Aaron's Kokanee Encounter (part 2)

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Aaron's Kokanee Encounter (part 1)

Though you may think that this entry is about a bad experience with a local beer, I assure that it is not. This is the story of my adventure on the Kokanee Glacier near Nelson B.C. My good friend Justin and I packed up our gear and headed for a spot known as "the keyhole." Our objective on this trip is to climb the mountain on the Kokanee beer can, Gray's Mountain. Our adventure began as any good adventure should... in the dark. We planed to spend 2 nights on the glacier, and wanted to beat the heat by getting an early start on Saturday. This meant a late night drive up the 20km dirt road and spending a night sleeping in the parking lot. Good times!This happens to be prime time for mosquitoes in the area and they were out to kill. We finally killed all the ones that got in our tent and turned in for the night.
Next morning, hundreds of the little blood suckers were swarming the outside of our tent! It was retarded. We had a solid breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, with a bran muffin and some fresh Creston cherries, packed up our stuff and hit the trail.
The following pictures show some of the amazing country we traveled in that day.

(above) Me taking in the view

(below) Justin in his awesome hat

So after about an hour of walking in the trees we reached the alpine meadows, leaving the mosquitoes behind us... but having to deal with the black flies.

The place we were going to spend the next two nights at is called the keyhole. It is this low point on the mountain range that I am pointing at (above). There are 2 basic ways to get to it, the shortest of which is the direct route straight up the slope. This is our choice for sure!
Justin, who has been a mountain guide and has done this trip a few times, tells me here that in trying to get some last minute details for our trip came across a blog where a guy was saying that he was going to train for the next few months to prepare himself for going to the keyhole... I am not impressed by this as I am NOT in great shape. But I am a man, and I will not retreat!

Here is a view I often had... Justin kicking my butt.
I don't think that I mentioned that the route we chose was frigg'n steep!

It just kept going up.
Here I am sucking some serious wind,
and at about this point my legs have started cramping up... only 500 meters to go.

OUCH!

After some severe grunting, and perhaps a little profanity, we reached the top. It was such a relief, and even though my face is saying something completely different, I am ecstatic!




This is going to be home for the next two days

a very humble dwelling.

The floors were uneven and the kitchen was tiny...
but what a view.

After an afternoon nap and some dinner it was time to take my first steps on the glacier.

We hiked to the a near by peak, which only took us about 10 minutes from our camp, and got some new perspective on where we came from that day.

(the lake in this picture is not the one we started from. This is Kokanee lake. Gibson lake, which is where we started is about a 2 hour hike from Kokanee lake.)


I have to point out that this part of the snow shoot that I have circled in red looks a lot like Sherlock Holmes.

Well, it has been a long day for sure, time turn in and get some rest. I am sure that my first time trying to sleep in a bivy will be great...

Stay tuned for part 2

A Quick History Concerning the Hansens

The following is an attempt to relate to you the reader a little of what has been going on in our lives these past many months. It will of coarse be mostly about Paige but I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the amount of Robyn and Aaron content recorded here.

Well in March we moved out of our lovely little home. Leaving behind some awesome neighbors and Paige's favorite neighborhood attraction, the yellow slide.

It was a little frustrating for Paige as she was often

without clean clothes that matched... very important to a 21 month old!

We spent some time throwing rocks into the stream,and this seamed to help pass the time.

I will just pause to fill you in on some non pictured events. during the month of April we spent some time in our friends Nathan and Katie Troxel's house while they were in Vancouver. Then we moved into Robyn's parents house, where we spent the rest of the month. We took possession of our new home on May the 1st, and spent the first week getting it ready to move into (washing walls, painting, and flooring). So that was the first 2 days... then Robyn and I took off to San Francisco with Becky and Gord, while the grandparents took care of the kids. How awesome was that? REALLY AWESOME!

We went sight seeing and found some pretty cheep tickets for a Giants game which was so cool because three of the four of us had never been to a Major league baseball game before. The best part of the whole thing was that we did it on a whim, and the Giants had a come back victory, so it was a great experience.

Gord and I had a chance to visit the "Rock."
And we tested the Bay waters... I think Gord's expression tells what that was like.

Robyn celebrated her 28th Birthday, and was showered with gifts a plenty.

If I may be so bold I would say that Paige and I gave her the best gift.

Here we go, cute picture of Paige.
This is her doing what she loves, collecting things in her basket.


Here she is being mildly unimpressed with our current selection of weather.
Still looking so cute though!

A momentous day; Paige in pig tails.
This is a rare sight so drink it in folks.


Many of you have said that you would appreciate a shot of Robyn and "spud."
Here they are.


We got creative with Paige's room and Robyn painted these cool flowers on the walls.

Paige took in the Sam Steele days parade and really enjoyed it, I got to see the parade from a different perspective... I got to be a cave man with some of the Young Life kids, it was a ton of fun.

This past weekend we went camping with our friends the Hephers and Gord and Becky. The kids loved it and played so well together. Mike and Anie's son Finn is Paige's best friend so it was so great to see them together, the only contentious issue was over a couple of pool noodles, not bad for 2 year olds!


This is how a lot of our time was spent, hanging out at the lake.

Paige was a girl of many hats this trip.

and her and Finn had a great time hopping around on the sand.

Contrary to Paige's expresion we had a great time.

Here is our favorite shot of the weekend.

Paige doing downward facing dog over a puddle at the beech

Well there you have it, the Hansen's in a nut shell. We do hope to be out of the nut house soon, but we are not convinced this is to be. But we'll keep you posted.

Bye for now.

We're Back...almost

Now that we are finally starting to normal out again we thought we would let you know that haven't forgotten our sign in password, we were just really, really, really preoccupied with trying to survive our last three moves. We look forward to sharing with you various pictures that sort of capture our eventful past three months.

Stay tuned...

Paige Picks a Home

This is the a recorded conversation between Paige and her father on the 22nd of March 2007. Most of the details are mostly true.

"So dad where is this new place you found for us to stay for April?"
"You're standing right in front of it Paige.?"
"Oh! Really?"

"All right. Well the location isn't too bad, the landscaping is pretty nice. Who doesn't love the look of gravel?"

"This looks promising. Let's check out the inside shall we."

"Dad! Let's keep looking! I'm pretty sure that the Super 8 has good monthly rates."

"All I'm saying is that there is reason that this door only latches from the outside."

"We might need some help here folks!"

Home on the Range

So I realize that it has been a while since we posted last... BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN FRANTICALLY LOOKING FOR A HOME! Well our search is over, we have decided to be nomadic sheep hearders in the high Rockies.
Paige loves those wooly beasts!

Actually we are only going to be nomadic for the month of April, and then on May 1st we will roost like there is no tomorrow in our new home. Thanks to all of you who offered various basements, sheds, and VW vans -- it's the thought that counts............ really! Here is a picture of the front of the house.