Whenever I go through phases of diligent writing and journaling, I am always surprised at how much discipline it takes to write every day. I could not imagine what it would take to write fiction because just catching up on what I have done day to day ties up so much time. It is even more of a challenge when the passing nature begs your attention. One could argue that I ought to take advantage of the opportunity of soaking in the scenery because it is not likely that I will do this again for years, however there is a lot to be said for being able to remember more of what we saw by reading back over the notes I kept. It often takes an entire off-shift of driving to catch up with what occurred earlier that day and the day before.
We woke up initially at 7:00am, but dipped back into sleep for an extra hour before getting out of bed. The blue sky could be seen through the trees and the sun greeted us a good morning to our east across the river. We rolled out of bed and began to break down camp. This process was slow because every trip back to the car was interrupted by a quick walk down to the riverbed. Attempts to bath in the water were initially interrupted by a trio of men hovering across from us on the water hoping to succeed at some fly-fishing. To our delight, after a few more trips to and from the car, they disappeared around the bend. Clean and raring to go, we made a quick meal of oatmeal and coffee, packed up our things and were off for the border. We quickly passed from Montana to Idaho, where the beauty of the mountains spilled over across state lines. Check-in's had to be made quickly, but before we knew it we had already reached the Canadian border. A quick hello and handing over of passports granted us permission to the province of British Columbia. Three years ago, I had first visited Squamish and that trip alone was enough to make me think that BC was incredible. On this day, whipping down winding roads through the forest to the expansive open plains surrounded by unyielding mountain ranges made me realize that there were no bounds to beauty. During this drive, I realized that mistakes happen for a reason. We missed a turn and pressed on despite multiple conversations about turning around to cut back on time, but driving past Fruitvale and Rossland on the way to Kelowna was breathtaking. Expansive is the only way to describe it - there are very few places I have seen that are quite as majestic. Everything seemed to be on a much grander scale from the torrential rivers to the massive mountains to the farmlands to the trucks. And they said things were bigger in Texas...
We arrived in Kelowna at about 7:30pm and were blown away by the sight of it. A friend of Jacquie's mother had recommended it to us and described it as a slice of heaven - we both had to agree. We were excited to see that there was a live band playing by the water, which consequently made the parking much more difficult to find. After nearly leaving the car on a rather sketchy road outside of a strip club, we managed to find a city parking area that was free in the evenings. We grabbed food at Fernando's Pub. It took quite some time to get our food so we decided to get it to go. Because it was already about 9:30pm and we had four and a half hours of driving ahead of us, we made a pit stop to stock up on fuel, Red Bulls and Starbucks coffees. The drive passed surprisingly quickly.
When we finally approached Squamish, I could feel a strong churn deep in the pit of my stomach. This was not a result of stomach aches or pains, but a churning of emotions and nostalgia as we weaved through the mountain rounds. Squamish was the last place I ever climbed before learning that my brother was in the hospital three years ago. Somehow, I always arrive deep into the night / morning. As a result, I am actually more familiar with the curvatures of the landscapes in the dark than I am during the day. Returning to Squamish brought with it a great release - I have felt the bad energy I have been carrying with me for years drain out of me over the past few days. The next morning, I was to Jacquie how Simba was to Mufasa at the beginning of the Lion King - awake early and squirming to get moving.
Climbs ticked:
Saturday, June 23 - Bilbo Baggins (Trad 5.8), Gollum (Trad 5.7), High Boltage Line (Sport 5.10a), Pixie Corner (Trad 5.8), Davy Jone's Locker (Trad 5.7)
Sunday, June 24 - Master of My Domain (Sport 5.9, 2 pitches), Festivus (Sport 5.9), Giddy Up (Sport 5.10+), Real TV (Sport 5.10a)
Monday, June 25 - Skywalker (Trad 5.8, 5 pitches), Khalanie Crack (Trad 5.7)
Wednesday, June 27 - St. Vitus' Dance (Trad 5.9, 5 pitches)
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