2013 - Kona Hawaii, Vancouver Island, A Solo Trip to the Rockies,

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 Kona Hawaii
Location of Kona

Our 2012 trip to Maui utterly spoiled me. It was so wonderful to get away from months of cold grey drizzle and be in sunny warmth. With that in mind, Lynn and I went to the big island of Hawai to enjoy the warm climate.
(picture of Lynn)

We stayed in the Royal Kona Resort on the southern edge of Kona. 

This is the view from our balcony.

Hawaii involved a lot of driving and one of the first drives we made was across the island, visiting the Mauna Kea visitor center, and the town on Hilo. Approaching Hilo, we stopped at a park and walked through some lava tubes. From there, we drove north and returned to Kona via Waimea.

Another day we headed for some volvanic action at Kilauea State Park. It is a fairly long way, so made for a very full day, especially considering we stayed until after sunset so we could see the glow from Kilauea's crater. While waiting for sunset, we drove down the Chain of Craters road to the ocean where we enjoyed the view of Holei Sea Arch.
We did another road trip, doing a northern loop which was worthwhile, but we also made another trip to the south as we didn't have time to see all the sights we wanted to see the day we visited Kilauea.

We visited Punalu'u Black Sand Beach and tried not to bother the turtles.

Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park

We also visited South Point Park, the southern most part of the United States. There was crashing surf, divers jumping off structures into the ocean far below, and memorials for loved ones.
We also did a day trip back to the Hilo area to visit the botanical garden just north of Hilo. Well worth the visit as well.
You didn't have to go far from Kona to get beautiful sites. At the old airport on the north edge of town was a park and picnic area that was well worth visitiing at sunset. (picture ) Sometimes all you had to do was walk along the sidewalk in Kona and enjoy beautiful views.

Vancouver Island

Location of Craigdarroch Castle

Lynn, Jason, Karen at Craigdarroch Castle

At the end of March, Lynn and I made a trip Sydney on Vancouver Island to visit with Karen and Jason.
Crossing the Straits of Georgia is always full of visual possibilities, even if it's just watching people feed the seagulls. Sydney is a great place to walk about. Spring was in the air, and the magnolia trees were in blossom.
Jason and I did some travelling about and found ourselves at Hatley Castle, the home of Royal Roads University, and the part of the set for Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in the X-Men movie series. While we were there, a group of people were celebrating Easter along with the Holi religious festival.

A Solo Trip to the Rockies
I ended up going to Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff, and Canmore in early April to some photography. My usual photographic buddies weren't able to come along and I am pretty comfortable being on my own so off I went. Being on your own on a trip like this is certainly different from being with your buddies, but it does allow you to do things exactly when you want. On the down side you don't have your buddies to bring up better suggestions. ;-)

Wapati campsite just south of Jasper

The Wapati winter campground just south of Jasper had a great heated bathroom and shower facility and I was able to camp very close to them. There were other "campers" as well, but they had motor homes or trailers. Jasper itself is filled with good restaurants and doesn't have the plastic commercialization of Banff so I always enjoy it.
I did a trip up to Pyramid Lake, and then on to Maligne Lake. Along the way, I found Medicine Lake completely empty, save for a small stream running through it. I also spent time in Maligne Canyon and it's interesting photographing it in early spring when there is still lots of ice. On the down side there is plenty of ice that you have to walk on, so my walking crampons came in very handy.
After a couple of nights in Jasper I headed south on the Icefield Parkway. I woke up in the morning to find it snowing and I was a little concerned about driving conditions, but after checking with Parks, I found out it should be fine. Being on my own, I play things conservatively, and I was prepared to turn around and go back to Jasper if things turned nasty. When I got to the Columbia Icefields, the roads were just wet, but it was blowing, cold, and lightly snowing. I spent some time taking pictures of Mt. Athabasca and remembering our climb up the Silverhorn Ridge that you could occassionally see in the mist. I stopped at Saskatchewan River Crossing to take pictures on the bridge, but I think the most memorable image is of a crow at my car looking as if it expected more food than what I was feeding it!
I decided to go to Canmore and stay in the Bow Valley Motel instead of the hostel in Lake Louise partly out of the desire for privacy and the price is very reasonable at the motel, and Canmore has some interesting galleries, restaurants, and Banff is very close by. I spent time on the Bow Valley Parkway between Banff and Lake Louise at Johnson Canyon, and of course I spent some time at the Vermillion Lakes on the west side of Banff.
I had a very worthwhile time. It's always good to know that you make yourself decent company and I always love going to the Rockies any time of year. On the way home I stopped at Lake Louise to do some photography and then drove home on dry roads with light traffic. It's about a 10 hour drive home and I am certainly tired when I get home, but it's a good kind of tired after a wonderful trip in gorgeous country. :-)

Lake Louise

2006 - AGM, Sun Peaks, Mountain Biking in the Rockies, Mt. McQuire

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Location of the AGM 
The Annual General Meeting - February 10-12 -

Keith Akenhead and Bob Cuthbert

Never before has trail breaking been so challenging. I started out dragging a sled thinking that would make things easy, only to find out that the thick fresh snow made us dig a deep trench breaking trail, so the sled simply tilted onto its side and soon flipped over. I never have liked dragging a bulldozer!
We ended up having to dump our packs, break trail for a ways, then come back for our packs and essentially break trail again with the increased weight on our backs. It was horribly slow.
Finally Keith Akenhead, Bob Cuthbert, and myself made camp only about a third as far as we hoped to get that day. The weather stayed just below freezing for the next two nights, making staying dry a challenge.

Chuck and Ken

Ken Willis and Chuck McCafferty came up the second day and we had our usual fun "annual general meeting" in the big tent. 

Spring Break - Sun Peaks
Alan Lizee and I drove up to Sun Peaks and stayed in his sister and brother in law's condo at Sun Peaks. The first day we cross country skied and the second day we down hilled. I was please that with shaped skies I could down hill quite well after not having done it for so long, but boy did I get tired quickly!

Alan Lizee

Canmore Mountain Biking - July 2006

Lynn and I drove up to Canmore with our bikes and stayed in the Bow Valley Motel again and we did some biking up at the nordic center on the Banff Trail and on the Canalside to Quarry Lake trails. It was unfortunate that they had done a lot of work on the nordic trails making some of them a mud pit, but we had a great time anyway. Oh yes, the restaurants in Canmore are great and the liquor store has a great selection of wines and scotch! :-)

Lynn just above Canmore

Jasper Mountain Biking - July 2006

After three nights in Canmore, Lynn and I drove up to Jasper and stayed in a small cabin at the "Pine Bungalows". Starting out at Old Fort Point, we did the Valley of the Five Lakes trail . It is an intermediate trail with many great fun sections, but it also has steep sections that turned it into a "bike and hike". It was well worth doing, and quite long. We came out on theIceFields Parkway and rode the ten kilometers back to Jasper on the smooth pavement. :-)

Lynn on the Valley of the Five Lakes Trail.

The view from our cabin out over the Athabasca River and on to Mt. Edith Cavell made for an idyllic scene. If we have anything to do with it, the Pine Bungalows will see us again.

Lynn ponders Edith Cavell.

Mt. McQuire - July 2006
Alan Lizee and I tried to hike up Mt. McQuire but because I only drove up a couple of kilometers on the Borden Creek road, we had a long hike up the road before we even got to the trail. There was a ditch across the road which I was uncomfortable with, and we parked the car and walked. It was too bad as it was a great day and it would have been nice to get to the top.
The picture below is of the American and Canadian border peaks on the right, and the Pleiades on the left.

The Pleiades and the border peaks looking up Slesse Creek.

2003 - AGM, Ski in Jasper, Biking with Lynn

The January AGM
Location of the AGM 
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Dave Dixon

The Red Lobster Annual General Meeting - January 2003 - We induct a new member.Bob Cuthbert, Ken Willis, Chuck McCafferty, Randy Wheating, Ryan Shellborn, Keith Rajala, and the new Lobster, Dave Dixon survived another AGM up on the western flanks of the Three Brothers. When has there been so much laughing, other than the last AGM? Thanks to the people and culture of Scotland, Red Green, and Christmas leftovers, but most of all, good friends. :-) Enjoy the writing of Lobster Chuck...

Bob Cuthbert, Ryan Shellborn, Randy Wheating, Chuck McCafferty, Ken Willis, Dave Dixon

The "con" list. Dave knew a couple of lobsters. He had not climbed anything higher than the ladder with which he cleaned gutters (and that has not yet been verified). He had to walk to get to the tents for the winter camping (a much tougher task, some might suggest). In the final analysis, (and perhaps sadly) the fact that he drank scotch won out. (Those who still question Dale's membership on that qualification will lift an eyebrow here.) 
Conditions, while not ideal, were much better than on many of the trips to the Cambie Creek ski area. The snow allowed for easy ascent to the tent sites. Randy and Ryan had been in for a day or two and we knew as we slogged along that there would be a warm drink and friendly greeting.
As bodies drifted into the rhythm of each skier's comfort level and thoughts turned inward, we spread along the trail in pairs. Chuck and Ken moved slowly ahead as Keith lingered to be sure that Dave's bearpaw snowshoes held up as he dragged the sled containing his home for the night. It can be a very peaceful and introspective time skiing along a wintry trail with the knowledge that friends are not far off. It can be the nicest time of a trip into the mountains in the winter.
At the usual lunch spot we reassembled and munched on sandwiches, trail mix and drinks. As Ken and Chuck had been there for a time before the others arrived, they started off for the final ski up to the tenting spot. They worked up the trail and before long heard the familiar "Koo Loo Ku Ku" a-la Bob and Doug McKenzie as they arrived at camp to a waiting cup of hot coffee. 
Randy, Ryan and Bob (we weren't sure if Bob would be able to attend ... being from the frozen east and all) had set up their tents and had flattened a couple of spots for our two tents as well.

Many rituals filled the AGM

After a while, Dave and Keith arrived. Dave looked somewhat like a deer in the headlights as this was his first winter camping trip. However he had been well outfitted by his friends and was in for an fun-filled evening of wondrous foods, entertaining games like Tequila Pigs, and tall tales. As well, there were bad jokes and readings from Red Green, which, when added to the ubiquitous sips of scotch, had us in stitches for much of the evening. We had long ago realized that the pipe and cigar smoking needed to be in the fresh air outside the tents and so as the night wore on, Lobsters aglow with good times (and did I mention scotch?) quietly slipped off to their tents one by one for a good night's sleep.
It is said that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Each year that truism is validated by the Red Lobster AGM --- a bunch of aging gentlemen out to play in the woods in the winter. It was a beer company that made the phrase "it doesn't get any better than this" famous. They haven't been on a Red Lobster AGM. - Chuck McCafferty


A Spring Break Ski Trip to Jasper
Location of the Bald Hills trail we used.

Good times.

On spring break, Ken Willis, Chris Cooper, and I travelled up to Jasper for a ski. In the previous weeks, it had been very cold. Bob Cuthbert had skied into the Amethyst Lake area a few weeks earlier, and had found it extremely cold. By the time we got to Jasper, it was spring like in the valley bottoms, so we went up to the Bald Hills area just west of Maligne Lake. the picture above are four frames out of the video I made of the trip.

At the Columbia Icefields

With stops at the Willis cabin on Sheridan Lake, and a drive down to the icefields, and a hot tub at the Tonquin Inn, it was a trip worth repeating :-)

Mountain Biking in the Rockies With Lynn
Location of Peter Lougheed Park

Lynn with Upper Kananaskis Lake behind her

After a computer conference in Seattle, Lynn and I packed up the van and headed for the Rockies for some R & R. We headed first to Peter Lougheed Park in Kananaskis Country and spent three days cycling some of the trails there, ending with a loop which included the Terrace Trail. This included a fairly long section of single track and we were rewarded at the end of it by the ice cream store at Kananaskis Village!

We then moved on to Lake Louise where we did the Pipestone trail: a friendly double track through the trees and a fun downhill run back to the highway.

Jasper was our next stop. We did trail number 7: a long loop starting at Old Fort Point and going along the Athabaska River. It then climbs up Maligne Canyon to the restaurant :-) and then goes back on a single track, skirting the southern edge of the golf course and ending back where you started. It was about 25 km in all. Some of it was challenging , but most of it was quite easy and friendly.