Hanging around Hope

Who knew that the area around Hope was so full of dramatic scenery?

View from the side of the highway:

Hell's Gate, about 30km north of Hope, the narrowest part of the Fraser Canyon:

Alexandra Bridge:

Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park contains the Othello tunnels, which were old railway tunnels built in granite cliffs:

High Falls Creek

High Falls Creek is a very steep, very fun hike in Squamish. The first 2km involves a 600m ascent, which I thoroughly enjoyed because it consisted of mostly scrambling, with the occasional use of chains. It was a bit unnerving because parts of the trail were on cliffs with steep drop-offs besides them, which meant that a slip could lead to instant death! Fortunately, we went on a dry day, and the hike took us through rocks, forest, and waterfalls, with lots of views in between. The way down was difficult though, and I had to use my rock climbing skills in some areas because of the lack of footholds on the rocks!

Toronto + NYC

Leonard and I went to Toronto to visit his friends and family and to NYC to visit Phoebe. It was great fun and great food.

Toronto Islands:

Niagara Falls:

Niagara wine region:

Peterborough lift locks:

Stoney Lake:

NYC:

Governor's Island:

Chelsea:

Brooklyn:

Our trip to New York City was a bit funny because we went to random places (eg. Governor's Island). We had both spent lots of time in NYC before, and I hate being in large crowds such as the ones in Times Square, so we asked Phoebe to take us around Brooklyn and to places locals go to.

Iona Beach Park

On this hot, sunny Sunday we cycled through the Richmond countryside to get to Iona Beach Park. Initially, I was unimpressed, because the "beach" was really just a lot of sand covered with seaweed. We decided to bike to the end of the 4km jetty, which turned out to be pretty cool because that's where we finally saw the start of the ocean, with views of Tsawwassen and Horseshoe Bay. Then I started getting nauseous, probably due to the sun/dehydration/biking right after eating, so we took the train home. It still ended up being a 35km bike ride!

Who knew there were farms with tons of horses right beside the airport?