Friday Flowers

Well it's Friday and the end of another short chapter in my life as I start a new job on Monday. Hopefully this will also give me some new photo opportunities as I will be travelling to different places.

Todays photo is an oldie from my Squamish days. Love them Squamish days. Good times. Good people.

Pretty.

Peace x

All photographs by Caroline Harvey.

The Long Road.

I had forgotten about this video I made on my trip. I don't think I could get it to upload at the time, but now I have!

I took clips of video on my drive from Squamish, B.C, Canada to Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a roundtrip drive of approx 6000 miles. I did a lot of singing to myself.

It is funny watching it back now. If I could do it all over again I would, best year of my life without a shadow of a doubt.

Enjoy xx

Video

Here is a short clip that I forgot had been taken.

Paradise Valley, Squamish, name and grade escapes me at the moment, but I eventually did it. Nice little problem.

Balance

The last week or so has been very sunny and hot here in Squamish. I have found that the best place to go to get a bit of a cooling breeze is at the shoreline. Apart from being a dog walkers paradise, it also is the home of many permanent slack lines. I decided to try my hand at this dirtbag climber recreational activity. Fun.

xx

Quiet Times

Well it is the last day of June already, so have been in Squamish for a month now. In that time I have not done a great deal of climbing, especially bouldering. I had a very enjoyable time with my friend Sandra for a couple of weeks before she had to head back to work. I led some more sports routes and got my first taste of crack climbing. All of which was amazing.

My psyche for bouldering is pretty low at the moment, mostly because of my continually aching shoulder, but also because I don't want to climb on my own but am having a particularly anti social spell. It is a weird paradox that is kind of hard to explain, so I am not going to try and bother. I think it is really just a symptom of being on the road for this length of time and my need for home comforts and friends etc is starting to kick in. Although I am free from the stresses and strains of normal life, this road tripping lifestyle can become quite tiring. Don't get me wrong I am not grumbling, I will leave that till I get home and have to find a job of some description! My body is starting to tell me that it needs some proper comfort like a good bed to sleep in, a comfortable chair to sit on, a readily available shower and somewhere to cook proper meals.

However, all that being said I am still enjoying being where I am and enjoying being outdoors. I have been passing my time just relaxing, reading books, taking photos, and walking and running some trails. I am making sure to savour these moments while I have them, because before I know it I will be back once again in The Burgh.

xx

Rainy Days

Shannon falls pre rain

Shannon falls post rain

Not really too much to report from the very beautiful but very wet Squamish. I have been here about a week and a half now and it has rained quite a lot of that time. The first week I was taking some time out from the climbing as I had lost my psyche to go climb by myself and the weather was not really helping. It was also a good rest for my shoulder which seems to have a permanent ache. I have been hiking though which has been great, lots and lots of uphill slogs followed by a good stroll back down.

A friend from North Vancouver joined me on Tuesday for a couple of days and we had a great time at the boulders. It was good to be back and psyched to climb again. I think climbing with another girl was just what I needed, we had fun and giggles. Yesterday we went for a hike in the rain. We tried to get to Garibaldi Lake but did not quite make it due to the ever deepening snow line. Cold and damp after being out for nearly 5 hours we headed back to downtown Squamish for hot chocolate and soup.

Not too much else to report really, the forecast is supposed to pick up for the weekend. Fingers crossed.

Peace x

Chiefly hike

A panoramic view from the top

A reasonably good weather day today so thought I would go for a hike up the Stawamus Chief. It was a fairly steep trek to the top of the North summit but well worth it for the views. Good day.

The Chief and the Saturn

Follow the trail up

Up

Clouds

The top

Waterfalls

All photos by Caroline Harvey

Comfort zone.

A terrible photo of me with my eyes closed, but thought I would post it just to show that I am still alive.

Today was the day that I had decided to leave West Vancouver and head to Squamish so as not over stay my welcome with my lovely hosts in West Vancouver, and I did leave, but now I am back...... Why? Well I shall tell you.

As some of you may be aware I had tried to stay in the US a little longer as the climbing season here in British Columbia has not quite started yet, March is one of the wettest months, but alas the States would not let me stay. So here I am as you all know in Canada.

I drove to Squamish, it actually only takes about half an hour or so and had the full intention of camping etc, but when I got there it was snowing and because it is still "off season" the park where I intended to stay did not have any of its' facilities working, blah blah, excuses excuses. Anyway, before I had left West Van my hosts had made it clear that I was very welcome to come back and stay longer if necessary and that it would be cold and possibly quite wet still in Squamish at this time of year. So whilst sitting having a coffee and watching some very large black clouds gather on the horizon, I weighed up my options. I could either stay in a very lonely National park with no one else there and hope for sunny dry weather or I could go back to West Van and sleep in a nice warm bed and just go to Squamish on day trips when it was dry. Guess which one won my vote?

So here I am back in the comfort of a house for a wee while longer. My current plan is to stay here for a few more weeks go train at the local indoor gym, try to do some CV training as I feel incredibly unfit, do some day trips to Squamish and other places and help my host Harriet out with some things she needs done. Excellent plan, even if I do say so myself.

I realised today that I have very few photographs of me actually climbing, which is kind of a shame but inevitable I suppose. You will all just have to believe me when I tell you what I have climbed!

I will post a few photos from my weekend trip to Gabriola Island soon.