Category: Round The World 2004

Amazingly it was a fairly quiet one last night (i.e. we got home at 1:30am) but still quite capable of walking. So before Vancouver we were in Whistler for a couple of days in Janet’s cabin, very nice up there and a fantastic view of the slopes from the balcony, but in a way that was a bad thing as it put me off skiing as the conditions looked pretty crap up there. Steve went, and indeed it was fairly crap apparently.

Today we start the long journey back south, we’re not sure what route to take yet but it may be over the Canadian Rockies or south to Seattle and then east. We’re heading for Yellowstone ultimately.

More updates tomorrow as I have to run for dinner with some people we know in Vancouver. It’s my birthday today so…… HELP!

A quick one from Whistler in Canada – we have the use of Janet’s cabin share which is a nice change from a motel for a few days. Janet is a friend of Steve’s he met in Alaska a few years ago. Crossed the border yesterday having done a night backcountry camping 9 miles into Olympic National Park which was also quite an experience. You have to suspend your food from the trees to stop the bears getting it!

The previous night we spent in the town of Bellingham just south of the border, but not a lot else of any note to report from Washington. Yesterday we went sea kayaking for a couple of hours in Dove Cove just outside of Vancouver, was a lovely sunny day and got a few miles in on calm waters in the bay.

In a library in Aberdeen in Washington state – massive hangover so excuse the drivel. Went for a “quiet one or two” in a few locals’ bars last night, which turned out to be cheap and cheerful.

So we’ve been 4 days on the road from San Francisco up through Oregon which have been fairly uneventful really, we stopped off at Crater Lake, an extinct volcano now full of water (fairly obvious, I know…) In the last post I completely forgot the fact that we spent 2 nights in Yosemite, after leaving Tahoe and on the way to San Jose. We slept in a tent cabin thing which has been our closest brush with nature as yet and did a hike up a couple of highly impressive waterfalls as the spring snow melt is in full force at the moment thanks to the unseasonably high temperatures. The actual trail was a bit mainstream for my liking, but then it’s a bit of a touristy place.

Today we’re off to Olympic National Park, up in the very north west corner of the States apart from Alaska. We might even do some back country camping up there in fact as the weather is pretty nice at the moment. Yesterday we actually had a little bit of very light drizzle which is the first rain we’ve seen in the 7 weeks we’ve been out here!

We’ve found out that we’ve got the use of a time share in Whistler in Canada through a friend of Steve’s so we’re heading over the border for that at the weekend and should hopefully get some late season skiing in with any luck. Apparently they’ve had some recent big snow up there so conditions are good.

The snow continued to deteriorate at the Heavenly resort, and to be honest as a resort it was far from my favourite anyway, it seemed hard to get around it and you had to do a load of poling all over the place. We discovered the nearby resort of Kirkwood though and spent a couple of days skiing there, this was far superior and is one of my favourite resorts ever. It even saw me doing a load of double-blacks and staying on my feet which is something of a miracle.

After that we took a drive down to San Jose and stayed with Tony Lisamore for a couple of nights, quite a nice little town really with some fairly lively bars which we just had to try out. Yesterday we moved up to San Francisco and stayed in a motel a stone’s throw from Fisherman’s Wharf. Yesterday we did the obligatory Alcatraz trip which was pretty good actually, the holes in the vents at the back of the cells where the guys escaped from are just like those you see in the Clint Eastwood film.

Went out last night with Beata and Ray that I met last Christmas on a Trek America trip in and around Mexico, they are on good form, we’ll probably spend tonight on Ray’s sofas actually to save us a few bucks. It’s fantastic weather, about 75 today and we are all in our shorts and working the tan nicely…. Today we’ll probably take a cruise around the bay and go for a goggle at the Golden Gate bridge. We took a cable car tram thing last night on our way to the bar so that one’s ticked off the list as well.

Then, it’s on up the West coast on our way to hopefully Whistler in Canada to get a few days’ spring skiing in as well, conditions up there are great at the moment apparently.

Oh, by the way, we have a US number you can call if you’re feeling so inclined for the remainder of the US trip. It’s +1 303 241 0937 and we’re either 7 or 8 hours behind UK time depending on where we are at the time.

Right, this is a long one as we’ve passed through 3 States since the last update, so if you get bored easily, disconnect now…

Spent our last evening in Frisco drinking with Joe Morales, a guy from work that I first met in Australia. Several shots later and a few hours sleep and we were on the road to Utah. First stop was Arches National Park which was fairly amazing stuff, there is shots of us teetering on top of the “Double O” Arch which is highly illegal but should make a good photo. Temperatures here were in the mid-70’s, quite a contrast from the mountains of Colorado from where we had just come. In fact the whole of the South West is in the midst of a record breaking heat wave at the moment so we are baking here. Then we went to Canyonlands and hiked 1400 feet down a ridiculously steep cliff face, only to have to hike up again (wish we’d thought of that at the time….). Stayed in the nearby town of Moab and encountered Utah drinking laws for the first time, where it’s pretty hard to get a drink without having to sign up for membership of a “private club” which is basically a bar, we tried one but after being accosted by a pissed local as soon as we set foot inside we thought better of it…

Then we headed out west again on Route 50 which is dubbed the loneliest highway in America, and they’re not kidding, this road goes on and on for hundreds of miles without out hardly seeing a single car much less a town or any people. We stopped each side of Capitol Reef National Park and hiked to the top of yet more 1,000 foot cliffs there. Next we hit Nevada, the notorious gambling state and stayed in a great little town on route 50 called Ely and hit the town and casinos until 3:30 am or something. Next day we carried on to Lake Tahoe which is where I am now and finally located an internet connection (!). Skiied yesterday in temperatures of 60 degrees or so which is so hot it’s affecting the snow, so decided to have a day off today and waiting for the snow which is meant to be coming on Friday. Tahoe’s in California but the resort of Heavenly we are in is so large you can ski across into Nevada, and so last night we hit the casinos and club where any drink is a dollar, until about 4:30 or something. We’ve met up with friends of Steve from London, Michelle and Justine, who are out here for the week skiing as well.

Time’s up, must get off this computer and back to bed…

Racing against the clock on this computer, so… skiied Vail the other day, very poor snow conditions unfortunately, as it was so hot. Then today we were supposed to hit the road, BUT it dumped 6 inches of snow overnight so we stayed around for an extra night to ski Arapahoe Basin, a staggering 13,050 feet above sea level at the summit. Now we’re knackered…

In Steamboat Springs in a fantastic time share that Joe got for us. We have just spent the morning chilling in the pool, outdoor hot tub and sauna/steam room etc. Yesterday the skiing was more like ice skating as temperatures hit 50 degrees which was a shame, but you can’t win them all.. Missed the night out last night thanks to the crate of beer, bottle of Jeigermeister and bottle of Tauca that we foolishly purchased for a “livener” before going out, but the rest of the guys had a good time apparently. It seems like quite a happening town.

Hit the road in half an hour to head for Frisco where we are staying as a base for skiing in the ever popular Vail tomorrow. We’ll be there with Iain, Joe and Wendy tonight, then on Monday myself and Steve begin the trip West to Arhces National Park.

Hiked up Bear’s Peak the day before yesterday, a trail described as “strenuous” which it certainly was, given that it has a vertical ascent of nearly 3,000 feet up to an elevation of 8,461 feet, with snow underfoot for some of the time. It is supposed to take 4 to 5 hours, we did it in a little over 3, thanks to being late arriving due to Joe’s poxy directions which sent us off to completely the wrong trail head. On the way up you pass the Devil’s Thumb.

At the summit, in typical fashion, the bloody mobile rang (can’t get away from the damn things wherever you go). It was Joe, so I was giving him shit for his dodgy directions.

By the time we got down, it was just about totally dark! Had a quiet one yesterday, Steve foolishly went for a jog whilst I took the truck in for exchange as we had an electrical problem on it the other day, causing the lights to flash dim and bright as you were driving along, much to the frustration of the drivers we were behind. Got a tasteful maroon number now.

We are leaving Iain’s today to head for Steamboat Springs, another ski resort about 3 or 4 hours North West of here. We’ll spend two nights there then head back to Summit County somewhere and ski Vail on Saturday. Then myself and Steve will start the road trip out West directly from there. Photo uploads are likely to be sporadic/non-existent from now on as we’ll be reliant on internet caffs for updates, so whatever we tell you, you’ll have to believe from now on 🙂

Went to a semi-cowboy, semi-normal music bar in the suburb of Evergreen on Saturday night. A real laugh watching the 45+ year olds tapping off with one another. We got home at 2am only to have to get up at 5-30 to ski Winter Park on Sunday. This was great, we actually skiied the more hard core Mary Jane side of the resort where they do not believe in piste groomers much, so was great for pushing hard on the moguls and learning how to fall down in style. We were also blessed with glorious weather, and now I look somewhat like a lobster with panda eyes. Never mind, it will all peel off soon enough.

Went for dinner at “Chillis” last night, you can imagine what Iain’s flat smells like today… We decided to leave promptly when about sixty 15 year olds from a church group turned up and occupied all the tables around ours.