I found these two of the internet. This is Beverly, the spot, where me and Kyle were trying to bushwhack to. The huge waterfall starts just below the bottom-left of the first pic























These two are both from the sunset when me and John stayed at the lookout on the way up to Mount Cokely.





















Pretty self-explanatory











Summit of Mt Cokely








Nile Creek
















I love this pic










Mt Arrowsmith from Mt McQuilan. If you look close, you can see how steep it must be near the end











Radar beaches, near Long Beach

I've been way too busy to update, even though it's been eating away at me. hopefully this should bring me up to speed. Warped was awesome. Bluebird day. I went with 5 other people and they were all pretty fun. All the bands I wanted to see were awesome and the crowd surfing was phenomenal. Someone snapped a pic of me, but I haven't received it yet. Warped was way bigger in Van than it ever was in Calgary, although i hear this year was a lot bigger there. Kinda seems like it's getting overcommercialized, but I just avoided most of the merchandise tents. Found a brand new, clean Anti-Flag shirt in the moshpit. A few years ago I found a Bad Religion shirt too.

I finally summited Mount Arrowsmith, bring my island summits to 3 (4 overall). I hiked it with my mom. Super hot day. It was 42 in Port Alberni that day. Kinda hazy in the distance, but clear otherwise. I could see the Comox Glacier, but couldn't quite make out the Pacific. I also got a pretty good view of Mt McQuillan, my first island summit. Looks a lot different than I thought. In fact, I'm not even sure I was on the true summit. Funny how that works. Arrowsmith was the steepest real trail I've ever done, but we took it slow, so I wasn't sore at all after, and it wasn't too long. First hike in my new hiking shoes though. Pretty happy with them, although I can see how with a 50lb pack on uneven terrain, I might want something even more heavy duty, but these shoes will also be my casual walking shoes when I'm going town to town in India, so I think it's a decent balance.

A few ago, Kyle and I went camping at Nahmint Lake. Got really stoned and watched the stars for a while. Middle of nowhere, no moon, it was crazy. Way too many stars. The next day, we ventured up an untouched valley that I'd scoped on a map. We were trying to get to this elevated lake, but the terrain was way too steep. Saw a crazy waterfall though, Must've been more than 100m high. i shit you not. We found a cave-like opening under this glacier-ish snowpatch, where a creek was flowing out. We went up it like 70m, till we couldn't see the opening. Very cool, very different. We bought machetes for the trip, but they didn't work quite as well as I'd though. Kyle's fell off without him noticing. I think a machete would be good if you had already flagged the exact route, cuz it wouldn't be worth taking the time to clear a path unless you knew you were getting somewhere rewarding. We kinda got stuck on a steep slope halfway up a mountain, and it took us 4 hours to get down. It was a dirty, sweaty, and buggy day, but definitely fun and I was definitely stoked on kyle's physical abilities and clear thinking. We ran into a black bear. Surprisingly a first for both of us.

For those who remember what a dream machine is, I'm planning on building another one real soon. And if you remember how it's used, check out this link. Doesn't work super well for me, but I'd like to get some feedback.

I've applied for my travel vise, got most of my shots, but there's still a bunch more details to figure out. Definitely not the kind of trip you can leave to the last minute.

Me and Cam are trying to plan a 3-day trip to Della Falls, Canada's highest at 440m. I'm gonna try to get him to check out the Clayoquot Plateau with me on Thursday. Sounds awesome, remote, and very seldom visited.

I'm planning a 2-3 day trip for Trina and I as well. I was thinking of either something in the Cape Scott area, or something more like Carmanah Walbran near Bamfield. Or just a wicked excursion in Strathcona.

and for some reason, my pics aren't uploading, so i'll try later

oh glory of glories, what a good week it's been

Monday, John and I left from work with our packs. Hatchet, twine, tarp (as backup), water, food, lots of clothes, and a number of smaller itmes like first aid and a compass. We got picked up by the second car and taken to Cameron Lake. It was a pretty steep hike up but we took it fairly well. We were up at the lookout (not the same lookout that I've alrady gone too like 5 times this year, this one is much higher) around 9pm. Amazing view. I'd been their once before, but it was socked in. This is at about 1100m. The sunset was pretty crazy good. In order to fight the bugs, we chewed garlic to mush and spread it over our skin. Armpits, hair, everywhere. Then we ate a raw Walla Walla onion. good times. helped a bit for sure. He started scoping a shleter, while I started the fire attempt. The problem was that about 15 minutes before you get to the lookout, the vegetation changes drastically from low elevation forest to subalpine, so there was only gnarly-lookin pine trees around and lots of rock. So aside from the cruest and most pathetic of shelters, it was clear that the tarp and twine were the only practical solution. He draped the tarp of the line and folded it under, so that we would sleep on the tarp, and have it on both sides of us, but that both ends would be open. I cleared a spot for the fire, built a rock circle, prepped the tinder and kindling, then started to attempt the fire-drill method. Which looks something like this...


















there's a piece of conk or shell between the vertical stick and the hand, to reduce friction. I found a decent bow and decent baseboard, but I ran into two obstacles. I found out that only a super straight stick can be used as the drill or the bow won't spin it. Also, the string has to abrasive enough to grip the drill, or it won't spin either. So using the bow was pretty clumsy. I enlisted John's help and he held the drill in place while I spun with my hands. We must've tried for an hour to get something to happen, but the wood was barely even warming up, so we gave up. We'd given it a valiant effort, it just couldn't be done in those circumstances. So we busted out the lighters, which we had both secretly brought. The fire got going too good though and started to spread over the insanely dry duff, so we had to put it out. So the fire quest failed, but I learned enough to be ablt to try again someday. After most light had faded and teh city lights had turned on, we were in for quite the treat. This was the ebst night-view I've had on the island. The lights were crazy. I could now see Powell River, Gillies Bay (Texada Island), Campbell River, Courtenay, Comox, Denmand Island, Hornby Island, Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Sechelt, and Vancouver. Nanaimo was blokced by a hill. We retired after midnight to a very long and cold night. I'd worn 3 paris of sock, my shoes, long underwear, boxers, shorts, and pants, 3 shirts, a hoody, and a jacket, a tuque, and two pairs of thin gloves. and i was still way too cold. I wore earplugs though, which made it was easier to pass out. Not much room too sleep and on uneven ground. I managed a few hours here or there. I got up when it was light out, but I had now idea how long it'd be till the sun actually came up, so i wrapped my towel around my head for extra warmth and passed out for another hour or two. John fared much worse, he was up at dawn, sitting, waiting for teh sun to warm him up. Morning was nice. The sky started clouding up, but it was still really nice. At one point, this little group of small birds came to eat a banana peel. I stuck out my arm and two brids landed on me. it was so COOL. I managed to repeat the feat for the camera too, so expect proof within a week. Breakign camp is so easy when all you have is a tarp, haha. We were on the trail by 9. Got to the old ski hill on Mt Cokely around 11:00. It's kind've eery, with some of the old t-bar towers still standing and cables just laying around. The summit was well socked in, so we kind've plodded on blindly, eventually picking up teh trail again. The vegetation now changed from subalpine to fulblown alpine in all it's rare mysticity (new word?). We started hitting snow patches, but within an hour, we had reached the summit without having to actually cross snow. The summit was pretty eery except for the microwave tower beeping at us. We could hear voices in the distance and yelled at them, but never actually saw anyone. Zero visibility, but still really cool. 1638m. We'd gained about 1400m since Cameron Lake. And then it happened. The mist started to clear in a few spots and I could see the bowl between Cokely and Arrowsmith. WOW. I was blown away. There's this releatively big lake (Fishtail Lake) and it was almost completely frozen over. Numerous waterfalls that we could see and now hear, and Arrowsmith just shooting straight up. So gorgeous. unbelievable. The clouds never totally went away, so I never saw down towards the ocean or even the summit of Arrowsmith, but I was content just staring into this bowl and brainstorming how to get down there someday. Apparently there's a plane crash down there too. After about and hour at the summit (and about 5 minutes of actual sunshine), we started to descend. We caught up to a father and his kids, who had driven up to the base of the summit from the Port Alberni side and talked to them for a while. Me and John had hiked 5 hours one way, and these guys had driven, then hiked an hour to get to pretty much the same spot. haha. there's a pefrect spot for a campsite right below the summit, so I think next time I might just drive right up myself and camp out. maybe alone. mwahaha. The descent was longer than expected,a ltough we did take a different route back most of the way through some really nice forest and along a picture prefect creek that had one really good established camping spot. We were back down to the highway and Cameron Lake by about 5:30. 9 hours of hiking and about 18km later. I jumped into the lake and we hitched back seperately, both getting rides really quick. John proved to be a very good companion, so I can defintiely see us making at least one more excursion this summer. I used the rest of that night to do some final research for my MEC shopping and to get ready for Warped. to be continued....


Just one of the many sunsets from Qualicum Beach....

I put a plane ticket to Delhi on hold yesterday. I have 7 days to pay for it. September 4th departure. $1850, Singapore Air, open-ended, includes hotel room in singapore for the night. Actually having the itinerary in my hand was so crazy. It's starting to feel so real. very exciting.

Warped on Tuesday

I guess my buddies had quite a run-in last night during a hot tub raid, so we're gonna put the poaching on hiatus for a few weeks.

I'm going on a survival mission tomorrow. At 6 when I get off, me and John from work are going to hitchhike to Cameron Lake (about a 20 minute drive), and hike about halfway up Mount Cokely. Once we get up onto the ridge, we're gonna make a shelter and a fire. We're bringing a hatchet, flashlight, food, water, and twine. I've researched firestarting methods enough that I'm confident I'll be able to get one going as long as there's appropriate wood in the area. The next day, we'll summit Cokely and come back down. I'll probably buy a machete on my way back into town. pretty stoked on that.

What a cool night. After being the last ones left down at the beach, me and Emily went poaching. We found a pool, then a hot tub, which we soaked in. Then went to check on our other hot tub, then went for a walk down one of the wealthiest spots (which is saying a lot) in Qualicum. It was strange, the road seems to bisect waterfront properties. It was like the homeowners had to cross the street to get to their front yard which was on the beach. Anyways, at one point, I start to walk up this driveway and we hear someone whistling. We trip out, cuz it's like 2am on a Tuesday and we can't figure out where its coming from, so we went to the end of the street and went behind a super nice place. Found a big hot tub there, but no easy escape route. On the way back, I had a hunch that maybe the whistling had been some anti-theft function of a motion detector, if your follow me. So I walk back up the driveway and I hear Emily saying something, but i couldn't hear her. On the way back, I hear a loud stern deep female voice say say "Get outta here now you guys". Sent shivers down my spine. but whatever, we just walked away. I can't believe I'd never been to that part of Qualicum before. trippy. it's 3:30. It's supposed to rain for 3 days. Hallelujah, we need it. So much for hiking Mount Cokely though.

I took my family out to the west coast. the first night, we stayed at the same little spot that me and Trina stayed at on my b-day last year on the Kennedy River. It's a realyl nice little spot. Pleasant. And I swear, the view gets nicer every time I drive out that way. The mountains are pretty impressive. It's taken a while for me to figure out, but the island defintiely has its share of alpine wonders. The next day, we stopped at a spot on the river for me to jump in where the river is still and like 20 feet deep, i swear. When we got to the Pacific Rim area, I took them down to that same beach that me and Drew had gone to. Long Beach was packed of course, but where we were, which was like 3 separate secluded beaches, there was one guy that walked through, and one guy on a jet-ski that left right away and that was it, we were alone all day. And the sun came out, and there was these 3 seals who stared at me for a while then followed me along the shore (they were in the water). starfish, anemones, jellyfish. and my relatives are from Utah, so it was all brand new to them. We played in the waves, it was awesome, i felt like I was 10 again. I even gotr a sunburn. what a wicked spot. pics to follow. tomorrow, if the weatehr is nice, I wanna hike to the top of Mount Cokely alone. It'd be a long day though, so unless things line up right, I might bail.

sunset from the Wesley Ridge radio tower. I went there again today, bringing my grand total to 10 times.










Drew at little mountain







Me at Wesley Ridge over Cameron Lake
















ditto

last night was sweet. first, me and alexis went back to that Nile Creek spot in the middle of nowhere, with the waterfall and pool in the gorge at about 11. we swam briefly, chilled out, then met up with kaitlyn and company at the beach for a bit, then went back for another dip in my new favorite hot tub. before i hopped in though, I played with the phosphoresense in the ocean. the soak was gorgeous, but we had to take off when we heard some doors open. after that, we snuck into Milner Gardens (owned by Malaspina College, apparently), which is on roughly 20 acres. we didn't even have to be quiet or be carfeul with the flashlight. you could get lost in there. we swam in the pool/fountain, wandered around on some trails, found random trippy shit, then left. heard a weird owl, that kept making the exact same series of noises, which would actually make for a pretty funky beat. altogether I swam in 4 different waters, got home close to 4am.

late-night waterfront hot tub poaching under the stars
it has begun

The Grizzly at Kicking Horse escaped a few weeks back. I was gonna emntion it, cuz I thought it was pretty cool but passed on it. Well they caught him, but he escaped again. Check this out:
"...he broke through a 400 pound steel door, ripped apart bolted together electrical fencing, climbed a 12 foot high reinforced fence and ripped off the mesh fencing at the top..."

hell yes

more here

I went exploring up Nile Creek the other day. The creek is in a small gorge and the water was down, so I could walk right up the creek bed, and I found a sweet pool and 20' waterfall. I was totally secluded. I laid naked in the sun again for a while, scoping out possible future excursions in my mapbook, then went for a quick swim.

That night I went to another outdoor party (ie - rave). It was the exact same location and setup as last time, but less people and more visuals. I stayed sober cuz I had to leave at 3:30 to go home and get some sleep for my 9am shift. I put in some time dancing, btu nevedr realyl got going. Heard some prety good house, but I find even really good house isn't really danceflooer material. I could be wrong though. Some decent dnb and breaks. Got to watch this really good dancer for a while, gonna try to steal a few moves. I did get to catch a glimpse one of the better records, which I hope will finally be the catalyst to my discovery of the elusive "party breaks". Dopamine is the artist, In Shallow and Hold You are two wicked tracks, especially the latter.

Last night, me and some girls from work went to the Parksville beach for the Canada Day fireworks. I didn't have high expectations. I expected a very mildly entertaining lightshow. It was just something social to do for the evening. Boy was I wrong. There must've been in the ballpark of 2500 people there. We got really stoned and walked around, running into all sorts of people that at least one of us knew. Then we heard this weird music, so we followed the noise into what may very well have been a separate dimension. A cartoon nexus, if you will. Let me set the scene. A family of 6, ma and pa and 4 daughters of various ages. All playing a different sized xylophone. The dad's was huge, bigger than a grand piano. And they were all dressed up in a strange style I can't possibly describe. And if I can't describe the style of clothing, I DEFINITELY can't describe the style of music. Wow. We were tripping balls, no doubt about it. I can imagine myself in ten years having strange flashbacks of this scene, and not knowing if it was a dream or not. Too strange. Shortly after, the fireworks started. I was hooked instantly. These weren't no Town of Golden fireworks. no no. More like Calgary Stampede fireworks. They musta gona on for 15 minutes and it was the kidn of thing you just laid back, shut up, and watched. I mean, start with the fact that it was a beautiful sunset over the water (WHY DIDN'T I BRING A CAMERA!?!?), with a lot of boats in the bay. But the colors, and the sparkling, and the smoke, and oh, it was a sight to behold. i was very impressed, thru and thru. I'll leave it at that. I can't imagine what the Symphony of Fire musta been like. What a trippy night....