Fall color at Rohr Lake. Didn't quite realize it when we embarked on this hike with 2 dogs, and 3 kids...but this is quite the hike. Although it's only a mile or two, the last half has no trail. We ended up hiking the hillside in the mud to get up to the ridge line. Quite an adventure with a 9 yr old, 2 yr old, and 9 month old baby. Still a great trip though, and we were fortunate to have another beautiful BC lake all to ourselves for the afternoon. After the hike, we stopped in Pemberton at Pamela's Cook shack for some beer and dinner. One of our best dinners/settings since moving to BC. Can't wait to head back again next Summer.

We spent the day out on Green Lake just North of Whistler. The lake is glacier fed, which creates this tranquil green color. Although the guide books say it's too cold to swim, we jumped in since it was a very hot 28°.

It's places like this that make us love Squamish. This is the Ray Peters trail and it's all of a 5 minute drive from our house.

Looking towards Blackcomb from Whistler ski area

Taken on July 5th, 2006....my 31st birthday. Over the past 3 years, Oneea and I have started a tradition of birthday hikes. On my 29th birthday, we hiked Mt. Sherman (a 14er in Colorado). On my 30th birthday, we backpacked into the Eagle Cap wilderness. On my 31st, I managed to escape work for a day and we headed up to this amazing spot. The trail is 14km roundtrip and requires lots of elevation gain, but is well worth the effort. We spent 2 hours lounging around the lake, had a nice picnic and then made the long descent back to the car. We'd like to get back here and spend a weekend camping before the summer is over. Probably the most scenic place we've visited in our 18 months in BC so far.

One of many waterfalls along Squamish Valley Road. Amazing that such a wonder is only a 20 minute drive from our house.

Looking down from the Taylor Peak subsummit at Upper Joffre Lake, and what we called Upper Upper Joffre (the dark blue lake in the lower left).

Cheakamus Lake from the summit of Flute Peak. We didn't realize that one of the biggest payoffs of a hike up Flute Peak was the amazing view of Cheakamus Lake. Believe it or not, there is no editing done to this picture. The water really is this color...This is why BC's tourism slogan starts with "Supernatural". A very worthwhile day trip that starts on the Whistler gondola, continues on the Peak Chair to the summit of Whistler Peak. From there, it's an hour or two hike over the Musical Bumps to the summit of Flute. This was Niko's first major BC summit.

Looking back at the Tantalus Mountain Range from Garibaldi Provincial Park. On this day, we were headed up the trail to Panorama Ridge for one of the best views in Southwestern BC.

Neel getting in some final thoughts before the climb down. He reflected on many things I'm sure....how much he enjoyed throwing rocks...how much he hated those freaking fake granola bars...how neat it sounded when he'd yell "Hi" and it would echo.

A carpet of August wildflowers in Garibaldi Provincial Park. Sometimes, natural beauty can stop you right in your tracks. We were hiking along the trail towards Panorama Ridge when we stumbled across this meadow.

At the beginning of the day, we contemplated hiking up Mt. Cook (mountain in the top right of this picture) after getting to the lake. After reaching the lake, we decided that we'd had enough of the straight up hiking, and decided instead to go check out the glacier up close and personal.

Looking down on Ladyslipper Lake from the Rim Trail in Cathedral Provincial Park. The summit just behind the lake is Lakeview mountain. This is the mountain that I hiked just a day earlier as part of my "birthday hike".

Edith Creek in Alice Lake Provincial Park. This spot is about 6 km from our house in Squamish, BC. The Four Lakes trail is a great day hike with the family.

Upper Joffre Lake in front of Slalok Mountain. This lake is ~5.5 km from the trailhead and can be reached within several hours of moderate hiking. A camping spot is located at the South end of the lake, just below Matier Glacier. This lake can thank its brilliant blue-turqouise color to the light filtering effect of rock flour (a powdery substance that the glaciers grind off the mountain rocks) in the glacial runoff. The rock flour suspended in the water filters out much of the light spectrum, leaving this remarkable turquoise blue color.

A fallen log just below Shannon Falls. My mom and I crossed this log together and watched the crystal clear water flow underneath our feet. Although it wasn't an extreme adventure, it's a moment I'll never forget sharing with my mom.

Black Tusk in early September

Looking over at Mt Garibaldi from the summit of the Chief. If you look closely, you can see a few people peering off the edge of the cliff in the foreground. Also, off in the distance, you can see our old neighborhood (Garibaldi Highlands).

Here's a shot of our new neighborhood in downtown Vancouver. The actual neighborhood is called Yaletown. It's full of parks and great restaurants and is located right along the waters of False Creek. We're ecstatic to be living here and experiencing the urban adventures that contrast so sharply from our Squamish adventures.

Taken from the West summit, the mountain in the distance is the South side of Mt. Currie. This is one of my favorite mountains in BC, and is the prominent mountain that is looms over the small town of Pemberton (just a half hour North of Whistler).

This is my last picture taken on the trip. I would've taken more, but I was just too damn tired to take the backpack off. At this point, our legs were starting to get shaky and we found ourselves completely off the trail. We had to downclimb some steep sections in the heather and finally got back to the lake. The only problem was we were completely wiped out, our legs were trashed, and we still had another 7 km and 3800 ft to descend. The final hours of the hike were spent fixated on food (McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Dominoes dominated the food agenda) and drink (beer, Coca-Cola, Lemonade, Iced Tea, and Ice cold water). We had run out of water, and were starving. After 12.5 hours hiking in daylight, and the final hour hiking in the dark, we were cooked and pretty certain we'd enter the initial stages of delirium when we reached the parking lot. Neel gave the car a big hug, and we screamed out of the parking lot to find food and drink.