Caching and nature spotting in Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a lovely large park in Vancouver full of wildlife and plenty of geocaches and whilst finding caches was really cool, as ever, stumbling upon the final of a multi by accident was a welcome addition to my  caching total! Even better than the geocaches (!) were the creatures I don't see in the wild back home in the UK...

Herons (not unheard of in the UK, but not a common sight):

Black squirrels (and very tame at that):

Raccoons (watching one and being snuck up on by another!):

Flight in a sea plane

One of the excursions we got to do was have a flight in a sea plane over Victoria which was fantastic and another thing I would definitely recommend. For once in your life you do hope that your aircraft touches down on water!

Canyoneering at night

Another first for me - going in a canyon. At night. During the winter. With lots of ice. And no idea how to get back. Sounds fun! And yes, it was. During the summer it is flowing thick and fast but it freezes in the winter and we can walk on the frozen river up canyon and admire waterfalls which have frozen solid into some beautiful formations. Although it would have been easier to appreciate in daylight, there was a certain thrill about being down there at night in the quiet and stillness that accompanies it.

DOG SLEDDING!!!

Ever since Solid Snake said in Metal Gear Solid "I ride dog sleds, I'm a musher" I have really wanted to have a go at it. Bear in mind I first heard Snake say this in 1999. But I've never been in a part of the world where it's done and Snake, fictional character though he may be, lives in Alaska which is still very much on my to-visit list.

Sledding was one of the bookable excursions on this Canadian holiday though and was done through Cold Fire Creek Dog Sledding (Sundog Tours), who were excellent. Six sleds went out, each with six or ten Alaskan huskies pulling and we switched over so that we got a chance to mush and chill out (literally) in the sled. Funnily enough the toes got colder quickly when you were under all the blankets in the sled rather than when you were scooting through the snow because they were inactive in the sled and just became painfully cold. We did a 10km track and the dogs just could not wait to get going, all barking and jumping over each other with impatience.

Have a look at their promotional video:

Walking on a frozen lake

Behind me is the frozen solid Lake Pyramid just north-west of Jasper in Alberta. Can't say I've ever ventured out onto a lake before but then the entire coach-load of us went and had a real play like we were all kids again! Forty-something women making snow angels, grown men throwing powdery snowballs and general frivolity that we British don't normally show in public.

Was the ice going to crack any time soon? No, hardly likely - there were several inches of snow on top of all the ice, too.

Cross-country train journey

A big part of the holiday was going across Canada on a sleeper train, which we spent three nights on. Originally the plan had been to get the train all the way from Toronto to Vancouver but I'm glad we changed plans and only went as far as Jasper then got a coach the rest of the way. It meant more time to enjoy ourselves in the Rockies and better views of the scenery to Vancouver. Still, travelling by long-distance train is great and doesn't compare to the trains you'd just use to commute to work or take a day-trip on. There was a very nice dining carriage with exquisite food, a fair amount of entertainment and a few stops en route. The worst part was having to stop often to let very long freighters (152 wagons, I counted on one) go past. The best part was sleeping in an upper bunk, being rocked to sleep by the train thundering along at high speed overnight.

Here's the amazing promotional video for the trip we did:

Niagara Falls in the winter

Before visiting the Falls, I didn't know much about them except that they are half in the USA and half in Canada. What I didn't realise is that the Americans can't really see either of them properly. The American Falls are best viewed across the river in Canada and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls can't be seen in America unless you walk out onto a platform which is often mistaken for being the remainder of the Honeymoon Bridge which fell down. In fact, the bridge was replaced in the same place by the Rainbow Bridge which is one of four major crossing places in the area to get from one country to the other.

American Falls on the left and Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right.

They are partly frozen in the winter but even so they are very loud and create vast amounts of spray!

There is the option to walk behind the Horseshoe Falls through a tunnel with lookouts but the water here is completely frozen!

What did surprise me is how much the Horseshoe Falls have cut away the rock in what in geological terms is a very short space of time. See the diagram below of how they used to fall off a near-enough straight edge.

The other thing that surprised me is how built up the area is. I don't know why this is such a shock. It makes a lot of sense to use the Falls as a way of making money and having tourist attractions nearby but I was not expecting a Blackpoolesque street of arcades and amusements.

You'd never believe it was the same place!

What was pleasant though was the quaint but attractive little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake a few miles away. We visited a Christmas shop, which, for January was surprisingly busy! We also trudged through a quiet residential area thick with snow to see the perfectly calm and peaceful Lake Ontario.

My first attempt at Geo-event hosting!

I said I'd do it and I did! I was hardly stationary on this Canada holiday as almost every day involved travelling or excursions but we had a free morning in Victoria on Vancouver Island so I used this chance to meet up with some geocachers and to my delight, people turned up! I came fifteen minutes early but was still beaten to it! Passed around a Canadian notebook I'd bought in Jasper for people to sign and ended up taking rather a lot of trackables back to the UK with me but it was great to be able to host the kind of event I'd attended the previous February in Madeira. Nothing to plan - just show up by the side of a road and hope the weather is good.

Here we all are enjoying a quick 30-minute gathering before parting ways and getting back to normal life!

The CN Tower

It's quite an icon and many people recognise the tallest tower in the western hemisphere, the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario which stands at a total of 1,815ft. As I've said to loads of people on loads of occasions, I just adore tall structures and I got excited just going up the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. This takes you to another level entirely (and literally) though.

Looking up at this wonder is breathtaking, then ascending rapidly in the elevator so that you're at the Indoor Observation Level (1,135ft) within a minute is great. From there you can eat in the revolving restaurant, drop a level (1,122ft) and to the Outdoor Observation Terrace or stand on the Glass Floor and look down, or you can take another lift up to the SkyPod (1,467ft) and observe Toronto from the highest possible place on land.

I had no qualms lying on the glass floor (skim back a few pages to see me on the glass floor of the Spinnaker) but it'll take some courage for me to try the Edge Walk outside, although I'd love to say I'd done it!

New country and three new souvenirs!

Wow. Canada. Just wow.

This country deserves several posts coming soon, but for now I need somewhere to host my updated country map, so here will do:

And sadly I wasn't able to make it five like I'd intended, but three new souvenirs ain't half bad. When are the UK regions getting them?