Sunshine Coast Trail

The Sunshine Coast Trail [SCT] is a no cost 180km back-country hut to hut hiking trail found on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast accessible by two short ferry hops from Vancouver.  The trail endpoints are at Sarah Point on the North Westerly tip and Saltry Bay on the South Easterly end and is more commonly hiked from Sarah Point to Saltry Bay.  The trail is extremely well marked with orange square markers every few meters and km markers throughout, the trail maintainers who volunteer to keep this trail open have truely done a magnificent job.

The trail transverses through young & old growth evergreen forest, over mountains, through valleys, along coastal shorelines, crossing creeks and streams with many beautiful secluded lakes along the way with water perfect for a dip.  This truly is a wilderness trail, at points along the way you can find yourself over thirty kilometers deep in the woods and wildlife with no signs of civilization other then the lightly trodden trail that reassuringly guides you through the forest innards and onto the next evenings camping destination.

China Head Mountain Loop

This weekend saw another 2 wheel adventure looping through 800km of on and off-road terrain, this one got into some pretty wild and isolated backcountry territory of British Columbia’s interior.

Vancouver > Squamish > Whistler > Pemberton > D’Arcy > Seton Portage > Shalalth > Terzaghi Damn > Moha > Lillooet > Pavilion > Jesmond > China Head Mountain > Moha > Lillooet > Pemberton > Whistler > Squamish > Vancouver

 

Mount Cheam Trail Head

Day trip to Mount Cheam Trail head via Chipmunk Creek FSR.

Vancouver > Abbotsford > Mt Cheam > Abbotsford > Vancouver

 

Yellowstone – Motorcycle Camping

It’s March in Vancouver and this winter has been bleak, snow and cold and dark and wet and snow and dark, it’s been hailed as the worst winter Vancouver has seen in years according to the local folk.

Olympic Peninsula – Motorcycle Camping

 

Apple weather informs me it’s gonna be a sunshiny weekend Friday through Monday so I decided I’d load up my motorcycle like an over burdened ass and take it on her maiden camping trip, destination, Olympic Peninsula, Washington.  I started out with no real plan only to try and evade work as early as possible and get on the road Friday afternoon headed for Deception Pass State Park, 150km south of Vancouver at the northern tip of Whidbey Island.

Antique Internet Radio

Pye Radio

 

Do you own an antique radio? Maybe it’s sitting in your attic somewhere melting into itself as time, rot and woodworm deconstruct it into a mound of festering powder, if so why not give it a new lease of life and let someone else sweep up the mound of dust a few generations more down the road.  I decided to do just that by renovating an old Pye radio manufactured in Dublin during the early 1950’s.  The project has transformed a sixty year old decaying pile of Pye from a standard long/medium wave radio into a wireless internet radio.  The receiver portion of the original circuitry has been swapped for a credit card sized computer which streams internet based radio stations via WiFi to the speaker.  Several additional features have been added to the radio giving it more functionality than the one trick pony it once was…

Panorama Ridge Hike – Whistler, B.C., CA

So….I’ve been in Canada two months now and working full time on a software project for a company back home I was starting to get itchy feet (cabin fever), mostly from working and sleeping in the same room for a few weeks in a row that I decided to get out of doors for a few nights before the winter closes in and the hibernation begins.

Napau Crater Trail – Hawai’i

The Napau Crater Trail is found in The Volcano National Park Located on the island of Hawai’i, the largest and newest of the Hawaiian islands. The park is home to two active volcanoes, Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes and Mauna Loa, one of the world’s largest.  The beginning of the trail is found just off the Chain of Craters Road 12km south of the Kilauea Visitor’s Centre, there is a carpark right at the trailhead.

Haiku Stairs – Stairway to Heaven

The Haiku Stairs are found on O’ahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands.  The steps lead from the foot of the Ko’olau Mountain Range starting at 160 meters above sea level to a summit of 800 meters where an old decommissioned naval radio station sits.  The horizontal ground covered when climbing to the top is only 1.5km from step 1 to step 3,922 but the climb is pretty steep and ladder like in places.  The views of the mountain and the surrounding island out to the ocean are amazing from the stairs, this is definitely one of the best hiking attractions this island has to offer.

Flying Bicycle Circus

Bicycle road trip from Canada to Mexico complete, the next task was to get myself, the bicycle and gear from Hollywood to Wellington where I stop by for a month to chill with my brother Dave and Angie his wife.  Below is an account of the circus act of hoop jumping to get said list transported from US soil to that of the Kiwi’s.