hitting the half-way mark

july 26/09 (DAY 26)

this is the first time in my entire journey to which i am completely and utterly bored. i dont know what to do and i havent a clue if all it is is simply lack of sleep or what. here i am at this gorgeous lakeside campsite and i am dumbfounded. i have found the wasps here to be incredibly horrible and given my antsy state of mind i would rather pack up and leave, but my clothes (that i washed 2 days ago) are STILL damp. so then i figure i should stay. but then theres the wasps. SIGH.

last night i think was the worst nights sleep ive had since i started this journey. between the drunk guys testing to see who has more testosterone in them by having a yelling match across the lake and then the squirrel and owl deciding to do a duet all night beside my tent - well, what little sleep i DID get was filled with a mishmash of dreams.

ahh - screw it. im packing up. i cant sit still here.

****

what a messed up day today has been. starting with a lack of sleep last night due to a hooting owl, squirrel running around, a cayote or wolf (i havent a clue which) howling at the moon and my dreams.... well to sum it up - it sucked. oh - and there was also a tree that fell over. i couldnt tell where it was so all i could do was hold my breath and cross my fingers that it wouldnt hit my tent as the unmistakeable sound of wood breaking filled my ears. i survived. to top it all off - the boys across the lake might as well have been yelling out their measurements as they got into a very classic drunken yelling match over who was better than who.

5 am rolled around pretty quickly and though i had no intention of getting up at that time as i planned on taking the day to chill, i was up. that was when i started to have problems. i was antsy, tired and a little cranky right off the bat yet couldnt seem to go bak to sleep. i also couldnt seem to get a fire going and couldnt seem to get away from the wasps. by 10 am i decided to pack up and leave. at least THAT gave me something productive to do.

productive as it was, in my tired state of mind i failed to think that because i was leaving camp so late id be walking during the hottest part of the day. and it was a hot one at 32 degrees celcius. i pressed on, figuring i could make it to a nearby deserted village by 1 pm and set up camp. it was a bonus that id be by the lakeshore again, hopefully this time with no wasps.

i found the road leading to the lakeshore shortly after 1 pm. i had to bypass a gate, but thought nothing of it as gates such as that have been a normal obstacle for uninhabitated areas. i found out quickly that the road did a steep decline to get to the shore, one of which i found myself dreading to have to come up the next day. that thought was immediately crushed when i reached the bottom.

as it turns out, this "deserted" village has recently been turned into an array of summer cabins, one of which even had the sign posted, "private property. no trespassing. violators will be shot. survivors will be shot again." a REAL friendly neighborhood by the looks of it. i reluctantly turned around to make my way back up the 1 km/150 m incline.

about halfway up, all sticky with sweat, i met up with a family all packed in their bright new shiny vehicle. the mom asked me if i had walked all the way down. i said i had in hopes that id be able to find somewhere to camp for the night. she smiled knowingly and then who i could only assume was HER mom piped up and said, "you know, theres a gat up top - USUALLY that meaks there's people around." she said it in that condensending way to indicate that she thought i was dumb to have walked all the way down the hill when apparently it was so obvious i was entering private property. i just replied that in my experience the opposite was true if there are no signs on the gate indicating otherwise. i could only wonder if the sole private property sign i DID see happened to be this ladys. i could definitely see her as someone that would shoot any trespassers on her property.

that lady pissed me off SO badly, it made the rest of my climb back up the hill miserable. i had wanted so badly to talke back to her and throw in her face that ive been walking for the past month across bc - what the hell has SHE been doing that she has any right to judge me?! i bit my tongue.

eventually i found a spot 3 km later aside a creek. thank goodness.



july 28/09 (DAY 28)

i have officially set up camp for today and, as usual, the big black cloud has followed me here. i actually got confirmation from a couple of locals that the weatherman has reported a circular pattern with these rain clouds. i feel so privileged that they chose to be in sync with my route. on the positive side at least theres some routine to it all. wake up to a damp tent and bright blue sky. pack up and head out, enjoying the few hours of cool air before the heat strikes (it was 30 degrees by 9 am today). as time ticks on, i am consumed with the hope, excitement and possibility of the "perfect camping spot" to dry my tent, wash clothes and enjoy the heat without a pack strapped to my back. id find the spot, set up tent and feel in heaven as a breeze comes by and cools me off. id look up to face the sun thats been beating down on me only to find that theres a big black cloud rolling in. within 30 min itd start to rain. this has been my daily routine for the past week. everyday is the same thing. except maybe today - knock on wood. the clouds are here but they appear to be passing by rather quickly. there is hope still.



july 29/09 (DAY 29)

there was no rain yesterday, but waking up this morning my tent was still damp from the humidity there might as well have been a rainstorm.

i have made it to christina lake today and all of my lower extremities are exhausted from my 30 km hike. some could argue that i had it easy as it was all downhill from paulson, but when you walk like that for hours, deliberately putting one foot in front of the other and placing each hiking pole appropriately so as not to trip forward and end up rolling down the hill like a loose hubcap - it's hard. not to mention the added stress of vehicles zipping past an arms length away and trying tno to get caught up in the pull of the wind that results as the vehicles fly by. like i said - i am sore.

and tired. this last leg of my journey has felt slightly harder than others - not so much physically, but emotionally. i feel as though my heart and soul have been put to the test this past week. it has rained almost everyday - no - EVERY day save for yesterday. since i have left nelson i have met some incredibly obnoxious people, such as the lady on the 26th. then there was the guy the following day on the 27th.

i had just made it to the main highway and found my next campground that was along the short of this gorgeous lake. it was one of those self registration campsites which means you stick a payment in an envelope marked with your site # and the ranger comes by at some point to make sure everythins in order.

all the designated sites i immediately determined were crap. it was pretty much set up to drive in, park your car and right in front of your car was the "site." all had a view of the cement block that separates the cars from the "camping area." so i headed over to the day picnic area and set up my tent by a picnic table so that i had a perfect view of the lake without being in the way of all the lack/beach/picnic table users. i had just set up my tent when another camper (man) came over after doing a quick row with his canoe. he immediately stated that i could not camp where i was. i told him i couldnt resist the view and i had no issues paying the $10 for the night to see it. it wasnt as though id be "ruining" the spot by building a fire - theres currently a fire ban on due to the heat. he then proceeded to warn me the ranger may ask me to move. "i spose ill just have to talk to them when they (or IF they) get here" was my reply. he then left me alone, but from the other side of the beach i noticed him eyeing me down all day as though i was going to cause a riot.

i dont know what HE was all freaked about. it wasnt as though HE was the ranger. after it was all said and done i ended up camping for free that night as the ranger never showed. the view was worth the trouble - made up for the fact that i had broken my sunglasses (2nd pair of the trip) earlier that day when i was packing up my tent and forgot they were still inside.

the 28th held much of the same frustration as the previous few days. it was all okay until i went to go find a place for the night. there were 2 cabins indicated on my map that are available for public use, but the grainy photocopy wasnt much help in deciphering how to get to them. i completely bypassed the first one, only because there never was a path leading in that general direction.

the 2nd one i figured would be easier to access as it appeared to be sitting in the corner of where 2 logging roads met. i followed the one logging road, searching for a path that led to the cabin. 1 km later and completely out of breath from hiking straight up a hill, i turned around. i tried the second road and had better luck. sort of.

i found the faintest indentation in the ground that followed a line in the general direction of where i figured the cabin should be. i followed it. my history of watching "mantracker" marathons on tv and being in the woods for almost a month now, i figured it wouldnt be too bad to stick to the overgrown trail. it wasnt. what WAS hard was going straight up the side of the mountain in hopes that the obviously unused trail would lead me to a cabin uninhabitated by humans or wildlife and was still intact. i weighed my options (keep going or turn around) and decided it was better (and safer) to find somewhere else for the night. apparently "safe" wasnt in my books untill i was actually off the trail.

with the road in sight, i was almost at the end, but then it happened and in the painful form of slowmotion (is there any OTHER speed in these situations?) - my foot slipped on a rock. i attempted to put my hiking pole in front of me to brace myself, but the sudden shift of weight caused my backpack to shift to the side. all i could to was watch helplessly and cross my fingers i would still be in one piece at the end as i became a dirtball (the summers version of a snowball) of bag, poles, limbs and plantlife rolling to the base of the trail. i slowly untangled myself to find that all the dirt i had bypassed now clung to my sweaty body like a gritty blanket. i sighed, picked myself up and started to walk again.

fortunately the place i found that night was by a creek that had its own swimming hole. i got cleaned up, ate dinner, watched the black clouds roll by and then wrote in my journal. then my pen ran out of ink. after an attempt to write with my emergency pencil (similar to writing with a toothpick) i decided to try sleep.

like i said earlier - i made it to christina lake. i am hoping a much needed break will refresh me mentally and emotionally for the next part of my journey. the campsite hosts (carol and nick) here are awesome. i have been able to charge up my camera batteries (the one died shortly after leaving neslon - the second was due to go any minute here) and they gave me a pen. it was all good until 5:30 pm rolled around and i got a spontaneous nose bleed. when it didnt clear up immediately my mind ran wild thinking that this event would end my trip entirely (any nose bleed gushing after 10 minutes is not a good sign) - maybe i had something like leukemia. as i sat pinching my nostrils together with the last of my toilet paper all i could think was that i hope someone writes the book i wanted to of my journey.

geez.

it cleared by 6 pm. i figured the whole event was due to the heat. that and my exaggerated thinking was due to being alone for so much of the last week. good thing im coming up to the long weekend when there will be hoards of people around to annoy me back into my regular thinking patterns.


july 31/09 (DAY 31)

as i sit here waiting for the sun to rise and heat up my little private beach cove, my thoughts wander to what id be doing if i were still in calgary. id probably be working i spose, not that theres anything wrong with that, but its amazing to think of how different my life has become since i left. and thats just it - what i am doing now IS my life. its not a vacation or a "break." i have no job, no home, no things to "go back" to. this is it and wherever it takes me is wherever i go.

****

this beach is probably the most unique ive been to so far. first off, christina lake is one of the warmest lakes of bc - its warmer than most swimming pools. secondly, the beach for the campsite is divided into separate private coves - awesome for privace, sucky when trying to find one with the best sun access as they are all lined with trees and bushes. as it turns out, i seem to have picked a late sun spot as its now 11:45 am and the sun is just starting to hit "my" beach. meh - what can you do when in paradise?

****

well, its 4 pm and i am officially beat from all that beach time. a day of swimming and sitting in the sun has taken it out of me. now i just got to figure out where im staying for tomorrow night as the day after my dad is coming to meet me to do a week of camping (YAY!).


july 31/09

last page of my journal - only seems fitting that its the last day of the month. its also the last night before my dad comes to meet me and im so stoked for it because ironically enough it will be a break for me. a break of continuously moving forward. a break of constantly putting a smile on for strangers. a break of being the only one to make decisions and the only one to blame when theyre wrong. to top it all off i get to see my dad - what could be bad about that?

i managed to find a camping spot here by the kettle valley trail (aka: trans canada trail) that is so idealic i wish i could stay more than one night. my tent sits in the shade so its not so stiffling hot from the 30+ degrees weather and it sits on the beach - yup - a REAL beach with sand and everything - along the river. i simply spent today swimming and lounging to my hearts content. i chatted it up with some guys from kellowna who are camping further down the river and tried to maintain my invisible status when a large group of drunken tubers overtook the beach for a bit. but all in all, its been another great day in paradise! :)




NOTE: I HAVE UPDATED MORE OF MY PICTURES IN THE 2ND ALBUM OF BACKPACKING BC - CHECK IT OUT! :D