Portland, Oregon (Days 44-46)
Kelly and I at the Paul Bunyan Statue
Awesome Car on Hawthorne St.
Perspective?
Lend a helping hand to a neighbor
Lightroom lets you make fun pictures!
Multnomah Falls! 2nd longest in the lower 48
Our cool new water bottles (Mike on right)
Cool boat on the Columbia River
Mike and Kelly
Word up
Convincing?
Multnomah Falls from the bridge
Cheese!
Awww
Mount Rainier National Park (Day 43)
I went over to the “Paradise” portion of Mount Rainier National Park. Took some pictures on the way, and hiked up nearly 5000 feet of elevation in about 5 miles to Camp Muir, a base camp for summiting Mount Rainier. Quite possibly one of the coolest hikes ever. I’m totally bringing my snowboard the next time I do it.
Mount Rainier again
Reflection Lake lives up to it’s name a few times…
Mount Adams
Mount St. Helens
This is the glacier i climbed up, one foot at a time, slipping every once in a while, and don’t take too big of steps…
That’s the “Paradise” visitor center at Mount Rainier that I started at
Don’t fall into the crevasse. Man it was kinda scary, went down 30?50? feet? I don’t know, didn’t get close enough to find out.
Mount Adams from a little higher up Mount Rainier
Mount Hood
Mount Saint Helens
Camp Muir! I made it! those crazy S.O.B.s have/will climbed to the top of Rainier.
See, i DID make it.
Clouds roll in…
I hiked through it and came out below the clouds…
Mount Rainier National Park (Day 42)
Went up to the “Sunrise” section of Mount Rainier National Park…
I didn’t caption a lot of these, but they are all in the “Sunrise” portion of the park.
Handstand at sunrise point
Mount Freemont Lookout, awesome trail, and there is the lookout!
2 days after labor day, they were using a helicopter to take stuff to/from the lookout and I got a close view!
IFR conditions
Seattle
I have gone a lot of miles, even through olympic national park…
to find “Nasty” chinese food…
I’ve had to take ferries…
right hand turns…
walk on my hands at Tiger Mountain…
all the way down this…
AND this.
Luckily, on this journey I have found very important things, like these black tail deer…
this abandoned greyhound bus…
and those wonderful geeks from Penny Arcade Expo 2008 (PAX08) playing magic the gathering.
All of this has led to one course of action. To change in a bold way.
I let my hair grow a little…
And attempted to style it…
and that gave me a lovely view from seattle, 19 floors above the streets.
That was quite a tale! The REAL story is, I got to Seattle this past Wednesday and had 2.5 awesome days with Martha and the gang. (thanks guys!) Then I headed even further downtown and stayed with Dan, and enjoyed the view from the 19th floor apartment, 1 block from the convention center. Just after going to “mutton chops” for about 10 minutes, I was cleanly shaven. It’s sad, but quite nice 
I think Seattle is a pretty nice place. There is lots of culture for sure… maybe too much? Only had internet for a moment, on my way to mount Rainier by way of an Oil Change!
Back in the U. S. A.
Back in the U.S.A. !!! That means I have a cellphone!
Seattle bound in just a day or two, outside of Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, WA at a Jack in the Box for dinner after getting off the ferry from Victoria
Pictures!
Rain Forest at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
Victoria HDR
Hard to top those past 2… but here are the rest :-p Here is my campsite at Green Point
Some moss in the rain forest…
Ahh, rain forest in CANADA???
There is a big tree I was promising you
Elevated trail
Love the rocky outcrops and islands
Crazy FRENCH PEOPLE!!! I didn’t go to the right because I thought I might get the PLAGUE
Trail down to the beach…
Looking up at it
One view of the big building…
A “figurehead”
The Empress
Its top lights change colors a bunch
Perspective
More Perspective
Late night fountains and Victoria
Victoria at Night
Have to get my license so I can fly a float plane
Cool Parking lot
Totem Pole!
HDR for YOU, good like cookie
HDRs are kinda like cheating… cause they look SOO cool, but I hope you enjoy!
Pyramid Mountain (Jasper) with a cloud blocking the peak
The wonderful town of Kamloops (meaning the meeting of waters, a native word, I learned that on CBC radio)
Just to the west of Kamloops
Along Highway 99
Turn around from past pic… along highway 99
Horseshoe Bay Park, West Vancouver
Horseshoe Bay Park’s little island
Horseshoe Bay Park
Looking back towards the mainland from the island
The belly of Lion’s Gate bridge
The lion himself
HDR Handstand at Green Point in Pacific Rim National Park
Green Point
Green Point (a little lighter) Photomatrix lets you play with settings, so I tried two different ways.
Green Point (a little darker)
Wow, i see GREEN at green point!
Tofino, Vancouver Island, B.C. Need to get my SES rating (Single Engine Sea)
Tofino, Vancouver Island, B.C.
Tofino, Vancouver Island, B.C. Absolutely LOVE the blue in this
Vancouver Island!
I made it, after sleeping in my car on the street, and hearing people talk about girls, and some guy at 4am taking a piss and then driving off… O well, it’s done and I am here in dreary vancouver island.
Off to Pacific Rim National Park and Tofino! I have a campsite the next 2 days, woo hoo! One in Pacific Rim, the other near Victoria.
USA bound on Tuesday at 3pm to Port Angeles.
Pictures will come as soon as internet with speed comes.
Cheers!
Vancouver Rocks
Loved the park at Horseshoe Bay.
City is HUGE, Chicago like cause it’s on the water, but man, it’s cool. I said WOW out loud when I saw mount ranier for the first time. Love the mountains, love the shore. Just gotta make it to my 620 am ferry to Vancouver Island.
Cheers!
Jasper to Whistler (Today completes month #1 on the road!)
Pacific Standard Time! Woo Hoo!
Last night I slept about 30k in on 99 heading south towards Whistler, at a Provincial Park Campground. I started reading through my books on Olympic National Park and some others, and just got excited. I love this. This trip was a great idea, and totally cool. So glad I get to keep exploring!
I’m in the library in Whistler right now. The sunrise drive down from the campground was quite pretty. I’ve got reservations to get over to Vancouver Island, head over to Pacific Rim National Park, and then down to Victoria, so 2 full days over there
Then it’s off to Olympic National Park on Tuesday, and then Seattle for Labor Day weekend!
Hope you enjoy the pics, I’ve driven approximately 500 miles on smaller roads in the past day, phew! Only a little over 100km to Vancouver!
P.S.- Stick to snowboarding in Whistler. The mountain biking was a letdown, almost killed myself on the rocks, and then gave up because it wasn’t worth it.
Do you know this creature?
Pyramid Mountain… Glorious
Kamloops, British Columbia
Just outside of Kamloops heading west
Cache Creek, British Columbia
Along the roadside of 99 in B.C.
What about this guy, he your friend?
Ahhh…
Oooo…
Pretty flowers with a mountain Bokeh
Handstanded!
Most AWESOME jump EVER, it goes OVER the mountain!
2010 Olympic Bobsled and Luge Track!
Heading towards Whistler
Don’t have a plan, we’ll see how it goes! Later!
Icefields to Mountain Biking in Jasper (Day 29)
Woke up at the Columbia Icefield campground, and headed up through Jasper to town. Set up camp at Whistlers Campground, and then jumped on the bike… and rode for 5? hours. Then showered, woo hoo! Headed into town, called Kristen and Home with Skype (it’s awesome!), went into a pub, got 1.5 beers, a chicken Caesar salad, and talked to some guys from Edmonton. All in all, a long, good day.
Columbia Icefield
Close up of the Icefield
Wow
Athabasca Falls, Are you “Fall”-ing for someone?
wow again
Looking downstream
Winding River in Jasper
Ahh, nice view on the bikeride
Goose, Goose, Goose, Goose, Duck?
One word… “blue”
Me like this one. Shot from the makeshift biking bridge on “overland” trail.
I was there… at least my (John’s old) bike was there.
As far as I went, before I decided I should turn back…
Wind up… (the music box) (from below) (stream)
Sun breaks through…
Green, blue, white
I like this one too…
After I was “lost”, hiked up what seemed like millions of steps with my bike, and trudging back towards the campground, I found the bridge I wanted to take a picture of originally. I was soaked, and it was still lightly raining, but this made it all worthwhile!
What’s at the END of the rainbow? A POT OF GOLD… and it’s UNDERWATER!
Have you seen something more vivid? Awesome.
Handstanded the Rainbow, for the 2nd time! (see first one in Cozumel, Mexico)
So I biked a long ways, for about 5 hours or so. The red is where I THINK I went 
Banff (Day 28)
I haven’t written any words except captions lately, so I figured this might be a good time. I rolled into Canada through the port of Roosville this past Friday, and made it up to Invermere, British Columbia to spend the weekend with friends. It was a fantastic weekend because it was so relaxing, and just nice to feel “at home”. They took me up to the peak of Swansea Mountain on their 4Wheel Drive Truck, out on the lake for swimming, for a boatride, barbecue, golf (thanks Reid for treating!). And on monday I did laundry, went gliding, and hung out for the day.
Thanks soooo much to Cassy and Forrest for giving me the opportunity to “recharge”. I really needed it and had a lovely time Hopefully will see you again soon!
After I left, I headed up 93 through Kootenay National Park, over to Banff. Banff was quite touristy. More like new york city. There were people from ALL over Asia and Europe, it was kinda ridiculous.
After touring around some, I got some pizza from Aardvarks pizza and Subs just off Banff Ave. Then camped out at The “Two Jack Main” campground for the night.
Last night I slept in the “columbia icefields” campground and camped next to a group of people from switzerland. I introduced myself when I came out of my warm car, and they were sawing off a tree limb in my site. A guy climbed a tree with a saw, and got a limb. “need wood, fire”. Thought that was pretty cool. Last night I heard stuff around the car, but eventually just put earplugs in and got some good sleep.
Well, in Jasper now, don’t know if I’ll stay here tonight or not… Then will be making my way down through Kamloops to Whistler, then West Vancover where I’m taking a Ferry to Vancover Island, then Ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, then Olympic National Park, then Seattle! As you can see, lots of places, so keeping the timeline pretty open, just wanna make it to seattle by next friday!
Enjoy the pics from Banff!
Peyto Lake
Hairy Man at Peyto Lake
Moraine Lake
More…
I don’t think you can take a bad picture of Moraine Lake…
I’m not kidding…
Yeah, awesome lake…
Clear water
Mountains
Rainbows
Rolls Royce at Lake Louise Fairmont Hotel
Lake Louise
Fairmont Hotel at Lake Louise
Wow, this almost looks black and white, and it is a straight picture.
Glacier anyone?
Proof I was there…
Now that is what I call a skyscraper
Oh, and i’ll leave you with a “hi” from my begging friend. This was taken with a wide angle lens, so he was about 6in from the lens.
Kootenay and Banff (Today is Day 28!)
Another point of the Continental Divide, soo cool.
I poured Water on both sides… Atlantic and Pacific!
Entering Alberta…
View from the roadside in Kootenay National
Another View from that Roadside… See the smoke?
Awesome
Hilly?
Paint Pots are pretty neat I’d say. Orange…
Orange Stream… They’re located in Kootenay National Park, right near the border of B.C. and Alberta
More Orange…
A little green and orange.
Orange River for the win
Awesome
The Kootenay River, right by the road
Looking upstream towards the footbridge
Marble Canyon, Kootenay National Park
More Marble Canyon
Video of the “Marble Canyon”
Awesome roadside view
Canada, eh?
View down the main street into banff, headed right at the mountain!
The infamous Banff hotel… Mortgage, or one night here?
Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
More Lake (Thanks Cecil for telling me to stop by!)
Minnewanka has been handstanded!
Dreary Afternoon, today is supposed to be worse
Ahhh, animals!
Mountains!
Cloud? or Mountain?
One of my favorites of Lake Minnewanka. The boatride (not on that boat) is 40 dollars, and too much for me this time… maybe i’ll catch one at Lake Louise?
Looking down the Pier
Made it to Banff (Day 27)
I’m in Banff and it’s mighty pretty here. Stealing internet, and will try to organize pictures tonight!
Cheers!
Soo… the US is awesome, and so is Canada!
The US… Glacier National Park
Lake McDonald
Doesn’t it look like a face of someone lying on their back?
Great colors!
Lake McDonald, so pretty, got handstanded!
View from the Glacier Park Boat on Lake McDonald
The boat when on the dock.
My “artsy” shot
Morning light coming through the trees in Glacier National Park, on my way up to Avalanche Lake
Avalanche Lake, check out those falls!
Trail up the mountain…
Close up of the waterfalls at Avalanche Lake
And a cool reflecting of the mountains/sky shot at avalanche lake
A different perspective from the shores of lake McDonald
A view from the “Going-to-the-sun-road”
And another view… what a beautiful place.
Bald Eagle
About to leave the U.S.
Made it to Canada!
Welcome to B.C.
They are a little full of themselves though?
Handstanding in the backyard with Cass and Logan the Dog in the picture
View from Swansea Mountain this past friday night. Had to take a forestry road up there and we sure needed Forrest’s 4-wheel drive
Invermere, B.C., Canada and that “ramp” is for hang gliders. Pretty cool, eh?
Cropped night shot of Invermere
From the back of the boat! It’s the same lake as in the picture above on the left
I went for a quick glider ride. Wish it was longer, but too much money in the first place… Definitely worth it though! That’s my pilot Brian, who had us do a “wingover”, basically a flip which was outta this world.
The lake from the Glider
The towplane
A different view of Swansea Mountain… See the glider ramp from the shot above?
This club sounded great, would totally do it if i lived here!
UPDATE:
Captions added and… I will report more on Canada as I see it. Off to Banff today! Cheers.
Two Weeks Notice
Dear Mom and Dad,I’m moving to Canada… for 2 weeks. I know this is abrupt, but it’s something I have to do. Bigfoot told me to.
Love, your son,
-Sam
I’m heading from Whitefish, MT into Invermere, British Columbia today and will be checking out Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Whistler, Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
I’ll be back in the U.S. to hang out with Dan and Martha in Seattle before Labor Day, and then on to Mike in Portland.
Looking forward to people, and to the BEAUTIFUL Canadian Rockies I have heard so much about.
Recapping the last 2? days
Yesterday (Thursday)
I hiked up to Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park, and then hung out by lake McDonald during the day before heading over to Whitefish, MT where I stayed in the Whitefish KOA. I hung out with a family from Saskatchewan, Canada who had a cabin nextdoor. They were pretty great people, fun to talk to, and I got a free 2 hot dog dinner! Baboom!
The night before I slept in my car :-p, so it was an upgrade. Looking forward to seeing Forrest, Cassy and more Canadians!
Some Pics from the last 2 days…
coming soon…
Day 21 – In Glacier until Friday, then CANADA!
Why Hello!
I’m lazy, I know. I’ve been sitting around doing laundry and checking for cheap flights so Kristen can make it out to San Francisco to meet me (and not finding much cheaper than 500 bucks, yikes!)
Anyways, My first day in Glacier (Monday), I headed up to the “Many Glacier” entrance of the National Park and hiked the Iceberg Lake and then the Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail. That was a 15 miles day, and didn’t really wear me out until the next day. I did enjoy the Pancake, Sausage and Coffee breakfast. Warm food does hit the spot!
Yesterday I went drove up the “Going-to-the-sun-road” and headed up to logans pass. I did a portion of the “Garden Wall” and then hiked up Logan’s pass to hidden lake. It wasn’t much of a hiking day, maybe 6 miles, but good enough! I came back to my site (already set up because I actually stayed in the same place for 2 nights!) and enjoyed a smoked sausage on my manly fire I made.
Today I’m going to head over to the western side of the park and am going to check it out!
Pics… In absolutely no order, but with captions!
“Hidden” lake… I SEE IT!
On the way to Iceberg Lake
Logan’s Pass
Your friend?
Iceberg Lake
On the Iceberg Lake Trail
Divide THIS!
Something is Wrong? with this picture.
Goat goat!
Lions and Tigers and Grizzly ____’s O-MY!
The Yellowstone Rafting Trip…
Was fun! I went this past thursday/friday and there wasn’t as much whitewater as I expected, but was nice.
There were two guides, one a sophomore in college and one a first year medical student. Then two families, one from Connecticut and the other from Catalonia in Spain.
Sunset at camp…
Handstand Map up to date!
I took this morning to try and catch up with the handstand map.
Check it out!
Here is the one I was missing at Osprey Falls in Yellowstone…
Catching up with some pictures…
First I was at Mount Rushmore…
Then somewhere on my way to beartooth pass….
And Beartooth Pass (AMAZING)…
Then I was in Yellowstone National Park where there were tons of Bison…
More yellowstone…
and more…
Now I am in Glacier National Park:
I was in…
KOA in Livingston, MT
Neihart, MT
Choteau, MT
Made it to Glacier (Day 18)
I made it to Glacier National Park, but really just spent the afternoon laying around… Need to rest up every once in a while. The mountains really are HUGE, the wind is STRONG and it’s quite chilly. I’ll be up here til Friday when I go meet up with my Canadian friends! Picked up the park map and hiking info so I can get to it starting tomorrow.
Broken Backcountry
Well, I didn’t end up hiking in the backcountry tonight. I was heistant about hiking 20 miles alone in grizzly bear country, the weather is completely dreary, and mom asked I didn’t. She didn’t cause dad got into a biking accident, along with just caring for my safety. He flipped the bike and messed up his right elbow, broke some ribs? and fractured a vertebrae or two? Not exactly sure on the exact details, but I got to talk to him tonight, which was great. We were worried he broke his femur (thigh bone) but luckily that is just heavily bruised. Lesson goes… WEAR YOUR HELMET… He did too, and that’s probably why he will heal. Heard that his helmet was broken all to pieces, so thankfully that took most of the impact. Crazy time. I’m hoping he will do a full recovery but it sounds like it’ll be painful here for a while.
I’m in Livingston Montana after checking out Yellowstone for my last day today. Heading up to Glacier National Park tomorrow
Got to see old faithful, do white water rafting on the yellowstone river, hike to Osprey Falls, and hang out.
Love you Dad!
Top of Beartooth Pass… Quite possibly my favorite road…
Old Faithful Strikes again!
Yellowstone
So, I made it to Yellowstone last night after a FULL day of driving. Beartooth pass on the northeast exit of yellowstone is AMAZING. 11000 feet in elevation. I put on a jacket up there and was standing next to some snow. Soo amazing. All the campsites in yellowstone were full… so I went through and popped out in Gardier, MT and found a national forest service campsite about 15 miles outside the town. Woke up this morning and headed into the park. Got in about 8am and hit up the visitor center and backcountry office. I talked to the ranger/watched a video/got a backcountry permit for a site on Shostone lake for saturday night. This will mean a big hike for saturday, and a decent one for sunday as well… I might actually just do the shorter hike both days, but that’ll still be 8 miles… depends on how i feel. I’ll be singing to myself as I am told to do, this avoids suprise encounters with wildlife, and I’m going to get some bear spray as well, just in case.
I’m slightly terrified, but at the same time, it’ll be memorable and people do it all the time. Not a huge deal.
Went over to the Mammoth Hot springs this morning, and they were neat, minus the whole sulphur smell.
Anyways, here is rushmore from 2? days ago
I have tons of pictures but nothing to charge my laptop with except my car, and spotty internet. So… I’ll upload them when I can
Sunday night I”ll head off to the KOA above Yellowstone, do laundry, shower and stuff and then off to Glacier on Monday.
Whoa
Totally signed up for both trips. Killer! Leaving Badlands KOA towards Rushmore… no real plan, Yellowstone probably by tomorrow?
Weee