Sizzle Into Drizzle, July 16, 2012

It was a Monday so we lost many of our hikers ... summer is our busy season - holidays, visitors, fish! Still off we headed from hot sunny Charlotte, up island heading to Drizzle Lake, where we were taking in some "goodies" for the researchers.

Even though our gardens are needing water, there was plenty in the bog ... we chose to go in runners and just get wet ... softest walking one can imagine but that doesn't mean easy as of course you sink into it!

Trail ... well, we had a good intuitive trail leader armed with a google map and ... there was some flagging tape but you really wanted to keep your eyes on the ground, to miss any sink holes!

After half an hour or so we came upon an early cabin and then further on a bit to the 100 year old [this year] cabin and lab!  Research has been carried on since the 70's.

After checking the cabin and admiring the new floor we headed down to the lake to give the researchers some goodies ... closer in size to Pure Lake than Mayer there was quite a fetch for the strong northwesterlies. Surprised when we came upon them the first thing noticeable was we were in the tee-shirts and shorts and they were in toques, helly hansens, jackets and gumboots and had a small fire going. It took us very little time to understand it was a strong cold wind sweeping across the lake right into their camp. They were longing for rain just so the wind would stop!

After not too long a visit we headed back retracing our steps sort of ... a lovely hike and even a bit of history. Our goodies sure were appreciated too. No signs of a drizzle in sight at least for a few days!

Full Retreat July 8-9, 2012

The core of the Over-the-Hill Hikers headed out on retreat to Maude Island! What a fantastic time as always ... laughter, food, hiking - all fun.

After a great speed boat trip out on Sunday morning, we arrived in time for lunch .... terrific as usual ... soup and scones and dessert. So with all that we had to go for a hike ... over to the Farm ... where we got to visit with RB and her miniature horse Sky and found FB working hard on "hundreds" of tomato plants in the amazing greenhouse. Of course we visited with the fancy chickens too.

Only had to walk one way as we had a pick up to return at 4:30 ... [this is great walk through the woods and on the beach] ... everyone pulled out some goodies they had brought over of the retreat and suddenly there appeared delicious array of appetizers for our first on the deck of the summer, it finally felt like summer was really here.

Next wonderful dinner, conversation and to bed ... after lots of photo ops of Bambi and relatives.

Up early next morning for our adventures - which involved canoeing and hiking .... after launching the canoe one pair walked and one pair paddled to the shortest crossing spot from Maude to Sandilands [we were hiking down to the western shore].

The ferrying accomplished, no one fell in and the canoe was hauled up, so we all headed down the beach ...

Not far along we noticed a commotion ahead where two of the hikers were crab stepping down towards the shore ... by the time we were all caught up the story came out ... it seemed like while two of the hikers were walking at the top of the tide line, a live fish fell out of the sky right at their feet. As the wee fish wiggled they immediately jumped to the task of getting it into the water!

In the same general area we came across some dead "shrimp" and some pools of "red tide" ... unbeknownst to us, at this stop a camera bag was left behind at the low tide! [It was retrieved several hours later floating along the high tide line!]

On we went marvelling at fish falling from trees till we got the point where we stopped for our gourmet picnic lunch ...  great food, no bugs and wonderful sun! The return trip was uneventful and a non-canoist got to paddle back!

Again another fantastic meal ... and would you believe rain, with a forecast for rising winds, so off we went in the blue boat not wanting to push our luck ... it was a terrific retreat!

As usual we mused about what the Queen was doing and could she possibly be having as much fun as us.

Independent Hikes today

Today was a day of independent hikes ... but 2 of us ended up in the same place at the same time. Of course it was a very low tide so the beach was calling.

While searching for one thing one often finds others .... from crabs to dog walks you just never know!

Canada Day Gray Bay Picnic July 1, 2012

In celebration of Canada Day and meeting an Over-the-Hill Hiker's sister ... off we went in 3 cars over to the Sandspit side. Unfortunately we had some drop-outs but 8 of made the trip ... a bit bumpy on the Copper Bay Road part then pretty good into Gray Bay. We shared the car order so that some could get a bear photo but ... no bear this time just lots of signs.

The forecast as usual was "possible showers and wind" ... they were spot on ... showers were possible but they didn't happen on us and the winds did blow at the north end of Gray Bay but it was calm at the far end. No noticeable debris on the beach, some in the grass zone.

After a couple of hours on the beach we needed food so thanks to Graham and Marla we had a wonderful fire perfect for fancy hotdogs and hamburgers ... with all the fixings, potato salad, beans, chips, cheese, pickles, everything! And then there was dessert, iced chocolate scones, ginger scones, and rhubarb pie. We picnic quite well here.

We left 2 visiting hikers there, one leaves on the plane tomorrow and the others is doing some Moresby exploring for a few days ... the rest of us headed for the 5:30 ferry having had a wonderful Canada Day [dare we say it wasn't very different from our Boxing Day Gray Bay picnics ... read anything you want into that!]

It was fun to get home and still enjoy the open air concert ... Thanks Terry T ... no wind here and the sound is great.

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.