Carrington Bay; Where the Wild Things Are

Here's just a couple more photos from last weekend with Gini on Cortes Island.

I Have Become A Ragamuffin

Greetings from Vancouver, British Columbia.

It's been a great deal of time since my last post, (almost a month) and I've been a very busy boy.

Wanderhoof is no longer journeying with me as she has other things to deal with so from here on in it's solo, me and the road.

Here's the sitch.

Shambhala was amazing. 3rd year and still winning. Never ceases to amaze me. Located deep in the heart of the Kootenay Mountain range, it's definitely a smorgasbord for the eyes. After Shambhala, I made my way to Vancity, where I've been working at the infamous Wreck Beach off the western tip of UBC as a sherpa. Tough life! Such a tough life, (haha) that my friend Gini and I attended a free music festival somewhere off the coast of British Columbia last weekend. Here I made the tree fort/tent pad you can feast your eyes upon below, and sat at a salt water/fresh water stream that CHANGED DIRECTIONS. Blew my mind. To get to the festival we had to take a ferry from Tsawassen to Victoria and make our way North. Method? Hitchhiking. And we didn't do too badly. We covered pretty much half the island in one afternoon. People were so friendly and we never waited more than 10 minutes on the road.. Until Parksville. Blegh.

We were stranded in the dark for three hours on a 110km/h stretch of highway. Never hitchhike at night folks it really sucks.

Other than that, I've just been making preparations this week for my border crossing and 7 day stint in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, USA. I'm going to miss my Vancity fam but, I feel like I'm going on a scouting mission for the tribe. Many pictures to take, and people to meet, oh, and an 85 foot wooden man to burn :D

It's gonna get hot.

Stay tuned for the debriefing, see you all on the other side ;)

Eugene

Waking up on a Mountain in Banff

Stepped out of the tent today, (first use of it) and looked down at the village of Banff with the taste of victory on my tongue. Last night Wanderhoof and I found NO vacancy anywhere in Banff. So, massive backpacks in tow, we hiked up the side of Tunnel Mountain with flashlights and the iPod dock pumping jams to thwart hungry cougars. Just as we found a suitable spot to make camp, we hear a rustling in the bush not 15 feet away from us. The beams of our flashlights swiftly met at the source of the sound only to reveal to us one quite indifferent doe. Ha, that was good for a laugh.
We're making great time from Yellowknife; the mission when we left was to meet the Slowpokes, (Nathan, Sari and Kyla) at the grocery store in Salmo. We weren't sure if we would make it on time when we left. Now it looks like we'll be locals by the time they get there! Can't wait to see the look on those faces. Can't wait for the festival to start! Shambhala 2009.

pictures are from the last couple days; andrew and i driving into edmonton, one is of our "living room" outside the calgary bus depot. ps. DON'T TAKE BUSES. AND I HATE CALGARY.
and a couple are from the morning in Banff. Glad to be back in the mountains.

Running from Thunderstorms

Apparently there was a tornado in Edmonton last night? All i know is that Wanderhoof and I just barely missed being drenched two days in a row on our hitch hike from Yellowknife, NWT to Edmonton.

Beauty manifests itself again in the form of great friendships, a safe place to sleep, good-, no, great food and wine and YAY! a ride to calgary.

first blog post i've ever made, so, i'm pretty excited.

more to come.

Eugene (aka LB)