Blanca Lake Backpacking Trip

August 21, 2024August 26, 2024 / Maria / 2 Comments

I hiked to Blanca Lake around the third week in July and it was the first weekend where it really started to feel like summer. The snow melt was very late in the mountains and I’d been tracking the hike via satellite all week. 5 days before we went, the entire lake was still frozen, but it was melting fast and by the time we hiked up there, it was almost entirely gone.

Blanca Lake is not a well known hike, but it is starting to get more popular. It’s located pretty far up Squamish Valley Road and it does require 4×4 to get to the trailhead. The hike is only 4.5km, but the road to the trailhead is long and exposed, so I wouldn’t recommend hiking the extra distance on a hot day. We ended up picking up a few hikers along the road and they were about to give up and turn around before we drove by because it was so hot.

We had a great crew for this trip. Seth and Sadie both joined me for their second hike of the summer, and of course Brandon was ready with his 4runner. We were also joined by our friend Adriana, who we hiked Tetrahedron with last year, and a new friend, Victoria, who we met when hiking Hozomeen Lake several weeks earlier. I downed a lot of gatorade along the drive as we convoyed up to the trailhead in two cars. It’s a pretty long drive on Squamish Valley Road, as well as on the FSR. The road isn’t in that bad shape, but there are several water bars along the way and a sketchy washout before the top. A few cars parked before the washout as it’s not a long walk from that section.

To make the occasion more special, it was Brandon’s birthday! We ate sandwiches at the car and then started the hike up to the lake. The trail is flat for a short distance, but then you immediately do a big climb up through the trees. It was challenging because it was so hot, but at least we were in the shade. After the climb, the trail stays in the trees and is pretty flat again. You traverse through some small meadows and eventually come to a stream crossing before starting to climb again.

Some of the group was able to get across the stream crossing with their boots on, but I opted to just put on my sandals and wade through it. It was much easier and we all did it on the return trip. We encountered a few groups who were day hiking on their way down, but otherwise we didn’t see a lot of people. You continue through the trees again and then eventually come out on a boulder field that follows the river to the top. Seth really struggled from the heat on this section and the hike took longer than we expected it would, but eventually we all made it to the beautiful wide open view at the top.

The final section of the trail and the lake are all in the alpine. Blanca Lake is really at the start of the alpine and if you have 2 nights to spare, it’s definitely worth it to stay up there for an extra day and explore around on your own. There aren’t any trails, but the terrain is easy to navigate and you can do a scramble to some of the other lakes and peaks.

Blanca Lake is the biggest lake, but there are several other lakes nearby, as well as a lot of tarns. I decided to swim in Blanca as soon as we arrived and it was so hot even Seth joined me! It was freezing cold (it had literally only finished melting 2 days ago), but it was refreshing. Adriana and Victoria opted to swim in the small lake just below Blanca, which was warmer, and Brandon scoped out a secluded place to pitch our tents by an even smaller tarn.

There were quite a few people camping on Saturday night. Most of them camped right next to Blanca Lake, but there’s lots of room to spread out. I liked our spot over by the tarn because then Sadie wasn’t distracted by or a nuisance to the other campers. I swam in the smaller lake and 2 tarns, but not the other 2 large lakes. I can’t see any names for them on Gaia, but there’s a big circular lake west of Blanca, and another lake to the South. I hiked over to view both, but they were a bit farther away, so I didn’t swim in either.

We sent up the tents and proceeded to have an excellent evening hanging out in the alpine! We brought party hats for Brandon and celebrated his birthday with some cherry liqueur that I’d brought home from Portugal. We had Brandon’s infamous thai chicken curry for dinner and had a great time hanging out and enjoying the view during golden hour.

There’s no facilities at Blanca Lake, so be prepared to dig catholes for your bathroom. There are some trees around, but it’s pretty barren, so we brought bear vaults and bear bags rather than hanging our food. It should be possible to find somewhere to hang your food, but it was definitely a lot easier using Carolyn’s bear vault, which I borrowed for the trip.

It was an absolutely gorgeous evening and we spent most of the night taking photos of each other. The sunset turned everything orange around us and we shared snacks to celebrate Brandon’s birthday. I made everyone worms and dirt (a girl guide classic!), but I guess our sugar tolerance is lower than my girl guides because we all ate way too much!

I was the first one up in the morning thanks to Sadie. It gets bright so early and she wants out of the tent, so I decided to let everyone else sleep in and take her for a walk. She was my little dog sherpa and carried our essentials in her bag. Like I said, there’s a lot to explore, so we did a short hike up to some of the ridges to view the other lakes and have our breakfast. Blanca is cool, but in my opinion, the lake to the west has the most beautiful view. I wish we’d had more time to explore, but I’ll have to add it to my long list for a return trip.

We took our time having breakfast and packing up and as a result, we were the last to leave. The campsite was completely empty, so I think it’s really only busy on the weekends. The hike back down the valley was nice and there were a lot of wildflowers around. We stopped for lunch shortly after crossing the river and then continued back to the cars. We stopped at the Water Shed in Squamish for dinner and then closed the books on a really nice weekend in the mountains! I took way too many photos on this trip, so here’s a few more!

Tofino Surfing Trip

July 17, 2024July 16, 2024 / Maria / 3 Comments

I’ve had the opportunity to do some pretty cool things with my girl guides over the years, and this was definitely one of the more unique experiences!

Last year we did a water series that involved kayaking, whitewater rafting, and canoeing. The only activity on our brainstorm that we didn’t do was surfing, mostly because it was too expensive to make a trip to the island on top of all the other activities. This year, we decided to prioritize the surfing trip and dedicated 4 days over the May Long weekend to travel to Tofino.

I’d never heard of Tofino before moving to BC, but I remember after moving here that Tofino seemed to hold this mythical status for people who grew up in BC. It’s a small town located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It’s most well known for its premier surfing beaches; but it’s also home to Pacific Rim National Park and fun activities such as hiking, whale watching, kayaking, and hot springs.

I’ve been to Tofino several times, but I’ve never surfed, so this was a new experience for me. To be honest, I’ve always found surfing to be a bit intimidating. I don’t like getting salt water in my eyes and mouth (inevitable when surfing), so I always avoided it. I was happy to do it for the unit, but it’s not something I would have opted to do on my own. Which is one of the reasons why I’m so lucky to get to spend time with 15 adventurous teenagers every year, because I had a fantastic time surfing!

We left New Westminster bright and early on Saturday morning of the May Long weekend to catch our ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. It’s a 3-hour drive from Nanaimo to Tofino, so we made our first stop at Little Qualicum Falls to eat a packed lunch. It was raining on and off all morning, but Qualicum Falls has a nice picnic shelter and the rain held off long enough for us to do some exploring around the park to see the waterfalls.

After that, we drove across the rest of the island to reach the coast. The weather was incredibly variable and there were several downpours along the way, but as soon as we reached the coast, all the clouds disappeared and it was a gorgeous, blue sky, sunny day. We were extremely lucky to be able to book the group campsite at Green Point campground in Pacific Rim, which was just large enough for our group of 18.

After getting set up, we took a walk down to Long Beach before dinner, which is aptly named for its 16 kilometres of uninterrupted coastline. I’ve visited Long Beach several times, but I’d never been to this part of the beach. It’s a golden sand beach, with big waves, and on this occasion, a lot of wind. So it was definitely on the cold side, but we all loved running across the beach and exploring the area.

On Sunday, we had our first surf lesson. We did 2 lessons with Surf Sister School and I would highly recommend. As a female led organization, we loved having female surf guides to show us the ropes. On our first day, we met at Cox Bay Beach. We spent the first part of the day on land, learning how to safely get on our boards and pick our waves. Once everyone was comfortable with the instruction, we got in the water.

Surfing isn’t easy, but it was more fun than I anticipated. There was a steady stream of beginner waves rolling into the shore and we all practiced getting on our board. Standing up was almost impossible for me, but it was fun riding the waves on my belly and knees. Of course, once you get going, you become pretty determined to stand! I didn’t have any luck standing on Day 1, but several of the trex members were able to surf and it was fun to watch.

We returned to the campground for lunch and then planned for an afternoon exploring in the National Park. We visited the Kwisitis Visitor Centre on Wickaninnish Beach, which I’d highly recommend. They have tons of great info about the region and natural environment. From there, we did a short hike to South Beach, which is a small cobble beach. We had some excitement on the way when we spotted a bear! It was a great sighting because he was far enough away that us and the bear felt comfortable, and we were able to just watch it for a while.

South Beach turned out to be one of the group’s favourite parts of the entire trip. We didn’t do much there besides relax in the sun and do some beachcombing, but everyone really enjoyed taking it easy after a vigorous morning of surfing! We had dinner back at the campsite and then drove to Chesterman Beach for a sunset campfire. Tofino has really cracked down on beach campfires in the past few years, so you’re not allowed to have open beach fires anymore. Fires are only allowed at Mackenzie Beach and Chesterman Beach and must be in a contained fire pit. We brought a fire pit with us so that we followed all the rules.

On Monday, we had our second surf lesson, this time at Chesterman Beach. Our second lesson was mostly in the water and focused more on improving our skills. The general consensus from Trex was that they didn’t like Chesterman Beach quite as much as Cox Bay. The waves were bigger and less consistent, so I think it’s more popular for better surfers. But personally, I had a more successful day! I wouldn’t say that I actually managed to surf, but I did manage to stand twice, so it was nice to feel like I made a bit of progress! Considering that I didn’t want to surf, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I would definitely surf again, and recommend it to those visiting the area. If you have time for 2 lessons, I think it’s more satisfying because you get to surf more on the second day.

One of the girls was celebrating her 13th birthday on the trip, so we had the most delicious birthday pie for lunch and then went into town for the afternoon. The girl guides had the opportunity to explore Tofino town on their own and I spent most of my time at the bookstore, Mermaid Tales, which is one of my favourites!

We finished the trip with a visit to Tacofino for dinner. We showed up only 15 minutes before closing (oops!!), but the staff were so wonderful in taking our 18 person order. We had some pretty good camp food on the trip, but the tacos were probably my favourite! We had a campfire to end the evening and everyone reflected on their favourite parts of the camp.

We still had a big final day ahead. It started to rain overnight and we had to pack up everything wet, which is never fun. But we’re really thankful that it didn’t rain during the rest of the trip, so it was a small price to pay! We had a pee break at the Taylor River rest stop on the way back, which has the most gorgeous green river running through. I’ll have to return in the future for a swim!

Our final stop on the trip was to the Old Country Market (better known as Goats on the Roof) in Coombs. The goats briefly came out on the roof for a photo op and we did some exploring around the market for lunch. We picked up some doughnuts from Billy G’s Doughnut Shop to enjoy on the ferry ride home.

I had such a fantastic time on this trip and I hope the girl guides did too! We received funding from West Coast Area’s Muriel Murray Fund and from Disney’s VoluntEars Program (through a parent employee) to do this trip. We’re so lucky to have access to funds to subsidize trips like these for teenagers. Several of the trex members are aging out this year after completing the entire Girl Guide Program from Sparks to Rangers. It is really transformative for girls to be able to go on trips like this, interact with female role models, and build up their skills. So thanks to everyone who’s ever bought girl guide cookies from me or a girl guide!

Kayaking Widgeon Creek

July 10, 2024July 11, 2024 / Maria / 4 Comments

Widgeon Creek has been on my bucket list for a long time! It’s a paddling route that leaves from Pitt Meadows, starting with a crossing of the Pitt River, and then meanders up Widgeon Creek through Widgeon Marsh and Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.

It’s only a half hour drive from my house, but the reason this sat on my bucket list for so long is because I was afraid of crossing the Pitt River. You have to cross the river at the entrance to Pitt Lake, which can get pretty windy, and the Pitt River is tidally influenced, meaning you can get some pretty fast currents coming in and out of the lake. Even though I know people cross the river all the time, in all manner of vessels (many of which are much less robust than my 16 foot sea kayak), I found the idea of crossing the Pitt River pretty intimidating.

But I finally decided to go for it on a gorgeous day in early April. I didn’t want to go during freshet, when the flows increase from snow melt, and I didn’t want to go during the summer when it’s highly trafficked, so the conditions seemed to align in April. Now that I’ve done it, I’m kind of wondering what I was so afraid of! I know my risk aversion keeps me safe, but it was much less intimidating than I imagined.

We got up early on a Saturday morning to beat the crowds. Fortunately, the creek wasn’t very busy at this time of year and we had no trouble crossing the Pitt River. There was definitely a current when we crossed and a headwind when we returned, but it was very manageable in our kayaks. I’d probably be too nervous to cross the river on a SUP, but there were some people doing it in the afternoon. Although I find it shocking the number of people who go out without a PFD!

The water was very calm when we crossed and the creek was almost completely still. I’ve heard the creek can run dry or very low in some sections during the hot summer, but we crossed near high tide and had no issues in either direction. It was such an enjoyable paddle on the way up the creek that me and Seth kept remarking that we had to spend more time exploring the area in the future (our go-to trip is generally paddling to Jug Island).

We didn’t see any other paddlers on our way up the creek since it was still pretty early in the morning. You paddle through Widgeon Marsh, which is a regional park, and eventually cross into Pinecone Burke Provincial Park. I think this is so cool because I love Pinecone Burke – it’s such a large and underrated park – and I’ve now explored it from 3 different entry points. The most common entry is from Harper Road in Coquitlam, but I’ve also entered the Park along the trail to Seed Peak (east of Squamish), and now via Widgeon Creek.

The final destination by kayak is the Widgeon Creek campsite. There were a few boaters here who had come in the previous day and were camping overnight. We hauled our kayaks up on the shore and then re-packed our bags for a little hike to Widgeon Falls. The paddle to the campsite takes about 75 minutes, and it’s a 6km round trip hike from the campsite, so it makes for a nice day trip with a variety of activities. You can hike to the Falls mostly along an old forestry road, which is faster, but we opted for the detour through the forest, which is much more scenic.

The Falls are really nice and we hung out for an hour enjoying our lunch. We were the only people there, although we passed some other hikers along the way. We took the road back to the campground and then paddled out from there. We encountered more paddlers on the way back and the wind definitely picked up in the early afternoon. The hardest part of the day was crossing the Pitt River because we had a headwind, but it was very manageable in our kayaks. I wouldn’t want to do it on a SUP, and I did wonder if the people crossing on SUP realized they would have a pretty substantial headwind on the way back.

But overall, I absolutely loved everything about this trip! I’m keen to go back and I don’t think I’ll be quite as hesitant in the future. Since it’s a short paddle, it’s easily doable on a Friday night, so maybe we’ll come back some day and stay at the campground. You can also continue the hike up to Widgeon Lake, though I’ve heard it’s a bit of a slog, as the trail is not well maintained and usually has snow on it until July.

Definitely play it safe if you’re planning on doing this trip and plan around the wind and current conditions, but it was a much less intimidating trip overall than I thought it would be. In the summer, you can rent kayaks from the parking lot, so it’s pretty accessible if you want to check it out! I think parking can get challenging though because this is also the parking lot for people recreating at Pitt Lake, so I recommend going early because then you can easily find parking and take advantage of the early morning calm on the water!