Creekbread (Whistler, Canada)

"So how long are you guys here for?"
"About two weeks"
"Sick..."

The way he said it was as if we just admitted to drinking our own pee, like Bear Grylls does. Luckily, we did not have to do that as there's plenty of water in Canada, and we later found out that "sick" is just a way of acknowledging the others in discussion, especially in a hippie community. So e.g. the following conversation is perfectly valid:

"I had an absolutely ordinary day"
"Oh man, that's just sick!"

Shortly before "the sick ride"

We were hitchhiking from Vancouver to Whistler and got stuck halfway through, in a town called Squamish. Plenty of cars were passing by but it just wasn't as easy as we imagined. Canadians are nice, but perhaps not as used to picking up people, especially two big guys with giant backpacks.

In the end, one American stopped and we hopped on. His van was full of stuff and I got the unlucky seat in the "cargo area", where backpacks and guitars were constantly falling down on me and an over-friendly dog was munching on my trousers. In the front, Juro was attempting a conversation, but every attempt ended by our driver saying "sick" followed by a 2 minute silence.

It took another ride with two Indians high on pot and a decent walk from the town centre, and soon we were knocking at the door of a beautiful cottage, one of the two Slovak houses in Whistler. And as fate would have it, our friends from uni - Tina and Mima - live just in those two houses!

We had a good night of sleep and decided to do a warm-up hike the next day. As it starts to be a trend on our trips, both me and Juro started to get slowly sick (as in unhealthy this time), plus Juro had some difficulties with his knee. So we decided to take it easy, and chose Wedgemount lake hike with only 1000 steep meters of elevation, almost all of it in the forest.

Up to Wedgemount lake

That's actually quite a difference to the hiking in Tatras, where one often starts high enough already and reaches the alpine after only a few hundred meters of ascent. Unfortunately, due to a late start and not much of a luck with hitchhiking, we did not reach the lake in time and had to turn around a bit before the end. So all in all - lots of effort and no views :-(

We made up for it, however, the next day, when Tina took us for a two-day hike going through Garibaldi Lake, to Panorama Ridge and down via the valley to Cheakamus Lake. 4 other Slovak girls from Liptov joined us (or we joined them?) and off we went to the mountains!

It started off in a similar way - lots of ascension. Not as steep, but longer for a change, all the way to Garibaldi lake. Being one of the most scenic places around Whistler, there was quite a lot of people on the trail and it was not till we left the lake for Panorama ridge that the crowds got thinner. Part of the reason was that it started to get late and most people slept by the lake, where it is officially allowed. We, off course, went back to the lake too, to comply with Canadian rules and regulations. Wink ;-) .

At Garibaldi lake

Beautiful British Columbia :-)

From Panorama ridge

Look at the valley we took on the second day

Iceland-like nature around Panorama ridge

But let's just suppose we did not come back to the lake and slept by Panorama Ridge. In that case, the story might have continued like this: Juro had a bit of trouble with his knee, so he eventually stayed under the peak while the rest of us climbed up for the amazing views. Girls decided to camp right up there on the ridge while I returned to the little wood below where Juro was waiting. We pitched the tent since it was getting dark and although the day was nice and sunny, temperature was dropping quickly with sunset.

We had a bacon burger (the typical hiking food, right?) and went to hang the rest of the food on a nearby tree. The reason is that there's many bears around Whistler and you don't want to have an impromptu visit in the tent in the middle of the night. I can imagine a bear would quite enjoy such a bacon burger. And we had 6 more. But a bear up here (about 1900m above sea level)? Hah, no chance...

Fatigue got the best of me soon and a I fell asleep, while Juro stayed up reading his tablet. I woke up suddenly few hours later as he made an unnaturally loud cough. I asked "what's up", to which Juro replied "We have a bear here". The way he said it reminded me straight away of an old tactics game I used to play (Jagged Alliance 2). You'd have mercenaries in a sector, which would suddenly be invaded. Dramatic music would start to play and one of your soldiers would announce "enemy's here".

Our camping place

Tina hunting for burgers

This bear was, however, quite likely a nice guy, and all he did was walking around our tent. Plus the moment we started to talk, he seemed to have gone away and we no longer heard him. Still, though, it was a bear, so even a nightly out-of-tent visit to a toilet had a touch of adventure.


The following morning was foggy with a promise of a rainy day, but we were at least happy to find our food untouched on the tree, and enjoyed a burger straight away. Liptov girls were going back the same way to get their car, while Tina caught up with us to continue down towards Cheakamus Lake. The trail this way is much less steep, but longer and we had a burger each to get some energy. It also rained off and on all day and by the time we got to the parking lot, we had enough. Unfortunately, public transport is scarce in the area and without a car, you're left with a bonus of a few more boring kilometers to the main road. Luckily, halfway through we hitched a ride with a family of 5 who had an extra row of seats at the back and who took us straight to Whistler, straight to a place selling burgers (for a change) for 4.95$.

Juro cooked an amazing lečo that night and I made burgers. Ha, just kidding, I made a chocolate cake. With the right people, guitars and an atmosphere of the "chalupka" (cottage), it was an evening in the style of a skiing trip, one to remember :-)

Lečo Party

Another trip on our trip was looming ahead on Friday. Canadians have one free Monday every month, perhaps to counter the low number of vacation people usually get. Either way, I kind of like the idea since it means everyone has free time and people can go on a trip together, as we did.

Car jam

There were 2 cars coming from Whistler and 2 more from Vancouver and we all aimed for the same place, Tofino, a town on Vancouver island, on the coast of Pacific ocean. Famous for its great surfing waves, local brewery and rainforests by the shore, Tofino is worth to visit by all means. Even the journey, including a ferry from Horseshoe bay to Nanaimo was worth it, for the beautiful elements of nature around, and us Slovaks singing "Zigo, na pi.. ti dam" by Horkyze Slyze.

Ferry jam

We (of course) slept all the nights in paid camps and hostels, but for the heck of it, again, let's suppose we didn't.

Some bums at Kennedy lake

We slept the first night by Kennedy Lake, about 30 minutes drive from Tofino. The idea is you pitch the tent late and pack it up early in the morning, before the ranger comes, leaving nothing behind. And the ranger will come. At first I was thinking "why is there so many bans, fines, rules and rangers?", but later on I understood. Canadians want to preserve their nature, and mostly their wildlife, which features the mentioned bears or (e.g. here on Vancouver island) even wolfs. And if tourists just started to camp anywhere they'd like without any restrictions, it would have an impact on the environment, and likely lead to conflicts with the wildlife.

This way - with rules and rangers checking everything - you can still make it, though the idea of a coming ranger makes you pay extra attention and respect to the environment, which, after all, is what it is about.

In the morning, we rented the surfing gear in a shop in Ucluelet. There was a really cool dude working there. All the things were "cool" and "awesome", his trousers were hanging all the way down by his knees and he even charged us one day less (not sure that was a conscious choice :-) ) . Awesome, dude!

Me and Juro got one board and one wetsuit, and it proved to be just enough given how demanding surfing is. As beginners, we were advised a foam-board, but when I tried one of the hard-boards on the second day, I already found it better - it was easier to get behind the breakpoint, or simply to navigate in the waves.

All in all, I really fell in love with surfing. Perhaps we just had ideal conditions, but rocking on the waves by the sunset, with friends around, awaiting the right wave and finally getting a successful 15 second ride powered by the force of the ocean... Amazing feeling. Of course, there's other 20 times when you fail, drop the nose of the board into the water, get washed over as in washing machine and struggle to come back against the strong waves for 15 minutes. But that one time when you make it, it just makes you turn to the first person next to you and shout "Wohooo! So much fun!".

Others seemed to have enjoyed the surfing just as much as me (SurFeris): Juro (SurDuris) spending 4 hours in water at once the first day, despite almost coughing his soul up during the time on shore, Mima surfing the whole day after she could barely move her arm on the first evening (probably from all the surfing), Pali waking up at 5am after 3 hours of sleep, so that he does not miss the forecasted waves and almost everyone talking about "the best surfing experience".

As the night was approaching on the first day, we started to think about the place to sleep. Wild camping is super difficult in the area - places to set up a camp are very scarce, most of them are on private land and the rest feature a sign saying "no camping". One like that was also on Cox Bay and thus, as law-abiding citizens, we set up a camp with 7 tents and a camp fire right next to it! (keep in mind, dear reader, that this is all hypothetic, we stayed in a cozy hotel all the time!) .

Some hobos on the beach...

If the Lečo party was one to remember, this was one to carve in a stone. I don't recall a camp fire party with so much singing. I think we've exhausted all of my songbook and followed with Slovak folklore songs. And although thousands of kilometers from home, I can say I haven't felt more Slovak than on that Canadian beach that night for years.

The morning came quickly and when we woke up there were already surfers and surfing schools on the beach. We quickly packed up the tents and covered the fire place but made a mistake of staying at the spot with all our stuff, being obvious as a 100 meter long branch ("stometrova haluz"). I went for a stroll and just as I was coming back, Pali stopped me on the way, pointing to a ranger coming to our group. Long story short, it was a fine, albeit very small one. The ranger was strict, but fair and he knew he could not just let this be, otherwise word would spread you can camp on Cox bay. We could have ended up with much higher fee, and to be fair - we deserved a fine for being so slow (Slavo was actually still in a sleeping bag, but ready to argue with the ranger that we did not sleep there :-D ) .

The party, surfing on the next day and worsening weather took its toll and after two days we looked like real hobos. A dinner with a hot Chowder soup in Ucluelet was a very welcome treat and we were ready for the bed, I mean, wet and sandy tents and sleeping bags, again at Kennedy lake. Juro was especially wasted and I think it's because he refused to try out a secret recipe we devised and which, I am sure, will be passed on for generations by grand mothers when their grandchildren get sick:

1. Undress down to underwear
2. Jump into a cold water, preferably mountain lake
3. Pour a sachet of Coldrex in your mouth
4. Wash down with 2 shots of Borovicka (or equivalent Slovak liquor)
5. Wait a few minutes and you should be fu.. I mean, just wait a few minutes!

We woke up to another foggy and rainy day and went to return the surfing gear in Ucluelet. There, we had another funny experience when a (slightly high) Canadian started a conversation with us in a local store:

Guy: "So, where are you guys from?"
We: "Slovakia"
Guy: "SICK! Good times!"

I turned away pretending to look at postcards, barely holding the bursts of laughter. Mima was admirably composed though and managed a straight face while saying something like:

Mima: "So you guys went surfing too?
Guy: "Yeah"
Mima: "Sick"

Before going home, we decided to do a small hike to Radar beach, leading through a rainforest trail. Although just about hour long, the trail is fun and one really feels like in a jungle. The beach itself is worth it too, providing an atmosphere of a remote, forgotten place, where one can ponder their life meaning...

After this we slowly started heading home (i.e. Whistler). The prolonged weekend was almost over and there was plenty of cars coming back from Vancouver island, so we had to make sure we'll fit in a ferry, preferably one that won't go too late. At the ferry terminal we had a feast featuring "all food that was left, thrown on the table" and decided to say goodbyes with the other car at the other side of the bay. But as if fate would have it, our car fit on the ferry as the second before last while the others stayed a few places in the queue behind. Since Katka and her friends were going back to Slovakia, we separated without saying goodbye, but I'd rather take it for a sign we'll meet again!

We spent the next few days mostly in Whistler. Weather wasn't good and there's not too much one can do in that case. Juro decided to make a cake and we went to Tina's place for a baking tin. However, she was on Skype at that point and we somewhat automatically and subconsciously aimed for a cozy place in the middle of a living room, grabbed two blankets and woke up only two hours later when Tina passed by saying "no čo vy dve mrochty" (not really far from "what's up you too lazy poos") .

Supersize me on a projector - for extra details of 'em burgers!

Yeah, those were lazy days peaking with watching "Supersize me", basically a documentary about what will become off you if you're a lazy bastard eating burgers. That was a kick in a butt and the next day we went for MacDonnalds.


Just kidding, the next day, we rented a dual suspension bike. Tina was kind enough to lend me hers, and so we were ready to go. Juro was all psyched up, which is no surprise since he was talking about biking and his bike more than Donald Trump about immigrants (but in a positive way, I mean). I liked it too, but also kind of made up my mind that I won't be a biker. For one, I found it a bit dangerous sport. Secondly, I quite honestly sucked at going uphill. But most importantly, I just like other sports more :-) . But never say never.

Whistler in background

To be taken seriously

It was around this time of our trip that we saw a bear. We've been looking for one since we arrived, always faithfully taking the trail through the golf course when going to town since people were telling us "go through the golf course, you will see a bear!". Liars. As if bears ever played golf (we all know they prefer baseball). We also looked for one at Lost lake or in the woods by Alta lake. We almost hoped it would jump at us from behind the bushes, and scare us to death. But nothing. Disappointed, we were just coming back from the Lost lake, already almost in the centre when - boom! - a nice small black bear would cross the road in front of us. Nonchalantly, calmly, as if he did it every day on his way to shop in the supermarket (actually, we heard later on that sometimes bears would indeed come down to the town, and e.g. go for a pizza in local pizzeria (pizza hunting!). If you find it funny, well, do know that such bears would probably be shot :(  ). Knowing there's bears is one thing, but actually seeing one is a completely different thing. Now we know it was not all lies!

Isn't he beautiful?

And also around this time we took our pizza hunting rifles off the hooks, put on pizza hunting hats and got out there in the wilderness, targets aimed at the wild pizzas roaming the mountains of British Columbia...

Our fine hunting sniff led us to Whistler Creekside village and the Creekbread restaurant, one on which everyone I asked agreed as being the place to go. Already entering the place, there were hints as to why. A huge stone wood-fired oven dominated the large open-space with bar, kitchen and customer seating all connected for the right atmosphere. I could almost see the skiers and snowboarders in the winter, entering the place still in their boots, instantly warmed by the sight of the fire in the oven and hungry for their favourite beers and pizzas... But even in the summer, the place had a great character. A bit laid-back, I must say, far from the hustle-bustle of e.g. my Italian pizzeria in Cardiff. Here the cooks looked really chilled, caps worn backwards, taking time forming balls of the newly mixed dough, talking and laughing. Even the waitress serving us was super chilled, as if just getting out of freezer, but she can be forgiven since she was Australian.

We were advised that we can do different halves for each pizza, so we ended up ordering 8 different halves on 4 large pizzas. While we were waiting I had a closer look at the oven. The guy running it said it was custom-made and temperature there was around 600 Fahrenheit. Not bad, but I thought it would be more, though I guess oven of that size is not easy to heat up much more than that. Not that it would be necessary - the important thing with wood-fired ovens is the flame giving nice char to the crust and the stone taking care of the bottom. And it didn't really take long before we could take this picture. Smile!

Think one of the best pizza hunting pics ever :-)

So - first impressions? Good. Solid slabs of pizza, covered with lots of ingredients that were not saved upon, dough properly baked. The crust was soft and slightly crispy and quite tasty on its own, although it could have had more of the wood-fired char. Base was ideally thin and was covered with different kinds of sauces (tomato sauce, or rosemary cream sauce). Nothing that would get stuck in my mind, but nicely complementing the pizzas. Some ingredients seemed not of the best quality (beef) or could be better seasoned (mushrooms or onions). My favourite was definitely Coevolution - a combination of goat's cheese, the white sauce, vegetables and a bit of garlic oil was one of the most expensive ones, but well worth it. On the other hands some of the meaty pizzas were not as good as they looked from description, but as we were hungry, they disappeared just as quickly.

All in all, Creekbread does not really make proper Italian pizzas, but then, all things considered (:-P), that's not what they aim for anyway. Great atmosphere fitting the environment, chilled yet friendly service (I was even asked for a url to this blog when Siska mentioned that we were on a "pizza hunt" :) ), big pies filling the empty stomachs and solid quality make the place one to visit and leave not disappointed.

To complete the gourmet experience, Juro served an excellent cake the day after as a thanks for our hosts for hosting us. You see, as we were told, the cottage where Tina lives is one of those houses where they always have guests. Just during those two weeks, they had us, Tina's two friends for a few days, another guy staying for a month (with a funny name "ončura", Slovaks know why :-P), and actually some of this guy's friends camping on the backyard. Other than that, they had visits from some Slovaks living in a RV to use shower and internet, friends and girlfriends staying here and there, couple parties and dinners and it could just as well be there was a moon-walking bear in the house, but no one expected to see him, so he'd be missed. (No kidding, a story was told about another, similarly busy Slovak house. One evening, all 5 residents were finally alone, having a dinner, when the door opened and a stranger that no one knew came in saying: "I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that I can sleep here")

After the party Juro's and my paths split for a while. Juro went to United States of America, country where big dreams become reality. And since Juro always dreamed of having a proper a bow, he ordered one, with delivery right to Blaine, just across the borders with Canada. His sub-quest was also to get us a proper, unhealthy, lowcost, greasy and fat US Burger from a local fast food, but Blaine proved to be the end of the world without any place selling such gems... At least he could use "I'm getting a US Burger for my friend" as a trustworthy explanation for a US officer, when questioned why he was ploughing several hours with 2 backpacks across the border to US (since "I'm picking up a deadly bow with arrows, for shooting" was not a recommended option).

As for me, I opted to stay a day longer and go for one more hike. When would be next opportunity to hike in Whistler? Šiška was sick since the Tofino trip, but she already planned a hiking trip to Mt. Currie, the highest mountain towering above Pemberton. With elevation over 2600m and starting point at just about 400m, the plan looked suspiciously optimistic to me: start at 3pm on Friday afternoon, go as high up as possible to set up base camp and climb the peak the next morning, returning to Whislter by 5pm the next day. Hmm. I searched in my memory for the hikes to Kriváň or Rysy - those were whole day efforts with considerably less elevation gain! Where was the catch? Was there an elevator to Mt. Currie somewhere?

The answer is - no catch! Šiška and her two Australian friends Thomas and Hannah simply put on turbo mode. I barely blinked and few hours from the start we were at 1850m, on Mt. Currie meadows, setting up a base camp with the last minutes of daylight. Other reason was that the hike itself is not as long, it's just super steep. Combine both things (turbo mode + super steep) and I had the best cardio exercise ever, basically breathing louder than a vacuum cleaner in a need of repair.




Luckily, we were at least spared the first few boring kilometers of the trail. Thomas had one of those pickup trucks, some kind of old Chevrolet Silverado or similar. A big machine that especially American businessmen in Texas tend to buy, usually for no apparent reason other than that it is huge, makes noise and thus supports their ego. Usually they also add-on a heavy-duty tow-away reel hook, as an extra trump in case their neighbours get a similar truck. However, Thomas made an actual use of the machine, plus he got it for amazing 900 dollars. The off-road journey up the hill was almost worth it on its own and we had fun barely falling off the cargo area :-) .

The next day we woke up with sunrise to a nice day. Unfortunately, Mt. Currie and his friends did not feel like revealing themselves and kept a dense fog around. We left most of the stuff in the camp and started the climb. Soon the trail lost a proper marking and we often only guessed the way, only to find a pile of stone later, indicating we're still on track. And on track we were - albeit to a wrong peak. We found out only when we climbed up and could not go any further, while Thomas's watch still showed elevation just over 2400m. We found a heli-port and some weird round structure and Šiška recalled it was probably South Mt. Currie peak, one that's often used to heli-drop skiers in the winter. We opened up offline google-maps and found out our true peak is about 1 kilometer away. Through the fog, with little supplies (well, I carried 5 burgers, but they tasted horrible and would think twice to eat them even in emergency) and people freezing in the cold, we decided for a retreat. After all - there wouldn't really be any views anyway. Thus I completed a trio of unfinished hikes this summer: Moldovenau in Romania, Wedgemount lake two weeks before and Mt Currie. But, as Bear Grylls would say, "survival is about knowing your limits", so I think it was a right choice. He'd also eat a big spider the next minute, but not everything he does makes sense. Did I mention he also drinks his own pee?

Though wrong one, still the peak!

Happy after hike, in THE pickup!

We followed with an infinite knee-killer descent, fun ride in the pickup and finshed off with a great sushi in Whistler. After that, I switched to a hybrid mode at Mima's place till Maťo and Šiška came to pick me up and we went to the cottage for one more evening, this time taking unexpected turn into a vláčik gaming session. Seriously, try level 20.

But it was time to go and I woke up early to catch a share ride to Vancouver with one First nation woman, Russian girl, and Australian and Czech guys. Yeah, Canada is international and I think there actually isn't a "true" Canadian. Vancouver is half Chinese and Toronto even more multicultural. Yet people seem to be happy, discrimination non-existent and country one of the safest in the world. Perhaps this is a model the world will need to follow, as we become more of a single world, rather than multiple countries.

Lowden's lookout

I met Juro back in Vancouver and he immediately helped me with a burger (still from the hike!). We had a few plans of a typical sightseeing tourist: visit a big sports store, see a street full of homeless and addicts and have as low cost fast food as possible.

Mike on English bay, selling best hot dogs in town! That's NOT the low-cost fast food I mentioned

The store was excellent, the street quite scary (people carrying needles or wildly shaking from their "shot" on clear daylight) and the fastfood just what we wanted! A super low cost place, kind of in a garage, with hot-dog + Coke for 1.5$. What a deal! I added a bowl of Poutine - greasy fries with gravy and cheese. Juro opted for "healthy" Ceasar salad, but compensated with drinking loads of sugary Coke (you know, free refills). And after that, man, we were SICK!

mmmm...

We walked around the city like zombies, fumbling up the stairs and thinking of the poor Supersize me guy, who did this for a month. Luckily, there was not much more to do and we settled for a couple of hours on the shore by the Museum of Vancouver. There, Juro found a guy struggling with his kite and decided to help him, only to take over the next time I turned around.

Juro kite-ing

At the airport, I was a half-dead man, still tired from the hike, last night's party and a day of walking in Vancouver. We ended up playing Sultans of Swing on the showcased iPads using GarageBand apps for about an hour and then said the goodbyes. Though both of us were flying through Toronto, Juro's flights were later and just missing mine.

I arrived to Toronto at 5ish AM after a short night in plane, which lasted just over 3 hours, when accounted for the time difference. The other flight to London was at 10PM and thus I decided to explore Toronto, although now I was really dead. Still, it was interesting to see Toronto wake up and I pushed myself to one more day. It's a huge city, much bigger than Vancouver, with 6 lane highways, downtown full of skyscrapers and hoards of people in suits below them, carrying coffee in their morning rush to work. Desperate for one myself, I struggled to find a coffee place which would not be too busy, as well as a decent supermarket. Eventually succeeding, I almost crawled to Sugar beach for a bit rest. The beach is a nice place on the shore where one can relax on a sunbed and watch the planes approaching the landing on nearby airport. Other than that, I was a bit disappointed with Toronto. I guess it was just too big, but also I could not see any character of the city. There was a NY-like downtown, industrial zone towards Thompson park, or Brussels like administration quarter around the Museum. But mostly, I did not find it a very nice place to spend a day. But perhaps I just didn't know where to look.

Relax on Sugar beach

NY - like downtown in Toronto

At 3 in the afternoon, I was seriously tired and decided to go to the airport, where I went straight to the gate. Funnily, I received message from Juro that he made a mistake, and actually is at the airport too, flying just half an hour before me from a neighbouring gate. Juro went to get us a Subway sandwich each, but in the end I was not able to eat it till 2 days later. The lack of sleep, time difference, lots of walking and the refrigerating in the planes were just a bit too much and when I came home to Cardiff at round 5pm, I was really happy to see the bed. I was also a bit gutted my girlfriend did not even come to greet me, but she was the one with a surprised look at her face after all - it turned out I came one day earlier than I told her :-D

What to say in conclusion? First - yes, I really need a travel blog and keep only the pizza details here. Noted, will (perhaps, one day) do something about it. But perhaps it just should go all together. The mountains and wilderness around, surfing, hiking and biking, local slang, bear encounters, Juro's master chef cooking, our junk food stupidity and most importantly, all the amazing people we've met all created a big chunk of memories I now have to store in my head and can't forget. So well done, good job everyone, see what you've caused?!

But really, thanks to you great peeps for everything, and most of all thanks Juro, Mima and Tina. Good times.

Dough - 8
Ingredients - 7
Sauce - 7
Pizza atmosphere - 7
Atmosphere - 9
Service - 7