keyhole again

we went back to keyhole hotsprings a week or two back...it was super rainy but that made it all the more fun...this time, instead of bringing a pregnant woman, we thought it would be a good idea to bring our good friend sean, otherwise known as "the brat" (don't ask, you'll know why when you meet him) who was about three weeks out of knee surgery!...

my directions to people are always drive until you have to cross a river, then you're there....well, here's my truck "there"....

walking down to the springs
i thought the colors in this tree were pretty cool...

Upper Elaho valley

For the last seven years, since I moved out here, everytime I pass the sign, right before squamish, for "Paradise valley" i couldn't help but wonder what was down that way...i mean, it's called Paradise Valley for god sakes.....well, i finally decided enough was enough and three buddies and I decided to go on a drive and overnight down the upper elaho valley....all i'll say is...holy smokes! this was possibly one of the nicest areas I have ever experienced in my life...we couldn't drive five minutes without having to stop the car to take another photograph....

this photo says it all for me...BC Summer's in a nutshell....rushing down a dirt road, mountains, rivers, blue skies, the whole shebang....

looking back down the elaho towards squamish, at this point we're at the same latitude (longitude?) as pemberton, 25 minutes north of whistler.....this is where we camped for the night...nuff said....
Mt Caley from the backside...i say backside because i am used to seeing this old girl from the directly opposite side as seen here when we are sledding up in the brandwine backcountry.....
the spray from this powerful waterfall hit's your car as you drive over the bridge, it's super cool...i thought this particular composition was perfect for black and white....
the squamish river was running high enough to keep this roadside forest underwater...

the squamish river was running high enough to keep this roadside forest underwater....
one of the really cool things to see was, literally, hundreds if not thousands of waterfalls feeding the river with the melt water from the snow and (hopefully not too much) glaciers....some of these suckers were easily 400+ feet tall, really something to see...in this photo you can see a whole group of them coming down the middle section of rock...it's one thing to study the water cycle in a classroom, it's quite another to see, hear and feel it for yourself.....

my digital camera actually ran out of battery power this day, which normally would have been catastophic, but by luck, i had a film body with a fresh roll of velvia in it, for shooting star trails, and i was able to keep shooting...it was a wierd feeling, I haven't shot a roll of film in two years, with the exception of the 24/36 and my shooting habit have changed greatly...with digital, I now normally shoot at least 5-6 different compositions of any one shot, and of course there is the instant feedback of the screen and histogram....long story short, i'll have a couple more, hopefully even more dramatic images soon enough...

three mile lake

Hanging out at three mile lake was fun, with the exception of one angry hippie dude. hey angry hippie dude, we're sorry and all but when you're at one of the closest lakes to the most popular resort town in north america, you can't exactly be surprised when a few people show up...you know?

the crew hanging on the dock...hey, what's dougie doing to that flower vase?

yours truly hanging out....
mini goes for the tuck-tuck-double pike-tuck-spin
that's leslie-mama diving in the foreground and if you look real close you might be able to see mizzle hitting the water from a backflip off the diving board...

lucille lake...

one of the great things about living in a place like Whistler is that even after a day of work you can grab a bunch of friends and go hang out for an hour or two at a place as cool as lucille lake...

lenny and sarah taking a dip, and what's that? a nutty scottsman about to backflip off a log off in the background?

Ancient Cedars and Showh Lake

I really gotta figure out how to get these pictures in order but, whatever.....These are from a trip we took to go find the ancient cedars on Cougar Mountain. Nothing like those found on the island but impressive nonetheless (all one word?!)....

Big trees..check....

picture of scottish dude (dougie) in front of a giant tree...check...
double cannonballs into the lake....check...
syncro swimming.....check...unfortunetly...
abstract "artsy" shot.....check....
here's a shot of Showh lake from the cedars trail (I'm over the "check" thing)...
Lenny cooling off on the hike....

here's the same waterfall without lenny mucking up the shot....

Alexandria Falls

Sunset on Black Tusk

Mini showing off for the girls
just another pretty stream....
Mini (Andrew)'s truck and bike....anyone see a giant waterfall? i swear steve-o said it was around here somewhere...

those are the towers and ??? for the ski jumps for the 2010 olympics. Good thing we're spending  $40 Million of so on a sport that all of ten canadians actively participate in...
6 Ft tall dude + 50cc mini bike = funny picture
I knew they were around here somewhere! Alexandria Falls...

Our first little mission of the year was to go find Alexandria Falls, down the Callaghan Valley. The Callaghan is where they are building the Nordic centre for the 2010 olympics, what was once a remote valley is quickly becoming a lot different, four lane highway anyone?

Hotsprings mission

this is actually the last picture, on our way home...

lenny's car on our way there.

you know you're almost there when the road literally dissapears under a river!
yay..summer fun! that's our friend Maude on the left, five months pregnant.

so the normal way into the tubs is under the river right now, it was a big snow year, so we had to take the high road in....watch your step...

if this isn't heaven I don't know what is...those tubs are filled with natural hot spring water (really hot!), and that's the Upper Lilloet River right next to the tubs....

After two hours of driving and a broken muffler, i don't think anyone believed me these hotsprings even existed, but boy were they all stoked when we finally got there....I'm not even gonna say the name of this spot, but if you're really nice to me, I just might bring you along next time!

First Post

Hey All,

This is just a fun little blog where you'll find pictures of all the fun adventures the "stoop crew" has been having this summer, 2007. 

Our little group of friends all live in Whistler, BC, Canada and like to have as much fun as possible, which, in the summer, means outdoor adventures! Lakes, hotsprings, road trips, whatever....as long as it's fun, we're in....