A photo that Kimmie will tease me for

I will leave it for the end of the post 😛
It's been about a month since my previous post. In meantime, San and I started camping and hiking every weekend. We've been lucky with the weather so far – meaning, no rain – and we tried to visit new places and walk on new hikes. Or, new ones for me, at least.

Stawamus Chief
A big piece of granite rock rising above southern entrance to Squamish, some 45km north of where we live. I mentioned it before but until now we didn't have a chance to hike. It is not a high mountain – about 700m with 3 peaks connected by a well maintained trail. But damn it was busy! A trail starts near Shannon falls with wooden stairs so most of the people probably think it stays the same way all to the top 🙄 How else could they explain bringing small dogs and 2-5 years old kids even though a shortcut to a second peak has chain attached to rock to help you climb steep sections :doh:
The view from a top is spectacular, overlooking Howe Sound and Squamish.

Howe Sound from Stawamus Chief

Revelstoke Lake
On a long weekend, for Canada Day, we spent wonderful 3 days fishing and camping on a Revelstoke Lake, a dam lake that starts just north of Revelstoke and extends for about 130km. A lake is surrounded with some wonderful mountains and glaciers and is full of fish :chef:
holding a 8 lbs burbot
Actually, I caught 3 smaller ones than the one on the photo. This is just to show how big these beasts are 😀
The place is surrounded by some very high mountains – Rockies are in the neighbourhood – and I had a chance to practice even more with my new Canon 😉

Rainbow Lake and Callaghan Lake – Whistler
Two weeks ago we went to Whistler area again. We've found a nice looking, privately owned camp (proper toilets, showers and even internet access :doh: ) and the goal for that Saturday was to visit Rainbow Lake, some 8km west from Whistler Village. And that was our first hike that we needed to stop about half kilometer before the lake. First we saw a huge pile of bear signs, then a minute or two later, right at the place where trail disappears in a high and dense bush, we've heard a bear who was, obviously not happy to have us in his dining room :left: Maybe it would have been easier if we have seen it, then we could wait a bit and maybe a bear would be first to move away. But we didn't really were in the mood to make evening news so we returned. After 7km of hiking :irked:
Next day we went to another beautiful lake in the nearby area, this time with a car, we didn't have enough time for hiking (8.5km one way).
Callaghan Lake, 1204m above sea level

Cypress Provincial Park
Last Saturday we went to another place that we somehow missed to visit last year even though it is literally in our neighbourghood – Cypress Provincial Park. Actually, the goal was to hike to Eagle Bluffs, part of Black Mountain that gives probably the best view to Vancouver, Burrard Inlet, Bowen Island and part of Sunshine Coast. Eagle Bluffs are about 1000m above the sea and the view is amazing.
Burrard Inlet and UBC from Eagle Bluffs
Another big animal, this time a bird. I could not believe how big ravens, actually, are :left:

Kayaking – Gulf Islands
For last Sunday, we decided it would be a good idea to break a routine with camping and hiking and to do something else. Kayaking was one of the ideas. I was kayaking only once, last year on Kentucky Alleyne Lake but never tried it on the ocean. We rented a guided tour among northern Gulf Islands (close to Vancouver Island) and experience was excellent :happy: The fact is the ocean was so calm, almost flat, so it didn't really feel like doing something completely new. But Sandy told me this is not usual, sometimes people need to pedal very fast, against wind a waves. Our guide told us that only a week ago he was having another couple on a tour and the wind and waves were hard on them, they almost cried before reaching Link Island, where they could have some rest :left:
Anyway, we kayaked around Link and Mudge Islands then back over the strait.
Link Island and Mudge Island are connected when a tide is low
Being in kayak and especially in the ocean, you need to have a proper clothing that will protect you and prevent water from entering kayak if the waves are high. It is the yellow thing that you can see me wearing on a photo below.

And no, Kimmie, this is not a tutu 😛
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more photos here, here, here, here and here 😀