I’ve done a fair amount of backpacking, but I had some trouble deciding what to pack for my trip on the Berg Lake Trail in early September. The trail is at a high elevation in the Canadian Rockies, so I knew the weather would potentially be colder and wilder than I am used to. As …
Hiking
Many people don’t know this about me, but I collect guidebooks. I own several hundred of them! They date from the 1960s to present and are mostly focused on southern British Columbia. So of course I get excited when a new guidebook is released. I was especially excited when I heard about The Glorious Mountains …
Let me just start out by saying that any hike that gets you outside into nature is a good hike. But the reality is that most of us don’t have infinite time to spend hiking. So when we go outside, we want to hike a trail that doesn’t suck. I’ve hiked a LOT of trails …
Vancouver is blessed with tons of gorgeous trails a short drive from downtown. There are a lot of articles online claiming to list the best hikes in Vancouver or the top 10 hikes near Vancouver. I’ve looked at them all and realized that often… I just don’t agree with all of their picks. I’ve lived …
If you head into the wilderness I’m sure you know to that if you pack it in, you should pack it out. But what else do you need to know to protect nature (and avoid being an a-hole)? Learn how to Leave No Trace when hiking and camping to keep the wilderness wild. What is …
Living on Canada’s wet West Coast, I’m not very familiar with dry desert landscapes. I’ve done quick trips to Utah and California’s Joshua Tree National Park to go camping and hiking in the desert. But honestly, I feel a bit out of my element there (despite the beauty). Thankfully Andy Lowry of Thousand Mile Boots …
Ever since I spent a quick couple of days in Yosemite National Park, I’ve been itching to get back to California to explore of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I heard that south of Yosemite were two other less visited but equally spectacular National Parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon. SoCal native April of The Unending Journey …
For decades most hikers in the Vancouver area have used 103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia to plan their trips. Some have even made a sport out of trying to complete every single hike in a particular edition. It’s been BC’s hiking bible since the first edition was published in 1973. Since then, it’s been …
You don’t have to go far in BC to really get out into the wilds and off the grid. One of my favourites is a road trip on the Pacific Marine Circle Route on Southern Vancouver Island. This road trip starts and ends in Victoria, one of BC’s biggest cities, but most of the route …
The southern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia has the perfect climate for growing trees: It gets plenty of rain and the climate is fairly mild (for Canada!). The area around the little town of Port Renfrew sits right in the middle of this perfect climate, so it’s no surprise that some of the …