We headed down to the Ashlu valley and took a look at the river and the impending dam and have spent some more time in Whistler.

At the start of the week we met up with Sarah again and paddled the Daisy lake section of the Cheakamus – it's recently changed course after a flood, so we were paddling in between huge tree trunks in the river which is a strange sensation. Then on tuesday we headed to the Ashlu – one of BC's classic rivers and unfortunately one which won't be around for much longer. The dam construction is well underway and in order to drive up the valley we had to sign in at the construction site office. Getting to this river is a mission in itself – dodging huge dump trucks that made Macy feel like a matchbox car, poor guidebook directions and a road that defies the term 'road' – I'm not even sure goat track would do it justice. Macy didn't like it. The classic section of the Ashlu is a grade V bit called the Mine – British Columbia has it's own take on the usual grading system and class V here is a good bit harder and more dangerous than class V elsewhere, so I ducked out of paddling that scary section and Sharon and I paddled the last fall – one called Last Tango which saved Macy the torture of the road.

The last couple of days have been spent relaxing in Whistler – we got a Gondola and chair lift to the top of the mountain and had some stunning views and an afternoon of great hiking, we treated ourselves to a cinema trip and are just about to head to the rec centre for some swimming and saunaing.

Tomorrow we leave Whistler after several weeks here and head back to Vancouver Island to see if we can find an elusive bear.

Here's a couple of photos Bob took of us on the river and one we took of the construction. We got some video as well and will add that to the next installment.

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