Canada: Squamish & SW BC

August 20 – August 27: We camped a week in Squamish with the idea of hiking Whistler, checking out Vancouver and seeing the Squamish area. One more week of smoke and then a weekend of rain readjusted our plans, but we learned a lot about mining, logging, the First Nation’s People and SW British Columbia! We hiked the 4 Lake Trail and took a reconnaissance mission on the ferry to the Sunshine Coast in preparation for the ferry ride we’d be taking with Liv and Vigo (the full rig) over to Vancouver Island the following week.

Canadian Coastal Sailing Adventure: Highlight of the week…actually sailing (really sailing with sails up and tacking and jibing) on Howe Sound out of Squamish. This was on Tom’s bucket list and we had a beautiful afternoon on a 50′ sailboat with 5 other guests. The smoke cleared at the end of the week before the rain came in for the weekend and we got to experience the beauty of the Howe Sound and the Squamish area.

Howe Sound looking toward the Pacific

Tom enjoying the view of the sails with the First Mate

Squamish Harbor

Tacking

Squamish Harbor

I got to dip my feet in the water with the reverse tack and the boat leaning WAY over!

Our boat for the day

Logs waiting for shipment out of the Squamish area

More logs

Britannia Mine Tour: Britannia, the largest copper mine in Canada, mined copper from 1904 – 1974. Have you ever wondered what is in those big mining buildings that sit perched up against the mountain side? We finally got to see and hear about the amazing story behind the mining and the process involved with mining.

While the mining destroyed much of sea life in the Howe Sound, it has since been cleaned up with the direct help of the mining company and the Canadian government and the sea life is returning to Howe Sound. Mining and logging are huge parts of the Canadian economy as they are in the US, but much has been shown that it can be done with moderately environmentally friendly manner and we can recover much of the damage that has been incurred with policy that supports clean mining and restorative logging.

Ore Processing Building

Inside the Ore Processing Building-looks like something straight out of a scary movie set!

Howe Sound looking towards Squamish

Small jar of actual copper and the larger jar of the waste in getting that small jar

Mine Tunnel

Whistler Village and Ski Area: Whistler makes great use of its mountain during the summer with extensive mountain biking trails. Whistler hosted the Para Olympics in 2010, which was represented in the village.

Vancouver, British Columbia: The rain cleared enough for some wandering in Stanley Park in the center of Vancouver. An otter family came up from the water to greet us.