Is today the day that you are going to stop saying...I will do what I love when I get skinny...I don't have time...I will do it tomorrow and so on. These are excuses and you are putting limitations on yourself. You can do it! You don't need to be skinny, fit, or any other excuse, you just need... you.

Meet my dad. He is an inspiration to my sister, Nicole, and I. If you knew my dad years ago you would know a man who hiked, roller bladed, rode his bike, and ran. He ate healthy and was good to his body. Twelve years ago, my dad and I were running together at Burnaby Lake. He started dragging his leg and went to see the doctor right away. It was the start of horrible news...my dad would be diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Last year my step-mom found my dad laying un-conscious at the bottom of their stairs. After a lengthily stay at the hospital and two massive strokes it was determined he had had a heart attack twenty years earlier. During that heart attack a blood clot was released and it took twenty years to show its ugly face in the form of two strokes. My dad is now 68 years old. I love him so much and feel blessed we have been able to hike these past two summer's. I'm hoping for some 2013/14 show shoeing as well.

Today my dad seems ok. He understands most stuff if you write it down but has limited language. If you ask my dad about hiking, he can pretty much lead any hike. He knows the trails and how to get to them. He is an inspiration. This is my dad & I today at Mount Seymour, Dog Mtn trail. it is a 5 km, exposed roots with rolling hills, in/out trail. Yes my dad did it!

So I say again you don't need to be anything to find your passion and do what you love. For me, it is hiking & Dragon Boating. I'm not skinny but I have worked my way into being quite fit. On many hikes most people are ahead of me. I don't care, it's not going to stop me! I have painful heel spurs in both feet... I don't care, it's not going to stop me! I'm here to tell you, actually you can do it! 


Happy trails! By Lori Pederson

During these heat waves it is so important to keep our bodies hydrated. We often pick up coffee, tea and high sugared sports & energy drinks. What we should be doing is drinking water. Living in beautiful B.C. we are blessed to have the gift to turn the tap on and drink great tasting water. Yet we don't! 
A great way to jazz up the taste of your water without adding a ton of un-necessary sugar is by adding cucumber, lemons, limes, strawberries, cranberries, pineapple, plus so much more.The opportunities are endless and at your fingertips. I start by washing my fruits or vegetables and squeeze the fruit in the water if I can and then leaving the rest floating in my bottle. If i cant squeeze the fruit or vegetable then I just let the flavors hang out for a couple of hours before i drink it. I add some ice and head out for my desired outdoor activity. This makes a natural, low calorie, great tasting drink. It also sparks conversation as people inquire about your water. Happy Hydrated Trails! By Lori Pederson

This is my all time favorite hike. It starts at the Rubble Creek parking lot after the second Garibaldi 2 km sign on the Sea to Sky Highway. Take a right and go all the way to the top. The first few km are a gradual climb and then you come to switchbacks and some more climbing. The trails are not too steep; nice and wide. It's just a walk in the forest with your peaceful thoughts or chatting with a friend or two. Soon you will come to a junction that goes to Taylor Meadows. Right now there's patches of snow as you head into the meadows and a blanket of snow all through the meadows. It's beautiful and doable in good runners or hiking boots but way prettier in the later summer months when the flowers are in bloom. Better tocontinue onto  the lake.  After a few minutes you will come to a view. Go down the trail and you will see a lookout but if you keep going down the trail you will come out onto a rocky outcrop. It's a panoramic view of the valley below. Later you can look up and see it from the parking lot. Keep going and soon you will come to Lesser Lake which Garibaldi drains into. It's a beautiful green. As you make your way around the lake carry on as you pass some mini waterfalls and cross several bridges. I like to bring a buff and soak it into the fresh cold water and rub it on my head and neck. A few km's later you will come to a steep trail, go right and head down to a bridge and cross it. Walk around Garibaldi Lake and up into the camping and picnic area for a panoramic view of the lake. There's an outhouse here and a perfect place for lunch. I like to soak my feet in the glacier feed waters. The water is nice enough on a hot day for a swim. If you brought some treats (cashews) the Whiskey Jacks will swoop down and eat from your hands. After you have relaxed, soaked your feet and taken lots of pictures head back the way you came taking a left after you head up the steep trail. It says Black Tusk parking lot. You have 9 km to get back to the parking lot. Happy & safe trails! By Lori Pederson

Have you ever felt like a third wheel? It seems lately this feeling is all around me. On vacations that are no more, my Dragon Boating besties and at work. I just can't shake it. It's all over me like a swarming bunch of blood thirsty mosquitoes. It's not my imagination...I would like to think I am fun to be with but my guess is not in three's. I don't think anyone does it purposely, it's just for whatever reason they have made a connection that is better or stronger for travel, work, hanging  out, then my connection. I'm sure I am not the only one in the world that is going through this and I'm not sure how to fix it. What I know is, it is indeed a painful situation.

That is just one more reason why I love hiking. If you go on a hike with a large group you can visit with many people as some stride ahead and others fall behind. Everyone gets your time and you don't have to feel like you need to entertain everyone and no~one has to ever feel left out.  If you go in three's, it also works. Sometimes you walk & talk while other times you are in the comfort of the beauty that surrounds you.

To me, life is way too short. I want everyone to feel included. Exclusion is no fun! Being a person who is employed as an Education Assistant. My job is making kids feel included, it's kinda weird in my life, I am not. At least this past year, in many cases, too many to ignore, I have excluded. Call it mental pause, over sensitive or just how it is?  I'm not trying to blog a sob story but just to say it is out there and I wish it wasn't. I wish I could write it away.  I have said this before out loud and hopefully saying it again someone may hear me...We never know when our time to leave this earth is...so I say spend time with everyone, together. Don't think it's your job to be the entertainer of all the people in the group. Three people can hang out together at the same time. Lets make the third wheel, no more! 


Lori Pederson