Stories from Sarah

Sarah Vanasse 2018-05-19 Sarah Vanasse 2018-05-19

British Columbia

In the Summer of 2016 I took my first big trip by myself to visit the West Coast so I could dip my toes in the Pacific waters. To say that I was scared in the days leading up to the trip is an understatement. I had been used to camping and hiking adventures with my best friend Heather, but I had never really done any big hikes by myself so far from home. What if something happened where I needed help and there was no one else around? All of the warnings I came across on the internet about the dangers of hiking solo certainly didn’t help my fears of twisting an ankle, breaking bones, falling off of cliffs, being attacked by bears/wolves/cougars/wild BC animals that I hadn’t even heard of, and/or being kidnapped by strangers. I had debated a lot about bringing along bear spray, but in the end I had decided against it, which only strengthened my fears. People took solo trips all the time, right? This was going to be an educational experience for me. I was going to leave with a newer understanding of myself… right? The whole stronger-probability-of-dying-by-myself-in-the-West-Coast-of-Canada thing was really freaking me out though. The morning of my flight out of Halifax, I hugged my parents extra tight when I said goodbye.

When I was 15 years old, I had dreams of one day moving to BC. At the time, my favourite band was from there, and I wanted to move to Vancouver and live as an actor. I dreamed of having a nice house on the outskirts of the city—within walking distance of some beautiful trails, but not too far a drive to the downtown area. I would own lots of instruments and art and drink nice coffee and go surfing once in a while. In the winter I would drive up to Whistler and become a “ski bum”.

I had never been to the West Coast. the closest I had been was Brandon, Manitoba. But I knew that I wanted to live in BC— the land of the free.

When my family and I moved out East from Ontario following high school, it was a difficult period of adjustment, to say the least. I didn’t know how to deal with change at the time. Halifax was the opposite of where I wanted to be. In addition to complicated factors like leaving “the love of my life” behind in Ottawa, I just had never considered it a possibility to live in the East Coast. So I guess Halifax and I started off on the wrong foot—it was the worst of introductions. I had set myself up to fail… but if anyone who knows me now is reading this, they know how that story ends with a strong connection and adoration for my home in Nova Scotia.

Let’s fast-forward now back to 2016, where I am finally on the plane to visit the West Coast after dreaming of it for so long. When I landed in Vancouver, I travelled directly to visit Hanna, a good friend from my undergrad. Hanna is one of the most unique, creative, hilarious, adventurous, caring, sensitive, and selfless people I know. I adore her and it was so exciting to be reunited with her after 3 years. She showed me some of her favourite spots around Vancouver, and the entire time I could feel the stong love that she had for her home province.

Following a few days in Vancouver, I said farewell to Hanna and took the ferry to Nanaimo, where I rented a sweet ride.

I quickly fell in love with the island, and I vowed to return again soon. I drove up to Tofino and Ucluelet, and stopped at a few places along the way. The air in BC is so different and fresh. The trees on the island were the biggest I had ever seen. I loved hiking around them and occasionally stopping to touch and hug them. I nearly fell backwards on more than one occasion trying to look up at the top canopy…

When I was in Tofino, I met up with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Maddy, who was on vacation with her family at the same time as me. We had discovered that we would be in the same place only a few weeks before my departure, and we laughed and rejoiced as we made plans to celebrate the wild coincidence. The stars had aligned, and Maddy and I took our first surfing lesson together in Tofino. Surfing is HARD! The next day my arms had truly felt the power of those Pacific waves! Next time, I’ll remember to train before I attempt surfing in Tofino again.

When I left Vancouver Island, I was truly on my own. I had plans to drive to Squamish, Whistler, and Golden, BC, with a few parks, hikes, and towns along the way. I felt confident being on my own. Sometimes I talked to myself. I definitely laughed out loud many times whenever I thought of something funny. I met new people from around the world. I learned that there are a LOT of Australians in Whistler for some reason. Everyone I met seemed happy and open, and it was just as I had imagined the West Coast to be.

When I was in Whistler I ran into someone that I had worked with one Summer in Halifax. I was reminded of what a small world our planet could be.

I went on “The Sasquatch”, which at the time was the longest zipline in Canada and the US, spanning over 2kms. The view of the valley between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Peak was breathtaking. I spent most of the zipline ride with my mouth wide open in awe… okay, yes, I was screaming for much of it…

Hiking around Whistler made me want to return in the Winter to experience the mountains in ski season, but it was also really neat seeing how busy it was in the Summer! What a gorgeous place to explore!

When I was in Squamish, I had taken the advice of a friend to hike up to the top of the Stawamus Chief. It is a popular hike, and many people set up tents at the base of the mountain so that they can get an early start. I unfortunately was not able to find a spot in time, but I set up my tent at a nearby campground. I heard it was a popular hike, so I decided that I wanted to be the first up the mountain the next day.

To achieve this, I ended up waking up at 4:30am so that I could start my hike in peace. To this day, The Chief is still the most challenging and rewarding hike that I have done. Although I never thought about giving up, I did take frequent breaks in order to catch my breath. As I ascended the trail, I encountered hikers who were on their way down after spending the night at the top of the mountain (something that you are technically not allowed to do). They encouraged me with smiles and news that I was the first hiker they saw that day. I was determined to be the first to reach the top.

The view was absolutely incredible! I just really enjoyed breathing fully and deeply at the top and looking down at the tiny toy cars below. Surprisingly, I had full cell service at the top of the mountain, so I decided to do something that was a little out of character for me, and I started my first ever live video feed, where I confirmed for my friends and family that I was still alive and well. What a beautiful feeling that was…

On my trip I ended up meeting one of my father’s best friends, JG, who lived in Golden. He and his wife Bonnie were the best hosts that I could have hoped for. They opened up their home and their hearts to me at a difficult time in their lives, emphasizing just how selfless and giving of their time they are. We shared stories, ate the most delicious food, watched the bats wake up and fly out in the sky, and JG brought me on a gorgeous hike to Gorman Lake— my first high-altitude lake.

The rest of my trip was filled with more incredible views, great company, beautiful hikes, campfires, star-gazing, and lots of time for self-reflection. I did end up encountering two bears on two separate occasions, but they weren’t all that interested in me in the end.

*Goat Lookout Trail, Birkenhead Provincial Park*

Deer Lake, Sasquatch Provincial Park, Harrison Hot Springs

Harrison Hot Springs

Wapta Falls, Yoho National Park

Takakkaw Falls hike, Yoho National Park

Birkenhead Provincial Park

I don’t know if I will ever take the opportunity to live in British Columbia, but I do appreciate it as a unique province with incredible views and friendly and open people. It is a province that I will definitely visit again. There is still so much more to see. I am so grateful for the opportunity to explore what I did, and I hope that I can resume my West Coast adventures soon.

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Sarah Vanasse 2018-04-12 Sarah Vanasse 2018-04-12

Newfoundland

I bought my Nikon D7100 on Boxing Day. The following Summer I was planning a grand adventure to a new province in Canada, and I wanted to bring a nice DSLR to capture the experience. It was my first DSLR. I had dreamed of one day being able to own one so that I might learn how to navigate the manual settings and gain control over the images I wanted to create. What better place to start my photography journey than in Newfoundland. When packing for my trip, I stuffed a bright red 70L backpack full of essentials, and proudly attached my pelican case full of photography gear with the biggest carabiner I had ever seen. The extra weight was worth the chance to snap shots across the beautiful province.

Newfoundland was a place that I had dreamed of visiting for a very long time. Some of my favourite people were from the island and I had heard many stories of the beautiful landscapes and friendly characters. I remember reading an article online one day, with some clickbait headline that had sucked me right in. It was something like, “Top 10 Canadian Hikes You Need to Experience Before You Die”. On the list was one of the most gorgeous landscape photos I have ever seen. It was there that I learned of a magical place called Western Brook Pond in Gros Morne National Park. I dreamed of one day standing in that spot and taking in the view for myself. When I showed my roommate (Heather) the photo, and told her about my dreams of visiting Newfoundland she simply asked me, “Why not? Why don’t we go?”. I thought about it for a moment. Why did it seem so easy all of a sudden? What were my reasons for not going on this trip? Money? (I had just enough in my savings for a little trip). Time off work? (I had two weeks worth of vacation time that I hadn’t taken yet). All of a sudden Heather had made the trip seem so easy. That day I ordered a copy of “Hiking the East Coast Trail” and I started planning our adventure.

When Heather and I landed in Deer Lake, NL, I was very aware of the heart pumping in my chest. Everything felt surreal. I was so excited to set foot in a new province, but I was also terrified. We had little planned. I was usually the person who had everything booked and planned out meticulously… but it had been a busy last few months. We knew we wanted to spend time camping and hiking in Gros Morne. Our flight home was out of St. John’s, so we wanted to eventually make our way East and visit small towns along the way. But how would we get from Deer Lake to Gros Morne? How would we get from Gros Morne to St. John’s? Where would we stay? We had the huge backpacks, the sleeping bags, the tent… but no concrete plans—and that scared the heck out of me. I booked a stupidly expensive rental car, but I didn’t even care because it meant that we had a car for 4 days. A car that could take us anywhere that we wanted to go. We could stop anywhere that we wanted to. The car was our freedom on the island. Plus, it would have a Newfoundland and Labrador license plate, and I happen to have a thing for license plates…

The reality of being in Newfoundland didn’t truly hit me until we were in our rental car, and all of the surrounding cars had the same familiar license plate. We set our GPS to Gros Morne, rolled down the windows, and made our way to the national park. With the windows down and wind in our hair, we drove along the winding roads, in awe of the beauty that surrounded us. There were mountains that made us feel so small. There were lakes and rivers and ocean waves. There were rocks and trees and a perfect summer breeze. It was 29 degrees and we were as happy as could be.

We stopped at the Visitor’s Centre and talked to a really kind and good-looking guy about where we should set up our tent. He told us that his favourite spot was the Green Point Campground. We drove there and it was a gorgeous site (sight) right beside the ocean. We set up our tent and walked around for a bit. The smile on my face would not falter. After our fish n’ chips supper, we resolved to go for a nice long walk to help us digest our meal. So we packed our bags with Newfoundland beer and walked along the beach to a beautiful spot with two red chairs on a cliff. The sun was starting to set and it was a magical experience, drinking our Newfoundland beer on a cliff with the colourful sunset and crashing waves. It was a perfect first night.

The next day, we woke up early to drive to Western Brook Pond, where we had a 45 minute hike to a boat tour that took us along the pond to look at the huge fjords. It was the location that I had been dreaming of. I made it! I still cannot imagine a more beautiful place. It was absolutely breathtaking. The water was clear and still. The mountains were enormous. The colours were vivid. There were waterfalls everywhere. It was perfection. After the boat ride, Heather and I decided that we would hike to Snug Harbour, which was an 8km hike, rated difficult. We had to ford across a flowing river in order to start the hike. This was my first hike of this nature, and I have been hooked ever since!

Western Brook Pond was incredible. I vow that I will return soon, and next time I hope to stay longer and hike the Long Range Traverse. We spent a couple more days in Gros Morne before heading East to St. John’s, and every hike blew me away as I marvelled at how diverse and beautiful the Canadian landscape could be.

We hiked the Tablelands:

Green Gardens:

Baker’s Brook:

Leaving Gros Morne was difficult. There was so much more that we wanted to see! Sad as we were to go, we took comfort in the idea of returning to the West Coast of Newfoundland again soon.

Highlights of our drive to St. John’s include: The Skerwink hostel jam session; the Skerwink Trail hike; the BEST pizza with a view at Bonnavista Social Club; puffins and root cellars in Elliston; small-town dialects; meeting fellow travellers; meeting kind locals; driving the rental car down an atv trail by accident and NOT damaging the vehicle; blasting tunes along the highway; keeping an eye out for moose; listening to Tim Baker on CBC…

We arrived in St. John’s and I was in a state of pure joy. For years, I had spent countless hours navigating downtown St. John’s on Google Maps, dreaming of one day being able to walk down the streets myself! We drove past Fred’s Records and my heart skipped a beat. We drove up to the top of Signal Hill and watched the sunset.

We stayed in the most beautiful home with the most generous, selfless, kind, funny, interesting, and genuine people and had the time of our life. It was a trip that I will never forget.

This is a love letter to Newfoundland. I left tiny pieces of my heart across the province, and I hope to return again soon.

This is also a love letter to my best friend, Heather, who never held me back from my dreams, but who taught me the value of seizing the moment and how to go with the flow. Thank you.

See ya real soon, Newfoundland. Until then, much love. xo