BC to AB July 24-31

Hiya

Week 2 staying in West Moberly, the cabins starting to feel a bit like home. Especially in the sun waking up every morning to the beautiful Moberly Lake was definitely awesome. Last week we ran camps in West Moberly, this week was in Saulteau which was only 5 minutes away so we didn't have to move on the weekend.

Sunday the 24th was my birthday. We went out to Tumbler Ridge for the day to check out the scenery (which included a black bear wandering on the side of the road). Unfortunately the road to the waterfalls was flooded out, but we did hike around and found a beaver dam which is always fun.

West Moberly is also only a half hour drive to Chetwynd, which is the closest town with a large grocery store, so we went into town a few times throughout the week for supplies. Being in town also meant the opportunity to clamber up Mount Baldy and Ghost Mountain again. Just to give some perspective, I grabbed a shot of the trail which I hope shows how steep the last push to the top is.

Friday we said goodbye to the cabins and headed up to Fort St. John where we picked up our new third, Will, on loan from SFU in Vancouver for the next two weeks. Saturday we said goodbye to "mountains" (fine, they're foothills) and Pacific time, and crossed over into Alberta. After weeks of hills and forests, it does feel pretty flat, but it's not as dramatic as I thought. Maybe I have to go to Saskatchewan for that. In true Alberta fashion though, once we were firmly in a new province, the price of gas dropped 10-20 cents and the speed limit jumped 10-20km/hour.

We're now staying in Beaverlodge which is about half an hour west of Grand Prairie and right next door to Horse Lake where we'll be running a shortened camp week. Beaverlodge decided in 2004 that their town was missing something, and so constructed 3000 pound polymer and steel frame beaver to welcome anyone driving from Edmonton to Alaska. He was never given a name, so I'm calling him Gerald.

Aaaaaaaand we're back! July 3-23

Hiya

Sorry for the delay, we've been passing around a pretty bad cold which has been distracting me from the internet. It's currently my third week out here so on with the show!
I'm in Northern BC for 6 weeks of camp. We're in the Peace River region if that helps to narrow it down at all. This time, the additional people in "we" are Yasmine (3 year Outreach Team veteran from Halifax) and Allyson (on loan from the science camp at SFU in Vancouver). Allyson was only on our team for 2 weeks. We were planning on hiding her in a suitcase so we could keep her, but she didn't seem too thrilled with that plan.

Our first stop was a tiny town called McLeod Lake, although we actually stayed about 20 minutes up the road in Mackenzie. We have a rental car for the duration which gives us the freedom to check out more of the area. However, driving around here is a bit more treacherous than in southern Ontario. On one morning in particular we stopped for 5 moose on the road (including 2 calves), and saw 2 hanging out on the side. No matter how many times I'd heard about the dangers of hitting a moose, I wasn't prepared for how big the things are. Next time I'm hoping I'll have my camera handy.

We had a chance to go for a bit of a hike before I got hit in the head with a cold that has kept me indoors most evenings. The area around here is so gorgeous but I've had to be reminded a couple of times that we're not actually in the mountains, these are just foothills. I've been using the "I'm from Ontario" excuse to be disproportionately excited about everything, but especially large scale geography.

Our second stop was Chetwynd. I'm not sure how much the Peace River flooding situation made the news wherever you are, but the major (read: only) road from Mackenzie to Chetwynd had been washed out just before we arrived. Further adding to our worry, the rain hadn't really stopped. No torrential downpours, just constant drizzle that threatened more would come to keep the water levels rising. If the road didn't open the only other option would be to drive around through Prince George, Grand Prairie AB, and Fort St. John; essentially turning a 2 hour drive into a 14 hour expedition. Luckily by Saturday the road open for single direction traffic with a pilot car. We got through just fine.

Chetwynd is apparently the chainsaw carving capital of Canada (which probably by default makes it the chainsaw carving capital of the WORLD). They seem pretty proud of this fact. Also, the town sits right in the shadow of Mount Baldy and Ghost Mountain. Somehow saying I climbed Ghost Mountain seems like a much bigger accomplishment than climbing Baldy, but I did both.

Right now we're in West Moberly which is on Moberly Lake. We're here for two weeks which means we get to relax this weekend. In our case relax means check out the sights because it finally stopped raining!!! We went by the Bennet Dam which is one of the largest hydroelectric dams in Canada, and got stuck in the mud outside of Fort St. John. More adventures to come, and I promise to be more on the ball at letting you know where I am.

Cheers!