Do you NEED to hire a trekking guide in Nepal? No! It’s easy to get around on your own. But SHOULD you hire a trekking guide in Nepal? Yes, definitely! I’m an experienced backpacker and have planned dozens of wilderness trips in North America, so at first I was a bit resistant to hiring a …
Destinations
In early September of 2016, I went to Nepal to go trekking to Annapurna Base Camp with my husband and two friends. Here’s the story (and tons of photos) from my ten-day trek. Our guide Chandra, of Pokhara-based Friendly Trekkers Adventures, put together an itinerary for us that had us heading to the viewpoint at …
When you think of waterfalls in Squamish, you think of Shannon Falls or maybe Brandywine Falls. Those are both amazingly tall waterfalls with easy tourist-in-flipflops-friendly walks to a viewing platform, overflowing parking lots and tons of people with selfie sticks.. But what if I told you there were other awesome waterfalls in Squamish that you …
Over the Easter long weekend I spent three days backpacking a section of the Sunshine Coast Trail with a group of friends. We hiked from Manzanita Bluff to Rievely’s Pond, then finished near Powell River. Never heard of the Sunshine Coast Trail? The whole trail is 180 kilometers long and stretches the whole length of …
The Big Tree Trail is just 10 minutes by water taxi from the small town of Tofino, but it’s a world away. While most of the rainforest near Tofino in Pacific Rim National Park is second growth, on the Big Tree Trail on nearby Meares Island you can find spectacular giant old growth trees including …
A couple years ago my sister moved to Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands that lie between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The Gulf Islands are a short ferry ride away but have a totally different climate zone (think warmer and drier) than Vancouver thanks to the rain shadow effect. That means that Galiano …
For the past two years I’ve hiked to Garibaldi Lake in late November. It’s become a fun tradition. It’s a great time of year to go since it’s a winter wonderland at the lake but the trail on the way up is not so snowy that you have to break trail. This year we chose …
Ever since we did the West Coast Trail in 2004, my husband Greg and I had wanted to hike the Nootka Trail as it was rumoured to be like the West Coast Trail “used to be”: no permits, no boardwalks, no crowds. If you aren’t familiar, the Nootka trail is more of a route and …
Recently I took a quick trip to Yosemite National Park with my husband and a couple of friends. The highlight of the trip was hiking the Mist Trail which I have to say is the World’s Best Day Hike. Ok, I haven’t hiked everywhere in the world (yet!) but I still would be hard pressed …
On Easter weekend we headed to the East Bank trail on Ross Lake in North Cascades National Park in Washington. Apparently Good Friday isn’t a statutory holiday in America so we hoped it wouldn’t be crowded. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t!) Our group of seven hikers drove down in a convoy of two cars on the …