Home is where the fun is

Plain and simple, my idea of camping is no room service.

Now I know that sounds like something a spoiled princess would say, but really, it’s just something someone who doesn’t like to carry heavy things on her back and be dirty would say.

But just because I have no desire to zip myself into a sleeping bag doesn’t mean that nature is out of the question. I am a fond sampler of the great outdoors — I just like to do it one day at a time and have a roof over my head when I am finished.

So that in mind, the Vancouver area is the perfect place for low-impact adventurers like myself to enjoy recreation-based day trips.

“You can do everything year round,” says Jack Christie, a Vancouver-based recreation and travel journalist. “I don’t think there is a better place than Vancouver.”

Christie, the author of 52 Best Daytrips from Vancouver, says the day-trip opportunities are growing every day.

“I think it’s a sign of our times,” says Christie. “It’s kind of like the slow-food movement. You know, eating food from nearby. It’s a slow-travel movement. People want to explore closer to home.”

Christie and his photographer wife, Louise, travel every week of the year. Sometimes they go far, but most of the time it’s day trips such as the one they took to Squamish recently.

“We kept going from one thing to another and really thought this town was far out,” says Christie about rediscovering his old Howe Sound friend.

The pair hiked, paddled, swam and walked the Squamish Estuary.

“We did all this and didn’t even do some of our favourite things, like riding our bikes,” says Christie, who suggests people check out the Squamish Adventure Centre (www.adventurecentre.ca). “I couldn’t believe the choices — that’s what is great.”

A favourite choice of Christie’s is even closer to home.

“The great thing about living here is the number of regional parks,” Christie says of the 24 parks in and around the Lower Mainland.

“Everyone really has a regional park almost right out their back door.”

Like Christie, Brian Jones, the director of the Squamish-based Canada West Mountain School (www.themountainschool.com) — who this past spring reached the summit of Mount Everest, giving him No. 7 in his seven-highest-summits-on- seven-continents quest — loves the day-trip possibilities our location presents.

“I like the region because of the access to mountains, other recreation and that there are still relatively few people out there, even in the popular areas,” says Jones, whose favourite climb of the seven was the 4,884-metre-high Carstensz Pyramid in Papua Indonesia.

“[This area] is so much better than other parts of the world, especially Europe. I have been on every continent in the world and I haven’t found another place like this.”

Jones, who averages three international trips a year, says that, when he’s home, he’s “out locally all the time.”

“I haven’t discovered what my threshold for cabin fever is yet because I’m always out.”

For a list of day trips, product guides and safety tips, go to www.theprovince.com/doitbetter.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Appearance on CBC Radio - B.C. Almanac

On June 13th, Jack appeared on B.C. Almanac with Mark Forsythe on CBC Radio 1.

You can hear the segment here…

http://www.cbc.ca/bcalmanac/media/openlineFriday.ram

You will need RealPlayer to hear the file.

Talking Travel with Bill Good on CKNW

On May 30th, Jack had the pleasure of talking with Bill Good on CKNW 980 AM in Vancouver about the new book, and took viewer calls about travel in BC.

Have a listen!

Ryan Leech and the Trials Of Life

The Lower Mainland is the epicentre of what’s shaking in the world of fat tire cycling, whether hucking off North Shore drops or hopping around the trials park in Port Moody. No one epitomizes this more than Ryan Leech, a professional trials rider, extreme mountain biker and monster freerider. We’re pleased to feature Ryan as a guest on our site.

Trials Riding

Ryan Leech discovered he had a talent for trials riding - a blend of balance and hopping skills - when he was 13. He’s twice that now and has journeyed long distances to appear with Cirque de Soleil in Disney World, star in the prestigious Vans Warped Tour, as well as ride his specially-designed Norco bike along ancient Incan roads in Peru. True to his West Coast roots, you’re just as likely to find him working out in the sheltered Port Moody Trials Park as anywhere.

What’s The Point?

Trials riders earn points in competitions by demonstrating a winning blend of balancing skills and sheer guts. Riders hop and drop around an obstacle course that simulates the challenges of bicycling along a rock-and-roots covered trail.

But there’s far more involved than that. So much so that Ryan decided to take matters into his own hands and craft a film that defined his passion for the sport and his vision for its destiny. Manifesto is the result. Watch clips of all his films at RyanLeech.com.

Check out an article I wrote profiling Ryan and other local trials writers in the June 2007 “Summer in the City” edition of the Georgia Straight.