Hoodoos, voodoo, bugaboos and a whirlpool for good measure

 

We spent a week in Canada at Panorama which is located 18 kilometers up toby creek from Invermere on the Lake near Radium hot springs.  We were joined by our good friends Jim and Rosie and Jacob and Margo. On our first day we headed out for a short hike

to see the Hoodoos above Dutch creek.

These hoodoos were created out of sediment that were previously had been deposited on a large lake.  Those ridges are only about 6 to 12 inches wide..

All in all it was a beautiful day for hiking.

Photos of hoodoos

Then one day we headed off to another valley to hike, but we were under equipped.  In Canada you have to carry chain saws to cut down trees to get across streams.  We built a bridge across the first stream

but two miles up the road was another stream which was too large to cross without cutting trees.  We turned back, but on our way out, we met a hiker carrying a chain saw to lay down a couple of trees to get a cross the creek.

The trails can also as the guidebook states, “be a little indistinct.”

But we did find a beautiful hike that headed into the Earl Grey cabin.

Note to tea aficionados, This is the fourth Earl of Grey and Earl Grey green tea was named after him. He was governor general of Canada an built the cabin for his family in 1909.  Earl Grey black tea is named after the second Earl of Grey.  The wood on the cabin had a gorgeous texture and color, but there was no place to get tea.

and there was some interesting things in the rooms

but in one of the back rooms we found the nest of something that was very large and not human.  I didn’t take a picture because it was freaky and I wanted to get out as quickly as possible.  Jim and Jacob were no where to be seen and naturally, I heard the sound of twigs snapping in the forest behind me on the rest of the way hike back to the car. I finally got more comfortable as I caught up with my hiking partners in an open field.

Our way out was blocked by a baby moose, but he didn’t seem too threatening.  We figured the plan was to entice us out of the car to take his picture where upon his mother would charge from the woods and crush us  leaving our back backs for them to eat from at their leisure.  We didn’t fall for it.

 

Photos of Earl Grey hike.

One day we headed off into the bugaboos, which were beautiful.

One of the issues in hiking here is that all of the trailheads were20 to 30 miles in the back country along dirt roads filled with large mining and logging trucks. The guidebook states that road etiquette says “you should yield right of way to fast moving large trucks.”  Some roads require high clearance ( to get over the ruts) low roof line (to get under the fallen trees) vehicles.

Once we got to the trailhead, we had too wrap chicken wire around the bottom of the car to keep the wolverines from eating the hoses on the car.  They are very fond of salt cured rubber.

 

The mountains were great, that’s the hound’s tooth in the background, Jacob in the foreground

but the car got a little dusty on the drive out.

Photos of Bugaboo hike

And one day, since it was raining and we would get wet no matter what we did, we went white water rafting.

It had a lot of ups and downs and was only a little bit wet, but we all had a good time.

White water rafting

 

It was a great trip with a lot of opportunities to be out of doors, be with friends, eat snacks, and drink wine.  What more could

you ask of life?

Father’s Day on Whidbey

 

We headed up to Whidbey Island for a week end of rest and relaxation with our good friends Jim and Rosie.  The weather reports degenerated through the week end, but it was one of the misty overcast days we’ve seen so often.  But to put things in perspective, at no point did we have to build a fire in the stove to keep warm and leaving the wine outside chilled it to the prefect temperature for drinking.

 

And the weather did not stop us from walking out to Baby Island

There was a minus 2.8 foot tide, which exposes a lot of beach for makes beach walks.  There was a lot of discussion on when crabbing season opens, (first of July), can you eat the mussels of of the beach (yes) , and why does the state make only $67,000 on licensing fees and for commercial crabbers and put all of those restrictions on week end beach goers who pay $5,000,000 in fees.

There was also a lot of discussion on the difference between scallops and cockles which resulted in discussions about the shell gas station sign and the singing of several verses of “alive, alive, Oh”.  It was at this point that we all agreed that all of this talk about scallops and crabs  was making us hungry for shell fish and wine.

The birds were out in abundance, though we only saw two eagles.  But there was a flock of terns zipping about our heads.

 

And every where we looked there was a heron. We watched them as they watched fish.  I have no idea what the fish were watching.

And at the end of the day, we had a great sunset to go with the shell fish and wine. 

 

A little wine, a lot of food and a great time was had by all.

Pictures from Whidbey trip

Memorial Day at Whidbey

 

We go to Whidbey every Memorial Day, (and fourth of July, Labor Day, and any week end there is a minus tide.)  It is a tradition that weather does not enter into and so we sat at the ferry terminal as hail stones bounced off of our car.  That could account for the short line on a Friday of Memorial Day weekend. When we drove off of the ferry, I told Molly it looked like it was clearing over Baby Island.  She gave me that nervous smile you give crazy people, but when we got to the cabin, here is what we saw.

There was no wind and it was warm as the sun went down.  Of course that line of clouds looks a lot like a weather front coming in, but perhaps it was the tail end because we had good weather the next day.

 

And we headed out to baby island

where the sea gulls were harvesting clams on the beach

people were harvesting clams on the beach

and the heron were fishing, or just standing around.  It was kind of hard to tell.

We headed back to the cabin to eat cake and celebrate Joe’s birthday and yelled to the people, who didn’t seem to realize the tide was coming in, that they had better make tracks.

Pictures from Whidbey week end

Peters Canyon

 

Just ten minutes up the road from my sisters is Peters Canyon, a nice five mile hiking loop complete with a ranger station. I went hiking with my sister’s neighbor and my new hiking friend, Carla.

 

 

As you can see, there were the usual wild flowers, but also some nice cacti that were blooming

 

There were the usual up and downs which seems to be a part of all of the hikes in this area

and some nice thistles.  Nice if you’re careful not to step in them.

And while we may not be the fastest hikers, we did cover our distance while a snail spent the morning crossing the path. He does seem to be a little confused on the direction and obviously does not have the ten essentials for hiking.

More photos of Peters Canyon

Santiago oaks

 

I went out to Santiago Oaks Regional Park, which is located next to the last remaining orange grove in the city of Orange.

While the wild flowers were out in full bloom

It is probably best known for its variety of 140 different bird species.

However, they tend to hide in the bushes or come flying over a ridge only to disappear before I can get the camera out.  I did see the Easter bunny

and his good friend, the pass over lizard.

 

And I got to see beneath the skin and view the skeleton of a prickly pear cactus

 

It was a nice hike that went a long a creek shaded by oak trees

 

 

and climbed up to some nice vistas along the ridge tops.

More photos of Santiago Oaks

Orange County hikes

 

While down in Orange County visiting my sister, I was delighted to find there were some nice few hour hikes with in a thirty minute drive of Disneyland.  And so, I pulled out my I phone and typed in Weir Canyon regional park. Unfortunately my I phone occasionally locates things on the corner of ‘could be” and “not likely.” and so I pulled up to a end of the street that had a trail that could be the right one, but didn’t seem very likely since I was expecting a trail sign more encouraging than “no trespassing.” However, with the help of a couple of policemen, I soon got to the right location.

The trail is actually twenty two miles long and goes from upper orange county down to the beach at Laguna, but I only had time for about five miles of the trail.  California has had a lot of rain and the country side was still green with a lot of wild flowers.

 

The trail went up and down over hill and dale with a lot of canyons and skyline shots.

 

I lived in Southern California for a year and do not remember the hills being this green.  Normally it would be the beginning of fire season, but I guess La Nina was wet for all of us.

And the wild flowers were out in profusion, as well as the California sage which can be seen in the foreground of the following photo. The California sage was used by the early pioneers to get rid of bed bugs and fleas.  get some for your next trip to New York.

More photos of Weir Canyon Hike