chilliwack has easy access to world class hiking and i have been able to take advantage of that this summer. in the past 2 weeks, i have gone into the mountains with our friend steve (and kylie), some friends from work, chris and mike, and with aaron, who we just picked up from the airport, straight off the plane from singapore.
our visit with steve was short but fun. we were crunched for time, but still managed to get up into the woods for a stroll up the vedder ridge trail. there is a beautiful section where you can amble through a magical elven forest.
here is kylie laughing while her baby rolls down the steep rock.
the next day chris, mike and i went back up airplane creek to climb mt stewart and revisit baby munday.
the day was seriously clear and gorgeously sunny. the newly melting serc shined a crystalline blue.
our destination ahead. mt stewart.
climbing the initial spire
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a view from the top of the next peaks that beckon, foley and welch.
the view to the north
back down and heading to baby munday. we were boot skiing, so chris is waaay ahead at the end of the snowfield, but we caught up in a minute or two.
some hardy flowers, to be so lush in an otherwise barren landscape.
from this side, the correct route up baby munday was obvious, and it was a quick scramble to the peak.
from the top we had a great view of the other side of mt stewart that we had just climbed.
from baby munday we made our way down into the next col, boot skied down to the waiting trail and pinned it back down the slippery steep trail to the waiting 4runner. two peaks and a loop through the alpine, some hiking, some snow travel and some scrambling. what a great day!
finally, our friend aaron flew around the world from singapore to taipei to vancouver. it is nice that, simply by virtue of living close to canada's gateway to the pacific, we are the default family to gently ease aaron through his jet lag.
we did this by staying up late and talking, and stimulating his mind during the new day (his night) with misty alpine environments.
niko, get off the tunnel! you're going to crush us!
i said get off the tunnel!
i took aaron up lady peak, in the cheam range. it was a beautiful hike that turned into a light scramble. it was cloudy, so the views weren't great, but the mist made for a surreal solitary atmosphere.
niko LOVED ripping around on the snowfields. i was a bit concerned about him sliding down the snowslopes, but i needn't have worried. he has four wheel drive with claws (do you remember "the animal" toy monster truck?)
we did some boot skiing on the snow, but niko preferred us walking and kept trying to stop aaron.
all told, it was great to see aaron again, and to see how much he enjoyed ty. we will get to see him one more time before he goes back to distant asia.
we have been eating LOTS of wild salmon. the sockeye run in the fraser this year is the biggest since 1913 or something crazy like that. i am going fishing for alaskan koho with fraser and arie in october, so i though i had better refine my gutting and filleting techniques.
kylie refused to take more than a couple pictures of me. she missed the actual gutting process, which was quite fascinating.
i picked this salmon up on the reserve. it had come out of the river 2 hours earlier and made a fantastic dinner. we just threw it on a cedar plank with some butter and salt and pepper and let the salmon shine. i need sharper knives if i am going to do this more often.
ty and i have enjoyed playing with our toys and wiggling around on the floor.
although i havent been biking as much this summer as last summer, i have still gotten in some big rides with my buddy chris and my other buddy niko. chad and i made it out to whistler to bike the park once, and i hope to get out again to do some xc with julie.
speaking of chad, he is now famous in the fraser valley for his pork displaying abilities.
last monday i skipped out of work early to attend our friend mark and nadia's wedding on jericho beach.
it was a beautiful day, nadia was a beautiful bride and the setting was fantastic (as was the food). the groom's dutch family and the bride's italian family had great fun together.
ty got to hang out with his buddy quinton. below you can see ty transferring his cold to quinton and his family.
back when i went to UBC and stephen and amber lived just up the street, we used to come to jericho beach a lot, but we hadnt been back for a while. it was nice to stroll on the beach with brad and launa in our wedding finery.
the next day we loaded up the subaru and began our drive out to alberta.
we stopped for a hike in lake louise. kylie almost drowned in the dreaded lake louise beach sand, but luckily got away with only sandy pants and a dirty camera.
we drove out to moraine lake and then on to banff where we picked up dinner and wandered around the town.
now we are back in lethbridge and my cousin giselle's wedding is today. julie, lowell and i are doing the photography and video, so it's going to be a busy southern alberta cowboy wedding. yeehaw!
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