Fall has Arrived

Just a quick note on what we've been up to lately.

Last weekend Mike and I flew up to Prince George to visit Mike's Family. It was Dave's Birthday, so we had a yummy Prime rib dinner finished off with cheesecake to celebrate as well as our favorite pies to munch on all weekend. Thanks for the great food all weekend Debbie! We had a great time visiting with friends and family and enjoying the outdoors around PG. We saw all kinds of animals in PG this time too which was pretty cool. We saw several deer and a Moose right at Dave and Debbie's house and we saw a couple of black bears while we were out and about.

We spent Friday fishing at Nulki Lake which is out by Vanderhoof. It was a beautiful, sunny warm fall day and we spent all afternoon rowing the fishing boat (after the motor died) around the calm, quiet lake while we fished for trout. Actually, Mike and Dave rowed the boat while I fished. :) The trees were all turning colours and the lake was pretty much deserted and completely flat and calm, so it made for a nice, relaxing day out in the sun. We ended up catching 6 trout to put in the smoker.

On Saturday we met up with some of Dave and

Debbie's Friends and went for a hike up to Raven Lake, which is located in Grizzly Den Provincial Park. The hike if 4.7 km one-way with about 1500 ft of elevation gain. It starts out by climbing fairly steeply through the forest and tehn breaks out into sub-alpine meadows with great views of the McGregor Mountain Range. After this point you basically contour and hike over some rolling hills for about an hour or so before reaching the lake.

The lake is surrounded by towering ridges and has a stunning but peacful setting. There is also a backcounty hut and several tent pads and an outhouse at the lake if you choose to spend the night. We spent about an hour at the laek enjoying the scenery and havign some lunch. The entire trip took us about 5 hours return, including lunch and snack breaks along the way.

After coming home from PG We decided that this was the week to get back into some sort of routine with the arrival of fall. Time to kick the lazy summer days to the curb. Mike and I bought an annual pass for the Edge Climbing Gym and are excited to get back into climbing regulary and to get into shape over the winter. Lara and I also revived our running schedule and are back to running 2-3 days a week. This week we ran up mosquito creek, hiked the BCMC trail by head lamp and are starting the fall trail clinic for the "Phantom Trail Race" with Heather thru Mountain Madness tomorrow. It feels good to be regularly active again!

Click here for a Full Photo Album from PG