Am now back at camp safe and sound after our super awesome Seattle trip. Since then a fair bit has happened, we hiked a mountain, then a ridge, had staff training for Fall and our first group of the season. Right now we are struggling to decide what to do for our 5 days off before we get into the hectic Fall season.
Hiking Garibaldi was a super awesome experience. The hike 9km up pretty steep switchbacks was not the greatest thing I've ever done, however it is still pretty fun. We didn't leave til quite late in the day, so the sunset stained the surrounding rock faces pink and purple, which was pretty nice. Getting into camp in the dark at 9:30pm not so nice but do-able. We pitched our tents and feasted on Hamburger Helper... it did take a while for the Canadians to explain to us what on earth 'Hamburger' was... beef mince. Some good times were spent sitting in the food shelter.
The next morning we got going kind of slow, and didn't start the day hike up to Panorama Ridge til 12:30pm. It was a 14km round trip where we climbed a decent amount. The last k or 2 was super sketchy, steep slopes of loose rock. The views when we got to the top made it all worthwhile. Garibaldi Lake, in all its ridiculous-blue glory, splayed out beneath us. To our left was a huge old snowfield leftover from the winter, to our right we could see our campground, a miniscule little settlement dwarfed by the gigantuan body of water. We had carried the Summit flag all the way up there so everyone took turns getting photos.
Hiking down was a whole lot of fun, waayyy easier. Tyler ran down in like 40mins, he's nuts.
Since Garibaldi we have met the three new staff, Duncan, Emily and Krista, and had Fall Staff Training which was a grand total of one day... nearly everyone has worked with Summit before, as well as the Squamish Elementary coming for a day of team building activities. It was pretty chill, and now we have 5 days off. We were going to go to Tofino, but its thunderstorming all week. We were then going to go to Alberta, but couldn't afford it. So now we are going to head down to Van and see what happens from there. We were thinking of heading to the Interior, maybe Nelson or something. But right now we are eating cereal and watching Die Hard 4, so I think I better go get on that. I'll try and post again once Fall is underway.
Here are some shots from Seattle and Garibaldi:
Pike Place Markets, Seattle
Looking 'American' at the Elliot Bay Cafe, near Pioneer Square in Seattle
Seattle Storm vs. Indiana Fever. The Storm won.
At the top of Panorama Ridge
The Garibaldi Trip Crew, from left to right: Crumbles, Tyler, Luke, Eddie, Alex, Megan, and in front, Kate and I.
