Powell River Adventures

It wouldnt be an annual Christmas trip to Powell River without some kind of excitement and adventure.

Peter and I picked my brother up in Lions Bay just before 1pm on Sunday afternoon. We boarded the 1:20 ferry to Langdale. It was raining, and we only visited the top deck breifly, to feel adventerous. We had checked the ferry schedule and knew that we had to get to the next Ferry for a 3:20 sailing. We loaded off the Langdale ferry at 2:15pm, which gave us a scant hour and 5 minutes to catch the next one.

Unfortunetly but not surprisingly, we got stuck behind ferry traffic, even after taking the 'short cut'. We finally entered a passing lane and went by a few cars, until the road went back into single lane traffic with no opportunity to pass. We were stuck behind 2 cars who were barely holding the limit. We were all clearly headed to the ferry and we knew that at the speed the lead car was driving, no one was going to make it.

We arrived there exactly at 3:20 with a small line of cars. Hmm...we thought, maybe the ferry was late. We asked the ferry traffic controller what time the ferry was at and he said "4:25". We had been looking at the wrong ferry schedule, mistaking the powell river ferry from Saltry Bay for Earls Cove on the Sunshine Coast side. We felt pretty stupid, not only for our mistake but for all the cursing of the vehicles we had in front of us!

That night we settled in for a lovely Roast my step dad, Jim, had cooked up. It felt great to be back here.

The next day Peter and I went for our traditional run around Inland Lake. We felt as though we were running through the lake because the whole thing was like a giant puddle. Once we embraced it however, it became quite the playful adventure. Running, yelling and screaming through puddles. I have been instructed by Jennifer Keefer, my Physiotherapist at Village Physio, to get back into running through a walk run program (5 min run, 30 sec walk). It took me a while to embrace it, but now I actually look forward to that 30 second walk break. Hey, I'll enjoy it while I can! We finished the 13km in the same time as last year, so the walk breaks can't be such a bad thing.

That afternoon found us in relaxation mode, watching the first season (disc 1) of Dexter on DVD. Gary and Tamsin haven't stopped talking about this show since they first rented the DVD's and Peter and I thought this 4 day vacation would be the perfect opportunity to give it a go. I must say, it is a pretty awesome show. We have only watched the first Disc and there are 3 more to go (12 more episodes)!!!

We made Fajitas over at my Mom's house and retired for the evening watching another episode of Dexter. Jim showed Peter a map of the Powell River trail system last night. He studied it well and found a great run for us to do only a short drive from our house.

The next morning we headed off and drove up a logging road and parked right infront of the trail head. It was clear that it had lightly snowed the night before as there were snow dustings on the trees. It was beautiful. The trails were magnificant and ever so plush. It was like running on pillows. We passed by a few smaller lakes and one that was simply stunning. This one had a narrow wooden ramp leading you to a dock that was perched up from te water. I wished then that I had brought my camera to have shown you all, but for now, it will remain an intmate image in my brain. This run was just under an hour and a half, my longest one to date since MMTR50!

It's funny, it was only 6 or 7 weeks ago that I ran a 50 miler that took me over 8 and a half hours to complete. Now, an hour and a half seems long! The beginning of the season always feels this way.

We have fresh clams and oysters (cooked, not raw)on the menu tonight, which we hand picked ourselves off the beach in Okeover at 11:30 pm on Sunday night! That's right, Peter, myself, my brother and step-dad, put on our rain gear, grabbed the shovels and buckets, and went 'clamming'. Peter's new Petzl headlamp guided the way that night. If you are not careful, you might mistake it as a motor vehicles high beams, it's that powerful.

Alright, time to go finish some last minute shopping, while the boys are out golfing. Golfing in December, who knew? Last year, everything was covered in snow. Gotta love the weather gods!

See you in the trails!!!!