West Coast Trail Training Begins!

On July 16th Neil, Dave, Craig and I are booked to start the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. The trail is 76km's in length and very rough with mud, boardwalks, ladders and beach debris of logs and boulders. Most people pack tents and plan do it over 5-7 days. But team Dodgy is going to push through with a guesstimate of 24-28 hours. Yikes! 

Starting in March I will have more time in my schedule to allow for some good training. Today it was pouring rain and we found the journey from Deep Cove on the Baden Powell Trail quite a good challenge in the wet conditions.  Mud, water, board walks and plenty of stairs. 

The water in the creeks was very high. 

The wood was wet and dodgy! 

The ground underneath was very soggy so gave way quite easily. 

Water was running down the wooden stair cases. It was wet! 

What a great outing to do with your like minded partner on Valentine's  Day!

Happy Valentines Day - hope you spent your day in your own special way! 

Callaghan Valley Snowshoeing

Today Neil and I had a quick day trip to Whistler. It was 4 degrees C with pouring rain when we left Vancouver. The snow was falling on the local mountains - we could see the snow line quite clearly. On our return trip we stopped at the Callaghan Valley for some snowshoeing. We had Fergus with us so had to follow the dog friendly trails. It is very much a dog friendly winter park so not a problem. 

          Fergus loved it! And so did we. 

    The snow was so deep and the trees were flocked with snow. 

    Must go back soon - incredible conditions! 

Whistler and the Callaghan Valley

This past weekend Neil, Fergus and I went to Whistler for 3 nights. Wow is there snow! It was a wonderful winter wonderland. The last couple of years have not been great for winter fun but this year, El Niño or not, there is a lot of snow in the mountains! With that, we spent 3 fantastic days snow shoeing. The first day was spent locally in Whistler, at Lost Lake Park. I think we covered every trail in the park as my Fitbit showed 35,000 steps...good day!    

The next couple of days were spent in the Callaghan Valley, just south of Whistler which was the site of some snow events during the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was a real back country snow shoeing experience. We only saw a few people which is incredible considering the proximity to Whistler and that it was a US long weekend so there were plenty of US tourists enjoying a great Whistler weekend. 

We found peace and tranquility in the back country. 

Frozen Alexander Falls behind us. Fergus loved the snow! Happy snow trails! 

Snow Shoe up Mountain Highway

Today Neil, Dave and I headed up Mountain Highway to play in the snow on snowshoes. Wow did we get into some deep snow. 

Blue skies and plenty of flocking! 

We travelled about 8km up the mountain road and then traversed some trails cutting off some switch backs before turning around. It was a great day out @ 4 hours. 

One more snow seaking day this holiday season tomorrow! 

New Years Eve Snowshoe

That's the lights of Vancouver below from Dog Mountain on Mt. Seymour. 

Neil and I spent 2.5 hours tonight snow shoeing on Mt. Seymour. The crowds had gone home and it was a wonderful moon lit trek to Dog Mountain. Once there we enjoyed a little mulled wine to warm the body. 

The snow was deep - really deep! Everything was flocked in snow. 

The snow shoe path was well carved out. Neil enjoyed trying to plow through the deep snow! Hope you had a peaceful holiday season and Happy New Year! 

Final Marcothon Day!

Here's Fergus for our final Marcothon run today. It was cold so we both bundled up. 

The mountains were looking good and very enticing! 

All done! Well that's the Marcithon for another year. Congrats to all who participated! 

Happy New Year! 

Snowy Mountains in Vancouver

It was a beautiful afternoon in Vancouver. The skies cleared and the snow that has been falling in the mountains was in clear view. Nice view of the Seymour Range. 

In this photo I captured the sea plane coming in for a landing. Nice view of the Grouse Range. 

My run today went from Coal Harbour over to English Bay. Many people out today enjoying the seawall and the parks. Spin classes resume tomorrow after being closed for the Christmas break. Yeah!! Spin and run...now that makes a good day!