Checked out a Toyota 4x4 yesterday. My criteria right now, besides good condition (except body), is anything 4x4, 4 cyl, under $1500. Realistically, a 4x4 truck with a back seat is what I need, but he gas guzzlage really turns me off. Even the best truck would probably only get about half the mileage of the Geo. Last shift at the Spot tonight. I'm almost done my book on Tibet and the section right now is an in-depth interview with the Dalai Lama, and its very insightful. I've come up with some interesting ideas regarding links between Buddhism, Subjectivism, and Quantum Mechanics that really helps me put things in perspective, but I'd be no good at explaning it yet. It has to do with the Buddhist maxim "Form is Emptiness". I did some more research on Dharamsala, India and what I'm finding seems really encouraging but there's plenty more to look into. I might've mentioned this already, but Jeff Moss from Golden sent me a book that's supposed to be really awesome, called Iron & Silk, dealing with the martial arts author's travels in China, but other than that, I don't know what to expect.



Ok, here's a selection of pics from my 4 day adventure in the Sullivan with Kelly. We drove the Geo to the farthest possible point, at about 182km from Golden. We arrived in the dark and woke up in the morning to realise we had camped between 3 waterfalls and a 100ft deep canyon. We hiked up the road a little further to the very end where there was a cutblock and got a sweet view of the upper valley, which is totally void of trees, it lookslike one big slide path. No grass, just rock. Mt Columbia, the 2nd highest in the Canadian Rockies and the highest in Alberta was just out of sight I think. Also, there was Apex Glacier, likely the only glacier that still extends below tree level in the Rockies. I have a bunch of photos that form a panorama, but there's no way of posting them, so you'll just have to go check it out yourself. We started backtracking, intending to end up in the Valenciennes by nightfall, but we got sidetracked when we found a MASSIVE gorge. Think Canyon Creek, but more of a drop off and possibly deeper. It was insane, the river was SOOOO far down below us. We pushed some boulders off and listened to a 45-second-long chain reaction that resonated through the valley. All was going very excellent, and then the Geo died. Long story short, we camped for the night, and started the 25km hike back to Sullivan Bay in the warm, with a little help from our friend, Ellis Dee. Within 2 hours, some guy driving up the valley with his kid, picked us up, and took us back to the bay camp. We hadn't seen the lower valley during the day, so we just relaxed in the back of the truck for the wicked views. Watrerfalls and bald eagles galore. Back at the bay, we set up camp for a two nights and two days, until Charles' uncle and friend headed back into town and we caught a ride with them. We had plenty of food and drugs, so the whole trip was absolutely awesome. When went back out to get the Geo, I rfound out that it was only a blown fuse under the hood. Annoying, but also a blessing, cuz it was definitely in my top 3 memories of 2004. Apparently, the bridges are being pulled out there, so sometime this year, or maybe already, it will no longer be possible to drive into the Sullivan. Sad, but at least it'll have time to recover from logging and forest fires.

One of the waterfalls we woke up near

Another waterfall we woke up near

A waterfall we spotted as we we were escorted back to camp

The view from our campsite back at Sullivan Bay on Kinbasket Lake