"Laugh As Much As You Breathe"

I've had a love/hate relationship with Mt. Finlayson over these past few years....until this past week!  Now, it's all about the love!  Why the change of heart you ask?  Well, I've always heard about the back way and how it's so much easier to head down the mountain that way rather than gambling with your life coming back down the front side. Guess what? They weren't lying.  It takes, like, 10x longer to get back to the car, but there's no scary steep cliffs to worry about!  I forgot that I hiked this Mt. a few weeks ago, but since then, I've hiked it 2 more times with my friend Heather!

Today, we had so many great LOLs coming back down.  It's great to have a good laugh til you cry session every now and again....this weekend has been full of them and that makes me happy :)

These were taken during my first hike with Cora a few weeks ago.....I vote this to be the best hike in Victoria (within a 20 min drive :) )  The reason: It kicks my butt every time I do it and believe it or not, that's a good thing!

See, I wasn't lying..

Totally sweating by this point..lol....ya, I'm hot!

This guy was a fatty! I've never seen one so big before...

Goldstream...the oil catcher is still in the water from an  accident awhile ago that spilled fuel  into the stream killing tons of fish!

There you go! I hope you guys get out there before the summer leaves us.  Give me a call, I'll tag along :)  I guarantee a few laughs along the way!

Cold enough to lose some "nuts"...

SO, why not go swimming in the Sooke Potholes at 6pm? Why not go earlier when the sun is shining on the rocks and warming the water? We don't roll like that apparently.  It was COLD but it was fun nonetheless!

Hope you guys had an awesome August weekend! All in all, I had a great time!....until my next adventure you guys...and I promise I won't wait 3 weeks...lol...Peace out!

Round 2 - "Ain't nothin' gonna knock us down!"

OOOOhhhh no, not us. NOTHING gets in our way of our goal.....no pain, no gain right!?

This time we were smarter! We had more water, more food, better equipment (WHY have I not invested in a proper hiking pack with a bladder!?!...Seriously people, get one), a new hat...oh and more time because who doesn't have 10-11 hrs to hike in a day!?  I guess we could have ran for 2hrs instead...he he ;)

Mission:        20k (Aylard Farm to Pike Road and back!)
Location:      East Sooke Park
Start time:     9am

This time we started at the other end. Change of scenary, switchin' it up. You know how it is:

Ok, seriously, when I saw this I wanted to turn back..and this was at the start!

But oh no..here we go!

Our reward - This is Beechey Head - our first stop for a break!

What's with the fog. Really? 

Obviously we're not tired enough - we still look happy...ps. how do you like my new hat!? Love it.

YAY - we made it to lunch!!!! This was 3 1/2 hrs into the hike..

As soon as we made it to Pike Road (10k) and after a much needed pee break (he he), we headed back the way we came..we had no choice at this point...the car was at the other end....didn't take many pics on the way back because to be honest, I had already seen it all on the way in..it didn't change much...

Can't tell here but this is a teeny tiny pine cone...it's true folks, fall is coming.. 

"Almost there....just 2 more hours..." - at this point we had been hiking for oh, 8 hrs..

And yet we were still a bit cheery....we're a bit crazy...we had a few good laughs along the way

Mission:        ACCOMPLISHED!!

End time:     7pm

Total time:   9am - 7pm (10 hrs with a 1/2 hr lunch and a few breaks along the way)

Attitude Check:  well, lets just say, after you try hiking 20K, we'll talk then. :)

Want to know more about the trail? Here you go:

The Coast Trail is considered one one of the premier day hikes in Canada, a west coast wilderness experience within easy reach of Victoria.  The 10-kilometre trail is rough and winding, a challenging 6-hour trip even for energetic or experienced hikers.  One moment you travel across a bluf of windswept pines, the ocean crashing at your feet.  Next you enter a dark rainforest at the end of a ravine.  Turn a corner, and you're back in sunlight, at the edge of the sea. (http://www.britishcolumbia.com/parks/?id=428)

Yay for us! We did it! I'm proud and glad we did it! Don't think I'll hit this trail again this year (thank god) but there's always next! I totally recommend it! DO it..NOW..GO..I'll time you!

Can someone get me some Epsom salts..ASAP...my poor legs...lol...oh but it was fun :)

Round 1 - Coast Trail vs. 2 hot chicas!

Okay, okay, okay.....I have been slacking with my posts but hopefully, this post will make up for it :)

What has Lisa been up to?....Doing 6 hikes in 8 days was a bit intense I'll admit (and so will those who came along for the ride), however, it's better than sitting on the couch and wasting time in front of the tv right?..right?...lol....that's what I thought....

As promised:

August 5:
Mission:          Hike 20k  (and get back to town for dinner!)
Location:        East Sooke Regional Park (Pike Road)
Start Time:      11am

Hard to see but our trail is along the coast on the bottom of that map heading west to east!

Oh we were excited! Can't you tell?

Gorgeous!

Cool dried up tree on the beach

Cabin Point - A restored 1930's "Trap Shack"   

This was our half-way point. We figured we had hiked 5k by this point..

Beautiful beach where we stopped to have our lunch!

Seriously, can't get better than this...our own secret beach!

Great wall to climb....if you dare ;)

So, after lunch, we decided that there wasn't enough time for us to do the entire 20k that day. Okay, maybe it was a bit ambitious for us that day, HOWEVER, the trail would meet us again very soon....

Mission:             Aborted
End time:           4ish
Attitude check:  AWESOME! (as usual, no big deal) :P

Oh, did I mention, I got about 6 mosquito bites that day...ya..6!! Not gonna lie though, I am pretty sweet so I can't really blame them ;)

BC DAY!

I actually ended up having a great day today to cap off the end of my week long holidays from work!  I had brunch at MyChosen Cafe, and a drink with some great friends on the patio at Glo and then went on a great, leisurely hike with a friend in Goldstream Provincial park.  If it weren't for great friends and good food, I'd be lost :) Check out these pics, the weather was perfect and the company was awesome :)

One of two railway trestles...so cool up there but kinda scary if you look down!

I kept calling this a "cave"..lol...tunnel Lisa, TUNNEL!

I was hiking on the other side of the water there just last week!

I love just being outdoors and exploring. It takes all my worries away even just for a few hours :)  Hope you guys had a great BC Day too!

  

"The Best Things In Life Aren't Things"

On Saturday, rather than enjoying a typical lazy Saturday morning, Cora and I went on another hike to....Mt. Doug! This hike is closer to town and rather quick to climb (approx. 1 hr in total) but don't think we didn't break a sweat.  We took a path that had us following the power lines up the mountain at a pretty steep incline.  We're pretty hard core that way..lol...okay, it wasn't that bad and the views at the top made it all worth while.

  

View of downtown Victoria:

You know, I've lived here all my life and have climbed this Mt. a dozen times and still can't get enough.  It's true what they say, the best things in life aren't things. Thanks Cora for another great hike :)

SUN, SUN, SUN!!

I'm so happy the sun is out and summer finally feels like it's here!!  Bring on the vitamin D! Because I had the past few days off and because the greatest teacher in the world, Cora O has the summers off, we decided to take advantage of this great weather and go hiking!  Yesterday we tackled some trails at Gowlland Tod Provincial Park.  I had hiked this last year with some great friends but hadn't been back since. 

This was our gorgeous view:

Today, we decided to hike the ever so popular, Mt. Work.  For some reason, the entrance is always difficult to find and I always drive past it and have to do a U-turn back to it.  One of these days we'll get it right! We didn't have a camera with us to take a pic at the summit this time but to prove we did it, I took a pic of the park sign afterwards (better than nothing?):

And on our way out saw this lil' guy:

Because we live in such an amazing place with lots of places to explore, we decided that each time we go out for a hike we would try a different mountain/trail.  I'm excited for our next adventure!