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.

Happy Canada Day!

Created these for church because it's July 1st tomorrow and Canada's 145th birthday.  After the service TwinB and I will join Connie 'Cross The Street for the parade and extensive festivities.
Hoping for decent weather....

Standing Against

Enbridge's northern pipeline that is.  TwinB and I joined with approximately 200 other concerned Kitimites in opposition to the proposed oil pipeline.  I also lugged around the head of Sea;Sick for visual effect.  The handiwork of several local artists was present...would be nice to have a website devoted to all the art that has been created in response to this looming threat.  Might put that idea out there...

It was cold and wet but that just serves to make us all look that much more determined.

A Great Kindness

At one p.m. TwinB and I went over to a seamstress who I know from church; she measured each of the four pairs of pants on TwinB and decided on what types of hem would be suitable for each.  She phoned me at 5 p.m. to let me know they were finished and  added that they would have been done earlier but had gone for a walk.  When I arrived she handed the pants to me and refused payment saying that she likes to do that once in awhile.

I felt very, very blessed.

Wednesday's Wanderings Anew

That's TwinB bringing up the rear on our hike down to the Kitimat River via the Coho Flats trail. Still many snow patches but they're solid and easy enough to walk on apart from being slippery.  We realized we haven't been on that trail in 8 years.  I sure didn't remember it being that hard to ascend on the way back up. 

We all took a short break on the river's shore for water and snacks and enjoyed the sunshine.

Today's featured fungus were shiny little yellow cups dotting a decaying branch; TwinB dubbed them 'Gummy Bears'.

On Putrid Slough

The sewage smell is diminishing and ocassionally mixes with the scent of fresh greens as buds begin to emerge.  Today I noticed flocks of the tiniest shore birds I've ever seen.  Apparently these conditions provide some good eatin' for a ravenous, migratin' little bird, so that was a bonus. The greenspace behind Roy Wilcox has become an amazing bird sighting place in spring; you really never know what to expect.

Now I have to figure out what kind of bird they happen to be.

Update, 2 minutes later: They're Peeps! (found my peeps) and are the smallest Sandpiper in the world.
http://www.surfbirds.com/Features/coxpeeps1006/coxpeeps1006.html

Spring Sewage

This is our Spring.
Temperatures rise abruptly and the soft tones of winter -  pearl grey, amethyst, white and every shade of ultramarine blue retreat from a ravenous tide of fungus and sludge. Oil slicks, naturally generated, line the edges of every muddy, rusty slough and the smell?! The wind stirs up an olfactory assault of sewer type gases mingled with the scent of warming mud.  What a delight!

Once we dry out I suppose real Spring will begin and I must admit it's never, ever been this disgusting...there were entire fields of this mucky brown business.   Must have been the amount of snow combined with rising temperatures which means I have to hose the dog down for 10 minutes following every walk.

Three or four weeks from now though? we'll be at our best!

Smashed Sheds

Each spring, our glaciers retreat; releasing, revealing winters' casualties. Benches, fences, sheds and outbuildings lie scattered on the dank, wet ground like the aftermath of an explosion.
Metal sheds + our climate are not a great pairing. 
Fragile ornamental shrubs and trees can really take a beating and this drives Kitimat gardeners to go to great lengths to bind and barricade prized specimens, leading to such odd sights as a globe shrub beneath its own temporary sturdy shed or the ubiquitous 'Klu Klux Cedars' all in a row sporting pointy, burlap hoods.

Down In The Holler

Down in the holler where the wind never blows and the sun rarely shines, mountains of snow lie piled on high. It's always a shock to walk around Angle St.  We're in one of the more exposed sites in Kitimat so the snow often appears twice as deep whenever I venture there.  Maybe it really is.  Despite a 3 week melt, the snow is still 1 meter deep in my backyard; bet it could be almost 2 meters deep in some spots there.

Mysteries..Abound...

...when you encounter various articles of clothing on a Saturday afternoon. Makes one wonder about the previous Friday night, don't it??

In the other direction one sees a few extra garments, sodden and scattered across the snow. 
I spotted a black garbage bag a little ways away so...it seems somebody (willingly or not) had cast the contents of their bag, willy nilly and probably NOT shed said garments sometime during the past night from their warm inebriated form. For some strange reason as has been witnessed in the past.
Might simply be laundry gone awry.

Head Bangin' Blues

Wednesday evening saw the return of epic blues singer-guitarist Matt Anderson.
Kitimat loves Matt Anderson.
I'm so glad I squeezed in to this nearly sold out performance.  His voice is HUGE, his slide guitar skills amazing and the vibe was wonderful.  He had far more challenging songs that revealed all his various musical skills and vocal range but I simply loved this beautiful song.
He had us all singing to his final number which was purely delightful.
It was like a mini vacation.

Buried

View from the front door following a weekend worth of snow.  In the past 3 days we've had 106 cm of snow and a season total of 590 cm. (19&1/2 feet)  People are complaining of avalanches in their driveways or 'avalanches on their avalanches'.

The view down Angle Street; it's protected from the wind so snow accumulates there at an even more alarming rate than in other areas.  I saw quite a few roofs covered in, conservatively, 6 feet of snow.
I'm fervently hoping we don't have to dig off the roof - that is one Sisyphean labor I'd like to avoid for the rest of my life.

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.

Wednesday's Wet Wanderings

I do love my alliteration, don't I??

The old gravel pit where we parked our two vehicles has, unfortunately, turned into this.
We encountered a white pick up with a business name on its side who passed by with averted eyes. One of the members of the group will contact the District with this info and a soggy mailing label that I happened to find as we sifted and sleuthed through the debris.
Finally we took off...straight up hill; quite the warm-up!

Following the climb we did a little bog stomping. I don't know how in the world our guide could tell where we were going since there was no trail through this stretch.

We reached a logging road which resulted in comments like "you mean we could have been on a road all this time??!"(they were joking) trekked along a fairly new trail through the woods that the Haisla had created then followed Cordella creek all the way back down to the beginning of the hike.
The boiling, brown, tannic waters of the creeks we encountered were especially high since there had been 31 mm of rain the night before and even though we're made for run-off they were all close to overflow.
Anyway...it was invigorating and emotionally refreshing as always!

Fall & The Freaky Fingers Of Fungus

Captured them!! Been on the lookout for a photo op with both the yellow and black fungus fingers.  I noticed the yellow ones for the first time a couple weeks ago but didn't have my camera and couldn't find them in the days following.  After a few days of slowing walking and scanning the grass behind Roy Wilcox everyone probably thinks I partake of the magic mushroom.
These black fingers are found behind the old hospital & I hadn't seen them in 5 years.  Those previous ones were bigger and purple, but maybe their form and colour varies from year to year.

The maple leaf?  Just because.

Destination: Douglas Channel

There's been a boat living in our driveway for the past five or six years but I've only had one tiny little trip down the Douglas Channel.  It wasn't even a trip, more the smallest itty bitty hop to the nearest small bay five years ago.  The husband resolved to get-me-on-the-channel-come-hell-or-high-water before summer was over and by golly he-did-it!!
The view above gives you a look down a small section of the north end of the Channel.

The water was calm enough that we were able to dash about and cover quite an area.  Here, we're looking intoKildala Arm which meanders endlessly to the east.  Would be fun to really explore it right to its terminus.

This fellow was the piece de resistance! The husband noticed a plume exhaled from quite a ways off so we roared over to the general area so we could get a better look at this young Humpback whale.  We drifted closer to shore to watch him from afar when...suddenly he rose to the surface between us and the shore, exhaling a curtain of drifting mist, only 20 feet from our boat.  He's obviously comfortable around boats and people (had to be rescued from a fishing net the week before) so we bobbed quietly enjoying the peaceful rhythm of his breathing as he leisurely surfaced, exhaled, inhaled and slipped back below the ripples until he decided to head farther out into The Channel.

Bye-bye whale!  

Wednesday Expedition

If this is Wednesday, it must be Hike Day and here we are trekking through the swamps of deepest darkest Hirsch Creek rainforest. Note the dainty picking our way through slipperey, icky places pose? It's surprisingly common; I've taken several photos depicting this very position featuring a variety of people from several excursions.  The large leaves belong to Skunk cabbage, the surest sign of a wet patch around here.

We're pretty certain we disturbed a bear from it's salmon, that's how fresh it appeared. Unfortunately my camera wasn't co-operating and this turned out rather fuzzy.  Nice to be in a larger group when following alongside a major salmon stream at this time of year.

 Puny humans beneath a mossy deadfall, beside a fallen sitka spruce!  The last part of the hike was rather cool because a youth group had gone in this summer and turned a few of those blown down trees into rudimentary but navigable pedestrian walkways slightly above the undergrowth.

Wednesday Morning Hike

What great adventure awaited us today??

The rushing waters and moss clad cliffs of Humphries Falls.  I'd heard of them - TwinA actually visited there with friends once - and today I finally got to see them.

Here's one of our grey and grizzled group, leaning over to capture the best angle. Won't find me there.
Nuh-uh.
They can be the daredevils and I'll get a photo from them. 
I don't think I've seen a more perfect waterfall; the deepening greens of the water, the weathered rock dotted with ferns and moss and then of course the series of falls all added up to a masterpiece of natural design.
Of course everyone expects to see the resulting paintings from these hikes!
Oh...and the mushroom du jour:

These babies.  Never seem 'em before.