Pitt Meadows: Into the Mountains Part 1

The more time I spend in British Columbia the more I love it but most of my time there has been spent in the Vancouver area so was I eager to take the opportunity get out of that city and start to explore different parts of the lower mainland area and my five days in Pitt Meadows was my first real opportunity. Pitt Meadows is a small town about 60kms east of Vancouver nestled at the foothills of those Coast Mountains that I had been gazing at from airplanes, highways and distant hotel windows for the last few weeks.

I sat down at the pub attached to the hotel and ordered dinner and chatted with the staff as the place was empty of customers. Beer serving dudes in strange pubs across the country have been my most reliable source of local information over the last year and the guys at the Golden Ears Pub continued that trend with a couple of great restaurant options as well as some outdoors stuff that I got pretty exited about.

The first couple of days in town I was pretty busy at work but stole whatever time I could to drive out into the country surrounding the small town, exploring the roads that led through farmland and closer to the mountains that lay tantalizingly close across Pitt Lake.

By the third day when I finished work I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with my spare time alone in town. Wildplay is a chain of outdoor adventure parks in BC that offer zip lining, bungee and tree top walks among other things. I had called the site just about thirty kms away just north of Maple Ridge and was disappointed that they didn't have any of those activities but had Monkido, which is a tree to tree course that entails maneuvering short zips, rope swings and nets. The lady I talked to had me pretty gung ho to give it a try and headed for what I hoped would be my first adventure of the week.

The drive out to Wildway finally brought me right to the edge of those mountains that I had been driving around for the last couple of days and my excitement level rose the closer I got but as I approached the place my heart kind of sank. The Monkido course was not exactly the level of excitement I was expecting. Instead of the vision I had of soaring through trees with mountain vistas in the background the course was contained in about an acre* of somewhat bare, dark and uninteresting forest right at the side of the road and the ropes and swings had a very family friendly, lo risk, safety first, anyone can do it feel that didn't seem adventurous at all.

 *I use the word 'acre' a lot but have no real concept of how big an acre is, it may have been a hectare as well as I have no comprehension of that unit of measurement either.

I wanted to push my boundaries a bit and have an adventure and this wasn't going to be it.

I didn't even get out of the car as I made the split second decision to continue further up the road which I knew would lead me right into Golden Ears Provincial Park. Another ten kilometers and I saw a sign for a hiking trail and I pulled over immediately, grabbed my water and camera and headed into the forest. The trail started with a short interpretive nature walk that was interesting and gave me some background about the forest I found myself in. I quickly walked the two kilometer path and then headed further into the forest following signs heading for a lookout point. I have never seen a forest like this one. The forest is covered in moss from the fern covered floor to the soaring branches of coastal hemlock and cedar trees. The area is regenerated forest after being cleared by a major forest fire back in the late 1920's's that ended turn of the century logging operations.

Most interesting was the evidence of that logging from almost a hundred years ago. Massive stumps, some of which were two or three meters wide and many of which still showed evidence of fire dotted the forest floor. The bases of these massive trunks still bore the notches loggers had cut to mount springboards to take down the massive trees with hand axes and saws. It was hard to imagine the sight of one those 80 meter tall trees crashing to the ground but I sure wish I had seen them standing before they fell.

As I the trail started to climb steeply up a dry riverbed covered with loose rock I was reminded of a part of LaCloche Silhouette Trail in northern Ontario nicknamed 'The Hog' that I have hiked up several times with an full forty pound pack. Today I appreciated having my arms and back unencumbered and my shoulders pain free on this climb. I clambered to the top about a half hour later, sweaty and winded to a less than breathtaking view back into the valley below but loving the fact that I was hiking in the middle of the forest in  BC's Coast Mountains. I didn't spend long at the lookout before I continued along the trail as it dipped back into the thick green moss covered forest. As I descended back into the forest it became darker and darker quite quickly and after about half a kilometer I decided to turn around and hike back out the way I had come in. It was about three kilometers either way but as the trail was crossed often by horse riding trails as well as deer and other other animal trails and I felt more comfortable and safe taking the same path back to the car as I had taken in, especially if I had to make my way, without a headlamp, in the dark.
Being alone, with no-one knowing where I am, I have started to learn to take the safest, not the most adventuresome, route out.

The sun was close to setting when I finished my 90 minute Spirea Trail/Lookout Loop hike and I headed back to town for dinner. I picked up sushi and ate while looking at pictures from my first few days in town, then did a bit bit of online research about the other trails at Golden Ears before going to sleep with thoughts of a morning hike rolling around my head.

Pitt Meadows 2- Golden Ears Provincial Park

I woke up the next morning excited to head back to the Provincial Park. There was 7 kilometer loop to a waterfall that sounded like a great way to start the day and I was on the road shortly and at the trail head by 9am.

The Lower Falls Trail took me further into the coastal forests of British Columbia. Again I was stunned by the size of the massive tree stumps and the scars left by loggers a century ago. The trail follows Gold Creek for several kilometers and was a mostly easy, quiet walk. When I stopped to drink from the creek at a beach half way up I was amazed by how cold and clean it tasted.

 (Not a trace of beaver shit in this water for those who know about my Giardia or 'beaver fever' incident a few years back).

 Usually the water from lakes and streams is warm, and when chemically treated has a slight metallic taste. This water was straight from the mountains and it was amazing. It was a beautiful morning and I took my time along the trail stopping to take pictures and just enjoy the natural surroundings. Making my way along the creek and closer to the waterfalls, I could hear the water rushing and splashing ahead of me and before I ever saw it I could feel the spray in the air from the falls, cool and refreshing.

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The trail continues past the waterfalls and up towards Gold Creek Lookout and back country camping at Alder Flats where you can sleep in the same sites loggers did almost a hundred years ago. I wished I had time and my hiking/camping gear so I could've kept going but with work to do I headed back down the path regretfully. I passed several groups of tourists/hikers heading up the trail on the way back, most of them Japanese which meant we didn't speak more than a few words of greeting before continuing and I was glad i had started early so I had the path, the beach and the waterfall to myself.

An error in booking my travel had meant that I had a completely free day before heading back to Toronto and I was intent on continuing to explore Golden Ears PP as much as I could so I was up early and again on the road by 8am. I stopped for breakfast and then headed into the forest again, this time cutting off the Lower Falls Trail that I had walked yesterday about a kilometer in and trailblazing for another kilometer across to the East Canyon Trail that would lead me to a somewhat secluded beach on Alouette Lake. The cut across the forest off-trail was a bit risky as I had no map other than the picture I had downloaded to my Blackerry® but I ended up taking the perfect route with no major obstacles.No obstacles except for the need to stop every ten seconds to take a picture of another tree, rock, stump or slug.

The East Canyon trail rose in elevation about 200 meters along the 4 kilometer hike and provided some stunning views of mountain peaks with permanent snow fields along the ridges. Blanshard Peak stood out among the mountains in the park and I kept turning to look back at it as I continued my hike towards Alouette Lake, dreaming about hiking through those higher altitude passes, and making the decision to start taking my camping gear on any future trips to British Columbia.

It took about 90 minutes to make my way down through the East Canyon, through Gold Creek campground and up an unmarked trail to the north beach. I had brought a book to read, a book to write in, snacks of fruit bars and trail mix and a couple cans of beer and I planned on finding a secluded spot on the rocky beach and spending the rest of the afternoon in quiet solitude. The day passed slowly as I read and wrote and I felt the pressure of everyday work and home demands slip away.  With no cell or Wi-Fi signal deep in the Coast Mountains I happily turned off my Blackberry®, the only link to the world around me and passed the time with the pages of my books and the thoughts in my head.

Later that night I decided to check out on of the restaurants the guys at the pub had suggested. Charlie's Mexican Cafe in Port Moody was about a thirty minute drive from the hotel in Pitt Meadows and was worth every minute of the drive. Amazing food that I let the waitress suggest for me, accompanied with Dos Equis beer and deep fried ice cream and all with a window view of the beautiful marine town on the Fraser river. it was a great meal to end an amazing day and my only only sobering thought was that I had to return to Toronto early the next morning.

I love Toronto and I love being home but I wasn't anxious to leave. I have really started to enjoy my time in BC and would've loved a couple of more days to explore the trails and the towns in the lower mainland. As I was packing my suitcase that evening I had a strange mixed feeling of sadness and excitement, sadness to say goodbye to the amazing mountain forests, creeks, and beaches of Golden Ears but excited to move on to the next place and an opportunity to spend some time in the small towns of the interior.

The historic gold mining town of Princeton BC is next on the list and with a full week booked in the town I was planning on coming prepared not only with dress clothes and training materials but with tent and backpack as well.

A Return to Vancouver

Every once in a while I get stuck in cities and towns that just suck. Really suck. Like Timmins Ontario and Humboldt Saskatchewan. Long evenings with little to do, or eat, or see. These towns are often stuck in the middle of nowhere meaning a couple of hours of driving during which there is also usually nothing to see. Hotels are a little sketchier, as well as the restaurants and sometimes even the people.

Vancouver is not one of those places.

I love Vancouver, it's become my favourite city outside my home of Toronto. Maybe even including Toronto. I have been lucky enough to spend a week there on three separate occasions and I had been looking forward to returning ever since the town of Surrey showed up on my project schedule. Surrey is 45 minutes outside of Vancouver and I could commute from downtown and take advantage of any free time I had.

My colleague A and I arrived late Sunday, tired but hungry so we set off in search of dinner and stumbled into a small Sushi restaurant that we would return to every several times during the week and headed back to the hotel to sleep off the time difference before an early start to our first day of work. The 45 minute drive from downtown Vancouver to Surrey was a confusing jumble of highways, bridges and construction as I dodged in and out of the suburb towns of Burnaby, Coquitlam and New Westminster and even at the end of the week I never really had a sense of where I was going. (It didn't help that the gps took me a different route each time.) The return drive seemed simpler and provided some pretty amazing vistas which I tried to capture via blackberry camera as I drove until I started thinking about how many accidents may be caused by drivers doing the same thing. I had wondered about oddly placed fences and trees and realized that they were quite likely blocking views that could absolutely be distracting from the highway.

One night after A and I had finished dinner at The Cactus Club I decided to go for a walk downtown. I ambled along Robson St, wandering in and out of tourist shops but really just people watching until I stumbled upon the remnants of a sort of street performer/busking fair. It had pretty much wrapped up but a mime and a living statue  performer still plied their 'acts' for coins and I stopped and watched for moment.. more like half a moment. Not surprisingly it doesn't take long to become disinterested when watching a mime and a statue. Not far up the street a woman sat at the edge of the sidewalk at a card table with a sign offering Tarot card reading. I walked past her but stopped after a few steps and decided to go back. I've never had a tarot reading and I thought it might be interesting to see what it is all about.

The reader and I seemed to have a bit of connection immediately and we chatted a bit before she laid out the cards and started talking about their meanings. It was quite uncanny listening to how the cards might relate to different things that had been forefront in my life and my thoughts recently. Relationships with family, as well as friends both past and present were illuminated in interesting ways and possible paths in the future were more than exciting to talk and hear about. The thirty minute reading stretched out for more than an hour and I walked away very glad that I had taken the experience. It was amazing that within the next two weeks I found happiness in unexpectedly renewing a distant friendship and found sorrow when a current relationship came to an end, both things that the cards had talked about happening (and I had vehemently denied..) in the very near future.

Walking back through Robson Square I could see lights and the sound of hip-hop music coming from the open air ice rink. When I got closer I could see about a couple of dozen dudes in small groups practicing and performing break dancing maneuvers and just generally getting down to classic beats on the smooth ice free surface of the rink. It was hard to tell if it was an organized event or just people hanging around dancing but I was happy to allow myself to think it was just random coolness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRI0COASCEg ..not quite busting out the cardboard in the streets of Brooklyn 1983 cool but cool nonetheless and I sat a watched for much longer than I had watched the mime for.

As much as I am beginning to love spending time in Vancouver soaking in the energy and atmosphere, after a few days in any city I start yearning for some relief from the hustle and noise of the downtown streets so when a colleague from the nearby town of Pitt Meadows called and invited A and myself to drive out for a quiet dinner I jumped at the chance. I would be spending a week in Pitt Meadows later in the month and it was a great opportunity to see what I was in for. The drive out took us through Surrey, Burnaby and to the edge of Maple Ridge and we gasped at the beauty of the mountains as we drove. You can almost feel the mountains presence when in the city but they are often obscured from view by the soaring commercial and residential sky scrapers, heading out of the city the white and green capped mountains are everywhere, rarely hidden from view and I snapped a few good pictures before heading out for dinner at a restaurant not far from town. It was a great first glimpse of the town and as G started talking about some of the attractions nearby I grew excited to return later in the month.

The next morning A and I got up early and with the morning to ourselves we set out so I could share some of the sites that I had explored in previous trips to Vancouver. Breakfast at the hotel was followed by a long walk along the waterfront, a bit of shopping and then a drive to Stanley Park where we snapped pictures of the totem poles, bridges, trees, and of course the mountains. It was a beautiful day and it was cool watching A's first reactions to some of the sights that I was becoming familiar, but no less impressed, with in what I agree is got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

I left Vancouver with a strange feeling, not quite as giddy with the WOW factor as I have been on my last few trips. The 'new car' smell has started to wear off for me I think, the excitement of visiting a new and wonderful place has been replaced by a feeling of comfort, familiarity and maybe even too much routine. Other than the quick trip to Pitt Meadows I hadn't really seen anything new. It was the first time in a long time that I've felt that way about a place and  served as a reminder of an agreement I had made with myself some time ago. To make sure I keep stretching my boundaries, looking for the weird, the wonderful, the stupid and crazy things that are hidden below the surface, in towns and cities across this country, and as well as in life and love in general. 

Regina is one the few provincial capitals I haven't had the chance to explore and that's up next. I know two things about Regina, they have insane CFL fans and the mounted policeman are famous for a musical ride.. so I guess that leaves me to look for the weird and the wonderful.