Looking in Ladner

The complete set of photos can be found here on my Flickr site.
If you enjoy the story leave me a comment at the end of the write up letting me know; I always enjoy getting feed back from readers.

Sunday was another great day to be caching, well, almost any day is a great day to be caching...

Ron Patrick, a long time buddy of mine, was in the Vancouver area visiting family for a few days and wanted to know if we could arrange a day of caching. That was an easy question to answer!

I picked out the Ladner-Delta-Tsawassen area as I hadn't been in that area for a while and there were many new caches for me to hit.

I picked Ron up nice and early, and we made a bee line for the Ladner area with the first cache already programmed in.
ABOVE: Harmony Park in Ladner

The first cache had us a lovely, tiny park situated between two houses in a subdivision. The cache backed onto a slough that gave the home owners a certain amount of privacy, and gave waterfowl a nice quiet back waters area to feed. We both agreed that the cache lived up to it's name of "Peace & Harmony".

The next two caches were located in adjoining parks on the shore of the South Arm of the Fraser River. One cache was called "The Flushed Lagoon", in reference to a sewage lagoon that has been reclaimed by allowing the tides to flush out the lagoon twice a day, taking out brackish water and bringing in fresh water from the river. This cache was located in the South Arm Marshes Wildlife Area, so named for the mud flats, tidal marshes and small creeks and rivers that empty into the South Arm of the Fraser River.
ABOVE: Bridge over backwater channel in South Arm Marshes Wildlife Management Area

A well worn path leads you over a bridge and along a small dike to the cache area, which was a great vantage area to spot 3 immature Bald Eagles sitting in an old Cottonwood tree.

ABOVE: Dedication plaque in Ladner Harbour Park

A short distance away in Ladner Harbour Park was the next cache on the list; this cache was called "Thief in the Park". The bad news is that the original cache container was muggled and an ordinary L&L was in its place. The original container was a fake crow, crows and ravens being natures original thiefs. ABOVE: Information about the first white settlers in the area

Next up: a history lesson! This time it was a dedication plaque in downtown Ladner on the site of the original townsite. This was a well done informative kiosk with the story of the town overlain with old pictures of the founding brothers and past scenes of the young town.
I love these type of hides as they bring you face to face with the history of the area, they bring to life the stories you read.

"Got Yanked"? conjures up a lot of different answers I could give, some not well suited to a family web site!

In this case it refers to a dentist office with the actual cache container being a plastic tooth, cute :)

ABOVE: One room school house look-alike

What was neat here is that the building next door looked like an original one room school house.
I don't know if it was or not, but it sure caught my eye.

Another trip to the recent past was a cache called "And they're off...." In this case it brings you to the grounds of the old harness race track that's all but disappeared from sight and people's memories. The oval clay race track is still there but all the buildings are gone; if I recall correctly I believe the name of the race track was Ladner Downs. I'll stand to be corrected on that by some of the "older" folks who read the story! :)

ABOVE: Kirkland Park nestled in a subdivision

"Kirkland Micro Cache" is another one of those "you can hide a cache anywhere" stories; in this case it is in a small neighbourhood park only as wide as a city lot. Near one of my former houses there was a small park just like this, and when my kids where little it was great to walk two doors down and be at a park that the little kids could play in for a short time before getting ready for bed. ABOVE: Seagull enjoying the view at Wellington Point"

"Wellington Point" conjures up images of Napoleon and Wellington duking it out in Europe; here it is the name of a park that juts out into the South Arm of the Fraser River. The park is well developed with a boat launch, grassy areas, lots of parking, and a huge wharf from which to survey a wide vista from the North Shore mountains way off in the distance, to the delta of the Fraser River where it meets the Pacific Ocean not far down stream. ABOVE: In the distance the South Arm meets the Straight of Georgia

ABOVE: Old John Deere tractor on Westham Island Herb Farm

"Sign Me Up" lets you write your name on a fake pumpkin located on the grounds of a farm that hosts annual pumpkin patches. During the summer it is selling more conventional vegetables and herbs. On the grounds of the farm around the "storefronts" is old farming equipment and an old farm truck. Nice to see the equipment being kept for other generations to see, even if it's the closest they'll ever get to harvesting their own crop. ABOVE: "Welcome to Delta" and find a cache on me!

A quick run down to the Victoria ferry causeway gave us a freebee; that is a park and grab cache. This one was for all the traffic just arriving from Vancouver Island; they could start off their visit by getting a smiley for finding a cache. Instant gratification and guaranteed to start every visit right. Next time you come to the Mainland stop "Down by the Ferries" and you'll be pleased you did.

We did find another 5 caches among which took us to several small city parks with good views to the north towards Vancouver. Another one took us down to Mud Bay to hunt for a cleverly disguised micro-cache. We did find it after looking for a short time, but by now the wind was picking up, and the chill from the wind meant we were now bundled up in our warm weather clothes, complete with gloves and hats. Somehow in this cooler environment I didn't have the same inclination to take pictures as I did just an hour ago.... :)

A couple of more quick caches on route home brought our total up to 15 caches found on the day, a new personal best for Ron!

By now we were starting to lose the light and the much promised rains had moved in, perfect timing as we had just finished for the day. All the way home the windshield wipers were clearing the heavy rain showers off the wind shield, and both Ron and I had smug looks on our faces as we had just finished a great day of caching with good company, and had beat the weatherman with the forescasted bad weather.

The Highway to Hope!

ABOVE: Hwy #1 east at Prest Road overpass at Chilliwack

The complete set of photos for this trip can be viewed here on my Flicker site

AKA Hwy #1, Hwy #401 and the Transcanada Hwy, the main freeway runs east through the Fraser Valley as it carries it's road surfers out of the Vancouver area to points east like Princeton, Vernon, Calgary, and other Canadian towns.

Today, MsChief Gps_y (AKA Laara) and I were using the highway for those noblest of reasons; we were geocaching our way to Hope!

Now, I'm sure Laara knows this, but for those of you who don't bump into me often, I'll tell you right now; "I DON"T do mornings well"! If I see something like 6.00 AM on a Sunday it's only because I've come at it from the back end. Nor do I suffer fools gladly that early in the day; some of my fellow workers have been known to get speared by my acerbic sense of humour when they insist on practicing their stupidity around me before my mental wake up time of 10.00 AM

But I digress...already.

Laara knows that I treasure my Sunday morning sleep-ins but for the sake of the day to come and the long sets of driving involved, I offered to pick her up at 7.30 AM and then make the dash out to our starting point in Chilliwack.

Our first stop in Chilliwack was at the gas station as gas in Chilliwack is always cheaper than around Vancouver; a savings of 15 cents per litre attested to that fact.

Gas tank topped up, we took a round about way to get to our first cache via Airport Road which takes us right past the Chilliwack Airport. The airport here is well known for it's excellent, and huge, selection of pies. This little 40 or so seat diner (looking like it was an after thought in a hall way) in the main building always has a loyal following waiting for a coveted spot at a table, forks and knives at the ready.

The first cache was at an overpass on Hwy #1; "Prest for Time" cache is right along the off ramp of the highway as you exit to Prest Road. A cache truly for those pressed for time, you can literally do 70 MPH almost all the way to the cache.

ABOVE: View north from Prest Road in Chilliwack

The overpass offered an excellent view of the surrounding farmlands and of the Fraser Valley as it continued east to it's head at Hope. We also had terrific views of the mountains that contain the valley to the north and south.

We quickly found this micro cache and then jumped back in the Jeep and roared down the on-ramp back onto the freeway heading for "The Mint".

"The Mint - Your Geocoin Rest Stop" is another quick drive up cache on a rural road just off the freeway in the village of Popkum. Best known for Bridal Falls and Flintstone Village, along with the Trans Canada Water Slides, Popkum, in the First Nations language of Halq'emeylem is a take off of the word Popkw'en meaning "puffballs".

ABOVE: Mt. Cheam

For us it was a drive up cache and a chance to take more pictures of the mountains that were now closing in on the Upper Fraser Valley. As the name "Geocoin Rest Stop" alludes to, this cache was a haven for geocoins, those collectable coins of the trade that grown adults become goo-goo over!

Well, we weren't getting so goo-goo so we packed up the cache and put it away so we could go-go down the highway to the next cache.

ABOVE: Cheam Lake Wetlands

In this case we just had to go a wee bit further down the rural road to a nature reserve called Cheam Lake Wetlands Regional Park, a relatively new park in the process of reclaiming the land from it's past of being abused for the local agriculture industry.

ABOVE: Signboard at Cheam Lake Wetlands

Five thousand years ago a slide three times the size of the Hope Slide roared down Mt. Cheam and covered the valley up to 30 meteres in depth. Over time the organic matter of the valley floor, in particular an aquatic plant called Chara, through photosynthesis caused the limestone from the Mt. Cheam rock to bond creating marl limestone.

The local agriculture used the marl as a natural additive to reduce the acidity of the boggy soil in the area. Huge scoops were used to mine the marl and the shallow Cheam Lake was drained to allow the lake floor to be scooped out. From 1944 to 1990 one million tonnes of marl was mined from the lake bed.

Eventually the conservation crowd wised up to this oppertunity and in conjucntion with the government, developed a comprehensive plan to allow the area to reclaim itself to become a haven for many types of song birds and water fowl. Walkways and trails around a portion of the lake allows visitors to appreciate this treasure as Mother Earth heals herself.

In the park we would find three caches, well 2 and an invisible cache. The invisible one was an Earth Cache, so called as there is no actual cache to find but instead you are brought to a unique geographical location to appreciate the beauty of the area. To claim this cache we had to A) find some marl, take a picture and obtain the co-ordinates B) state something we learnt about the park, and C) find at least one other cache in the park.

Well, all of these tasks were easy to do as we not only found marl and learned something new, we also found two other caches in the park.

Cache #2 was called "Blossom Kingdom - 3- Blossom Kingdom"

This is one of a series of caches by a local Agassiz cacher called Agassiz Angel, in which you have to find clues from various caches to be able to find the final cache.

ABOVE: Pond at Cheam Lake Wetlands

This cache was located on a wonderful little trail that was a kilometre long and wound it's way through the bog and over and around a small pond where the Red Winged Blackbird whistled to us from the bush around the pond. Cache found, clue duly noted, on to the next cache.

"Crafty Cache" was the third cache in the park to find, and this one was along a small creek ravine; you couldn't even call it a ravine, more of a bed as the ravine was only 8 feet deep all along it's length. We did have the pleasure of noticing the tell tale signs of beaver activity as evidenced by the cut saplings in the creek area. This cache was a quick find for the intrepid duo, and we signed our names, Laara made a trade, and we bee-lined back to the Jeep to get back on the move to the next cache.

ABOVE: Caching at the side of Hwy #1

Another quick drive up cache right at an exit off the highway made for a swoop and go cache as we homed in on the "We're On The Way Now" cache. I'm sure it's named for all those people who feel the exhilartion of heading along the highways into the mountains knowing that they are at the start of their big road trip and a holiday's worth of fun!

Next up on the list; the "Spooky" cache! OK, I admit, we were scared...

In this case the Spooky referred to the gnarly old tree (oak maybe) that must have looked a little scary at night as if it was something just coming to life.

This was one of those caches placed in an ironic location; to get to the cache you have to cross the train tracks, with their big NO TRESPASSING signs warning you the the Train Police are hiding around the corner waiting to pounce on unrepentant geocachers who break the law to get to a cache.

ABOVE: On the way to Spooky cache

Well, that didn't happen of course; what did happen is that we found a neat little trail through the narrow strip of forest sandwiched between the train tracks and the Fraser River. Only cachers and all the local fisher folks know of this place.

ABOVE: At the sight of the Spooky cache

The ironic part? Oh yeah, when we found the cache area there was a cairn and a dedication plaque stating that this strip of land was donated to the provincial government by Mr. Francis Barber in 1978. I really liked the idea of preserving this strip of land, but do I have to run the gauntlet of the Train Police to enjoy one of my provincial parks?

Kudos to Mr. Barber for his donation and the province for saving the land, but how do I get to it legally? Oh well, I guess they're still working on that one...............................

ABOVE: At the sight of I Walk The Line cache

#8 cache "Walk The Line" seemed to put us in the land of Bubbas; a small community of worn houses with numerous "things" in the front yard, like old cars, washing machines and other good luck items fit right in to the location of the cache.

ABOVE: Might need to up the terrain rating at this cache; at least for Chevys!

The cache is located along a power right of way which the locals have deemed their own play area. The secondary dirt road from the paved road into the area was in good shape, but the dirt road that ran alongside the power poles had been chewed up, as had the grassy area right in front of the cache location. It was deep enough that an old step side Chevy pick up was sunk up to it's axles in the mud; the smashed in front end and the broken windows means it's probably not a daily driver.

This cache took a few minutes but Laara soon got her eagle eyes on the hide, which is always good! Love the finds, HATE the DNFs!

ABOVE: Hunter Creek cache location

The next two caches were close together near the Hunter Creek rest stop; this is a great area during the summer to stop for a rest and walk along side the creek under a forest canopy where it is 10 degrees cooler than the parking lot. One cache was down by the river tucked away in a good hiding spot, and we took more time taking pictures then we did finding the cache. "Hunter Creek" cache was, as it said, right by the river and now in my logs as a smiley.

ABOVE: Granite walls tower above the Too Tired To Drive cache

The other cache just up the road is called "Too Tired to Drive", no doubt named after all those people who pulled over with one eye closed and the other one half way there.

This also was a quick find and sign for us as it was meant to be; Hey, when you're that tired, you don't have a lot of energy to beat the bush looking for a cache! LOL

ABOVE: Husky truck stop in Flood BC

OK, lunch time, Laara is buying and I know just the place a little ways up the road. The big time village of Flood is home to the Husky truck stop complete with a restaurant that hasn't changed much in all the years I've been coming here. I think the same linoleum is still on the floor that's been there all these years. Yep, I'm sure I took that little corner of the lino off over near the wall as I tripped in my hiking boots one year coming back from the Ashcroft Rodeo.

This restaurant, just like it's counter part 10 miles north of Hope on Hwy #1, serves real man size meals as it caters to truckers, loggers and their large appetites. They even have two huge burgers named after tractor rigs; you could order the "Kenworth" if that was your truck, or you could vote for a "Mac" rig if you liked it better. Your basic Ford vs Chevy game only with bigger Tonka toys!

We had a good meal and chatted over cups of coffee as we enjoyed the day's outing, and before we knew it we had spent too much time chatting away.

ABOVE: Hope Airport has a grass landing strip

Back on the road were we, and just down the road was the "Grass Strip" cache. At the time both of us were thinking that this was a grass strip along a rural road. Instead, it was the Hope Airport which has a grass runway, not at all like the paved runways we were use to seeing.

Laara had the micro cache in her hand lickety split, and a scant few minutes later we were back in the Jeep exploring the village of Flood.

ABOVE: Silver Hope Creek

"Silver Hope Creek Cache" was located right next to it's name sake mountain creek. This is a big creek, too small to be called a river and too big to be called a crick, it's somewhere in between. .

A short walk from the Jeep led us to a regular size cache tucked away in some rocks just waiting for the next set of cachers, and that was us!

Silver Creek drains Silver Lake which is 12K south of Flood set in a wonderful mountain valley; basic camping is available at Silver Lake Provincial Park with space for 25 vehicles/tents.

I have been there several times and I am always amazed how beautiful and rugged the land scape is just an hour or so drive out of the big city of Vancouver.

ABOVE: Mile marker 97

OK, time to set our mileage and head for the "Mile Marker 97" cache which is exactly that, 97 miles from Vancouver. Back in the 30s when the Fraser Valley was being opened up as new roadways were being built, people needed to know how far they were from Vancouver and how much further they had to go. In 1931 cement markers painted bright yellow were made ready for deployment.

Beginning at the large main Canada post office in down town Vancouver, a cairn, with the mile number enscribed in large numbers, was placed every mile as you headed east from downtown. The route followed Kingsway east, crossed the Fraser River and continued along the Fraser Highway, which at the time was the main highway east out of the Lower Mainland. Most of these have disappeared over the years, but luckily a few survive in Abbotsford and Aldergrove, and another cacher named Gearhedd has made micro caches at these ones. Plus, cacher IRLPGUY has found mile marker 60 and placed a cache there as well. I recently read on that cache page that IRLPGUY had to resort to strong arming a local citizen who decided that the mile marker would look better in his yard then in it's appointed place. Kudos to the neighbour who spotted the theft and way to go IRLPGUY for stepping up and making the thief put the marker back.

It was a real treat to find this cache as a continuation of the series, how ever out of place it looked in it's current setting. The cairn is on a boulevard next to some ones house in the middle if a small residential area; I would imagine at one time the main road came right through here and you could see that you were 97 miles from the Vancouver post office as you drove past the cairn.

ABOVE: Hope you're not claustrophobic

"Wheels of Steel" was a cache located between Silver Creek, the freeway, the train trucks and a gas right of way with no apparent entry point. How the heck do we get in there? A bit of driving and circling the object of our desire brought us to an underpass that leads off a residential street and under the four lanes of the freeway. Ahhhh, that's how you get there....a short walk and a quick find along the banks of the river meant it took 4 times as long to find the entry point then to find the cache, but find it we did.

ABOVE: Bike jump and ramp

Okay, number 15 on the list, where is it? Well now, another cache that gave me a flash back from the past. "Ryan's Restaurant and Hostel" cache commemorates Ryan's Hotel that stood in Hope at the intersection of Hwy #1 and Hwy #3 for so many years. It was a favourite stop for lunch, dinner and coffee for many tired travellers; sad to say it was washed away circa 1995 when a local creek overflowed it's banks on a stormy day.

The cool thing here, besides the trip down memory lane, was that the local mountain bikers have been using the area and there is a wooden board walk leading to a 20 foot drop down a steep ramp that is nearly 90 degrees..........hmmmm.........no thank you!

ABOVE: Park on the Fraser River in Hope

Now we are caching in the town of Hope, and the next cache called "My Town", is located in a small park right downtown on the edge of the Fraser River. The town of Hope is located where the Fraser River makes a large bend as it exits the last remnants of the Fraser Canyon. From here on 100 miles west to the Pacific Ocean, the Fraser River slows and begins to drop it's sediment load creating the fertile Fraser Valley, one of the best growing areas in the world.

One of the better quoted "Ed's facts" is that in places the Fraser Valley consists of sediment over a mile deep; that is, the Fraser River has deposited so much dirt over thousands of years that the actual floor of the valley is one mile below it's present level!

ABOVE: Signboard at depicting the history of the Sto:lo people in the area

They have made a great little park here on the strip of land by the river; not only do they have pointers to the local mountains naming them along with their height, but they have also recently added story boards telling the history of the land, of the First Nations 8,000 years of living in the area, as well as the more modern history of Hope and the Fraser Canyon. The highlight of the park is the cairn with a plaque commemorating the founding of Fort Hope in 1848 as a Hudsons Bay trading post.

Laara found this cache faster than she could sit down, and I spent the time here snapping photos while she spent the time signing the log......ahh, what a team!

ABOVE: Japanese gardens in downtown Hope

The next cache we only got the first waypoint done, as the final cache is 20k out of town and we were running out of daylight, so we decided to finish this another day. But we did enjoy the visit to the first waypoint located at a Japanese garden. The "Tashme" cache highlights both the good and bad in our recent past; the good part is that the gardens are a gift from local Japanese citizens.The bad part is it also commemorates the internment of Japanese Citizens during WW2. Some of these citizens were interned 20 K east of town at a camp/prison in Sunshine Valley.

We walked around the gardens enjoying the waterfall and the large cement Japanese Lantern while we ate our ice cream from the Dairy Queen, which Laara so generously bought.

Finally when the ice cream was gone, we jumped back in the Jeep and looked for our next destination.

ABOVE: The "H" Tree

"The 'H' Tree" cache was located down a tiny little residential street and it was located at the base of a large tree that started off as two trees, fused together at their base, and then grew apart again about 15 feet in the air. It was really satisfying to see that the city had made the street "split" around the tree and that the tree was protected with a 3 foot high concrete wall so no cars could hit the tree causing it damage.

ABOVE: Sucker Creek

"Sucker Creek", a name for a circus carnival? No, a name of a cache located at a remediated Sucker Creek where the local conservation groups have cleaned up the small creek and created a wide spawning channel for the benefit of the returning Chum and Coho salmon. American Dippers love this little creek as it is a perfect depth for them to dive into and walk under water looking for aquatic morsels and salmon eggs being washed down stream.

Signboards along the good pathway illustrate how the area has been developed to mimic nature's best efforts at caring for the local stream environment. I find boards like this highly informative and wish more areas, when remediated for nature's benefit, had these signs as well for the people's benefit.

ABOVE: Small waterfall at Sucker Creek

We enjoyed this area so much we actually forgot about finding the cache until we reached the end of the pathway at a sandy beach area which signalled Sucker Creek joining the large Coquihalla River.

Oh yeah, the cache! OK, back out on the street we go to a lesser travelled part of the park and find the cache in it's hidey hole. Sign the log, put it back and get moving as the daylight was not long from leaving us.

ABOVE: Boardwalk at Sucker Marsh

Across the street and up another path was a second conservation area, this one called Sucker Marsh. It is also known as Thacker's Marsh, named after the family that owned the adjoining farm. Sadly, the farm is now gone and a housing subdivision is going up instead.

We followed the path as at first it meandered along side another part of the remediated creek, then the forest floor broke open into a wide boggy marsh suitable for song birds, diving ducks, beaver, and spawning salmon.

ABOVE: Beaver felled tree at Sucker Marsh

And plenty of beaver evidence did we see, both alongside the trail as it paralled the marsh's edge and it the marsh itself. Where the land was lower and the trail closer to the marsh, large and small trees have been recently chewed down by beavers. Two large beaver lodges show signs of recent repairs, and two other lodges look useable and are probably safety zones if the active lodges are disturbed by bears or coyotes.

Well, after a wonderful 1K walk along the marsh we arrived at the scene of the cache but no cache could we find. We looked in the logs and noticed that it had not been found since November 2007, five months ago. After 30 minutes of looking we gave up as the dark was coming on and we wanted to have a go at a few more caches.

"Let's Have a Picnic" was on the shore of Kawkawa Lake in the picnic area. Normally every body and their mother would be watching you as you routed around in the trees at the edge of the grassy area, but not today. The park was empty this late in the day, a perfect time to look; except we couldn't find it! This was another cache that had not been found since November of 2007, so whether the cache was gone or just well hidden we didn't find out, as we looked for just a few minutes in the dark before we called it quits and went on to hit two last caches.

"It's Just a Tree" was a micro cache hidden on/near a tree that looked to be about 5 trees in one, quite the sight to see. This cache was located right on the bank of the Fraser River at the north side of town, a section I had not been to before. The trees here seemed to be old growth redwoods, but I could easily be corrected on that. After checking several other good looking trees with our mighty-moe flashlights, we found the magic container that made us smile.

A quick sign, return of the cache and a last dash north out of town to a freebee cache. I call it that as it is a quick and easy micro located a couple of K out of town at a lovely rest stop called Lake-of-the-Woods. This is one of the busiest rest stops during the summer months for the traffic that tours the historic Fraser Canyon. How ever, in the dark on a short winter night it was evident that the cleaning crews have not been by for some time...sigh. Such a lovely place looking like a poor city street....The name of the cache, "Best Rest Stop", did not live up to it's name tonight.

OK, it's now just after 7.30 PM, we've been on the road for 12 hours. Time for a pit stop and a drink at a local eat-um-up-and-go place, then make the cannon ball run back into the bright lights of the big city on the coast.

We had a blast caching through out the day, and I had a blast visiting a lot of the places I have known for many years and always enjoy coming back to.

Thanks to the cachers in the Hope area who have put out the caches that we so happily found; hopefully we can return to finish the multis not done and find the caches we couldn't find.

Eddie signing off!! ...............................

Caching in South Vancouver

ABOVE: Marpole Bus Depot

Had another splendid day of caching in the sunshine on the west side of Vancouver with Ken and Alan.

All pictures from the caching day can be viewed here on my Flickr site

ABOVE: Southlands area of Vancouver is horse country

We started out in the south part of Vancouver near Granville Street and worked our way west to the Southlands area of Vancouver. This is an area populated by Beemers, Mercedes, and horses; horses in Vancouver you say? Why yes, The Southlands is a mini Langley type area complete with many boarding stables, riding stables and small hobby farms; quite something to see so many horses in the middle of Vancouver.

From there we stretched over and bordered the Musqueam area, home to a few golf courses, some of the most expensive homes in Vancouver, and the Musqueam First Nation living in reserve #2.

We found a tiny little island called Deering Island covered in upscale homes, with a park and walkway tidying up the west side of the island. From there we walked along a water front trail that was bordered by the Fraser River on the one side and an executive golf course on the other.

We scooted over to Pacific Spirit Regional Park, one of the many excellent GVRD parks in the Lower Mainland. Here the GVRD strikes a balance between public access and limited intrusion; they create well groomed trails through out the parks, but urge every one to stay on the trails and control their pets.

ABOVE: View from Spanish Banks

Our next caching area was on the north side of UBC along a well known beach area known locally as Spanish Banks. This area was first chartered in 1791 by the Spanish explorer Jose Maria Narvaez, then "discovered" a year later by Captain George Vancouver. Of course there had already been 10,000 years worth of occupation by the First Nations people, but if you're from Europe you don't count that!

After finding half dozen caches or so we finished up at Jericho Park, originally a teeming First Nations village called Ee'yullmough. In the 1860's it was the site of a logging "show" (forest camps at that time were called shows), then taken over in the 1930's by the National Department of Defence.

ABOVE: View of downtown Vancouver from Jericho Beach

In the early 1970s Jerry's Cove, as it was originally known as, was turned back over the the City of Vancouver, and as Jerry's Cove was pushed and pulled into the future, Jerry's Cove gradually became known as Jericho.

These days it's transformation back to a city park is almost complete.

This was the end of the day for us at darkness had decended and we had been out caching for 9 hours; that was enough for us, time for the long drive home and a late dinner.

Pictures from White Rock

Posted a few pictures of a beautiful day of caching in White Rock; these are all scenery pictures.

Right click here and select "open in new tab" to go to my Flickr page to view the pictures... to view the captions with the pictures, mouse over the first picture and when you see the "i", click on it and the captions will appear at the bottom of each picture. Don't forget to click "view as slide show"!

Rambling Around Ridge

Had a chance to get out in the sunshine today and fix up a few caches that I have hidden. In the process the day was so nice I fired off a few scenic pictures and have posted them on my Flickr site for you to enjoy...right click with mouse here and choose "open in new tab"to view them.

When you go to the Flickr site click on "View as Slide Show"

Any one of these photos will make a great wall paper for your computer.....

Squamish to Lillooet to Hope to Vancouver

ABOVE: Old ore car from Britannia Mine Museum

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Here is the trip report from one of the road trips I hosted for the Backroad Drivers Northwest web group of which I am a member; the trip was done a few years ago but it's still one of my favourite routes!

Hosted by Ed Pedersen

Attendees:

Cheryl Steele from Everett (AKA CJ)

Amanda Pedersen from Maple Ridge

Jeanine Albert from Pitt Meadows

Ed Pedersen from Maple Ridge

Rain, sun, then rain, then clouds, then sun, then, well you get the idea...

We were hoping for a bright sunshiny day to get the full benefit of the mountain vistas we would be traveling through today, alas, but that was not to be.

We left our North Vancouver rendezvous point around 9.30 AM after waiting for any last minute stragglers that might appear. As Cheryl (CJ) was driving by herself today, Amanda opted to ride with her to keep her company.

We traveled west along highway #1 through West Vancouver and turned north at Horseshoe Bay to begin our trip on Hwy #99, also known as the Sea to Sky Highway. For the next twenty miles we were treated to soaring cliffs on one side of us, complete with runaway creeks that often cause road problems during the winter. Even the cliffs themselves have been some what tamed; in sections they are covered with wire mesh, or even cemented over to try and control the rock face that crumbles and continually falls onto the road.

On the other side of the highway was an expansive ocean view occasionally limited by one of the Gulf Islands like Salt Spring or Galiano.

ABOVE: Mill buildings at Britannia Beach Mine Museum

We headed north and made our first stop at the Britannia Mining museum. Here you can take a short ride on an underground mine train that takes you under Britannia mountain to show you the real life working conditions of a mine, as well as the various types of drills used by hard rock miners.

The actual mine is higher on the mountain, but here at ground level were the still standing old mill buildings that crushed the ore to extract the copper from the rock. There was also a company town here to support the mineworkers and their families. Most of the old houses are gone now, just a few remaining buildings to show what they once were like.

ABOVE: Hercules Power water pump at mine museum

We walked around the grounds of the museum and spent time inside the gift shop/museum viewing the different rock types found in the mine. It was interesting to see the old pictures of the mine from 40, 60 and 100 years ago.

Back on the highway and another ten minutes along found us at Shannon Falls, a must see for anyone driving this route.

ABOVE: Shannon Falls

Shannon Falls slides through a narrow gap at the top of a 1200 foot cliff, and crashes noisily down a sheer cliff wall, creating a wall of mist that spreads for hundreds of feet away from the cliff site. Shannon Creek itself is wide, rough and full of sass, and competes for your attention as the water from the falls continues it's short journey to Howe sound.

The large creek caroms down a steep hill side and over the house size boulder slabs that have fallen over time from the cliffs above.

I have fond memories of Shannon Falls; as children our parents would come here for a day of picnicking and playing, and my brothers and I would climb right to the base of the falls and try to stand as close to the torrent of water as we could without getting knocked over. On a hot August day the cool mountain water fresh from the glaciers above was heaven!

Five minutes up the road was the logging town of Squamish, and it looks like every other logging town in the Pacific Northwest.The chosen ride is a pickup truck with a toolbox or huge diesel tank in the bed, all tools of a logger.

Squamish is being rejuvenated by eco-tourists anxious to see some of the remaining pure forests close to Vancouver; many other tourists with spending dollars are brought up from Vancouver by the Royal Hudson, a restored steam train that makes day trips to Squamish.

Plus, all the tourists on their way to Whistler and Blackcomb ski resorts stop in for a coffee, donut and a chance to re-stock their supplies.

A trip to the area wouldn't be complete without a side trip to Brackendale, home to the world's largest winter congregation of Bald Eagles.

While we were not in prime viewing time, there were still some juvenile Bald Eagles circling and playing on the thermal currents generated by the warm sun; and in the waters of the Squamish River a harbour seal dived repeatedly for young salmon and trout in the cloudy waters.

All around us the magnificence of the mountain scenery was hidden by the occasional rain shower that seemed to be following us so far this day. A major bummer to miss out on the towering mountains that encircle this small town.

ABOVE: Sign board at Brandywine Falls

Just south of Whistler we stopped to view the scenic Brandywine Falls; so named as two surveyors wagered a bet over the exact height of the falls. One wagered a bottle of brandy, and one a bottle of wine. The falls are 61 meters tall (approx 200 feet) and have formed a pocket as the water has eroded the surrounding rock. I have been here several times and I am always amazed at the power of water to change the landscape it courses through.

ABOVE: Brandywine Falls

Next stop was the main tourist Mecca of Whistler and it's multitude of ski slopes, shops, restaurants and clubs that make it so popular to the hordes of tourists.

Even in the height of summer the town was buzzing; I swear that there was a million dollars worth of mountain bikes buzzing around the town. Every place you looked there were families, young folks, and professional riders all pedaling away.

Miles out of town we seen athletes-in-training on the wide bike pathway that paralleled the road just a-charging up some of the steep hills the mountain highway traversed.

We left this bustling, scenic resort and traveled another half hour north on Hwy #99 to the tiny town of Pemberton.

This is a REAL, no frills logging town...two blocks of Main Street made up the downtown section, the local hotel, aptly named the Pemberton Hotel, with busy bar; a true one-bar town. To complete the image of a typical small town, the old railway station was smack dab at the centre of town and at the edge of the tracks.

A smattering of houses completed the downtown area; everyone else lived in the outskirts where they could park there heavy machinery and logging trucks on their own property with out the neighbours complaining.

Now it was time to turn eastward, still on Hwy #99, to travel through the First Nations area of Mt. Currie.

This is BC's biggest Indian reserve, and they hold a rodeo every year that is one of the best examples of real life cowboys; no rhinestones here!

Mt. Currie is situated in a small valley surrounded by the Lillooet River on one side, and the Birkenhead River on the other. The large strip of river delta that is formed by the two rivers is very flat and peaceful; I always expect to see orchards of apple trees on either side of the road.

Mt. Currie was also the start of the steady climb into Pemberton Pass that would take us over the divide of the Coast Mountains as we headed for the dry Interior of BC.

ABOVE: Pemberton Ice Fields

The descent coming back down into Mt. Currie is so steep that cars coming past us invariably smelt of burning brakes. I shudder to think how motor homes make it down the hill without some scary moments!

Gaining elevation into the Pass we noticed the warmer coastal air was being replaced by a cool breeze being swept down the mountains from the glaciers on the surrounding mountain peaks.

We stopped at a local Mecca for hikers, a destination called Joffre Peaks. Here you have your choice of easy day hikes around the valley and the glacial lake; or hard day hikes to the upper two lakes in the shadow of the Mattier Glacier. If you were hardy enough you could climb on the glacier itself.

ABOVE: First Lake at Joffre Lakes Park

Our group opted to pass on scaling the glaciers and only went 10 minutes down the trail to First Lake; a green gem of a lake in the shadow of Joffre Peak. Even that was rewarding enough, and it required several photos to capture the full beauty of the area before the mosquitoes chased us back to the cars.

A few more minutes of following the road as it climbed the mountain pass brought us to summit of the pass; the next 20 miles were to consist of level travel, with a slight elevation decline as we headed for Lillooet. At least that's what we thought; I had forgotten about the steep sections still to come.

ABOVE: Mountain Peaks of the Cayoosh Mountain Range

As we went along, the vistas had us continually chattering on the CB asking each other if we saw that mountain over there, or this peak here, or the lake back there; there was just too much to see, the scenery was fantastic!

ABOVE: Duffey Lake

Duffey Lake is the halfway point of Pemberton Pass, and the lake is a deep glacier-carved narrow lake situated between two mountain peaks, and COLD !! BRRRRRRRR !!

Here we pulled out the sweatshirts and hats while we drank in the cool mountain scenery.....avalanche chutes stretching from the mountain peak 3000 feet down to the lake reminded us of how truly wild this area was. Quite often during winter this route is closed due to bad weather, snow accumulations and the danger of avalanches.

We continued on along the road still awed by the scenery presented around every new bend in the highway.

ABOVE: Cayoosh Creek

We reached the end of the lake, and where the lake ended, Cayoosh Creek started. Cayoosh is a Lilloeet area variant of the Spanish word cayuse, meaning horse. In the Lillooet area it specifies a particular breed of mountain pony.

ABOVE: Cayoosh Creek

Cayoosh Creek runs noisily and angrily alongside the road for several miles, at times it is almost level with the road. We kept expecting the creek to jump the banks and cover the roadway, us included.

Soon enough we started our steep descent from the high mountain pass, down through the sharp switch backs where 20 miles an hour was way too fast for the sharp bends in the road. At times, if you looked over the edge you could see the highway a thousand feet below you. YOWSER!!

ABOVE: Seton River Valley looking east; the town of Lillooet is in the valley beyond. That same valley contains the Fraser River
EDITOR's NOTE: This picture is from a previous trip

Before we knew it we were spit out of a narrow valley pass where vertical walls 2000 feet tall were so close you swear you could throw a rock from one side of the pass and make it skip across to the other.

Suddenly we were down the last of the steep section; no more need for second gear to hold us back.....we had reached the other side of the Cayoosh Mountain range and the Fraser River was once again in site.

We were now 2/3 of the way through our trip, and a stretch break at Seton Lake presented us with a contradiction of sorts. We had started off in the cool rain showered West Coast right on the ocean with it's rain forest of Western Red Cedars, Douglas Firs and soaring waterfalls, we then climbed through a high mountain pass with peaks covered in year round glaciers that blew a cold wind down on us, and now we were back in summer!!

The hot August feeling wind that blew along the light green waters of the lake was warm and dry, and we were wondering how half an hour ago we could be so cold even with our sweat shirts on. The temperature change was amazing!

We shed our excess "cold weather" garments and rolled down the windows to let the "summer" in.

The tall rain coast trees had been replaced by shorter Ponderosa and Lodgepole Pines, interspersed with various Birch and Spruce species. The water loving wild ferns on the forest floor were replaced with bunch grass more conducive to rattlesnake territory.

We were in the rain shadow of the mountains, and the arid landscape was indicative of the low amount of precipitation that made it over the mountains. All that water that we had as rain in Squamish was now destined for the glaciers in Pemberton Pass.

Lillooet is the Mile Zero on the Caribou Wagon Road of the Gold Rush Days; 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House, 150 Mile House all exist today due to their beginnings as stage coach stops during the 1890's. Their names are indicative of their distance from Lillooet; many other road houses existed, usually based on how many days out of Lilloett they were; very few survive today.

We had a quick tour of the highlights of the town of Lillooet:

-the Mile Zero cairn

-the Hanging Tree where Judge Begbie dispensed frontier justice to 8 men, similar to the legend of Judge Roy Bean in Texas

-the remnants of gold diggings by the Chinese workers from the railroads; mountains of gravel and bedrock all lined up in an orderly fashion

-the museum with it's placer gold mining equipment

-The Bridge of the 23 Camels; this is a new bridge named to commemorate the bright soul that thought camels would make an excellent pack animal in the arid land of the Thompson Plateau. Only problem was the soft feet of the camels were ripped apart by the hard rock of the trails; and they scared the horses and mules.

By now a time check showed it to be 6.00 PM, and we still had many miles to go. We pushed on through the dry country as we now followed the Fraser River high above the river on the bench lands formed thousands of years ago from a time when the Fraser was many times it's present size.

The landscape was more desolate now then we were used to seeing on the west coast; sparse Ponderosa Pines with their reddish trunks sparingly covered the hillsides, prime habitat for deer, and we saw one right at the edge of the road feeding 4 feet of the highway. It was so well camouflaged that we did not see it until we were only 20 feet away! Lucky for us it did not dart out into our paths.....

The appearance of more farms and houses indicated that we were approaching the small town of Lytton.

Here we wanted to see the contrasting colours of two rivers merging. The Thompson River flows a deep blue as it travels through the harder bedrock of it's watershed. Cleaner gravel and less sediment means less contamination and a"purer" water column.

By contrast, the Fraser's watershed is composed of more sandy and clay like hills and mountains; small particles are easily suspended by the mighty river that contribute to it's "muddy" appearance.

Where the two mighty rivers meet is a clash of colour and a fight for supremacy. The Thompson resists the embrace of the muddy Fraser for hundreds of feet downriver, but the Fraser eventually wins. Where the two rivers first meet there is a fine line between blue and mud brown, just like someone took a pencil and drew a line.

But we were denied this treat today..it was now 8.00 PM and the sun was disappearing behind the mountains, and the absence of bright sunlight caused the shadows to hide this exceptional sight. Somewhat disappointed we walked back to were we had parked the cars, but in true Backroader fashion we were already planning another day's adventure back to this area.

Seeing as that we were about to enter the scenic Fraser Canyon in the twilight, we would be missing all the wonderful sights that this section has to offer. We decided to hold a future trip and take the day to explore the Fraser Canyon at a leisurely pace.

Back on the road we hightailed it south towards the gateway town of Hope and the end of daylight and the end of the tour. We pulled into Hope just as dark was falling, at 9.00 PM and had a late meal at one of the local restaurants that served big meals and HUGE portions of home cooked pies.

We fed our tummies with food and our brains with coffee, then rejuvenated, we headed back out on the road for our last leg of the trip towards home.It was an awfully long day that passed way too quickly, and the sights that we saw continually amazed us during the day, and I think I got a sore neck from whipping it around trying to see everything there was to see!

It was an ambitious day, not for the faint of heart,and we made the most of it !!

In true Backroads mentality, knowing we missed a lot, and there is so much more to see, the return trip to the Fraser Canyon won't be too far off before we are once again racing along side the Fraser River, rubbernecking at the Super Natural Scenery of BC.

Views From Stanley Park on a Sunny Winter Day

We went downtown to view the new BC ferry that has just arrived and found out most of Vancouver had the same idea. After finding out the line up was 40 minutes long, (apparently the shortest it had been all day), we nixed the idea of standing in line. Instead, we opted to take some photos of the ferry from the promenade deck of Canada Place, and then go for a drive through Stanley Park.

Pictures can be found here on my Flickr site.

When the page comes up look in the upper right corner for the wording "View Slide Show". That will start the slide show for your viewing pleasure. Mouse over the centre of the picture and then click on the "i" in the centre of the picture to read the text that goes along with the posted pictures

The Jeeps In The Wild

I haven't posted anything for a while for a very simple reason; I haven't been out any where recently!
But I know that there are many people coming back to the site looking for new postings, so I thought I should at least put something new up.

So what I did was find a bunch of old pictures of my two Jeeps while they were out in the mountains exploring the back country. Don't look for some wild 4X4 action, that's not my style.
I'm more into exploring the endless miles of forest service roads available in this corner of southern BC.

Follow the link here to go to my Flickr site and view the pictures as a slide show; by now you should remember how to see the captions for each picture as the slide show plays.

ENJOY! I did while I was out taking these pictures!