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Overview
After Vancouver Island and surviving the smaller bears, it is now time to go to the mainland. There are not only the black bears, you could find grizzlies and polar bears as well, which are way bigger. But I probably won't see them, because they are not so many left in the south part of British Colombia. But, I am often a lucky guy, so it may happen. Let's see.
To leave Vancouver Island, I took the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay. It was a sunny day, I had a nice view on Vancouver City and the mountains along the Sea to Sky Highway, which I will ride on. The highway itself was mostly quite nice, a good view and with a small shoulder. The first campground I was looking for had not enough place for me on the weekend, so I continued to the next one. That was a good fortune, on the campground I stayed for the next four nights I had a great time. The campground was nearby the chief, a small mountain nearby. There are some hikes and climbs. On the first day I hiked on the chief with its three peaks. I had a great view over the ocean, the surrounding mountains and the highway I came on. On Vancouver Island I just saw retired people and one or two families. Here I saw several hundreds of young people on one day . I have no problems with going on hikes with retired people, but once in a while it is nice to see some same aged people. Most of them were wearing a sport outfit and perfume ... not really fitting for the nature
On the first peak I saw some golden squirrel which were not afraid at all of humans.
I meet some french speaking Canadian girls from Montreal. We went together on a big hike on the next day. Goal of the day was to reach the summit of Sky Pilot mountain. Therefore we needed to hike up a 7.5km long way to the end of the gondola and then further on to the summit. Even the top end of the gondola was higher then the chief from the last day, so it was a quite big mountain.
Weather was not to great, some clouds, but not to much. Hiking all the time in the sun would have been really hard. And it was nice to have a view from the mountains over the clouds in the valley. The last 200-300 elevation meters we had to go through snow, which was quite exhausting. We went nearly to the top of the summit and had an amazing view to other snow caped mountains, the ocean and many valleys. That was such a great feeling, so glad I did it.
The way down we toke the gondola, the girls had a pickup at 6o'clock and where so in a rush. We made it just in time. To be honest, I didn't really want to take the gondola, but it was good that I did. Would have been a long way done. But I really don't like those … high … and swinging gondolas -.- Standing on a high cliff I have no problems with highs or wind, but there I felt not confortable.
On the campground where a lot of different people: hikers, traveler, backpacker and climbers. It was always a nice atmosphere, lot's of talking, planing the next day. A nice description of a climber for a good climber: "A climber looks like a homeless person, but with a lot of gear." Which fits quite well. Nearly every climber looked like that, mostly you saw them with a big smile on their face. Some of the equipment was worth several thousand of dollars. They rather spend there spare money for another hook then on food. It is probably a greate feeling of freedom up there. I still didn't tried it out. But I have enough expensive hobbies, better keep to hiking, that is mostly for free
Around Squamish there seems to be a lot of places to climb. Perfect for people who are interested in climbing. I know a person who may want to go there soon ...
My last day in Squamish I spend relaxing and planing my next steps. Next place will be Vancouver, which means I need to go back the over the highway. It is a lit bit of a shame to go back the same way when there are more mountains to explore, but it is to early for the real big mountains. There is still to much snow on them. So I will go to Vancouver and then continue riding to the inner parts of BC.
To leave Vancouver Island, I took the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay. It was a sunny day, I had a nice view on Vancouver City and the mountains along the Sea to Sky Highway, which I will ride on. The highway itself was mostly quite nice, a good view and with a small shoulder. The first campground I was looking for had not enough place for me on the weekend, so I continued to the next one. That was a good fortune, on the campground I stayed for the next four nights I had a great time. The campground was nearby the chief, a small mountain nearby. There are some hikes and climbs. On the first day I hiked on the chief with its three peaks. I had a great view over the ocean, the surrounding mountains and the highway I came on. On Vancouver Island I just saw retired people and one or two families. Here I saw several hundreds of young people on one day . I have no problems with going on hikes with retired people, but once in a while it is nice to see some same aged people. Most of them were wearing a sport outfit and perfume ... not really fitting for the nature
On the first peak I saw some golden squirrel which were not afraid at all of humans.
I meet some french speaking Canadian girls from Montreal. We went together on a big hike on the next day. Goal of the day was to reach the summit of Sky Pilot mountain. Therefore we needed to hike up a 7.5km long way to the end of the gondola and then further on to the summit. Even the top end of the gondola was higher then the chief from the last day, so it was a quite big mountain.
Weather was not to great, some clouds, but not to much. Hiking all the time in the sun would have been really hard. And it was nice to have a view from the mountains over the clouds in the valley. The last 200-300 elevation meters we had to go through snow, which was quite exhausting. We went nearly to the top of the summit and had an amazing view to other snow caped mountains, the ocean and many valleys. That was such a great feeling, so glad I did it.The way down we toke the gondola, the girls had a pickup at 6o'clock and where so in a rush. We made it just in time. To be honest, I didn't really want to take the gondola, but it was good that I did. Would have been a long way done. But I really don't like those … high … and swinging gondolas -.- Standing on a high cliff I have no problems with highs or wind, but there I felt not confortable.
On the campground where a lot of different people: hikers, traveler, backpacker and climbers. It was always a nice atmosphere, lot's of talking, planing the next day. A nice description of a climber for a good climber: "A climber looks like a homeless person, but with a lot of gear." Which fits quite well. Nearly every climber looked like that, mostly you saw them with a big smile on their face. Some of the equipment was worth several thousand of dollars. They rather spend there spare money for another hook then on food. It is probably a greate feeling of freedom up there. I still didn't tried it out. But I have enough expensive hobbies, better keep to hiking, that is mostly for free
Around Squamish there seems to be a lot of places to climb. Perfect for people who are interested in climbing. I know a person who may want to go there soon ...
My last day in Squamish I spend relaxing and planing my next steps. Next place will be Vancouver, which means I need to go back the over the highway. It is a lit bit of a shame to go back the same way when there are more mountains to explore, but it is to early for the real big mountains. There is still to much snow on them. So I will go to Vancouver and then continue riding to the inner parts of BC.
