On Saturday, we took the ferry from Vancouver Island to Vancouver and drove directly to Whistler. All the gondolas and Whistler Village reminded us a lot of Switzerland. We booked an evening fly fishing trip with Whistler Year-Round Fishing. Our guide, Matthew, picked us up in Whistler and drove us to a lake. We received waders and walked into the ice-cold lake. Matthew showed us the technique (a very simplified technique, I think), and we spent 2.5 hours in the lake. We each caught about five small rainbow trout, which we immediately released again. We had a great time!
The following morning, we got up early and hiked the Ascent trail up to Blackcomb Mountain. It took us 2 hours to reach the top, with an elevation gain of over 1’000 meters. The sections of the trail were named Little Burn, Big Burn, and Heart Burn, and we felt all of them.
We ate lunch at the top and headed back down. On our way down, we passed a woman who had just received a call that there was a shooting in Whistler Village. A few moments later, another person also warned us of a shooting. They told us that people were being evacuated to a safe zone. We decided to wait somewhere until we knew more before heading down to the village. We sat down and checked the news when we saw a mama bear with her cub. So far, we’ve only seen bears from the safety of our car. Seeing them during a hike was way more exhilarating.
We sat in the grass, watched the bears next to us, and googled news about the shooting below us. It was a very surreal experience! Eventually, we learned that the shooting was gang-related. Two “Brothers Keepers” members were shot outside a hotel next to our parking lot. When we got to the village 2 hours after receiving the news, everything seemed completely normal again.
We drove to Coquitlam (near Vancouver) and checked into our Airbnb. The following morning, we were woken up at 6 am by an emergency phone notification. There was another shooting! This time in Langley, a town near Coquitlam. We read later in the news that two homeless people were shot.
Yesterday, we took the train to Vancouver Downtown and spent the entire day visiting the city. Today we left Vancouver and drove over the border back to the United States. We are now in Connell in a motel. It is 42 degrees outside, so we are spending the entire day in our air-conditioned room!