"You should start a Blog"

"Awe man, this is gonna be an awesome trip" states Dan as we both finish laughing at my explanation of what a classic song is. You won't understand the joke of course, but we've all shared that excited happiness with someone on your way out to an adventure. That's where we were at as we drove down highway 99 towards Lion's Bay. It's not like we were going very far or for very long. Just off to spend a night in a random cabin in the woods in the rain. Turns out it was just what I needed.

I needed to write. I've been on a deadline to get this Blog started and I'm way behind on it. I seemed to be having a case of the good ol' writer's block. Writing my stories is easy. I just have to tell you what happened and show you some pictures and it makes sense but writing an introduction required some creavity and it seemed intimidating. Regardless of the reason I was getting nowhere. I spent hours over the previous week writing and then editing and then scraping entirely all sorts of different approaches. Nothing seemed to explain quite why I was so compelled to share my stories with everyone and this meant a lot to me. I was even starting to question if I actually wanted to start a blog at all. Was it just because everyone I've meet over the last couple of years has told me I should? I seemed to be really over thinking it, I had tried many different settings and nothing was working. I was going to spend the weekend camping but due to a miserable amount of rain in the forecast for the night and next day those plans where scratched. It's difficult to write in the rain so the plan was that I just going to try to spend the weekend locked in my house, writing.

Yeah right. I knew I needed to get out to give my head a rest and just write but I wasn't sure how that was going to work out until I got a call Friday evening from Dan. I can't tell you how many times he had tried to get me to go check out this cabin with him on Hat Mountain but I had always been worried about having my dog there with me as I thought it was a parks cabin. Having learned a little more about it I figured I'd give it a shot. Any info online didn't say no dogs and the cabin had all of 65 overnight guests last years. Chances were we would have it to ourselves, making it the perfect scenario to write in I figured. Famous last words.

Our hopes of solitude were shattered once we reached the trail head. The log book said there were another pair spending the night. "Oh well, hopefully they like Smudge" I said as I signed us in for the night. "Smudge " is my old ass pug who has suffered from mobility issues in her back legs for the last year or so. This is due to neurologically damage so she is not in pain but it is difficult for her to move around. That hasn't stopped me from bring her along as much as possible and we have been on a multitude of trips together including this weekend. You will see quite a bit of Smudge in the back stories but unfortunately maybe only a few more of the current ones.

With Smudge in her carrier on my chest and a heavy overnight pack on my back (I always over pack,) we make our way up the steep trail. Hoping to reach the cabin before the weather went to shit, we only took in a couple view points along the way The whole hike was killing me. between the 22 lb pug on my chest and and well over double that on my back combined with sweating out the fews beer I had the night before, I was only moving so quickly. We reached the cabin to find it empty besides the other parties gear. I really just wanted to start writing while the cabin was quite but the weather was still ok and Dan convinced me to see if we cant get to one of the peaks in the area. We shed our gear and packed a couple things into smaller bags, I tucked Smudge in my sleeping bag on her bed and we were off.

The hike was great. We didn't make it to any of the peaks but got a few great views of the fog lifting out of the Howe Sound before the weather started to turn. This would dictate our turn around time and when the snow picked up for a minute and the trail got questionable, I was happy to turn around and go start writing. I had been going over it all in my head the entire day and still the hardest part was finding ways to explain myself. Hoping the answer would come once I had my pad and pen in front of me and rushed down the trail towards them. We had to make a slight detour to get some water for the night and then headed back to the cabin. When we were within a few hundred meters I heard a dog barking. Looks like we had company. Thinking it was just the pair spending the night that had signed in before us back from their day hike I opened the door to find a party of 4 cooking up a storm and starting a fire. Looks like it was going to be a busy night in the cabin.

A few minutes behind us were the other pair spending the night that signed in before us, just coming back from a day hike. All of a sudden this cabin is full of more people than its has been since it was built nearly 50 years ago. I wasn't giving up that easily and as everyone else scurried around the cabin making food and changing into dry clothes, I cracked a beer and sat down to write.

It was pointless. After about an hour of writing something and then scratching it out and repeating that pattern a bunch of times I surrendered. I wasn't getting going to get any writing done, I could continue to be frustrated by it or just accept it and have a good time. I put down my pen and notepad and cracked a second beer.

It wasn't long after that Dan ended up going to bed and I sat there and traded stories with six strangers for the next couple hours. As we all sat around the room having drinks by the wood burning stove we shared the type of stories you do when you spend a random night in a cabin in the mountains with strangers . The best of the best, I now know that a threesome can come with an asterisk and that it is difficult but not impossible to burn a hole through a bill that's wrapped around your arm. It was honestly one of the best nights i've had in a long time.

It rained hard during the night and it continued into the morning, Despite being woken up by it everytime the wind picked up I slept great. Dan and I decided to head out pretty much right after we packed and had breakfast but not before I had to use the "out house. " The problem with this out house is that it lacks any actual "house" and just sits on a planform in an opening in the trees. Normally not a big deal but with a rainfall warning in effect it was pretty much like taking a shit and a shower at the same time. After that rejuvinating experience I put on my bag, loaded Smudge on my chest and we said our goodbyes.

The hike out was steep and muddy. The trail had pretty much turned into drainange for the massive amounts of water pouring down all night. I ended up sliding on my ass more than once. The hike out was nice and quick thoough and we were back down at the car before we knew it. As soon as I was through my front door I quickly put my gear away and sat down to write. The block was gone. I was writting up a storm and feeling good about it. I felt this weekend sorta summed up exactly why I wanted to start a Blog. It's because of a Blog that we all found this cabin, although the 3 groups had a bunch of experience in the woods, this particular one was new to all of us. It brought a bunch of like minded people that may not have met otherwise. This is what Mike's Blog did for us. For me it helped me get back that excitement about getting out of my perspective. Thanks Mike.

And that's the effect I would like to have. I'd like to help people find new places that challenge their comforts and changes their perspective. Getting outside has positive effects on everybody both physically and mentally and when you reconnect with the natural world you understand how much more important it is to preserve it.

So it begins. Follow me as I share with you what brings me happiness. Hopefully Something I describe or a picture I post somewhere along the way opens up something new to you but more than anything hopefully it just inspires you get outside a little more.