Pemberton Back Woods Camping

I hadn't planned on bow hunting this year. But I had the Honda CRF 230 and I just so wanted to ride it in the back roads and trails. The weather forecast was rain but that didn't deter me. The deer come out in the rain and the truth is I wanted to ride the motorbike in the backroads and trails.

There was a time when I just went camping. A weekend was a time to fill the trunk of the car with camp gear and food and spend the weekend hanging out at a camp ground. The experience was camping and getting away from the city.

Later camping got appended to canoeing, fishing and bicycling. Then there were the long distance road trips when I'd camp a couple of nights and then stay in a city hotel for the restaurant meal and the luxury of in room hot showers. Later camping got appended to hunting. Now when I went camping I had a 4x4 truck, bow and arrows, rod and reel and an off road motorcycle. It's an elaborate expedition, these weekends.

The truck was so loaded down it was a wonder where a moose or deer would fit if I actually shot something, not that that mattered. A destination is oftent just an excuse to get away.

I had to figure how I was going to get the motorbike onto the back of the truck alone. I had a 1 food wide ramp I'd used to get the scooter on with the help of another person. Now I naturally just tried to ride the motorbike up the ramp. It would have worked if I hadn't chickened out at the last moment, hanging with the motorbike half on the truck and half on the ramp, me holding onto the brake for dear life, while I dismountdd and crabbed my way around so Icould pull it the rest of the way up with brute force. I got it secured with tie downs and thankfully the back gate closed. That had been another unknown.

The Sea to Sky highway ride to Pemberton was great with the road renovations. I couldn't have blinked before I was in Squamish where I stopped for groceries. At the Lordco I found a second ramp as I'd concluded I had no way of getting the bike off the back of truck since I couldn't trust myself to back down the narrow track, having hardly made it up going forward. This second track would allow me to walk the bike on and off and would be a godsend getting the motorbike home.

I've been coming to Pemberton for nearly 25 years. I love the town for all its changes. I used to stay at the bar in the rain. It only seemed like there were hunters and farmers and local renegades then. The big event of the year, and still is, was the rodeo. My friend Wayne Andrews was the world champion Indian broncho rider. He has a place out on the Mount Currie reserve where he raises horses and has medicine sweat lodgges. We used to try to figure out which bones he hadn't broken broncho riding. His laughter was infectious.

The potatoes have always been the best in the world with a medicine all their own. Magic mushrooms grew in the hills, but that dark force twin never compared to the holy spuds of Pemberton Valley.

Over the years trail riding, mountain biking, climbing and hiking, bed and breakfast hot tubbing have become popular. The Pemberton Lodge is a world class resort with pool and hot tub. Folk music has taken off in the cafes too. Mostly I prefer Pemberton to Whistler. In Pemberton no one notices my worn Levis aren't this year's 'designer jeans'.

In Pemberton a stop at the Spud Valley Sporting Goods Ltd is mandatory. I've got camp utensils, fishing lures and a rifle there over the years. This time they had a great sale on the Daffo thermolite lined waterproof hiking boots and a self inflating air mattress. The guys who live in and love Pemberton are always a source of the latest information.

After Pemberton I drove north through one of heaven's most beautiful valleys. There's horses and cattle, green fields for ever and mountains to either side. The Gold Bridge Meager Creek turn off leads to the Lillouette River Forest Service Road. The Mountain Wilderness School once there has now become a wilderness lodge. Fortunately the fires hadn't affected this area.

I drove the 36 km logging road to the Lillouette River Recreation site a mile or two this side of the Meager Creek Hotspring Turn off. Meager Creek Hotsprings were another 7 km, about 45 km total from the highway turn off. Cars drive it now but it was once only fit for 4x4 trucks. I've seen bear and deer along this road and once raced a young moose for a bout a mile before he turned off into the woods.

There are dozens of camp sites at the Recreation Area, a few outhouses scattered about,each site with a log picnic table and brazier for fires.

There was a lull in the rain so I put up the tent quickly. Then I tied lines to the trees for the tarp over the picnic table. That done I threw the bedding in the tent and set about getting the bike off the back. Using the extra ramp (they come in twos for quads but can be bought separately as I had done,), I got the bike off really easily. Then it was just a matter of putting on helmut and rocket armoured jacket. Off I rode. What a gas! The Honda CRF 230 was a blast on the logging roads. The suspension was better than the trucks. I was cruising along at 60 k and really enjoying the ride. Even though the rain had made the road clay wet in places the nobby tires really dug in. Too much fun!

At camp I cooked up some soup on the single burner propane stove then climbed into my sleeping bag to read Soldiers in the Mist by Garry Douglas. This is an amazing fictional historical account of the British in the Crimean War where nearly 20,000 British, Russia and French died in one battle on the Inkerman Heights. I learned that the Charge of the Light Brigade was not capitalism at it's finest. Leadership 'commissions' were bought at the time.

The rain poured. I was thankful for my down filled sleeping bag. Night was chilly.

In the morning, I got up though at dawn expecting to get out bow hunting while the deer were still returning home. The rain and dark are really good for hunting.

They're also good for hot coffee. I bring my own stove top expresso maker. I thought I'd warm the honda up while I had breakfast but it wouldn't turn over. I tried everything I could think of running the battery down, so I had to charge it with my truck and tried everything else I could think of twice. I even took out the spark plug, dried itand dried all the connections I could find but the engine just wouldn't turn over. Then I thought I'd try jump starting it. This was an exercise in futility without a hill. It was a whole lot of morning exercise though.

Eventually the whole thing lead me back to the coffee pot and my book. The bavarian smokies were there too. Yoghurt and chocolate.

I hadn't really want to go bow hunting. It's a lot of work compared to reading out of the rain eating smokies and drinking pots of coffee. Then I just had to crawl back into bed for a rest.

After a delightful nap I decided to take the truck up to Meager Creek Hotsprings. Another really good idea.

Luxury in a wild outdoor setting. The hotsprings were glorious. Not the nudist hippies of yesteryear but families of kids instead, it was still outdoor hotsprings at their finest.

Thoroughly exhausted by the tough hotspring outing I returned to camp for another nap. What a good idea!

With the motorbike not working and the torrential rains continuing I decided to try getting the bike back on the truck with the extra ramp to run up beside it. Sure enough it worked just fine. In the past, it had always taken two to get the scooter onto the truck so I was really pleased with my self sufficiency.

Between downpours I decided since the motorbike was loaded already I'd break down camp and go home to indoor heating, my own bed, and hot water showers. Because of all the construction signs still, the night drive back to Vancouver was a bit more challenging in the dark.

It was great though to be able to pop up to Pemberton, camp a night , go to a hot springs and be back the next day. The new Sea to Sky highway is amazing. It would make day trips to Whistler and Pemberton from Vancouver sweet.

My Honda CRF 230 L

It sure isn't the 1200 cc Harley but it sure isn't a Honda 50 cc Scooter either. It is quiet and perky and rides well in the city and climbs well on the dirt paths. I loved having the power to hit 80 cc without difficulty on the up hill of the bridge. It's got all the power I need and I'm really looking forward to having it in the country. Now to see if I can get it on the truck. Bow hunting season opened this week. Any bigger engine and the noise would have been a deterrent. Heavier it would definitely be harder to load in a truck or pick up in the woods if I'm alone and dropped it. Without getting a hernia it takes two to lift the Harley. The CRF 230 is a fun ride and a durable bike. I've a storage box coming.

Troy at Carter Motorsports was great. Jill in parts was terrific too. I'd lost a glove en route and she gave me a single one free. I'm a happy guy who now has to put his Harley in storage for the winter while using this bike for town and country. The insurance will be a whole lot less. When it rains, as it sometimes does in Vancouver. it will be a safer bike to be riding to and from work especially when I have to cross bridges to get to meetings.

Bill Wilson's Depression

"In the 1958 Grapevine article, "The New Frontier: Emotional Sobriety," Bill writes:

I asked myself, "Why can't the Twelve Steps work to release me from this unbearable depression?" By the hour, I stared at the St. Francis prayer: "It is better to comfort than to be comforted."

Suddenly, I realized what the answer might be. My basic flaw had always been dependence on people or circumstances to supply me with prestige, security, and confidence. Failing to get these things according to my perfectionistic dreams and specifications, I fought for them. And when defeat came, so did my depression.

Reinforced by what grace I could find in prayer, I had to exert every ounce of will and action to cut off these faulty emotional dependencies upon people and upon circumstances. Then only could I be free to love as Francis had loved."

In April he wrote:

'when I became willing to let go of demands and substitute for them an outgoing love as best I could show it, just as one would in a 12th step case, to that extent I became liberated and to that extent did I receive the gifts of proper instinctual statisfaction. This is what I have been pondering most of late. And when I realized it and felt the truth of it, and became more willing to practice love in this manner, my brief depression came to an abrupt end. The skies cleared for me as never before."

I was interested in reading how Bill Wilson equated his depression as self centeredness and how finally he overcame his depression by realizing that 'outgoing love' and caring for others was the key. Further he had to learn 'detachment with love' in his dealing with other alcoholics as Al Anon taught realizing that "Things which are primary to me (even for the good of AA) are unfulfilled. I'm constantly diverted to secondary or even useless activities by AA's whose demands seem to them primary, but are not really so."

This discussion of depression is very different from what I often hear from AA's. His mentor Father Dowling had arthritis which caused him pain and depression but he embraced this calling it his 'Glad Gethsemane".

Bill wrote "the pains of failure are converted into assets. Out of them we receive the stimulation we need to go forward. Someone who knew what he was talking about once remarked that pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress."

There's a decided lack of "self pity" in these discussions which I confess I often am annoyed at hearing in the tone of some AA's discussion of their "depression'. Further there's this lack of 'entitlement' regarding 'pleasure' that is so reminiscent of the untreated alcoholics desire for pain free existence.

Bill Wilson worked through his depression. He saw his depression as 'neurosis' and thought one day there'd be a "neurotics anonymous' for those like him who had to go deeper into understanding how their own 'expectation's' were pre-formed resentments. He eventually found relief from his depression as he became closer to God.

Surrender in AA

In the AA meeting tonight the idea of surrender was discussed. It's a difficult idea for some who don't like to admit defeat but we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and literally stopped fighting booze. By the time we all came to AA the love affair was clearly on the rocks. We'd had our last 'round' with the bottle and accepted 'defeat'. In this way we 'surrendered to win". I was reminded tonight of the Japanese soldiers who 40 years after WWII ended, came out of their caves and 'surrendered'. It was apparent to many that we'd lost our personal fights with booze long before we realized the war was over. When we surrendered a whole new world of freedom became available. We came out of our cave and found this "Way Out" as the first Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous was called. Giving up alcohol and drugs we began living life on life's term. Reality, what a concept! When we recover we 'surrender' to our "higher power". Ironically we find this very difficult yet we had no difficulty surrendering to the negative effects and delusions of booze and drugs. I found when I changed my allegiance from the drinkers to the 'non drinkers' my life changed for the better. How could it not. I had a spiritual awakening. As C.S. Lewis would put it, I stopped looking for the architect in the wall of the building. Leaving my 'lower companions' I sought my 'higher power'. surrendering to a life of sobriety unimaginable when I was drinking. I could not think my way into new action but my positive action brought me a whole new way of thinking. For that I'm forever grateful.

Nephew Energy

I thought for a while that my nephew ran on duracell batteries but eventually it became apparent he and his friend ran on human rechargeables. To keep on ticking they too need pizza and sleep.

Spirituality Talk

The spirituality talk went well. No lightening bolt struck me down. God obviously didn't take that much notice. Though I mentioned God's name in the hallowed halls of higher education I was not called to the principal's office for the strap. I avoided saying the "Lord's Prayer", knowing that was still controversial but did share one of the shortest prayers, "Thank you". An attitude of gratitude banishes all fear. The organizers were pleased and the students didn't leave en mass. The power point slide projections were very helpful reminding me what it was I and myself had agreed to say before I was before an audience. When I became anecdotal or circumstantial or even tangential I could just press the button and see a surprisingly new slide that had high relevance to the preceding one even if neither had much to do with what I'd been rambling on about. I did enjoy again my slide of the aetheist evangelists going door to door with blank pamphlets while the yogi contemplated whether the infinity he'd found was the right one or the really 'cool' one. I did have all the evidence based studies proving that partaking in faith communities and prayer and meditation were antidotal to fear and depression and even psychosis. One study showed that spiritual practices were as good as sex but didn't go into any more detail and lacked coloured photos. When it was over I was exhausted and escaped on my motorcycle back to the office where patients were waiting to discuss their nightmares. Having shared a bit of heaven I was ready again to get back to the real work of rescuing people from their personal hell. Thank you.

The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Normally I only watch Star Trek, Seinfeld, Friends or 2 1/2 Men. I enjoy my TV for movies and documentaries. Yet, here's this HBO Botswana television series which is really terrific. It could be better if it was on the Enterprise with Kramer, Charlie and Jenifer Ashton. Otherwise it stands alone. Unique endearing tv. Now I want to go to Africa for the people, not just the giraffes and elephants.