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