a weekend of 1sts

Truck 2 has been waiting for an adventure for a week or so now. Saturday was the day. Tom came over and i swapped the tires from truck 1 while he changed his oil. it was raining. we got wet.

the original plan was to go have a fire and cut some wood, but the rain turned the plan into "go for a random cruise around"

we did. went up postil to the usual firewood area. it was slushy and wet, so we explored some of the trails. a few new ones too.

we soon got to postil lake which was still very frozen over. it was like someone turned winter on at about 1200m.



there were drifts as tall as tom

and we found a sweet mini trail on the way down

It was a very successful and safe first adventure for truck 2.

CHAPTER 2: which i have entitled "THE NEXT DAY"
in which Christine and Ryan go for a canoe

The title of chapter 2 pretty much says it all.

I put the canoe on the top of truck 2 (here-on in referred to as "the truck") and we went to a small beach off the spit of land separating wood lake and Kal lake.

Then we paddled it. First outing this year.

The 2 lakes felt weirdly different. Wood lake felt big and dark

then there was a little channel connecting the lakes. trailers lined one side and it felt like canoeing through 15 peoples' back yard.

then into Kal lake. calmer and greener. it always looks like a tropical lake from the highway. it felt a lot smaller because we stayed along the shore and explored the shoreline

we landed the canoe in a beach for an unnecessary portage, but we did it since before our 7 day trip on the bowron lakes in june, we thought a little practice might be in order.

the fruit tree was staring to bloom and we walked around the beach and ate some pretzels.

a very solid weekend. 1st truck adventure and 1st canoe. good start to the spring adventures.

easter in nakusp

Easter long weekend, time to use a gift certificate we got from my parents for halcyon hot springs in nakusp. Not our 1st time to the area, but our first time to halcyon.

usually we go through cherryville, but this time we went through revelstoke and took the northern ferry.

waiting for the ferry

we had the poolside cottage. the only poolside cottage. sweet location, but walking on the porch was a little weird. everyone stared at us. the pools in the foreground, and that cottage just behind the pools, that was ours.

1 of many geocache spots we hit on the trip

view across the lake

some sweet falls we checked out. no geocache here, but we stopped anyway

the beach is huge in spring, but almost gone in summer and fall. pretty cool on the exposed sand. actually, there was a wet spot just infront of me.



christine chillin on the beach

another view across the lake



ahhh nakusp... we'll be back again.

the final adventure of truck 1, st. patricks day edition

it was a glorious day. snowing and sunny at the same time. a whole bunch of us; me, julie, tom, chad, ian, patrick and oscar decided to see how far we could get up oyama lake road. not so far it turns out. too much ice and snow, and not enough traction in the hyundi. it sure put up a good effort though.



we settled at a sweet spot after deciding we could go up no further. out came the responsible amount of beer and pellet gun. julie got a sweet fire going.



we met some crazies, like jordie. he was full of jokes. in fact, i think all he did for the hour he was there was tell jokes. i don't remember any of them, except the punch line for one was "OZINALL!!"

jordie rolls up in this thing

don't worry chad, i saved your beverage

ian

patrick showing us how it's done

tom and the gun

tom and saint patrick

we were plowing this short little trail that shortcut the switchback


and on one of the runs, this is how the truck got parked. after rolling once, the tree stopped it and the lone occupant from rolliny further. everyone was ok. the truck...not so much

still drives...

the way we'll remember the truck

It was kinda a downer way to end a stellar day, but stay tuned for the adventures of the inevitable truck 2!!

mine all mine. and snow hiking

Where can we go to test out the newly repaired truck? should be a place considering of adventure and a place where 4wd was necessary. also a place to take tom and julie where they had never been. i know julie from a secret government training centre that focused on riding borrowed bikes off cliffs while talking on cell phones.

it was decided (by me) that i would take them to blue grouse mine, last visited in the autumn by patrick and i. So off we went. she in her truck, tom and i in mine. until we got stuck. the chainsaw took care of the log julie was pinned against, but walking seemed better than driving up an unpacked dirtbike trail in 2 feet of sloppy snow. so up we started walking. and walking. sometimes i thought we were lost, but only once were we actually.

solid view on the way up

the end of the road for the trucks. notice the log in the bottom left. it used to be longer, and under julie's truck

inside the mine

me and a red eyed cave monster... i mean julie

random growth on the top of the mine roof. smelled good. tasted bad.

tom the cave pirate

after the mine, julie had to take off, so tom and i went up to bear lake to have a fire and cook some farmer sausage. there was way too much snow. so we just cruised around

bear lake

tom peed on the way down. so did i.

so the truck is back in action, even if only until it breaks again. keep watching for more adventure time with ryan.

out.

tom and ryan at bear creek

so, since the truck is still kinda out of commission (i did manage to get the busted drive shaft out though), we had another car friendly adventure. This time, tom and i went to bear creek. not my first time there, but it was tom's. It was a sweet hike. a little muddy and icy, but that just made it more adventure-esque.


the view up the canyon

the view from the beer, on a bridge over the top of the trail

some gold-panners on the canyon floor. they may or may not have gotten some pee from the bridge upstream in their pans.

last time i was here, this was not burned. it got burned last summer. in a fire.

mountain sheep/goats/animals we saw along the road. pretty cool.

another good adventure. even without the truck...

this just in...

new pictures from tom's camera...

my pirate face on a bridge, with a refreshing laid back lager, brewed in kelowna, drinkin everywhere awesome happens

for tom, another pirate face, another laid back lager

this picture is pretty much what it looks like

soverign lake snowshoe

with the truck dead in the driveway :( we had to find a cool place we could car to. turns out soverign lake nordic area up near silver star is that place. very car friendly. in a good way. not sure if it's worth the $10/ person to use the trails. the jury is still out on that. Regardless of the co$t, it was a fun day.

There was tons of snow. see... here is christine in it.



i grew this beard...

after walking past this tree

a weird hanging snow hole. not sure if that's the technical name?

these looked like polar bears climbing the trees. maybe not in the picture, but they did. if you squint, it might help you see it

it was a great day. we'll be back. maybe at night, when the paying place is closed. a good trail that had some good ups and downs, but not too crazy. we liked it.