way to cross train for Ironman. I hadn't been out in a month due to lots of different factors, but decided to do a 5km time trial in the single boat. I hadn't been in a single boat since November either as I've mostly been in the six man. It's different as you are not as upright and it's a little tippier. The route went from Granville Island, up False Creek to Science World and back. We managed to almost escape the rain, but not quite. As I was coming around the last corner, there was a surprise photographer who snapped this photo of me (thanks Mark).

Running Intervals

2007-03-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my!! Last night I did running intervals for the first time in 10 years. It's been a long time since my legs felt lactic acid and that "dead" feeling. They are stiff today, but not as bad as I thought they would be. Of course, I was much slower than before, but still not too badly. I'm still within reach of my Ironman goals so that's good. I just have to keep up what I'm doing and be consistent. I went back to my former running group VFAC as I think it's a good place for me right now with lots of room to move up, but it's not ridiculously intense. We ran at Stanley Park and the trails we were running on were open which I was surprised at. So they are getting things cleaned up there which is great. Anyways, that's the new training news.

Mountain Bike and Grind

2007-03-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I celebrated the first day of spring by doing my first mountain bike of the year. I went with my friend, Colleen, who I'm doing an adventure race with in a couple of months as a team of us 2 gals. We lucked out on the weather which was a glorious sunny day and kind of warm also. We had a great ride around Mount Seymour and came out with no injuries. Had some minor mechanical issues, but could at least get through the ride. Then, I met a friend to do a trail that's right beside the Grouse Grind. Holy cow was I tired by the end of that. There was some ice and snow at the top but with my study hikers it was no problem. It was a good reality check into the kind fo workout days I'll be having for the next few months. At least it was fun and I had great company AND no injuries!!!

Surprise Trip to Florida

2007-03-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

I went to Florida last week with only 4 days notice!! I found out that I got work coverage for that week on the Tuesday and flew out on the Saturday. I've never planned a holiday with 4 days notice before. My folks are snowbirds down there every winter for a couple of months so was going to visit them and relax on the beach. I didn't even get a hold of them until the Thursday!!

They are up in the panhandle of Florida at a place called Destin, which is the coldest part. They stay at a golf resort called Seascapes which is right on the ocean with beautiful white sandy beaches that go on for miles. The weather was sunny every day, but spring like (around 21) and cool at night. The ocean there is very cold so couldn't swim in it - just dive in the waves. I did take my bike down there to get some training in. FYI for any of you that travel with bikes - Delta Airlines will let you take a bike as a second check in so you don't have to pay extra for it. I thought this didn't exist any more so that was a nice surprise!!

So I did some training, recovered from my cold, and hung out on the beach. I did play 9 holes of golf with my mom. She did tolerate playing with me since I'm not very good. But, I did get par on a full length par 4 hole - with a water trap near the green!!! Yeah, it was a surprise and not consistent with any of the rest of the holes. Imagine if I practiced. Oh well, it was fun to spend the time with her. There are some outlet stores right by where I was staying so had to do a little shopping. Anyways, it was a great surprise and I heard that it was a great week to be out of a really rainy Vancouver week.

Just Dance

2007-02-25T05:23:00.000-08:00

So I love to dance and haven't been doing hardly any at all the past few years except at a couple of weddings. I don't want to go to the bar scene and haven't learned to salsa yet, so I haven't been. Lame excuse, but oh well. So one of my New Year's goals was to get out and dance more since it makes me feel really alive. Like I do when I'm roaming around the mountains. So I found this event called Just Dance here in Vancouver. It's an alternative type of crowd with no smoking or alcohol. It's just to be able to relax, be yourself and just dance. They have a meditation before the dance if you choose to go to that, which we didn't get there for. The $10 entrance charge goes to good causes also. We had a great time on Fri night, even with my cold. I will definitely go back since it's easy to get to and it's also a place that you'd feel comfortable with going alone. I'm very glad I checked it out.

Stanley Park

2007-02-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

I went for a run in Stanley Park yesterday. It was my first time there since it had been hit with 2 really bad windstorms. They had the whole park closed for a while and have reopened the roads, but the seawall isn't fully open yet. I was shocked at the extend of damage done. It was absolutely unbelievable. It made us just want to stand by the trees and have a vigil. Not being a horticulturalist, it'll be interesting to see the effect on the kind of growth that will happen since there will be a lot more sunlight getting it. Anyways, I was very sad to see such a beautiful place see so much damage.

Last King of Scotland

2007-02-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

Just saw this movie last night. It's about Idi Amin who was the Ugandan leader in the 1970s. It portrays what was going on in the country through the eyes of his personal physician who happened to be Scottish, hence the name of the movie. It was horrific what was going on there, but wasn't a gory movie. They were focused more on relationships, etc. I thought it was a very well done movie. Both leads were great. Forrest Whittaker won a Golden Globe for his performance also. Since I've never been one to read history books, this is a great way for me to learn more about history and be grateful for what I have.

A Sponsor!!!

2007-01-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it that after all these years since I've raced that I have a small sponsorship. Well, I'm calling it that anyways since I'm getting a deep discount on the products. Bonus, for me since I was going to use it anyways.

For my Ironman training, I was wondering what kind of nutrition I would want to use for my training and racing. A lot of the stuff out there has a lot of simple sugars and are really sweet, although taste OK, but I wanted something that would digest easily in my sensitive stomach and not give me sugar highs and lows which I'm prone to. So I decided on using Vega products which are raw, alkaline and vegan. It is a complete meal replacement with electrolytes, protein, vitamins, minerals and essential fats!!!! Yes, all in one!! I have tried training with it and am amazing at how it keeps my energy levels so steady. Another reason that I like this product is that it's formulated by a fellow pro triathlete, Brendan Brazier, who I have known from my race days. He's a wonderful guy and a fabulous triathlete. He has used this product for his races and done superbly on them. I read his book, Thrive, and really liked what he had to say. Brendan is coming out with a more comprehensive book out this spring. I was happy to find an endurance athlete who promoted this kind of eating as I hadn't found that before.

So I contacted the company with the help of another Vega user (thanks Jackie), and they were willing to help me out some. So for any of you who want to keep their energy levels steady and can trust that they are getting all the nutrients they need, try the Vega products. It's not the creamiest, sweetest tasting product, nor the cheapest, but it's OK. You get what you pay for and the results show. Not bad for a "has been" triathlete.

Body Worlds

2007-01-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

So I finally got to Body Worlds today. I can't believe it has taken me this long and it was over this weekend. It's amazing the dissections that they did and the postures they got the bodies into while retaining the real tissues. It was great for me to review my anatomy for work. I did actually dissections in university, but you can never know your anatomy well enough!! The coolest was the arterial dissections. There was one with only the arteries of the brain and that's it!! Very cool. Anyways, it was well worth seeing. Also, recently I saw the remake of Casino Royale, which by the way was fantastic and I loved Daniel Craig as Bond. Very raw and sexy. Oh yeah, back to my point, but he have some great bod scenes!! In the movie, there was a Body World scene - nice advertising for them. So I highly recommend both!

Ear Candling

2007-01-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

There is this thing called ear candling which I tried with my friend, Marcia, on Friday nite. I think it's supposed to be an older way of really cleaning out you ears. It's a candle length hollow tube of waxy substance that you light it on fire and stick the other end in your ear. We had the candle through the middle of an aluminum pie plate to catch the ashes, although one did fly into Marcia's mouth - sorry, it was my first time. The pressure from the flame draws out the wax from your ears. It's not the most pleasnat feeling with a pointy wax thing in your ear, but it's OK for the 15 minutes it took to do each ear. After we finished, we cut open the bottom of the candle and could see the stuff that was drawn up. I'd like to light one on it's own to see if anything would be in the bottom as a comparison. If all the stuff that was there, truly came from my ears, then I would be doing this again since I didn't think that much stuff could come from deep inside my ears. I'll have to do an experiment. Anyways, it's been something I've thought of trying. Haven't noticed a lot of difference with it yet, but at least I've tried it now.

Rollers

2007-01-05T05:56:00.000-08:00

So I just got my hands on some rollers for my new bike. Have I told you how much I love my new bike yet?? :) Anyways, I was speaking with a former pro bike racer and he was selling me on how rollers can make me a much more efficient rider. it really shows how little movements or bad positioning can make you ride not in a straight line so you lose energy with all the lateral movemnt. For those of you who don't know what rollers are it looks like this.

Like a bike trainer, but with no fixed attachments. Yes, me the klutz has one. I tried it last nite for the first time and wasn't half bad. I put it between a door frame and did need to use it for support. Better than crashing!!! I'm all for training more efficiently since my base is smaller than before and I'm that much older than when I last raced. The gal that lives below me came up and said that it sounded like a truck was going through her condo. Great. Not sure what to do about that except do it in the morning when she's at work. Oh well. Here's to me staying upright!

Bear Bell

2007-01-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Well I had a fantastic Xmas back in Ontario. I only had a few days there so, sorry to all Ontario friends - it was a family only vacation. I'll see you when I have more time there. I have a new nephew, Emmitt, and I was assured quite strongly from both brothers that this will be my last niece or nephew. Since I am a 6 time aunt, I'm ok with that and had so much fun visiting with all of them over the holidays.

Amongst all the wonderful cards, gifts, greetings I received, the funniest gift was from my Aunt Polly who got me a bear bell. This is something you put on your pack and it jingles so bears know that you are coming so they usually leave you alone if they hear you. She bought it after my solo backpacking on the Nootka Trail. Just for the record, I did have bear spray with me and it was on my waist pack ready for emergency use. I'm not completely unsafe!!! Anyways, I got a kick out of the bell and I also need it for a shorter adventure race I'm doing in May as part of the mandatory gear. Hope you all had a great Xmas and New Year!

Running again!

2006-12-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I just went for my first run in 3 months. I haven't ever taken that much time off since I started running years ago. It was fine for the first 6 weeks and recently, I hadn't been happy about it. There is still some pain and scar tissue in my ankle, but I will slowly start running or walk/run now!!! Yeah. My goal was to run on Christmas Day since it's a 20 year tradition for me. I hope anyone reading this has a fantastic Xmas. I'll be back in Ontario for a few days over Xmas. Cheers!

Double Workouts

2006-12-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I've done it folks. I did 2 sports in one day today. Not really long or hard, but I have avoided and, except for a few times, refused to do 2 different sports in a day for a few years now. The Ironman training has stepped up. Did a bike ride this afternoon and then outrigger canoed tonight. The base training is getting better. A little tired now, but nothing that a little food and a dose of Survivor won't help. Please let me know if I get too crazy!! Thanks.

Canoing in the Snow

2006-12-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

We had so much snow last week, but the gals still went out for outrigger canoe practice. It was cold, but a beautiful day and sunny. Not really typical when this is a Hawaiian sport, but here's a couple of pics from Sunday. I'm in the yellow jacket.

My Birthday Telemark Ski Adventure

2006-11-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I have yet another "Kath" story to tell which happened to be on my birthday to boot. I took a learn to telemark ski clinic on Sat with the Alpine Club of Canada. I took "tele" lessons a few years ago, but have never gone backcountry skiing. There was this clinic available and a client of mine was leading the group. Thought it sounded like a fun way to spend my birthday out in the snow doing something new.

There had been a bunch of new snow and it was a clear day when we left for Squamish to head up towards Elfin Lakes. I was very excited going up there. One of the cars broke a chain part way up the hill so had to be left down lower on the road. We finally got started on our trek up to the Red Heather Hut which took about an hour and a half hiking up the hill. We stopped there for lunch and to re-group everyone. Some people had had enough and just wanted to ski out. A few of us went up further and did a couple of runs. The powder was so thick and I hadn't skied in powder like this before - let alone with telemark skis that I wasn't very good with. So I wasn't the most graceful getting down the runs, but I got a sense of what it was like to ski in "fresh tracks". It was awesome!!! Wanted to do more, but we had to get back to the vehicles before it got dark.

Once we got back to the cars, we were told that we couldn't get out since there was a 5 car pile up part way down the mountain. Noone was sure when it would be cleared out. Then, we got the idea that I would hike down with this guy, Ian, who had the car which had broken the chain earlier, was down below the accident so that I could try to make it to my birthday party. It was very slippery going down the road and I wiped out a couple of times. There were cars all over the place in the ditch, etc, but no major damage and no injuries. We passed a tow truck which was tied with a rope to a tree since it was that slippery!!!! I wasn't sure about this road, but it was supposed to be better down where the car was. With one chain on, we kept pulling to one side and it was like a sheet of ice so after a half hour of not getting very far, we had some help getting the car off the road so noone would hit it. For those who don't know this area, the road is narrow with a steep dropoff the side of the mountain so one wrong slip could have been fatal. I was so glad that we stopped and a local couple drove us out to a hotel. It sounded like everyone was going to have to be evacuated for the night to the hotel where we were at!!!

When we got to the hotel, and finally some phone reception, I called my friends who were at the restaurant waiting for me. I had to bail out on them!! I've never missed my own birthday party before!!! Anyways, what could I do?? We were starving so we had dinner and thought the others would be around shortly. We called them after dinner and found out that they had got out with their vehicles and were back in Vancouver!!!! So here I am on my birthday in the middle of a snowstorm, missing my own party with some guy I don't know or with any romantic connection there!! He was a good guy and did treat me to dinner since I think he felt badly that I missed my party. Unbelievable! It figured that a good friend who lives in Squamish happened not to be in town that night also. So, anyways, we crashed at the hotel. Bought more chains in the morning. We got so lucky that the couple that drove us out happened to be at the Canadian Tire when we were buying chains and drove us back to the car which was 8-10km down the road. We finally did get out and back to town Sun around 3pm!! I was exhausted.

It certainly was a birthday that I won't forget. It was a great lesson in safety and what could happen out there. I learned how to put chains on tires which I'd never done before either. Wow - and we are supposed to have another clinic ski day this Saturday. I'm really not in the mood for it yet, but I have a few days to get psyched up for it. I'm going in the trip leader's vehicle and not changing cars for anything this time. Oh well. That's my birthday saga and I hope people will still come out next year since I will definitely make be there.