My 2025 in Review

My life is good.

I'm privileged beyond most people I know (and don't) and am positioned to tweak my life direction when I think that is needed so in some ways I'm a bit immune to the challenges other people face when it comes to living where I do. For example, many Vancouverites seem to have a hate-on for the city we live in. I have complaints, but mostly continue to think it is extremely liveable and even wrote about what I think went right in Vancouver 2025 despite known political hurdles.

This 2025 Review post is as much (if not more) for me to read in later years as is it is to share with people in my community. I just want to remember what I got up to as I plan out my future.

My adventures with Laura continue and we got up to quite a bit this year! Here is a set of cell phone pics that we used to reconstruct all we did! (not pro shots, just records)

Highlights

Travel: We recently realized that we tend to mark a given year by where we travelled. We've determined it must be our favourite hobby and annual highlight if we do that so here goes!:

• Vietnam (photos) - For sure the marquis 2025 trip. 2 weeks, all delicious and fun. This trip only made us want to travel more and longer.
  
• 
  Comox - I biked up island on a 2 day adventure to meet Laura and my sister Wendie to house-sit for a week and it was awesome. Sub-highlight was the bike route our friend Brenda took me on to Cumberland.
• Saltspring - We rented a friend's cabin for 4 days and soaked in island life w. Wendie and Pete. We also did a bike trip Galiano.
• Yellowpoint Lodge - I went here twice but only once with Laura. This seems to be coming an annual short stop and I'm not complaining.
  
• Windsor - The family felt it was time to celebrate the life of Laura's father who was an early COVID victim (so funerals were
  impacted). It could not have gone of better and we were glad to have done it.
  

It was a bit light for me on travel but there were reasons for that. We're starting off 2026 strong with a chilly trip to Whitehorse in response!

Being a tour guide and volunteer: I'm now in year 2 of being a part-time guide at Cycle City. It is a job that keeps on giving. I feel it gives me some spending money, keeps me active, and adds to my list of mini-communities. I also find it a real joy to see Vancouver (and Canada) through the eyes of tourists. To boot, I get a special industry pass that others might balk at but it gives me access to a ton of things in the lower mainland I can take my friends and family to. Priceless! (for me). I'm hoping to at least do another year there.

This year I also volunteered at the Vancouver Fringefest and joined a sub-committee for bike security at HUB Cycling. These were new to me and reminded me every year needs something fresh like that.

We also bought a new car!: 23 years in the ol' reliable Matrix but we wanted something for the next 1/3 of our lives and our requirements list was big! We landed on the Corolla Cross Hybrid. A big deal for us this year, may it serve us as well as the last one.

Mini-highlights:

Our community garden(s) continued to give us joy and some healthy food. Like a pet, they force you to break routine and submit to their routine and I need that sometimes.

For some reason this year, we stumbled into going to multiple filmfests in the fall. VIFF, VIMFF, the Bike Filmfest (HUB), and the new to us: Architectural Design & Film Festival. More of this in 2026 I'm thinking.

Reunion! Yup, just a single night but a rite of passage in my mind. As usual, a great event and reminder of just one great community that I grew up in.

My bikes: As always and endless source of joy and adventure. I started doing slightly longer regular rides (30km+) to explore further and help tinker with the idea of a real multi-day tour in the not so distant future.

When reducing working I had made a personal goal to see my immediate family more regularly, which I think I did. Some extended family we saw more of but others, we need to work on (like my aunt- our schedules just didn't work!).

In addition to seeing my dad more for bike rides and brunches, my sister Wendie retired from teaching! Bonus as she is in the same neighbourhood but she quickly filled her schedule like a pro and made me feel the need to up my game! (How she put up with those little shits and their parents still eludes me!).

Room to improve

Despite being spared too many family losses in 2025, we started the year reeling from a frightening accident in Windsor. Things are ok now thankfully but it was enough to rattle everyone into action for improved years to come.

I hate complaining about my ailments always but I started the year thinking I had 3 health issues to juggle but now, feel it is more like 1,..  but it is a biggie to me - some nerve issue in my right foot. As a self-proclaimed addicted hiker,.. this was a very, very challenging thing for me. I barely hiked and my massive bucketlist collected cobwebs,.. exception: our sectional peak bagging of every trail in Pacific Spirit Park. Foot health is a core focus of mine for the next year (again),.. as not hiking or walking like I used to just is not good for other health concerns due to inactivity, let alone my mental state. Thank goodness for bikes.

We are also starting to see the byproduct of our age. Multiple friends are facing monumental health and mobility challenges (as are some family members). This just strengthens our resolve to spend more time with people we care about and to press harder on our own life objectives.

Remembering those that have passed

2025 sadly marks the passing of several great souls. 
Our former neighbour Shannon Tipple was a powerhouse in our special Equity Co-op and life in general. My find Craig's father Dave Wong was a community builder and even my cub leader at one point. His death was a sudden shock but his funeral showed how much of an impact he made in the outdoor community and more.

Our family's favourite topic of conversation Spekky the cat, also passed. He lived with my sister and her husband Pete. Everyone thinks their pet was special or unique,.. but ours really was.

Lastly, even though it was 5 years ago, Laura's father Dick passed away without a proper celebration so we converged on Windsor to do so. It was a great event held in a place he loved, the Capitol Theatre where he was an active and beloved volunteer for years.

2026 and Beyond

To those we didn't see enough in 2025,.. let's fix that. I hope to spend quality time with more people, more often this year. 

We've set the stage for a few early trips and I hope to plan my longest cycle tour yet. Our marquis trip remains to be planned, but we are working on it!
Laura seeks to survive a challenging work environment for at least a few more years but to squeeze as much into the gaps as she can. I'm looking for a 2nd small "side-hustle".

All the best to you and yours, let me know what you've got planned!

2025 Vancouver Wins!

In 2026 I choose to focus on the good going on, or coming in my city. In fact, I aim to get involved more heavily to steer it back to a direction I can live with. As a city tour guide I often get a sense for how outsiders from all corners of the globe view our city and I like those fresh takes.

Unfortunately, for much of 2025 the City of Vancouver has witnessed a Trump-like council blatantly ignore the interest of the average citizens and marginalized people of Vancouver. The ABC empire has dismantled key institutions and misappropriated funding away from needed projects. In at least one case I'm aware of, were bribed with no consequences. The most recent by-election has shown Vancouverites are fed up and planning to run ABC out,.. let's hope that happens. 

2025 was not without wins though for Vancouver (and the extended region), it is just that the positives were subtle. These were mostly things already in motion that city staffers brought to completion by the skin of their teeth. Here is a short list of the good (and a tiny bit bad) for us this last year that made Vancouver all the more livable: 

Sustainable Transportation and Traffic Wins

I tend to favour the long term, data-driven planning efforts of a city and detest pandering to those that don't educate themselves as to how traffic or city growth works best. Some massive safety infra went in this year, mostly in the form of separated bike and walking paths. Top positives this year:

Granville Bridge Updates - I've posted about this major walking/biking win here. It will take 2-3 years typically to reap the benefits from it and it is a slower uptake than Burrard, due to, in my opinion, the steeper deck one way for weaker non-e-bikers. Huge though. And now that it is in,.. at no real consequence for car capacity, a minimal maintenance effort/cost compared to car roads. All connectors to the Arbutus Greenway are in so protection for commuters from the Fraser River to downtown Vancouver!

Pacific St. bike lane near Granville - Related to above, more gaps in the map have been addressed under and around the bridge. From Richards St. to Burrard is now designated and semi-protected and connected well to the rest of the web. This was super dangerous and frustrating for drivers when the lack of infrastructure kicked cyclists out into a highway style artery.

Pacific St. bike lane near Burrard - Eastward Bute to Burrard was needed to connect one of the worst gaps in Vancouver. Without it, access to what was the only water crossing within 3km, was just not a safe option for all but the most athletic of riders that were forced to climb a nearly non-allowable 10%+ gradient for a block.  As a guide I watched a huge cross section of society try this and mostly fail. 2 blocks of a narrow single path for bikes, and a few improved bus stops - I'll take it!

My wishlist for bike lane gaps is really shrinking.. (don't tell anyone!) but we are no Montreal. For semi-competent riders (which should not really be the test I suppose), it is getting pretty decent and to the point where more than 1 option to get somewhere by bike, or a quieter walking street, can usually present itself in most directions in the core.

Smaller local wins were everywhere but the one that sticks out was the uncovering (daylighting) of the stream on Fraser street and 6th area. They rebuilt w. smart-tech gardens to address flooding, while adding a short bike-lane spur in the process. This kind of thing has major long term savings for a city infrastructure so I'm pleased they chose to seize the opportunity in this case.

Outside of Vancouver proper the big news would be the imminent completion of the stal̕əw̓asəm bridge near Surrey. Ignorant trolls will whine at every turn about this project but it replaces the most dangerous bridge in BC's history! I know a person that came to Canada to do an assessment on the old Pattullo and whether you were a driver, pedestrian, or cyclist,.. it was the worst. The new bridge does not, and should not, be wider given the roads on either end but it is much better connected and actually also protects everyone using it! And no,.. your inability to accept an indigenous name does not matter to me... I never knew how the Pattullo was spelled or pronounced. Also no,.. they can't us the old bridge too,.. it is old and would still need to be maintained/upgraded - they do study this shit!

Political Wins

Vancouver's by-election to replace 2 leaving members did not change the balance of left and right leaning council members. The voting results however, indicate that the city is not supportive of ABC and we replaced 2 community driven councillors with 2 similar, but fresh, left-wing fighters.

When our mayor completely undercut his own Parks Board members he made enemies, and people left his party. That too is a sign maybe we can turn this ship around.

Sadly, our province cut a ton of funding for sustainable transportation this year, much of which was showing results (at least in my region). Advocates have their work cut out for them and that is why I signed up as a volunteer again with local transportation advocacy.

Businesses/Culture/Amenity Wins

Fresh St. Market / Be Fresh Market Kitsilano - One way to reduce traffic is to match population growth with walkable amenities. Despite all of the hatred of towers and greedy developers (mine included), I can't complain as much when a new neighbourhood destroying building provides more than a dentist office or (insert obvious money laundering business here). In Kits we are getting 2 new grocery stores in areas that need specifically need them.. hopefully people will stop driving 6 blocks to get milk.

Granville Island - I work at Granville Island periodically, and this year I volunteered for the Fringefest there and spent even more time on premises.
Granville island, despite its success with tourism, languishes on so many levels but I have yet to have a foreign tour guest not comment on the unneeded and uncomfortable car traffic. With no sidewalks, pedestrians and cars are in conflict constantly. This year, they seem to have committed to removing 83m of Anderson St. from car traffic - it was great, and opened some plaza space and access to a new business space (rare! GI never changes!). It is less than the half measure I'd hope for but I love it and so do the tourists, perhaps this is the start of needed change.

Batch - This business concept has been around but at Kits Beach they winterized with tents making it a year-round and very popular destination. They also temporarily had a spot in West Van and they, once again, captured something that was missing and maintained a nice aesthetic adding to wherever they pop-up. We think of it as a meeting spot, living room, and lunch furniture location - an all around Vancouver positive addition for everyone.

Havn Sauna - Not here yet, and probably something I'll ever go to once,.. but a successful Victoria concept is coming here. Better yet, it is partnering with the Maritime museum so maybe the new can help save the old as they have been struggling financially. I love how this one rubs the NIMBYs (and it is in MY backyard btw).

Park Theatre - At the 11th hour another institution was saved: Cambie's Park Theatre. We went to what we thought was the last show before they did what they did to the Ridge Theatre. There, developers rub the old sign in the face of Vancouverites to remind them that a cluster of important community amenities were wiped from the map. They saw it as lifestyle marketing,.. I see it as a tombstone every time I look at it. 
The Park, however, was an underused Cineplex theatre but now will be managed by the folks from the Rio who provide way, way more dynamic programming. Instead of on new movie every few months,.. people will have way more reasons to come and go to the area (which has lost core institutions and restaurants in spades over the last 5-10). This is a huge win.

2025 Losses

Ok, I can't resist... we lost a ton of eating institutes were lost (new and old), but a few near misses went the right way including the Naam and the Tomahawk which at least for now have avoided redevelopment and or other financial pressures to close.

It sounds like swimmers will be hurting for a while as the main Vancouver pool is under the microscope AND Kits Pool has aged out. North Van is building an interesting project for swimming in the ocean - very cool! I feel North Van has had a few good moves on the livability side recently along with their bad calls,.. businesses certainly seem to favour them so maybe CoV will take note.

Gastown reverted to more car-centric model and failed in an attempt to bike-wash the main street. It remains dangerous and confusing but that battle has more rounds if I have anything to say about it.

While we lament those losses (there were more),.. let's not forget the wins (there were more). Onwards and upward in 2026.

My running list of gains and losses and people remind me, or they come to my mind:

Gains:

• The Poco Climb (hiking trail) 
• The Great Blue Heron Way (Tsawwassen hike/bike trail)

Losses:

• Lime being misunderstood as a replacement for Mobi bikeshare

The Granville Connector OPENS!

Only 70 years overdue and almost 10 years after planning began, the Granville Connector is now open in a partial capacity!  City announcement here.

8 years ago I attended several nights of panels to discuss the wishlists of citizens regarding this underutilized dinosaur from a half finished highway project. That night people shared some amazing utopian visions of a better future for all but I eventually just spoke up and told them what I wanted: "just a no frills safe passageway from one end to the other", my fear being making it too fancy would cost the whole project.

West 5th connector to new park.

Since that time it seemed like the project was at risk many times. In 2019 there was the big debate about design choices and I posted my opinions about that here.  Unfortunately a key design choice (including the Fir St. off-ramp to carry non-cars to 10th ave with a large elevation drop) was rolled back due to slashing of post-COVID city budgets and the information trail ran eerily cold.
However, in 2024 indications that the project was still moving became apparent but progress was slow.  I made an almost weekly pilgrimage to Fir and 5th to monitor the progress but constantly found it stalled for months.The key impetus for making that gap my main life focus over others is due to the fact it was a huge detour for me. On top of that, a poorly understood set of sustainable transportation principles, to me, were not being weighed into the effort to make more people bike:

• there is a maximum distance a less active cyclist will go out of their way to regularly take a reasonable distance to work
• distance matters in forming a habit, and this interacts with weather (eg. someone will ride in rain for 15 min easily, less so for 30 min).
• the above 2 principles apply even more so to pedestrians
• drivers cannot understand the above principles because they tends to not suffer the distance as much

As it was, without the Granville bridge, 10s of thousands of potential riders on Fairview slopes and in Yaletown were facing too high a barrier to form a habit of leaving the car at home to cross False Creek.  Make all water crossings safe and the barrier factor drops significantly - even more than adding any non-bridge bike lane. In other words, water crossing is where all efforts to provide multi-modal travel matter MOST (people have options once they are back on terra firma).

Before continuing, it is important to disambiguate the "Granville Connector" project from the much larger changes and repairs to the Granville Street bridge overall. People are going to whine about the cost of the bike lane which I'm sure was not cheap, but the numbers they are using already, and will use, are mammoth by comparison to the smaller line items of converting some existing car lanes to be cycle and pedestrian friendly. The high price tag being thrown around most commonly includes:

• massive amounts of overdue repairs to the 1954 built bridge and feeder ramps
• complete removal and car section redesign for 3 cloverleafs (controversial for me as a driver!!)
• traffic lights (which are only partially to accommodate the bridge's east side bike lanes) 

So, here we are, the damn thing was done and I don't even care that those that tried to snuff it are claiming victory even though it all started 2 terms before they were elected. Queue the people that don't understand it takes several years to ramp up new ridership on a new route (for once I'll thank the efforts of Lime riders and food delivery d-bags for their hose clicks!).

What is next?

As a multi-modal traveller (driver, transit, pedestrian, cyclist), I really do travel most by bike and identify as a cycling advocate most.  I've just spent too much time in organizations where this is studied and read too much global data to believe biking isn't a top tier solution for urban travel and a partial solution for our city's growth related woes.

For that reason I'm reluctant to write this next statement publicly: The Granville Connector really was a massive gap for me and with it in place I feel the biggest cycling challenges in Vancouver are no longer "route" based. I'm comfortable riding roads (if needed) and feel our infrastructure gaps to be closing (we're maybe 90-95% of the way there) now that Kits Beach is improved, the Broadway line on the way, and the Arbutus Greenway in place. I cannot easily think of places I find tough to get to by bike for my level or riding. The pain points that come to mind seem addressable:

• Powell Street east of Clark
• Crossing Gastown safely
• Gastown to Burrard at W. Cordova
• Fir Street Off-ramp

I'm confident that the removal of the awesome Dunsmuir viaduct bike lane will have an acceptable solution from what I've seen (just not as cool). Beyond that, the gaps are much further out of the core and unlikely to be built with AAA separation levels.

Bike security is a challenging next frontier - we all have better bikes but crime is the new barrier. Utrecht style bike garages will be a hard sell when a single gas station sells for $72 million, but it is what is needed. That has to be the next priority for CoV

Dream world though:

• bike highways to the ferries
• a ferry corporation that gives a shit about bikes (BC Ferries OR Hullo)
• Fir Street Off-ramp
• making Granville island access from transit hubs shorter (eg. Granville Bridge deck elevator), reducing car access 

Review: Best Hikes and Nature Walks with Kids

As I crack my fresh copy of Stephen Hui's latest hiking guide: Best Hikes and Nature Walks with Kids, I'm faced immediately with a few questions:

• Am I a kid at heart or just someone that is developmentally stunted?
• Do I even like kids? (I have none of my own)
  
• Should I write this post with some zany kid-like font?

I definitely do think a bit like a kid. I enjoy whimsy, I'm curious, and I get easily bored if not presented with something novel. I also, however, am becoming a cranky old man. I judge bad parents harshly (but silently), but will say this: parents taking the time to educate kids about nature tend to be the ones I judge less, and the kids that result from that effort... I tend to find more likeable (on average).

I'm going to review this book from the POV of an adult seeing what is in it for me.

Cubs: Me on left. 
How did my legs
even hike?

My parents are/were awesome, but not particularly outdoorsy. I owe much of my own love for the outdoors to the parents of my friends and amazing and dedicated Cub/Scout/Ventures leaders I had. I didn't know that seeds for that love were being planted at the time, but later it became obvious when I returned to many of these very same places we went,.. but as an adult. Many of those places are in Stephen Hui's new book.

At first I thought the content of Hui's latest book was, for me, most like the 109 Walks series. I have "peak bagged" several editions of the "Walks" books as off-season challenges or as injury recovery.  Typically that series covers shorter, and often more accessible hikes including those within city boundaries, and with less elevation gain than typical regional hike books.  "With Kids" is not really that.

I'd put the 109s more in a category of dog walks,.. or somewhere convenient where you "get your steps
in". Being also a McCaree creation, it often felt like the leftovers from the 103 Hikes series that were less alpine and had less wow factor.

"With Kids" focuses on what I call "the gravy".  By that I mean there is a pay-off,.. some little memorable point of interest that would capture a curious mind's attention (or something interesting for us adults that are amateur photographers) Examples: some tide pool, waterfall, or iconic bridge. In other words for Minecraft attention span kids: something to "do" or "look at" besides walking and getting exercise.  As I get older I find myself seeking more gravy for less effort. A few of the destinations in With Kids are very much of that formula: 

Last 109 Walk photo

• Train Wreck falls near Whistler
• Skookumchuk Narrows
• Lynn Canyon

The ones further outside of Vancouver also serve as great stops on a bigger road-trip where doing a 3+ hour hike is just not part of the agenda.

I want to focus a on a few key observations about this book in the context of the author's other books 105 Hikes and Destination Hikes which I've also reviewed:

Format: "With Kids" follows the same general formula of Hui's other books including an overview map, a more meaningful foreword than most hike books from a representative of regional first nations authors, and some colour photos.

I personally think maps are engaging for my child mind and am pleased to see that some are full page.  The colour palette of  the book is nothing beyond Hui's other books but there are more photos overall (not the token 1 per hike), often of kids. For some reason I expected McDonalds style primary colours for kids.

Missing: for me, would be the handy checklist - a favourite item of mine and IMO a great way to motivate further exploration. 

New to the book are "Wild Sights" sections with pictures.  These include full colour photos of fungi, plants, and animals you might encounter in the backwoods. A great addition IMO (though a bingo style checklist might have appealed to me as a child).  There also are "fun fact" sections which seem a bit more kid focused (as opposed to geology for example), but I'll mention more on that below.

Also handy and new is that on the pages facing the opposite of the spine of the book (whatever that is called) you can see the sections colour coded. I always liked that with Dawn Hanna's classic hike anthology.

Final thoughts:

This book is a great book for short format hiking in the region,.. and I'll say it,.. for adults.  Yes it  might be geared for taking children outdoors but the language and level of reading required is clearly aiming intentionally at the parents.  GPS coordinates, history etc. and the tone that I really believe make this author the pre-eminent go to for guidebooks in BC is little deviation from that of his other works.  For me, an adult, that suits me just fine - in need information!  I would recommend this book for people with zero intention of hiking with children as much as those completely focused on it.

What I will say this, my relationship with books as a child was more activity based,.. and that is kind of how I am now.  When I think back to the joy I experienced working through Richard Scary's Rainy Day book or even the ones I had with spy or Star Wars themes, I think they may have made me the peak bagger that I am today - seriously,.. it may have been genesis of that.

I know that Hui had the parents in mind and a tested format to spring from but I do wonder if anyone in the region has considered something aimed a bit more AT the the kids. Little missions to go on perhaps or as my wife suggested, a short suggested teaser that the parent can dangle in front of a reluctant child (like the fun fact sections, but at the start of each section):

"Who wants to see gnome doors embedded into trees?!"
"Yucky banana slugs anyone?"

"Warblers, frogs and bears! Oh my!"

Writing or colouring in an activity book was right up my homebody alley back as a kid,.. maybe could there be a companion book? (You heard it here first!)

All in all Hui has assembled another great book and opportunity to teach kids what nature has to offer rather than the dark side of littering, swimming holes, trail speakers, and coolers that they might discover in a less "guided" format later in life on their own. Buy this for your friends with kids,.. PLEASE. (we have!).

For adults, as we get further away from recent editions of the 109 hikes this book also has value there.  You may have lived in the Lower Mainland for your entire life,.. but I'll bet few of you have explored all of these places and you don't need to be a hard core alpine hiker to do them - this is what you do as part of a day trip in October or March when a 4 hour+ excursion is just not your thing.

Wanderung turns 20!

By my best (educated) guess, Wanderung's first hike was 20 years ago this month (April). 20 years!!!

The first hike was around Buntzen lake mostly comprised of a collection of friends and their random

acquaintances. The second hike was Lynn Peak.. we didn't make it to the first lookout even,.. our uninitiated hiking legs couldn't hack it.

As a founding member that was either fully immersed in the organization from the start, or later just a peripheral player as a low touch board member - 20 years is a major milestone for me personally.

Early Wanderung photo

Yes, the pandemic slashed almost 2 years off of those 2 decades, but for that time, Wanderung has a been a central and consistent thread for what is now 40% of my life.

I've had the opportunity and privilege to hike with thousands of different people using the callout system and estimate my own callouts to number well over 250 (mostly pre-incorporation of the
non-profit). I'm pretty sure, I'm not even the record holder. Since 2002 Wanderung has had at least 5 or 6 "generations" of key organizers keeping the list trips active. These people span from around the globe, across many cultures and ages, and do all sorts of things that I didn't even know were jobs in some cases.

Long ago we gave up counting callouts (likely 3500+). We've stopped trying to track the direct and indirect romances, marriages, Wanderung babies... as they are also now countless. Noone really knows how many long lasting friendships have formed or "off-list" adventure teams have branched outside of

Wandie Awards 2012

the callout system for their outdoor fixes. We do know, however, that these things become all the more likely when people put their devices aside and take a chance to go explore nature and just "sweat" with a bunch of strangers and actually engage.

For me personally, Wanderung can be credited as the reason half the people in my life and various communities,.. are there. Whether by referral or directly meeting them through callouts, my friend and acquaintance network (including my wife!), mostly sprung out of the adventures I've shared with strangers (until they weren't). Vancouver seems like a smaller place as a result as the streets and even my workplace is peppered with people that I know share my hobbies through Wanderung. For this, I am grateful.

20 years is a long time for a low-tech, self-funded organization to stay operating, especially when one of the board mandates is "keep the effort low". I've worked for 4 employers and lived in 5 neighbourhoods in that time - but only belonged to one hiking club.

I don't know how relevant Wanderung will be after the pandemic allows us all to meet again. It is a bit manual and low tech and had been slowing down even before 2020. What it does have, I think will always have appeal: accessibility. It is free and you don't need any particular O/S or app. It is sort of simple (so long as you read and follow the instructions).

More than that, it has attracted people that despite our "work less" mandates, DO work to make it happen. I'd like to personally thank every past, present, and future :

• newsletter publisher and contributor
• board member
• web developer and sys admin
• trip organizer
• driver
• donator
• founder
• party volunteer

Wanderung was not as prolific generating trips as it was because of lurkers, passive observers, passengers or Facebook commenters - it is because of those people above.

If you want as much out of it as some of us have managed to get, like me, become one of them.

Here is to many more years of hiking with strangers (...until they are not).

Double Review: "Destination Hikes" and "Backpacking" in SW BC.

Within the same month, 2 highly anticipated local hiking guidebooks are being released by the same publisher:

Destination Hikes in and Around Southwestern British Columbia by Stephen Hui

AND 

Backpacking in Southwestern British Columbia by Taryn Eyton

Along with Hui's earlier "105 Hikes", these books could almost be seen as a series and combined, some of the latest entries into the local guidebook market (Vancouver and beyond) for their areas. As a guidebook collector, and self-proclaimed book bagger I aim to help you decide if these books are worthy of your hiking dollars.

Before proceeding (if not a spoiler alert), for full disclosure I know Stephen Hui and the mapping specialist for both of his books and have met Eyton at least once. In other words, this "review" could be seen as biased but if I didn't feel these books were a great addition to anyone's collection, I'd likely choose not to write anything at all.  That said,... if I think there is room for improvement somewhere, or something that might not appeal to others, I'll try to qualify that and say it.

My Background:
I own a sizable library of local outdoor recreation guidebooks spanning form the early 70s to... today.  These books cover mostly BC and Washington, and beyond that, only select US based hiking areas in the Southwest.  Although I'm "semi-retired" from going at it aggressively, I've completely "book bagged" a handful of these and have found it a great way to ensure I see a nice variety of locations for my precious hiking hours.
I also subscribe to many of the more common online resource providers as part of my toolkit for seeking GPS tracks and recent conditions (Livetrails, All Trails, Viewranger and more).
In 2002 I started Wanderung.ca with my friends and the organization has propelled several thousand group adventures over the last 2 decades.

Review: Backpacking in Southwestern British Columbia by Taryn Eyton

I was really pleased to hear about this book coming out because most recent SW BC guidebooks go very light on the camping specific details. Almost all current publications assume you can make an assault on a summit and return in one day and would figure out the rest yourself should you want to stay the night.  The fact is, the greatest adventures I've experienced tend to have involved a 2nd day and a ton of the unknown details for those trips emerged from the camping logistics (water, regulations, etc.).  Spending downtime with your friends, looking at the stars, and cooking a meal together is really superior to just hiking and it is about time someone assembled this book.

My first impression of this book is that the formatting looks very, very similar to Hui's original 105 Hikes and latest book. Well,.. there is a reason for that, it is the same publisher and the same design team and frankly, .. I like that. Hui's book had a great aesthetic and logic for a functional guide, plus I don't want to relearn my way around.  It has all of the standard disclaimers and intro chapters but I think Eyton's is a bit shorter but more informative than most (please everyone,.. read her Leave No Trace section). Formatting may seem like a boring thing to look at but for guidebooks,.. it matters (just ask anyone about Dawn Hanna's elevation profiles instead of maps...).

That all being the case, the other Greystone books aren't identical in layout and the differences are important and well chosen on Eyton's part. In fact, between Eyton and Hui, I think the formatting is approaching "perfection" for my tastes but here are the formatting "innovations" I've found so far I think really add to Backpacking:

The trip planner: How many times have I wished for a km by km breakdown of the trail I'm hiking (junctions, landmarks etc.) instead of sifting through paragraphs of text and sometimes even writing my own summary? A lot. This book has them.  Hallelujah.

Itemized Key Details: Both in the individual trail sections and the handy summary table, Eyton lets you know if a given location has fees, dog leash regulations, number of camping pads or cabin bunks, and more. More importantly, they are separated out form the other text.  This is huge!  I don't think any guide book in my collection does as good a job as this one in this regard. 
Will dog owners and the new instagrammers heed these warnings? Fuck no! But as a rule follower I like to know what is deemed ok in a sensitive area so I can at least feel smug and superior as I try to sleep in my tent listening to someone else's portable stereos and crackling brush fire.

Best months: Ooohhh! Controversial!!  Safety nuts love to debate this one.  Of course we should all look at the conditions whenever we plan to go somewhere but the author had the guts to go 20 years back and include "optimal months".  I think this is important.  Yes snow might never recede somewhere in a given year but help people narrow it down at least.  Better yet, maybe really help out the novices that often ping me about alpine destinations once they have experienced an unseasonably warm March day at sea level.  As a book bagger, I need some rough approximation to help me plan a year of trips and Eyton does this (thanks for having the guts!).

If I had to pick one knock against this book, I'd have to look hard, but it might be that the selection of trips. Take a random group of seasoned Vancouver backpackers that has been at it for a while and ask them to list the 40 most common destinations,.. and you'd have a very high correlation with the TOC of this book.  For me, 8 of 40 I had not already done and only 2 of them I'd not at least researched (or heard of).

Although I think I was selfishly hoping for more fresh discoveries... there is a reason for that. Eyton made what I assume had to be a hard choice,.. on top of an ethical one to craft this selection.  She very clearly in the first pages of her book defines why she has selected certain hikes over others. I won't repeat the whole list (you need to buy the book for that!), but I'll highlight the ones I'm referring to above:

4X4 not required: For those that know hiking in BC, you will know how limiting this might be. This is the hard choice I refer to above. With only space for 40 trips, it would be shame to have people buy the book and be able to hike only 30... Eyton had to draw a line and chose no need for anything beyond 2WD access (or at worst combined with extra doable hiking distance that those blessed with clearance could shorten by driving).

Supported by Land Management: By this she is saying that unless a government agency will ensure the habitat is protected she is not going to direct people to it. This usually means tent pads and toilets (though not always).  That is a tough and limiting choice. Eyton is a trained educator in Leave No Trace adventuring and knowing that, this tough choice to exclude some real eye poppers and smells of one thing: integrity. I can get behind that. I often wonder if these books are part of the problem with overrun trails and personally have some guilt along those lines for my part in propelling group travel in the region through Wanderung. I don't think that written the way it is, this book does anything but make the right choices in that regard and attempt to educate those that simply may not be aware.

Lastly, on this topic, I need to remember that not since Brian Gover's BC Car-Free or perhaps some of the Copeland's books has anyone really given camping specific details much lip service.  In other words, of course this book should be rolling out the classics, it is the most current and most foundational resource out there (now) on this topic locally. Do you know anyone with a thoroughly researched recent account of the details you need to hike the whole Howe Sound Crest Trail? I don't.

I think the way to think about this book is that if you are a Vancouverite into backpacking or getting into it,.. it might be a one stop shop for your regional "rite of passage" trips and if you complete all of them... I'm hoping Eyton has volume 2 lined up.

Review: Destination Hikes in and Around Southwestern British Columbia by Stephen Hui

The author may not appreciate my first comment here but: though Destination Hikes is not officially a follow-up to 105 Hikes,.. it sort of is.

Not unlike bonus levels in a favourite video game, Hui's latest release has a very familiar format, and when one of the old 103 Hikes previous edition classics appears such as Diez Vistas or The Sisters (Lions),.. it is hard to deny that this book feels like a sequel.  But,.. I loved Star Wars and that doesn't mean Empire wasn't also awesome (my review of 105 Hikes here).

I'm going to start by just saying if you liked the original, or hiking around here in general.. buy it.  There are differences which I'll outline below but nothing that should sway a buying choice.

Formatting: 
105 Hikes brought many improvements over the earlier Macaree and Bryceland editions and they continue here:

• advances in affordable colourized printing
• land acknowledgements and forewords by BC's first people
• handy tables and checklists
• more...

There are key differences and I think they all make sense.  For starters, the purpose of this work is less about continuing the tradition set by the Macarees for hikes of a certain range of difficulty and length.  I'm pretty certain Hui took some heat for slipping in some sub-5 hour hikes of minimal stats in 105 from the orthodox BCMC hardcores.  Destinations claims to focus on payoffs, not kms, for each trail, which breaks from the tradition of killing yourself to climb 8 hours of mud to only see a grown over view that you could beat by biking up Little Mountain.

Also being free of the shackles of the 103 Hikes lineage allowed Hui to write - gasp, more than 2 pages per hike! Included in that are what in my opinion are much better (and larger) photos than what surfaced in 105 Hikes. I guess the extra 50 hikes sops up some space!

Two edition "innovations" that must be noted are the Feature Icons and the Stops of Interest boxes:

Feature icons summarize at the top of the title page of the hike what you stand to see by doing this hike. Colourfully coded circles with google maps style icons will indicate "Big tree", "Waterfalls", "Coastal views", "Wildflowers" and more.  The only way to improve on that is a magical book that can dynamically tell you when the bugs are hitting!  These items are what I call the "gravy" for your sweat and blisters and it also can feed into planning.  Nothing is worse that executing a hike and not being aware that it is known for wildflowers or a waterfall and timing that wrong as you buddy shows some amazing photo 3 weeks later.

Stops of Interest really is where Destinations becomes about,.. destinations. As a prolific trip organizer in my day I always wanted to make sure we made a full day of it wherever we went.  Hell, this is our leisure time so I don't want to drive to Chilliwack and deadhead it back - we were travelling as much as we were hiking.  A great pub or pull-over viewpoint was always welcome and Stephen Hui has injected yellow boxes into every destination's section to indicate exactly those kinds of sites for the area you have decided to adventure.  Othello Tunnels, Alexandra Bridge, or a plethora of museums and cultural centres.  No pubs or bakeries, but no one is perfect.

This book is a great addition to your library and will fill hours as you sit inside on a rainy day and dream out your upcoming adventures.

Conclusion

Something I've not addressed here is the utility of hiking books,.. at all. There are great electronic resources out there, especially where mapping is concerned so has the guidebook gone the way of the dodo?  I don't think so. 

Online content is more accessible than ever and expanding almost as rapidly as,.. crappy and irresponsible writers.  I've read online reports with: illegal acts, environmentally destructive acts, and all variety of trail information that is incorrect.  Search and Rescue calls these days almost regularly say "the person was following bad instructions on their cell phone". 

Between Steve Chapman's verified maps and the thorough and recent research done by these authors,.. I think you are in better hands with books like these as a base than someone that jotted down their best memory of the trail after trail running it. With books you can also calibrate your fitness level based on previous usages,.. you have no idea what you are in for with online content (a braggart trail runner, or someone dragging along a child...?).

Clearly, I've enjoyed what I've seen in these books.  I also just enjoy thinking of my friends and acquaintances that are newer to hiking and how both books give them well thought out options where to go with some context to go there safely and responsibly.

I urge people to not do what I normally do and skip the intro sections... they are worthy of your time.  Now more than ever it is evident that new hikers are needing a north star regarding caring for these amazing trails we have and these books could serve to raise that awareness.

Buy them.  Buy them both. And don't rule out an e-book version which can be good for printing and especially if you are backpacking, convenient to carry along with your novels while your paper copy sits nice and dry at home to be lovingly flipped through in the off-season.

My 2020 in Review

Every year I like to take that rainy stretch near New Year's to look back at what we got up to, set some goals, and see if we delivered on our intentions from the previous year.   I do this mostly for myself and sometimes re-read earlier years. I also like to share it with friends and family that might be interested walking down a recent "memory lane".

The way I worded it in 2017: "It is both a time to remember "oh ya! we did that THIS year?", and also a means to inspire ourselves to do more of the things we like, and better, and not become complacent. It also, in some years like this one, is a reminder of how short life can be and a chance to honour the passing of important people or institutions."

I'm not sure why but I didn't do this in 2019 (and I wish I did). I do have a running record of our activities and it seemed like a "normal" year, with no loss of family or friend, manageable health, and an increased participation in some little hobby interests (eg. participating as a citizen in many phases of the Granville Street bridge public consultation).

2020 Overview

I always try to do the "if x was the year of travel/graduation/new job, 2020 was the year of y".  There is just no ways around it, it was the year of COVID-19.  It changed how we worked, it cramped our main hobbies and it took the life of at least one loved one.

That said, a few minor things went our way.  We decided to take an early vacation to Nevada, California and Utah right before COVID kicked into gear, so ended up not feeling as deprived of adventure as many. However, even before that, in January we had several losses on the friend and family side.

The rest of the year was like a roller-coaster as it was for everyone else and we lost more family and friends as we tried to just get through the year injecting as much local adventure in where we could and keeping our own stress levels in check.  We really needed to change our patterns but it was a very anti-social year, and in many ways we achieved new levels of inactivity and boredom. Trump will not be talked about in the sections below btw.  So here goes.

My select chronological set of cell phone pics from the year.

Friends and Family

I'm going launch right into this one as it was mostly not a positive.  Like everyone, we saw far too little of our friends and families. We definitely took liberties when the health officer allowed us to lower our guard but on so many levels this was the opposite direction for what we wanted as we feel negligent typically in this area in "normal" years. 

In early January, my aunt Jean passed away (my mother's sister). This was early enough that a proper service was held which I'm very thankful for (especially for my uncle Lorne and my cousins).  She was a very nice woman, and someone I only have fond memories of, many through the words of my own mom.  

Shortly after that, a junior co-worker of mine from a previous job of mine decided to take his own life. This was someone I bonded with during my time at that job and thought about often afterwards (before and after he died).  I still don't quite know why, but of the many deaths I'll associate with 2020, this one may have hit me hardest. His death occurred right as the fear and confusion around COVID started kicking in. A celebration of life would have happened if just a week or so earlier but never did occur. This was just the first of many such events that never happened this year for our family and I feel really complicates closure. 

In March, Laura's father (Dick Langs) passed away unexpectedly.  The effects of not being able to be with her mother or have a formal event are still unfolding. During one of the low alert periods we did drive to Nelson and joined the bubble of her sister's family but we were all so desperate to just enjoy that, we didn't unpack Dick's passing much and perhaps that was the right thing at that time.

Laura's father was someone I did not get to know as much as I would have liked, but I feel fortunate to have had as a father-in-law. I never felt judged by this super kind man (which seems like a thing that happens to other men).  I feel there were common interests that we never got to discuss due to limited time. There is a lesson in there somewhere. An eye-opener for me was how strong my wife is as I watched her cope with the waves of emotions.  Her journey with this is not over but I am amazed at the grace with which she handles it and am pleased she now "Zooms" with her mom almost daily which is a positive new thing that came of all of this.  My wife never met my mother, so it not wasted on me that the few meetings I had with her dad are precious.

My aunt Liesbeth (my dad's sister) passed away in May. She had health challenges but it still was a rapid chain of events from what I understand. She also was a gentle soul and being younger than my dad, added to a bit of selfish anxiety for me regarding him. Being in Ontario and someone that didn't travel much, we didn't know her well, but she always felt like family as soon as we were in the same room.  I don't know how my dad is dealing with it but I should probably ask.  The thing is just that these days we always try to share positives to keep each other buoyant and it just feels weird to bring it up.

Right under the wire of 2020 ending a very distant acquaintance now, but someone part of my once tight BCIT class and still in my work network, passed. He was young, possibly depressed, and for some reason it added to the feeling this was just a shit year for certain things. It was like the other bookend to how 2020 started.

Although it was kind of spotty, we did manage to get out for some trips with friends to the mountains or an alfresco meal between lockdowns, but it was just way too little and I miss this social pillar of our lives.

Needless to say - when possible, we aim to see more of our family and friends.  I feel generally more distant to all of them and I do not want that stretch of time to pass where it is even harder to reconnect.  This is a priority for 2021.

Travel

I need something light,...let's talk about what we did this year that aligns with our usual objectives.  Travel is one of our biggest shared hobbies and we love planning, executing, and remembering it. 

We could not have timed our "biggest international" trip better.  COVID was being talked about when we were in Vegas, but not before.  We sort of categorize trips as either big ones (Europe, Asia etc.) or small ones which would even include Hawaii maybe and certainly week long max US city trips like Chicago,.. or maybe a longer BC roadtrips.  Las Vegas turned out to not just be our biggest trip of the year,.. but it behaved like one.

Honestly, I though it was going to be a throw away. Laura had never seen Vegas and it seemed time, but I hate the place... Somehow it was an amazing trip.  We did the highlights of Vegas cheeze, but the extended trips from the hub were phenomenal and some 'sites of a lifetime'  for sure. I am so grateful that we fit this one in when we did (photos).  I love desert and think that people that go to Vegas and don't got further afield are nuts! This trip included:

• The Strip highlights: Neon museum, Fat Elvis 
  
• Death Valley National Park
• Mojave Nation Preserve
• Zion National Park
• Valley of Fire
  
• Beatles Cirque du Soleil
• A random brunch with Laura's friend Rob!

From there, the year became what I think it did for many of us in BC (my co-workers in particular maximized this),.. a cat and mouse game of how to responsibly get out into BC when the authorities and communities were open to it. 

Even a basic car camping trip seemed like a precious treat, especially with the hoards flooding into the areas that WE tend to frequent historically in the summer (and the weird restrictions and booking systems that came along with COVID). Here is where we managed to get to:

• Lac le Jeune - car camping
• Manning Park - car camping and hiking
• Whistler - with our friends Peter and Olivia when restrictions relaxed (with WAY too many other peple up there that simply did not give a shit)
• Gibsons - just checking it out and keeping to ourselves
• Nelson - to visit family and I did a longish rail trail ride (my only bike trip of the year!)

We only fit in one standalone backpacking trip (with Brenda, Andy, and Maria) and I'd say that was a situation of quality over quantity.  No bike trips,... which are often my faves so if there is a way in 2021 to safely do that,.. that will be a priority.

The other big trip was with Wendie and Pete to Yoho and Glacier National Parks including an overnight backpack trip on the Iceline trail. I had only ever been through that area on tour with my band in the 90s and wow was it an amazing place as was the roadtrip and cabin in Golden we stayed in.

Day Trips

More than ever, day trips (after work or weekends) played a big role in our mental well-being and maybe we "improved the system" a bit so I've broken that out as a separate thing. 

Without commuting to work as much we needed exercise so reasoned out that if we were working from home (and the same place) we can get on the road faster AFTER work (we also dramatically increased daily walking from and around our place).

This year we did far less of the 5+ hour hikes that usually shape our year and more of the short and local hikes including SFU based ones and some easy access North Shore hikes.  It was fun to re-aquaint ourselves with those and safer since we could not go in bigger numbers with people outside of our bubble.  We did tons, (like 2 a week at one point).

We also bought a proper bike rack so could drive further out for some new areas like Pitt Meadows and areas of Surrey for some exploring by bike.  These were great additions and something we want to do more of.

In both cases, we also started to get smarter about packing food which kicked off a renaissance of al fresco eating for us. This was one of the great take-aways of 2020 where we now bring dry padded seats with us everywhere (and a food kit), and enjoy the great outdoors more than ever for a nice lunch or dinner.

Work

It is difficult to know where our work lives were going before COVID forced a right turn in everything.  There is no doubt that some of the content of what I did changed in part to the "how" we would work given provincial restrictions.  The business I work for serves the public so any growth trajectory was hit hard. We were able to stay open as the need for alternative transportation categorized us as a necessary service. However, this was not before we needed to conduct some temporary and permanent reductions unfortunately.

Like many companies this year, employment related government subsidies were well used by our management team (aka my manager) and thankfully my role was not impacted as a result.  The slowness of the world however was reflected in the type and content of work we got up to.  I volunteered to take a temporary 4 day work week at the tail end of the year. It just made sense and something I wanted to explore and understand about myself for down the road in life.

Laura's work also continued but unlike me, she remains working from home 100%. Because I'm 50% home now and for a month or so at the start was 100%,.. I'm amazed our arrangement worked so well right out of the gate.  With us both on calls etc. I would not have expected that.  Much of that is owed to Laura who seems content working in the "lesser workstation" in our apartment kitchen (IMO) which she can just pack up and hide away at the end of the day.

I never liked working from home in past jobs. I like the separation, but this exploration of that was not as bad as I thought. That said, whereas all the jokes are around what people do not get up to when unsupervised,.. I found myself initially doing longer days, taking no breaks and for the type of tasks I would chip away on,. it probably was not needed and went unnoticed. I'm a bit more ok with it than I used to be as a concept, but I don't feel the world is easily going back to non-permeable barriers between work and home time any time soon.  2021 feels quite up in the air on many fronts for me and my place of work so I don't want to speculate too much or bank too much on things going the way I want.

Our Extended World

A complete shake-up in the world triggered an array other noteworthy events and behaviours for us.

Wanderung (the hike club I started in 2002 and now semi-participate in as a board member), had to be paused. It is effectively a tool for connecting strangers in carpools.. so,.. kind of a no brainer, but after 18 years running, it did feel a bit odd knowing those group trips would not be happening and potentially keeping people safer. 

I had been getting more involved and interested in "urbanism" for lack of a better word so some of the changes to the city like pop-up-plazas, improvements in Stanley park for recreation, and opening up outdoor patios for restaurants were a welcome diversion and of great interest to me.  I've always felt that the city was not doing enough for people outside of their cars and hope some productive lessons have been learned and will lead to permanent changes.  I love street closures and more thoughtful use of public space.


The one project I was deeply following, blogging about, and attending engagement events for was the Granville Street Bridge improvement plan.  IMO, the opportunity is massive and it is the single most obvious impediment in fluid transportation across the city. In January of 2020 the unquestionable "best" option of several was chosen from the design choices. 2 months later, they had to de-scope it due to city budgets into phases (the second of which may never happen) and, to me, defeated the entire purpose of the key feature... removing gradient for unpowered vehicles (wheelchairs, pedestrians, bikes).  I'm still disappointed and feel this is short-sighted!  I think critics will have more legit ammo to knock the costs if it remains a half measure and we might see less positive sway for travel choices as a result.

We also endeavored to move the needle in the positive direction on our impact to the planet. We flew less, and drove less but I question if that was a really a deliberate choice that will stick. We carpooled less too... so presumably our friends were doing more trips with less people...

We bought more of our food from ethical sources such as Fisher Otto and a Sunnyside Farm CSA subscription. We also incorporated food  shopping into our daily routine which allowed making more smaller trips by foot, and closer by, and leaving the car at home. 


I can say we have gotten more into the concept of re-use and repair but that seems still like a tiny dent in the seemingly massive amount of garbage and recycling we seem to generate. The Soap Dispensary etc. is something we like to support but seems to have such a narrow scope and impact given our needs.  This needs more work in 2021 especially as I learn just how misleading current recycling systems in our area may be.

I was trying to reign in spending in general this year but not sure yet how that has gone as I did buy some big items that hopefully make 2021 less one of spending.

Health

For us personally, this was not a year of notable injuries or illness (thankfully). That said, it was not a healthy year. The extra time generated by COVID did not translate to more home exercise at all,.. it has led to us consuming more online content than in the history of earth.  Contact me if you want Netflix recommendations...

I gained weight, got further out of shape, and do not feel great. Though I don't know how it happened,  we started to dabble in far less meat consumption. We are not vegans, or even vegetarians, but in 2019,.. we were major carnivores. Honestly, I do not feel any health benefits, in fact kind of the opposite, but I do think it is balancing out our diet better for variety, moderation, and the environment.  This year we did do way better on a goal we never pull off and that is expanding our repertoire of recipes. Our food planning and cooking has made a move in the right direction.

I feel generally that this year wore on people mentally more than they are acknowledging (and statistical markers all show this).  I've observed that others are not as sensitive to this as I feel they should be and some, completely unaware that people around them are struggling as much as they are. It doesn't seem as if they don't care, but they are failing to see it. I felt like I was doing fine up to a point but have to admit, I feel pretty fragile and listless so do hope for a better next year though I'm not expecting the flip of a calendar to trigger any meaningful movement in the root cause of all of this (even with a potential pandemic vaccine on the way for end of 2021).

2021 

Who the hell knows. That might be the real sign of how 2020 went,.. it seems hard to plan ahead and settle on a path. 

I feel that the conservative way to view vaccines is to expect, at best, by 2022 we can be social and travel more. The job loss and economic toll on governments will be in full force by then though and I for one do not underestimate the magnitude of that at all. For that reason, I am cautious about making too many plans. To think otherwise feels too optimistic.

My goals this year will be a bit fortune-cookie-ish:

• 
  Keep flexible - roll with it, expect nothing but seize opportunity to mix things up
  
• Stay healthy - every year I fail to really get in shape but I need to address a few issues including this golf ball in my shoulder.  I must turn around my exercise lethargy, especially for my joints.
• Communication - with friends and family far more frequently.  We are getting isolated.  Games nights, etc.
• Keep the following trends on the DOWNWARD trajectory:
  
• driving (and fuel consumption)
• spending on non-essential or non-experiential things
• animal based product consumption
• Keep the following on the UPWARD trajectory:
• Batch cooking.
• Alfresco dining (and having the supplies with us).
• Daily walks.
• Bike trips before all else (when safe and acceptable)
• Understanding CoV waste processes and improve our impact