We spent 2 nights in a camp site nestled in Yosemite National Park. And it looked exactly how I imagined it would! Chipmunks scurrying everywhere, cheeky little squirrels sneaking up behind me, big birds of prey that I couldn’t identify circling above the Sequoias! We built a campfire and toasted marshmallows. It was just like out of a Warner Bros cartoon!

On the middle day we hiked about 8 miles (just under 13kms) along the Yosemite Valley floor and took in the famous sites such as of El Capitan and the Half Dome. Butterflies, ground squirrels and deer all around – it was just lovely. We had a great time in one of America’s favourite National parks!

From a glacier to a volcano! We are certainly having fun now!

We spent the last two nights camped at the bottom of Mt St Helens Volcano… the one that blew in 1980.

We sure know about volcanos now! From the cool presentation at the visitors centre to climbing through Lava Tubes!!

The Lava Tubes are a cave system created by lava and stretched underground for about 3 kms! We were the first car in the car park that morning and had the place to ourselves. With only a headlamp to guide us, we clamoured over boulders and scaled walls… Quite the Indiana Jones moment! Felt like we were searching for a lost artifact.  If only we had kerosene-dipped torches… Glad we got up early, the carpark was almost full when we were leaving it!

See Ya Washington! We had a blast! (hehe)

We had been looking forward to driving the Icefields Parkway since the last time we drove it.. Unfortunately what has been raved to us as the most beautiful stretch if road in all of  Canada was hidden that day by rain clouds, mist and fog.

We left Grande Praire this morning and the sun was shining. By the time we reached Jasper, the start of the parkway, it was pouring rain! We were over it before we had even begun!

100kms down the road the ‘impressive peaks’ were again shrouded from our view.  We thought ‘bugger this’ and got ourselves all kitted up for a hike in the rain to see the Athabasca Glacier,

Not far along this informative hiking trail,the rain stopped and the sun came out and we felt this road trip for the first time! We are now happy campers all set up not far from this Glacier with high hopes for tomorrow

Along with Bear and Moose, Elk are considered to be one of the more dangerous beasts in Canada. In sleepy little Jasper it seems that the local calving herd has set up home in campgrounds as they are more protected form their predators such as bears and wolves.

Yet unfortunately they are even more dangerous to humans at this time! So we happily accepted from the man at the information stand the reading material on what to do if an Elk charges you!

After setting up our little camp spot, I sat down with a cold beer to read the pamphlet while The Boy began to teach himself a new Tim Rogers song on his guitar, when the sound of hooves made us both stand and freeze.

A herd of about ten female elk came thundering past us with three little babies still displaying there newborn spots! They were only about 20feet away! I immediately rushed to finish reading what to do in the event of an attack!!

Such an impressive sight, such big animals!

The boy not long after called my attention to a huge elk standing not 10 feet away looking at both of us.. did I mention the literature recommends staying 30 metres from these animals! We quickly got Toby between this big girl and us and let her move through our camp without feeling we were a threat!

Wow! What an afternoon! Something we won’t forget!

And the skies cleared! Though there were a few rain showers here and there, the afternoons where t-shirt and thongs (flip-flops for those non-Australian readers) weather and by evening the heart and soul was content and happy..

Our second day there I met one of my bigger inspirations in the art world.. What a great day! I was able to browse his work, rifle through draws of his sketches, chat about his processes.. so special!

I was very nervous to meet him, but what a lovely soul! He made us feel very welcome into his creative space and didn’t mind my giddy questions. He didn’t make me feel like the crazed fan I was probably coming across as!

This island we have discovered thanks to Nick’s work is just beautiful.. we have had  such a wonderful time! We went on many lovely hikes (the lungs and I are friends these days) and new animals to add to the list! We watched a mother Killer Whale and her calf and saw a Sea Otter ducking and diving from the little point near our camp. And so many beautiful Black-tailed Deer, casually meandering past us while eating our breakfast or on our walks.

It’s a place that was hard to leave!

We have been staying in an area that has had the largest amount of Sasquatch sightings in British Columbia. So many that they have named a provincial park after this elusive creature! So you know he has to exist!

It is so weird walking through trees that are this big! And it grows so dark and quiet the further into the woods we get. I feel I see movement constantly out of the corners of my eyes but when I turn, whatever it is is gone.

I’ve come up with a theory.. that they dive head first into the ground when they see humans coming and pretend to be trees. With the trees around here appearing to grow ‘hair’, it is a pretty good camouflage! And quite viable!

So again we leave an area without spying the Cryptozoic creature we have been looking for, but I leave happy knowing I saw that beaver the other day! As you all know, I was starting to question his existence… so the feeling was akin to seeing a unicorn

We watched two Beavers hard at work for a little while today!

Heaven!!

One was out of the water and gnawing away at a tree when we drove past. Immeadiately turned Toby around to watch them!

As I found out today after The Boy was tickled that the sun had come out and we were now really doing it! We spent about 4 hrs exploring the hills (!) of Oliver – The Wine Capital of Canada. The first one was Sandy Hill, and I thought my lungs were going to explode from my chest! I was rewarded at the top however by witnessing a flock of Canadian Geese in the sky fending off two birds of prey.. Binoculars out and mouth agape, it was like watching an episode of David Attenborough! Gave a running commentary to The Boy,but not sure he was listening

Later we went on a hike to an abandoned Stamp Mill (found a cache!) and was feeling like I had come to an agreement with my lungs despite the rough uphill terrain! A few kilometres down the path we found another cache that took us to a really awesome spot.Over looking a golf course, was a picnic table and a little piece of astro turf as you would have at a driving range. I’m sure many people have had a lot of fun teeing off this cliff and confusing the golfers below!!

A great day!

Well, didn’t we under-estimate what this venture would be like! The first night out had us getting to a campsite after dark.. Spotting a bear (a BIG bear!) on the way there, and then freaking out as we prepared dinner by the light of Toby! Did I mention it was freezing cold and snowing where we camped??

Night two had us looking for a warmer campsite.. With the idea we would stay put for a few days, we headed to Beaver Lake.. Wanting to see this elusive bastard of an animal I spent all last Summer looking for.. And feeling spurred on by the fact that Simone and Jesse had spotted one day one of their van tour, I thought this would be the place.. But we forgot to factor elevation into our journey or the fact that “Spring” is not like it is back home..  We found Beaver Lake to be under a layer of ice and struggled to get poor Toby into the campground altogether.. Twilight was approaching and with reports of more snow on the radio our hopes were dashed. We ended up in a cheap motel spending the night fresh from the first real shower in days and on the internet to find ‘lower ground’ to camp on..

Our spirits were lifted as we drove to Penticton, our week planned to spend in a provincial park near there.. But those short lived spirits were crushed by the lady at the tourist info centre who told us of a devastating fire that had ripped through the park less than a year ago leaving it very dangerous… not to mention, ugly…

Arrgghhhhhh!!!!!!!! (did I mention we hunted for 5 geo-caches and found none!!!!)

We re-grouped and eventually found a lovely little spot on Vaseux Lake, where I  tried fishing, did some bird watching, and had a lovely dinner.. And that is where I am writing to you from..

We have a plan from here, we are feeling positive…  it certainly is an adventure we have embarked upon!

While I was googling ‘whittling’,a pass-time I am going to take up this Summer, I came across a site called geo-caching. This is a website for a GPS based treasure hunt of sorts. People hide containers in spots they think people should check out… usually a good hike or a point of interest. Inside there is a log book  as well as goodies you can take if you leave something in its place.

On signing up we found the co-ordinates for three in our local area, so off we went with our new GPS. The first took us to Begbie Falls, a hike we’d planned to do this week anyway! Unfortunately we could not find the hidden cache, but have now got a clue and will return there in a few weeks. The hike was lovely and we were rewarded with spotting our first wild Moose! Two females who watched us very intently as we hurried along our path, adrenaline surging, as we knew how dangerous these wild beasts could be!

WOW! Was on a high for the rest of the day… despite….

Our second geo-cache hunt, down at the green belt river walk, being another epic fail! We’re we really just very bad at this game?? It made us a little determined to find one of these damn things!

So after some lunch and a rest for our weary legs… a lot of walking had been involved today.. we headed back to the river to find another hidden cache.

SUCCESS!!

The boy found two containers hidden amongst the rocks,  we excitedly opened up the first canister to find all sorts of odds and ends from a golf ball to an egg cup! In the other tin was a letter explaining what Geo-caching is all about and a log book where we added our names to the plethora of people who had found this spot before us!

I couldn’t resist taking the spoon with the Moose on it.. seemed appropriate.. and left some foreign coins..

Next thing to do – get a stamp or stickers made with our team name on it.. It seems that’s what serious Cache-hunters do! And think of a signature treasure to leave in the ones we find… hmmm… thinking caps on everyone!!!