This past weekend we decided to take advantage of our weekend trip to Vancouver Island for the Victoria Marathon (#VictoriaMarathn) to try a few new things. First, we wanted to take our new Deuter backpacks for a spin to get a sense of their fit and fill. Second, we wanted to immerse ourselves into life on the road, so we decided to use transit and find a couch to sleep on through couchsurfing.org. Layer on the excitement of race weekend, and we were creating quite an adventure for ourselves!

The backpacks are fantastic! We decided to take along our sleeping bags (which we won’t be doing for our RTW trip), along with our gear for the race and a change of clothes. Everything went in without a struggle – Richard even packed his new 3L Osprey hydration bladder filled to the brim. The packs are light and well supported, and we both found the padding and structure to be very well suited for our frame size. Two thumbs up from these happy vagabonders!

All smiles

Our journey was made a little more comfortable by driving our car to the ferry terminal, and parking it there for the night. With backpacks on board we made our way by foot onto the ferry, and settled in for the 90-minute crossing. On the other side we made the connection with the express bus into downtown Victoria, a 60-minute journey. We then walked 5 blocks to our couch surfing location. So convenient!

Our ferry approaching

I’d previously made arrangements with our hosts via the website mentioned above. Couch surfing is a very common activity amongst travellers, and we wanted to get a taste of what it might be like. Basically, the website connects folks looking for a place to stay with those who have a place to offer. Pretty great concept. And it’s free (well, there’s goodwill and a gesture of thanks to offer if you’re a decent traveller and human being!).

Our hosts were a young couple who graciously welcomed us into their apartment and made us feel extremely comfortable. We shared a great dinner together that evening and exchanged travel tips and stories. We had a very good sleep on their fantastic futon. The next morning we left early to run our race, and returned to clean up before we hit the transit/ferry combo one more time. Our hosts were out when we returned to shower and pack our bags – they’d kindly left a text to say that we should make ourselves at home and lock up after we leave. How awesome! We couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to couch surfing!

Unfortunately our race didn’t go as well as we had planned, but the rest of the weekend was such a great success. We hope that as we begin our travels (for real) in a few weeks’ time, that we have many positive experiences like this to recount, and that our backpacks continue to be as comfortable and reliable as they were on our trial run. The countdown is on to November 4!

Pre-race excitement!

We recently took a 9-hour roadtrip from Vancouver into the north eastern part of British Columbia to celebrate the wedding of our good friends, John and Judy. This gave us an opportunity to explore the beauty, wonder and tranquility of Mt. Robson provincial park – home to our province’s highest peak.

Our first view of the mountain was absolutely breathtaking! The closer we got the more awestruck we became. We pulled into the visitor centre and walked out onto the viewing deck to take in the view. It was a beautiful sunny day with a few whisps of cloud over the mountain top. We were treated to a rare sighting of a black bear in the meadow in front of the visitor centre.

We snapped the obligatory “tourist” shots (of us, not the bear!) and then made our way to the info desk to finalize our arrangements for our 55km trail run on the famous Berg Lake Trail the next day. We felt giddy with the excitement of knowing that we were going to explore well beyond the visitor centre and imagined we were in for a special day, if our initial contact with the mountain was so mesmerizing!

Next we set off to find our campsite at the Robson Meadows campground and set up for our two night stay. We found ourselves in such a beautiful setting – we were already wishing we could stay longer! Mixing our run fuel was an interesting challenge, but we made it work and even had time to chill with a cold beer while watching the changing colours of the trees and mountains as the sun set.

We were up early the next morning to get a head start on the foot traffic, heat and bugs. The 23km trail starts off with an easy 7km groomed trail alongside the milky white Robson River and then the emerald green Kinney Lake. From there the trail begins to climb but you’re rewarded with waterfalls, mountains, glaciers and bright flowers as far as the eye can see.

Backcountry campgrounds populate the trail, and we encountered quite a few hikers and campers along the way. Most people were surprised to see us running the trail with not much but our hydration packs and fuel. We were chastized at one point by a hiker who thought we were being quite irresponsible running the trail in and out in one day. He obviously isn’t familiar with Team Attfield’s tenacity and adventurous spirit!

We decided to add on a loop from the last campground at Robson Pass which would take us up Mumm Basin and along the Toboggan Falls route. Although this added 11km to our day, we were so glad that we tacked this on! At the peak we were treated to what I consider to be the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. Being in that place, alone with Richard, was truly breathtaking and so calming. I felt at peace for the first time since we lost Archer.

It’s really humbling to be in the presence of ancient landforms and such simple, striking beauty. I’m so thankful that I discovered running as it takes me to so many different places where I can experience such amazing sights and allows me to find a way through the heaviness in my heart by immersing myself in my surroundings.

As we continued back to base camp, we felt strong and accomplished! This was our last long training run before our goal race for the year – the Squamish 50 miler – and we both came through the training running feeling ready. We hungrily tucked into our bean and yam corn tacos along with another cold (and well earned!) beer at our campsite. It was a good day’s work with so many rewards.

It’s hard to truly describe everything we saw on our short visit here, and to fully do it justice. Needless to say, we’ll be back to explore more of this beautiful, invigorating part of our province on the North American leg of our epic adventure!

For more pictures of Mt. Robson and the Berg Lake Trail, visit our gallery page or click on the photo above.

For more information about Mt. Robson provincial park, click here.