Clearwater Lakes

Took a small group to hike around Clearwater Lakes on Friday and thank goodness one of them knew which paths to follow!  I'd been wanting more reference photos so picked the day for it's bright light...unfortunately I hadn't recharged my camera recently and so it ran out of power after very few photos.  I managed to keep it going right until we hit the area I really needed more photos from and then it resolutely shut down so.... another trip is in order.

Lots of amphibians; watched a salamander swimming in Onion Lake upon our arrival, then saw toads and frogs of varying sizes.

My three companions all tried the rope swing but I just took pictures...maybe next time?
TwinB came prepared with bikini so took the plunge 3 times into the icy, icy water.  Near the end of the hike she fell and sprained her left hand on both sides since her hand landed in a depression so it was a double whammy leaving her with two knuckles showing in the middle and swelling and bruising on the outsides.  TwinB said it made her feel like a dancer with broken legs...she's never injured her drawing hand before and it was almost terrifying.
Kinda better now though...residual bruising.

Siberian Smoke

Forest fires rage across Siberia; the smoke is sucked into the jet stream pulling it halfway around the world to bleach our atmosphere a pale white.  We hiked along the Kitamaat Village trail today and it wasn't too bad at first, though even fairly local islands and mountains were obscured by smoke.  By late afternoon the air in town was obviously murky and all colour in the sky paled to nothing.
We joined the Sunday excursion offered by MJ's gym yesterday traveling 55 km. east of Terrace to climb up to Watson Lakes which I'd never heard about before.  It was interesting to hike a drier, rather different type of forest.  Someone noted how much smaller the plants were and The Gumboot fairy commented on how much space there was between the undergrowth and the foliage on the trees.  We are used to being enveloped by a jungle thick, impenetrable wall of green.  The massive mountains along the Skeena were so hazy that I couldn't get very good photos and this bummed me mightily.  Anytime we have a 'clear' day that isn't, I feel ripped off though the copper skies that resulted from dust storms in the Gobi desert were quite a novelty,10 or so years back.

This strange little thing is a type of saprophyte; these plants survive by drawing nutrients from decaying plant matter so can survive without chlorophyll.  I've seen white but never pink and it's much fatter as well.

 While passing through the old Haisla cemetery I noticed a monument I had never seen before, featuring a butterfly.  This marked the passing of an 80 year old man in 1902 which was a refreshing change from most of the other grave sites there that commemorate the deaths of so many children and young adults.

It will probably always be the most special place on earth to me.

Monday Meandering

...because I haven't been Wednesday Wanderin' lately:

TwinB and me went out with Connie on Monday to re-do the previous Wednesday hike but with ample time for photos.  This is the bottom half of the Gunsight Peak hike which follows Granite Creek, shown here at very high, raging levels due to the time of year and massive snow melt.  This is one of the fastest flowing waterways I've ever seen, evidenced by the bare rock channel that the creek races through much of the way.

These falls and rapids can be accessed by climbing down a near vertical drop with a rope that's been fixed in place; I've traversed many of these situations on various hikes but this scenario was a doozie especially since any misstep would risk pitching one into the insanely powerful white water.

Doesn't quite do it justice...behind TwinB is the big drop...the only mitigating factor is the many tree roots that provide a sturdy handhold.

We all survived...Hundreds of wonderful photos were captured...had a good work-out...and Rupert had the time of his life:

...even if he does seem aware that he could be bear bait.

The Sun Sure DO Shine...Sometimes

The hiking group has morphed into a snowshoeing club for the winter & that's how we've been motoring through the wilderness for the past 3 weeks.

Last week, which was also my first real snowshoe trip, we up then down Fire Mountain completing a round trip of 6 kilometers and crossing 18 small streams each way.  I could barely lift my feet by the time we returned to our vehicles.

Today we ventured off trail and into the woods, over uneven crunchy snow.  We covered 4 to 5 kilometers in a 2 & 3/4 hour period.  One person didn't even wear snowshoes due to how hard the snow is today.  We can get snow (white concrete) conditions so hard that one can walk across it in high heels - the heel digs in but that just gives us more traction.  How do I know we can traverse our snow in high heels?  Probably from having to check on my backyard weather station all dressed up to go somewhere.
The big issue today though was ... noise.  We made such a racket crunching over the snow that we all had to stop if anyone wanted to speak and that probably added the 45 minutes to today's adventure.

Wednesday's (Aborted) Wanderings

Thought I would give snowshoeing a try.
Hah!  Try again.
My good friend, the Gumboot Fairy, gave me a pair of snowshoes, declaring that she discovered she actually didn't like snowshoeing, despite her love of  being in the forest.  This was my second try and after a couple hundred meters I was convinced there was no way I'd keep up with the others.
This wasn't much of a surprise after seeing pair after pair of the same style snowshoe unloaded out of the back of the truck and they were about half the size of the ones I subsequently struggled with.
We were less than a half hour walk back to my car so I informed the group that I'd head back on my own.  Got some lovely photos during the tiny window of sunshine we were treated to this morning.
Wonder if they're still out there?  A fairly wicked maritime type blizzard has since descended upon us.