Annual Sea Asparagus Safari June 25, 2012

The day after Hospital Day ... even though we knew the weather was due to change we understood that we needed to get out and both have a hike and do our annual harvesting of sea asparagus soooooo we arranged to meet at 9 with bags and scissors in hand and off we went heading westward.

We had a possible closer fall-back location [in case weather was bad] but decided that we liked the hike so much we would do our longer traditional hike; so off we went up the Inlet, about 45 minutes to the site! It wasn't t-shirt weather but it was a pleasant hike to the spot! Lots of talk about recipes and storage etc. Freezing, drying, fresh ... changes of water, stir fries, sauces, etc.

We had our international hiker with us and as suspected while we couldn't give her a recognizable name for our sea asparagus she did indeed recognize them from her Belgium homeland.

Didn't take too long to pick all we could handle ... and our timing was perfect, as a cold western wind came up to push us home and even a few sprinkles.

 

The trip was worth it ... home for lunch, made in minutes; fresh crab, fresh sea asparagus, with melted cheese ... a pleasant hike to clear any cobwebs from Hospital Day dance ... all very good!

Sort of a hike

After promising to take some photos of the Residential School Memorial Pole raising, a couple of over-the-hill hikers headed to Old Massett for the event with a new international member, Nelly from Belgium.

We got to Old Massett and headed out to the pole, but we were unsure where it was to be raised ... seeing no obvious place we headed to the pole building site ... and there, were about 8 eager carvers and several onlookers all working diligently ... but the pole was definitely not finished!

So we took our fair share of photos and decided to head out towards to cemetery ... which was a wonderful decision as we drove slowly through the Village and out to beyond the cemetery where we went beach hiking ... on a gorgeous day [one of a very few this summer so far].

After an hour of so we decided to check back in to the pole before heading back ... this time nothing seemed to have changed so we headed for home saying how we really enjoyed seeing the work done on the pole probably even more than an actual raising.

addendum:
The next evening while viewing the HG Musum's Ulli Steltzer Show we happened to hear from Jim Hart that they had indeed raised the pole unfinished at about 10:30 that night!
Gitsga, who worked on it on the raising day, explained that they would have to build a scaffolding to finish it!

So perhaps it all comes together as the residential school recovery is also an on-going process.
Thanks to all the carvers who so generously shared their work space and conversations with us.

Dover Trail - Heather's Choice June 2, 2012

Heather who is leaving soon chose a Moresby Island hike as one of her last ones with the group ... so with a couple of other hikers who hadn't done this one before ... off we headed on the 10:00 ferry and drove to Haans Creek pull-out. The weather looked ok with the possibility of a shower but we knew we would be in deep forest ... so no problem.

Walking along the western side of the creek, remains as beautiful as ever as, we hear the creek and see the lush ferns. The bridge over the creek has improved over the years .. no longer nearly a scary as it once was ... thank you to the people maintaining it ... very lucky that the large upended spruce missed taking out the eastern approach.

We chose the western route, so it took us a bit over an hour to get the geo-zone as we were also geocaching. The trail keepers have done a great job flagging the many detours around around the fallen trees. When we had stopped for a snack ... along came a young local ... which was great as her father had been one of the original trail builders. She also gave us a new trail Alliford Bay way ... that is always great news to us!

The dappled sunlight on this trail really highlighted the many massive tress as well as the CMTs, culturally modified trees ... some test holes and bark collecting.

A good hike and we are sorry that Heather is leaving but we do expect to see her back. We also extend thanks to Remi and Mark for putting in this fine trail and to all those who work to keep it well marked and  open. We enjoyed it.