I drove down from the mountains and through Kamloops, where I picked up some organic Veggies and a fresh caught salmon tail for dinner at the local market. Down into steep mountain valley's, trains flying by down into the outskirts of Vancouver for a nights stay.
The next day I headed into Vancouver to find Jeff Taylor's place. I spent the entire day lost in parts of both North, West and downtown Vancouver. It's turns out there are 3 east 15th streets. Finally i met up with Jeff and we headed out to and Ethiopian restaurant for dinner with his fiancee Samantha. Jeff and Samantha will be getting married next month and moving out to Mayne isl. in the Gulf where they are planning on developing a piece of land and starting a farm. Jeff invited me to come work later in the season when they get set up out there. It's a wonderful opportunity and I will defiantly take them up on it. Samantha is a wonderful gal with a background in folklore and ethnomusicology she loves to teach through song. Jeff's a lucky guy. I hope i can help in some way to make their dream farm a reality.
The next morning I was up early to go have breakfast in North Van with Douglas Curran, an extremely talented documentary photographer who i have admired for a long time. He has created visual portraits or Traveling tent preachers, Metis communities in Alberta and UFO cults. But now he is heading out to Milawi in Africa where he has been going for the last 15 years to photograph the Nyau masks and rituals. check out his stuff at http://www.dougcurranphotos.com/
I headed into MEC and Bought a pair of Hiking boots, and headed up to Squamish. The highway 99 up the edge of the coast is a great drive however it is under heavy construction to expand it for the 2010 winter Olympics in whistler.
Squamish is a beautiful town surrounded by mountains. It seems like everybody here is super active outdoor sport enthusiasts. It's the long weekend and I didn't book ahead so i spent two days sleeping in the van in a parking lot with a bunch of other climbers. It seems that climbers from all over the world make a stay here to climb the "Stawamis Chief" the second largest sheer granite face in the world. I hiked up the back side on my first night there. 655m to the top for an unbelievable view of the whole valley and bay. This an incredibly steep climb and could possibly be renamed the Millennial stair master 3000 and be included as a new winter olympic event.
The next day I went into town and rented a tricked out mountain bike and rode some amazing trails through dense old growth and giant fern woods.
Sunday is when the Loggers festival was happening. I got up early and went to the loggers breakfast with a Japanese Climbing instructor named Take. Take writes freelance for Rock and Snow, a Japanese climbing mag. I went early to the logging sports to get out on the field while qualifiers were on. I met a number of world champion sportsman and learned all about these games. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the fest. Logging and deep sea fishing are the worlds most dangerous jobs and these loggers put there Mad Skillz to the test, Burling, climbing 90ft poles, chopping, cutting and felling trees onto a stick in the ground the size of my fist. This is a terrificly exciting event to see for yourself. More photos available on flickr.
I have now just landed in North Langeford at Colin Amey and Cat's house. THey have chickens and a small garden, selling eggs and berries and jam at a farm stand on the end of their driveway. I feel really welcome here, but Shannon Amey and I are hitten' the road and heading up to Tofino for the week for camping and hiking. More on this later when we return.
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