Good times in Revy

I don't remember the chronology of the rest of the trip and I can't find my journal entries. I stayed in Revelstoke until Friday. For the rest of the trip I stayed with Tommy. Climbed with lots of people including Tommy, Jay and his partner, Rachelle and Joe. Revelstoke was my first real exposure to the sport climbing culture. All the people I met considered themselves Revelstoke locals. I had dinner and partied with mostly the same group but there were others. I remember hanging out with a Rupert. I met one of Rachelle's friend I believe her name was Natalie. I believe I met her on the Friday before I left. It was raining and I ate a Nanaimo bar, I can't remember much but I remember this girl because she wanted to work for an NGO. She had aspirations and wanted to make a difference which is normal in Church circles but she stood out in the sport climbing community. I remember the Big Eddie Pub right by the one way bridge, it was pretty awesome to hang out there and there is a volleyball court.

Revelstoke

I don't actually have a journal entries from Revelstoke, but I'll tell the stories as best I can from memory.

I arrived in the evening and the first thing I did was to find a campground. I visited the information centre and the girl there told me of a camp-site that she normally didn't share. It's tucked away on a logging road and is public use(therefore free).

This crappy screenshot doesn't tell how beautiful this camp-site by Beggbie falls is.

Right by the Creek.

I stayed here one night. In the morning I visited the Valhalla Pure, which had a list of people looking for partners to climb with. I met up with a girl named Corina to climb. I also met up with Tommy, who let me crash in his basement in Revy.

Last Hope

Today was delightful. After breakfast with the Goulds I got ready was invited to see the camp by Geoff. After camp he said we would go bouldering with his interns. I got a tour of the camp from Geoff, who is the intern director. The interns are there to learn about running camp programming. After the tour Geoff had a meeting and I just hung around the camp for a bit, then we headed out for bouldering. 
After bouldering one of the staff members at Squeah, Matt, invited me to the camp after bouldering to have dinner with the staff. Before dinner I stopped at the Gould's one last time; I'm going to miss them. Then I went to dinner with the Squeah staff. After dinner I hit the roads and headed to Revelstoke. I really wanted to stay in Hope. Everybody there really wanted me to stay, but I feel God wants me to move on. The drive was gorgeous but I didn't end up making it to Revelstoke. I stopped at a Lutheran Church in Salmon Arms.

The Camp has a really nice campus. The out trips also sound amazing. I wish I went to this camp.

http://www.seevirtual360.com/themes/52/VirtualTour.aspx?listingID=2356#.VX_Hk_lVhBc

A shot of us bouldering

Serenity

Another day in Hope. Today I got lost in Hope. I started the day with the Gould family then went out for a bike ride. I went to Hope Mountain. It was a nice ride, a bit more intimidating than I thought it would be. The ride was not as well developed and it scared me a lot more than the rides at Squamish. After this I found another downhill route by the Othello Tunnels. The approach was very difficult to hike with a bike and was often too narrow for a bike. The downhill was good at points but for the most part was even less developed than the last trail. It even led me to a construction site that was not on the map. I was very lost. After asking some of the operators I eventually found the parking lot. 

A couple shots from the Othello Tunnels walking path

I then took some time off to do some reading. The first park I visited, was in the center of town(Memorial), I decided to bike to one that apparently had a view of the water(Central). It was not much of a park. The town map that I had showed one more at the other end of town so I biked there. It was also not what I expected that I didn't realize I had biked through it(Thacker Regional). On one side was a residential area under construction. On the same side there was a rusted old car from the fifties with vegetation growing out of it. It was kind of cool, but it did not fit the feel of the park and just made it look trashy. I biked back to the Memorial Park and sat down for some reading.

Here is the map from the visitor's centre I used to get around

In hindsight I wish I had taken more pictures. Hope is a beautiful place, that thanks to deforestation, is dissappearing. I may not get another chance to see the trails that I did.

After reading at the park I headed back to the Gould residence. They were getting ready for dinner. At Geoff’s house I met Grayden Baker. He is currently biking across Canada. After dinner Grayden gave at talk about his mission. Grayden's wife Sarah and his son Lukumay were travelling with him in a chase car. Lukumay means lion killer. Grayden and I talked about when he passes through Calgary and we talked about meeting up. I hope to see Grayden when he arrives in Calgary.

Again I'm not very good with taking pictures so a picture off of Grayden's twitter will have to do.

Meeting the staying with Geoff Gould and his family is amazing. Geoff grew up in South Africa as did Joy’s mom, Gwen Roodnick. Geoff and his wife Sara were missionaries there. Sarah is from Halliburton, Ontario, and knows Sawyers Lake, where the Wrights own a cottage, very well.

http://ride4rufiji.com/who-are-the-rufiji/

http://www.graydonbaker.com/

http://vimeo.com/64935261

Hope

Last night I headed from Squamish to Richmond to visit with my good friend Joy. This morning I got up to the sounds of Mr. Roodnick playing some sort of video game. My first time at the Roodnick’s I had huge culture shock seeing the living room lined with computers! Again I had culture shock when I greeted Mr. Roodnick and got a quick good morning. I’m actually glad that he didn’t feel obligated to act as a host, but it was just surprising. Mrs. Roodnick offered me breakfast. I felt obligated to accept. After a quick breakfast, Joy got up and we left for church.

After church we went for a quick lunch then, Joy and I headed out for Abbotsford to skydive. Our main instructor Joe was full of jokes. He was full of obviously recycled jokes. He was my tandem instructor. I chose to go with him as I he seemed more outgoing and probably more likely to do twirls and stuff. There was one sport jumper a camera man and two other tandem jumpers other than Joy and I. We were crammed into the back of the plane; Joy and her tandem instructor were the first out of the plane. Joe and I were last. Joe did a backflip out of the plane. He we spun around a few times before he deployed the chute. He did spirals in the air. I could see the other jumpers below us.

Joy and I suited up and ready to go!

After Skydiving I headed out to meet Joy's uncle Geoff Gould who lives in Hope. Before I left I said goodbye to Joy. I realized I left my uplink jacket in Richmond, and Joy said she would find it for me. That might give me an excuse to see her again, so it’s not all a bad thing.

In Hope I met the Gould family. I had dinner with them and in the evening went to a local College and Career's church gathering.

I'm really bad with taking pictures. I didn't get photo's of the Gould's so a picture of Geoff off Camp Squeah's website will have to do.

Last day in Squamish

Day 7: Goodbyes. This is my last day in Squamish. It is raining this morning I’m going to sleep in. After talking with him I ate lunch with the Quebecers and Ken. The weather cleared up. Ken and I headed back to the Smoke bluffs and did some climbing. We did two routes at Neat and Cool wall, then a “multipitch” linkup that included four different climbs. It was a lot of fun. It started on the Mosquito and ended on the Jabberwalky.

Ken Climbing on Mosquito

Zombie Roof

After climbing talked a bit more, I told him how much I appreciated climbing with him over the past few days, and I headed back to camp. I ate and the Quebecers were there again. They spoke French again, so it’s hard to say dined with them. I told them I was leaving and said my goodbyes. It was fun meeting them. I tried to dry my tent off with a towel and packed it up. I texted Joy and headed for Richmond. I’m looking forward to relaxing tomorrow. Skydiving with Joy will be a good break. I’m looking forward to spending more time with Joy.

I'm really going to miss Squamish