Almost Glassy Calm ... Rennell Sound Good Friday, 2013

Crammed in 2 cars off we headed to Rennell Sound; the first goal was to check on the trailhead for the Bill Brown Creek hike planned for July. [We are just old enough or perhaps smart enough to plan to camp out there when tackling this more rugged hike]. After admiring the views on the way out and sharing some hiker's red licorish ... we decided to head for Bonanza Beach and our weiner roast.

Did I mention that the loggers were indeed logging on Good Friday, with very big loads [we saw 3 trucks ... 2 very loaded coming toward us .. one unexpectedly] and when at Rennell Sound there was some helicopter and chain saw noise.

Some of our hikers hadn't ever been to Bonanza before while one not for 30 some years. We got the fire going quickly and had an amazing aray of great food ...  potato salad, sausages, smokies, chocolate cake, prune/orange loaf, cheezies and chips, homemade potato buns ... and lots more.

After our lunch some headed over to the cresent beach ... picking up bleached sand dollars, agates, driftwood, beach glass. There were rests in the hammock as well  ... and yes A GLASS BALL was found!

Very little tsunami debris was noticeable ... the trail in was good but there were 2 trees down, one we were able to shift to the side of the trail a bit but the other is a crawl over one.

Around 3:00 we headed back ... one truck went back to town directly to "work" in their gardens, while the other went into Gregory Beach ... while overcast most of the day around 3 the sun broke through the high overcast and it was glorious from Rennell Sound to Skidegate and beyond! We did pass a couple of cars with surfers [well boards on the roof] headng down the "Hill" and yes there was a bit of snow at the side of the road.

Good bye walk Thursday March 28, 2013

A fast get together before a couple of the hikers head off for far flung corners of the World ... Vancouver, Australia and Japan.

Beautiful day so we stole some time and headed to the Tarundl Loops ... while it was gloriously sunny and low tide we decided to cut across to the meadow and walk up by the stream.

Lots of blow down, but regeneration too. Robins abounded ...

We stopped at the nurse log remembering when we were taller than the spruces which are shooting up.

We will miss all being together until July possibly but will look forward to photos! Of course the hikes will continue ...........................

Hiked up a Tree Today, March 17, 2013

It was a great morning, frosty early but sunny and calm by 10:00 our meeting time ...
Yup ... we were planning to hike up a tree ... it was to be an Over-the Hill Hikers special New Year event ... it took us a while to get everyone and everything organized ... and then sadly we were one short but we did find a replacement!

Sooooooooooooo  ... we met up on Rainbow Hill with our patient guide, Toby ... first we handed in our paperwork [well some of us] then we hiked a bit of the Backyard Trail until we got to a beautiful, tall cedar with no branches until maybe 50 feet up, or maybe it was meters, it looked really tall!

Excited but with some trepidation ... we listened to the instructions ... thinking will we never remember everything! Then it was climbing into our gear [2 at a time] and then we were off, sort at the speed of turtles ... inches at a time, trying to get ourselves co-ordinated, then rested ... oohing and awing all the while and on top of everything we were being filmed!

Let me say that height has nothing to do with it ... you are concentrating on new stuff, ways your body doesn't usually have to work ... you won't be cold, your muscles are working and you didn't have to go high at all to have a great experience!

Coming down was super fun, worth the work of going up.
Toby is able to accommodate some problems by special rigging to make things easier for the climbers.

We were so engrossed with watching everybody go up we didn't even search out the nearby eagle's nest; but we did celebrate with fancy chocolate when everyone was down!

We didn't ask but we may have been his oldest group ..... I think we will probably all do it again; Toby has more trees picked out across the Islands.

Thanks Toby ...

Support Walk March 10, 2013

Something a bit different today ... some went off to complete a previous hike and a couple were in their gardens but  that still left a couple to join in the Support Walk from the QC Visitors Centre to the Kaay in support of our 2 girls, Kaiya and Shantel who are fighting cancer away from home.

Something particularly wonderful about this walk was that it was organized by a couple of local high school students. All ages showed up ... there were rollerbladers, runners, bikers, strollers, "hikers - us", supporters, RCMP .... dogs of all sizes ... great conversations and watermelon!

We send our best to the girls and their families in this struggle ... and thank the organizers, their helpers and all who showed up. The weather was close to perfect - no rain and not too warm ... we had to take our jackets off!
Job well done, everybody.

Cinefile Walk - March 3, 3013

After a day at the Film Festival, we decided that we simply had to go for a walk ... so early for some of us we headed to Spirit Lake at 8:30 ... calculating, so we would have time for the first of Sunday's films ... a Natural Laboratary ... [Reef and Limesone Islands deer doc]. 2 other top favourite were Survival Prayer [local fod gathering] and the The Clean Bin Project ... which hopefully will inspire us all.

 The swans were still having breakfast while we were having fun being there so early.

Still thinking about what do-able parts to take on from the Clean Bin Project ... 1 bucket of garbage a week, then a month ... they each did it for a year,, just 1 bucket! Or perhaps buy nothing, not essential [unpackaged food]... or perhaps it is just stop using plastic bags [certainly the easiest]
The views of mid-Pacific ocean drags and the plastic debris is almost incomprehensible! We think the oceans are so clean ...

 The above photo is from the Sinai Penninsula, April 2012 ... garbage bags kill animals everywhere - in the ocean and on the land. How can we be so far behind ... 13 years ago we, 3 islanders travelled to Nepal; we were not allowed to take any plastic bags with us into the hiking area for our 2 week trip! This was an area where they didn't have electricity but they cared about their land and animals!