That XMAS Season

Seems I've been too busy to write these past few days - we've had a week or so with the kids here for XMAS, there's been skiing, hiking, eating and recovering from all the activity.

There's been regular new snow nearly every day and up in the hills there is a nice deep snowpack. We've slogged our way up through all the snow on several logging roads and spent a day skiing at Whitewater. We hiked the river trail and showed off the new bridge to our visitors. Then there was Christmas dinner......

December is nearly over which means it's almost time to head south for another road trip and an escape from snow and cold for awhile.

West Kootenay Snow Report

(The abbreviated version, at least....) Taking advantage of a clear blue sky day, we decided to pick a FSR and snowshoe up to see the views. This time it was the Whitewater Creek Trail. In summer, it's a steep 4x4 track that climbs 4 km to the trailhead that heads up Whitewater Creek. One week ago the area received almost 2 feet of light snow followed the day after by pouring rain. This reduced the snow to a very consolidated, crusty mass which made for pretty easy snowshoeing. We were too late in the day to be hiking in the sun, although we chased it uphill, only catching up to it near the end of the track. There is lots of snow up high, very firm underfoot, but with a layer of about 2 inches of light snow and hoar frost on the surface. I heard from a couple of skiiers that there was skiable snow once you got up to around 1900 meters. Anyhow, the blue skies allowed great views of the peaks in the area. One more road down, lots more to go.....

So What Season is It?

Yesterday (Sunday), it was snowing beautifully, nearly 2 feet of the fresh, fluffy stuff. We went for a long snowshoe through the woods. I was starting to think about skiing. I found myself starting to reconcile myself to the idea that it was Winter in the mountains.

Fast forward to last night and today. Pouring rain. The fluffy snow is mush, avalanche hazard is high to extreme everywhere and the temperature is climbing. Last time I checked, it was around +4C. I hear what we're getting is something called a "Pineapple Express". Tomorrow it's supposed to be warmer. If it wasn't December on the calendar, I'd be thinking Spring had arrived.

I'm sure some of this rain will be snow higher up. In fact, the webcams of Roger's Pass show LOTS of snow and there were plenty of travel advisories on BC highways today. So I guess I won't put the skis away just yet. The lawn chairs can stay stacked up in the snow (er...mush). Hopefully this seasonal confusion will sort itself out shortly.

Deep Freeze - Kootenay Style

Anyone who has lived in Saskatchewan can start snickering now. This past week has been pretty chilly; we've had a week now with daytime temperatures not even reaching freezing and lows at night all the way down to -8C. One nice side-effect of the cold northern flow was several days of clear blue skies, a fairly rare commodity during the mountain winter. I've had to dig out the fleece mitts, search around for my headband and, if this keeps up, haul the down parka out of the basement. We do find that temperatures remain very steady here, the effect of having such a large body of water so close.

We went for a short hike along the Kaslo River the other day and I was busy taking pictures of the ice along the shore. It's such a pretty river. A group in town has been making trails along the river over the past couple of years, and their new bridge was just winched into place last week. I'll post a picture of it once they finish the roof. I'll warn you now - the color is certainly vivid.

Last night we had some snow flurries so we have a light coating of white this morning. With the snow and the colder temperatures it would seem that we're having winter right now, but nothing like Saskatchewan where they will be in the -20s this coming week.

Canada's Shame

I'm not sure what could be said now that hasn't already been said, other than to voice my shocked response to the video of the RCMP tasering one exhausted, disoriented, abandoned man at Vancouver International Airport.

There are many unanswered questions. Where were airport personnel who were supposed to be handling new arrivals? Why was he abandoned for hours? What was the role of Canadian Border Service people? Why did no one just hop over the railing and go help the poor fellow? Airport security people visible in the video seemed worse than useless.

I think, and I fervently hope, that the RCMP is still under civil control in this country. If that's really the case, then I think it's time for some of that civil control to be exercised. Canadians are shocked and appalled and we share the shame for what has happened. It is almost incomprehensible that four police officers were unable to find a more appropriate way to deal with this situation. Are these officers typical examples of the people patrolling our streets, our cities, our airports?

What ever happened to the strategy of walking up to a person in a situation like this, extending a hand and saying "welcome - let me help you"?

A Few Light Moments

I've always enjoyed Weird Al's parodies of some popular songs. So it was with some delight that I discovered one of his latest releases, You're Pitiful. The story behind it is interesting as well. I've liked the James Blunt song this parody came from, but I think I like this version better!

End of an Era?

Watching the results of the Saskatchewan election makes me wonder if we just got out in the nick of time or if we left too soon!! It appears as though the 4-term NDP government will lose this one to the Saskatchewan Party (ie: the reincarnated Conservative Party). So in these good economic times for Saskatchewan, obviously the populace has decided that the NDP isn't zippy enough. I hope they don't get to re-live history. The last Conservative government created a $5-billion debt and almost all of their Cabinet ministers ended up in jail some years later, charged with fraud and breach of trust. Part of the "give 'er snoose" mandate of the Devine era.

One pleasant note: Cam Broten - brother to APYOC blogger Julie - won his seat in Saskatoon Massey Place. Good going Cam!

Exploring the Koots 1028

We made an attempt to hike in to Kokanee Glacier Park on Sunday. We've been waiting for the conjunction of good weather, an available day, color in fall larch trees and no snow. Sunday came about as close as we're going to get this fall. The parking lot at Gibson's Lake was snow covered as was the trail up the hill to Kokanee Lake. In some places, there was almost a foot of snow although the trail was easy enough to walk on. The lake was as far as we got; crampons and an ice axe would have been needed to make going further safe because we would have had to cross a steep slope above the open lake water with quite hard snow. We decided to turn back. We did meet 3 young guys with skiis, heading up to the Glacier in hopes of getting in a few turns. Also another 2 young fellows in sneakers and shorts.

On the way back down the hill to the highway, we did a short hike in the Old Growth Forest and the Cedar Grove. We could have managed a bit more sun because it's quite dark in the woods there, making pictures a bit difficult, but it was a nice walk in the woods. Interesting little fungi growing on the decaying wood.

First Frost

Not at a date we're normally used to, so it's kind of exciting just to think that we're at the end of October and we only just (barely) had our first frost last night. I think it was just 0C when I looked at the thermometer this morning. I keep going on about the full moons here, but last night (and tonight, again) was another in a series. Moonlight lighting up the mountains almost like day from sunset until dawn. Today was one of those brilliant, sunny, clear, cool, mountain days when it's just great to be outdoors, even though I was actually in the garage tacking up insulation for most of the day. Still working steadily at a (seemingly endless) list of jobs that I need to get done before whatever passes for winter around here arrives. I've noticed that snow at higher elevations is slowly disappearing so perhaps I'll get in to Kokanee Glacier for a hike to admire the alpine fall colors in the next week or so.

Fall Fungi

These little guys have been popping up all over the place in the past few weeks, an indication that there must be some organic material under the surface. I was beginning to wonder because we've found so much rock around here. We've been busy adding more organic stuff to the soil as fast as we can - horse manure, stable straw, dead leaves, compost, peat moss and so on. We also add quantities of lime because the soil is so acidic. In another few years of pulling rocks out and putting organic material in, we hope to have pretty productive soil in our gardens. All part of carving out a homestead in the woods.

Not Much Greener, Sadly

An article appearing in today's Globe and Mail - How Green is My Car - reminded me once again that talk is cheap and while Canadians may talk about the importance of being greener, their actions fall a bit short.

I seem to remember someone saying recently that oil (at about $90/bbl) is only just now approaching the inflation-adjusted price it was a couple of decades ago. Anyone complaining about today's price has probably forgotten that. It would also help to remember that even at today's price, gasoline is still cheaper than milk (and beer, for that matter!).

Passport Canada - Astounding Incompetence

Part of our interesting weekend was visiting Trail to stand in the Passport Canada "clinic" line for 5 hours. This excitement was reported on The Clothesline, so I'll restrain my comments to a rant about how incompetent Passport Canada is in their "management" of the increased demand for passports.

First, let's not hear any whining about new requirements by the USA in the aftermath of 9/11. Those changing regulations have been known about for several years and there's been lots of time for Passport Canada to adapt to the new reality: many more Canadians applying for passports. Perhaps if their bureaucracy moved faster than a large boulder rolling uphill....

When we were told on Friday that they wouldn't be able to accept any more applications that day, there were several hundred people still standing in line, where many of them had been for 5 hours. The minion sent to deliver the bad news had the poor judgement to suggest that one option was to deliver the application in person to a Passport Canada office somewhere in the Lower Mainland (Surrey, Richmond, etc). Obviously this person didn't realize how far it really is (and how costly) to drive from the Kootenays to Vancouver.

Passport Canada further demonstrated their ineptness in the way they ran the clinic. Why was it necessary for people to stand in line for up to 5 hours just to find out that they wouldn't be served?

Quite frankly, I don't believe Passport Canada has any idea of the real demand and need for passports nor do I think they have any real idea how to deal with the demand. I might suggest that maybe they don't even care. In a province as big as BC, it's completely asinine that no Passport Canada offices exist outside of the Lower Mainland.

The passport office estimates that the delay for processing a mail-in application is about 8 weeks. One of our neighbours waited over 12 weeks last spring. Does Passport Canada not understand how to deal with a larger number of applications? They'd be out of business if they had to exist in a competitive world. Perhaps they don't understand the phrase "hire and train more employees".

I think it's time for the Government and Passport Canada to get off their collective derrieres and deal with this problem. Canadians deserve better service and more and more of them are demanding better service. It's about time we received that service.

Keeping the Status Quo

One of the results coming out of the Ontario election, mirroring a similar result in BC a couple of years ago, was the defeat of an alternative electoral system. Admittedly, the alternatives seem complex and they are definitely not as simple as the "first past the post" system. However, I have trouble understanding why the electorate seems so reticent about embracing some variation of change. Just as one example, in Ontario, the Green Party won 8% of the popular vote yet won't be represented in the provincial legislature. If there was some form of proportional representation, that party would have as many as 10 seats. Much of the commentary has centered around voter confusion: their inability to understand any of the proposed alternatives. To me, the situation is this: no legislative body in Canada (whether federal or provincial) represents the will of the population as expressed by the popular vote. This is what needs to change. I don't need to fully grasp the intricacies of the new system. I just have to be happy that my vote will actually count, even if I didn't vote for the person who won the majority. If you look at the pathetic number of eligible voters who actually exercise their franchise, you might find that the "system we've inherited" is part of the reason.

Exploring the Koots 1009 and 1010

The fall colors are really getting good these days so we've been going out for short excursions close to home. On Monday, we did a short hike along the flanks of Mt Buchanan in hopes of finding a trail to the top. No luck on that, but there were good views up and down the lake and we did find another forest service road that would make for good skiing once we get snow. The fall trees and other plants were very nice and we were also getting some sun which was a big plus after a couple of weeks of grey cloud and rain.

On Tuesday I explored the Milford Creek FSR which is a few kms north of Kaslo. We've driven past it many times and I've always wanted to know what was up there. Tuesday morning looked promising for weather so I was off before 8 am. After a 9 km drive which took me very high above Kootenay Lake, with the accompanying great views and the final narrow, steep track 4x4 track, the lake appeared in the woods. Too small to be bothered with bringing a canoe up, but cute, none the less. I extimated that the top of this road was about 800+ meters above Kootenay Lake which made for some pretty great views. After a quick visit, I headed back down and zipped up another FSR for a few more views of Kootenay Lake.

Finally, this morning we decided to try the road to the summit of Mt Buchanan which overlooks Kaslo just to the north of town. There's an old fire lookout up there which can be reached after a 12 km partially deactivated logging road. We ran into snow near the top and needed full 4x4 driving to manage the last km or so of the road. I'd estimate that the summit of Mt Buchanan is about 1 km above the Lake with views up and down almost its entire length, up Keen Creek into Kokanee Provincial Park and something to the north that I think might have been the Bugaboos. Mt Loki was snow-covered and very prominent to the SE. Unfortunately, we went looking for access to a possible ridge walk, but the snow was already a problem and we didn't seem to be anywhere near any ridge that would be easily hikable (ie: not in thick forest). We did find the end (and the beginning) of the hiking trail to the summit of Mt Buchanan which we will try one of these days.

Woody's Cousin

A frequent visitor to the woods around our place is a Pileated Woodpecker. I guess the bark beetle-infested pine trees must be attractive to them. In any case, we had the chance for a really good look at one yesterday. Both of us just happened to be outside cleaning up some mess or another and heard the call from the bird as it flew through the trees across the street. Within minutes, it was lodged in a small Elder bush eating berries followed by a quick climb up the power pole where it sat, preening and enjoying the view, for several minutes. Both of us had time to get some pictures and watch it through the binocs, a very unusual situation, as most of the time all you get is a glimpse of one flying through the trees. We saw Pileated Woodpeckers on occasion in northern Saskatchewan, but here we see this guy (or gal) every few days. Kind of neat to see a woodpecker nearly the size of a chicken.

In other avian news, the Robins are flocking, the Canada Geese are honking and the Hummingbirds are long gone. Migration here isn't quite like it is on the Prairies, though. There are quite a few normally migratory birds that will stay here nearly all winter. A flock of Geese seems to stay at Mirror Lake, just down the road and of course Kootenay Lake doesn't freeze so there's open water all winter in this valley.

The End of Summer?

We've had some rain in the past couple of days, and I've been watching the snowline on the mountains across the lake. I think we're at about 600 meters elevation and the snowline is about 1400 meters, so we're not that far below the snow. It's been cooler the past few days although we haven't had anything below freezing so far. I think +5C has been about the lowest we've seen. Leaves have been turning color, although the larches haven't started just yet. Once they do, we're planning a hike into the alpine to enjoy them.

Our Pileated Woodpecker is back, making lots of noise and exploring some of the dead trees in the area. The black bears are prowling around and we've seen their poop on the road in our subdivision and in the woods just outside our fence. It will be interesting to see if the fence keeps the bears out, although I suppose you'll never know if the fence kept them out or if they just didn't have sufficient reason to try to get in. We've been trying to keep interesting items out of the compost pile so my compost worms are getting extra rations these days.

Our activities outside have definitely started to recognize the change of season: harvesting the garden, Catherine busy transplanting perennials, getting things closed up, painted, cleaned up and ready for whatever we get for winter this year.

Moonstruck

It's only a couple of days until the full moon. I wandered out onto the deck awhile ago to watch the nearly-full moon rise over the mountain peaks to the southeast. I've always found it neat that with a reference point like the mountains, you can watch the moon rise into full view, especially effective with a pair of binocs. It's a cool, clear, very still evening with the fresh smell of the evergreens in the air. Fall peepers chirping away in the darkness. Just a few things that keep reminding me how special a place this is. Sometimes it's still hard to believe that I can call it home.

Just Hiking in the Snow

Not something we normally expect to have to do in mid-September, but when a friend of mine from Vernon booked space at the Asulkan Hut (about 1 km higher than Roger's Pass), we decided to join him and his small group for a couple of days.

The hike in on Friday was mostly in showers which turned into snow higher up. The hike and climb to the hut (6.5 km and 1200 m elevation gain) was done in 3 hours and by later in the afternoon we had a full-blown blizzard happening outside. Fortunately, the hut had a propane heater and stoves so we managed to be quite cozy inside. This kept up all night and we only had an hour or so in the morning when we could see the scenery, including a spectacular view all the way down to Roger's Pass, over 1 km below us.

Catherine and I had only planned to stay one night so we left later in the morning. The descent was through snowdrifts and along a snow covered crest of a moraine, so the travel was very slow and careful. As we descended, the snow turned to rain which remained constant all the way to the parking lot. Beer and burgers in Revelstoke were our reward. Then a 3-hour drive along the scenic north shore of Trout Lake back home, enjoying the beginnings of fall colors.

Combining WORK and PARTY

It's been awhile since I've had the time to post. I just spent a week as part of a workparty repairing the Bill Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadows. This ACC hut is set in the Adamant Range of the Selkirk Mtns on the west side of Kinbasket Lake (that's NW of Golden...). Many more pictures can be seen on the SK Section's Trip Reports page.

As I've said before, opportunities like this make up a large part of what I value about my membership in the Alpine Club of Canada. Where else could you get all the food you could eat, a daily supply of beer and wine and work like a dog for a week, for free, all in some of the most beautiful and fantastic scenery you could imagine.

In brief, this whole thing involved driving on another BC Forest Service Road 98 km up the east side of Kinbasket Lake (aka Columbia River), preparing loads for helicopter lift across the lake and high up to the hut, and working steadily for a week on a long list of projects on the hut.

This hut has already received a sizeable amount of work in the past year. Last summer (2006), there were two separate workparties (August: 3 weeks; October: 5 days) and then this past week. Obviously, repairs to the hut were long overdue, plus there was some damage from the heavy snow levels last winter, but personally I feel it's an indication that the Club isn't spending or can't spend what's needed to maintain these primary assets that it owns.

These projects are very expensive, and a good chunk of the money is allocated to helicopter costs to ferry people and stuff to and from these remote huts. The fact is, though, that the ACC derives a significant part of its income from huts; Fairy Meadows is booked solid all winter as an important ski destination. There has been an ongoing debate within the Club for several (many?) years about injecting more of the Club's revenue back into its huts.

Obviously, I'd say, a solution needs to be found. The ACC operates 23 huts and owns many of them (some belong to BC Parks or other organizations who don't have the expertise or resources to operate them). If you do one major workparty each year to deal with the issues at one hut, you can see that each hut would seldom receive significant attention. Although ACC maintenance crews visit each hut one or more times each year, there simply isn't enough time during those visits to do the scraping, painting and minor (but essential) work that buildings in such severe environments really need. A case in point: I've heard that one remote hut will be "decommissioned" next year simply because it's become so run down it isn't worth fixing. Plus, it's remote and not often used. Still, it's probably too bad it can't be saved.

Anyhow, despite the limitations imposed by budgets and personnel, these workparties are great experiences. The leadership and organization on this workparty was excellent and I certainly felt that my work was appreciated and that all of us were kept "in the big picture". I always meet interesting, skilled and dedicated people, the setting couldn't be better, the food is always great, and the feeling of satisfaction you get from helping out in this way just can't be beat.

Exploring the Koots 0829 to 0830

One of the fantastic appeals of this area is how close everything is. Yesterday and today we took 24 hours and went on a mini expedition to climb Sphinx Mtn. This is (supposedly) a prominent peak visible from Balfour and area. Catherine has been looking at it every time she plays bridge down there and really wanted to climb it.

Wednesday, we loaded up, drove down to the Kootenay Lake ferry and proceeded up the Grey Pass Forest Service Road (remember, this ascent was done in true BC alpine style - see earlier post).
We arrived at the Oliver Lake campsite not long before sunset, just in time to have a quick stroll to the lake and time to read for awhile. We spent a quiet, pleasant night "car-camping". Before the sun got up too far, we crawled out of our nests, had a great breakfast of instant oatmeal, lots of sugar, ramen noodles and hot iced tea. Can't beat that!. Drove down the road a few km and began the climb up to the trailhead. There were 5 km of very steep and very rough track, necessitating some complete 4x4 climbing (Cath even got out to walk once rather than stay inside the truck!)

The trailhead was reached, we packed, and began the short hike through the woods and up to the alpine meadows and on to the peaks, as there were, we discovered, two of them - one being the peak of Sphinx Mtn and the other, slightly lower, some "unnamed peak". About 600 m elevation gain from the trailhead to the first summit, a short backtrack to a col and then up the second peak with great views of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake and all the surrounding peaks.
From our vantage points we had great views of Loki Mtn, St Mary's Alpine area, several areas in Kokanee Glacier Prov Park (including the antenna structure on top of one peak that I visited last March in skis. What we discovered was that Sphinx Mtn isn't really all that visible from the west side of the Lake because "Unnamed Peak" is in the way. However, it was a nice outing, some exercise was had and we were back home in under 24 hours just in time for my daily dose of "The West Wing".

Insect Art

A piece of bark fell off a log I was splitting yesterday and I noticed some very interesting nature art. Bugs are very plentiful in our woodpile and now I know what they're up to while they're in there. Personally, I think it looks like some prehistoric sea creature. Perhaps Pinus horriblus.

Eclipse

Given that last night's lunar eclipse was the second celestial event this month, I was hoping for some clear skies. Earlier this month, cloud cover (for almost the first time all summer, of course) pretty much ruined views of the Perseid meteor shower. Last night was perfect.

My internal alarm woke me up before 2 am and with the appropriate layers of fleece I was able to wander around on the deck admiring the moon, the Pleiades, gazillions of stars and more meteors than I saw during the "shower" earlier in August. By the way, the Pleiades is the constellation represented in the logo that Subaru cars show on the front grille.

The eclipse grew slowly, with less and less of the moon lit by the sun's direct light. At totality, around 3 am, the moon looked like a pale orange ball in the western sky. This color was the result of the sun's light bending as it passed through the earth's atmosphere, with the short wavelengths being the ones bending the most, hence illuminating the moon hiding in the earth's shadow.

Nights around the full moon are pretty spectacular around here, as the moon rises over the peaks on the eastern side of the Lake and reflects on the water that we can see below. Pretty nice, I'd say!

Exploring the (?) Koots 0822

After finishing our hike to Jonas Pass and a visit to Edmonton, I took a couple of days to visit a vacationing Kobus in Fernie and knock off a peak or two. I'm not sure if Fernie is exactly in the Kootenays (East OR West), but it's close.

Our first day was the Middle Sister, one of three nice peaks visible from the Canadian Tire Parking lot as well as Kobus' front yard. An easy 15 km drive up a nearby gravel road and a couple of km of very slow driving on a narrow, rutted trail, was followed by 1200m of elevation gain in about 6 km. The backside of the Sisters is a very attractive area, nice valleys, scree slopes, a moose and great views. Middle Sister seemed like one of the highest peaks in the Fernie area, from our perspective at least.

A bull moose was the only wildlife we saw, although there was some relatively fresh bear poop along the trail, which encouraged us to make lots of noise as we hiked along through the woods. Views from the summit (aside from the ubiquitous green fiberglass antenna enclosure) included Lake Kokanusa, Crowsnest Mtn and a sea of peaks in every direction. I'm sure that I could almost see home from there!

The next day was supposed to be Crowsnest Mtn, but all the access roads and woods were closed because of the fire hazard (hmmm - a different approach compared to BC's). Our alternate peak became Mt Proctor (7 km 1500 m), but a later-than-normal start, sore feet and a longer distance, meant that we only got part of the way. It's going to be a long hike the next time we give it a try.

Who You Gonna Call?

Well, on a Saturday, in Nelson, you won't have many options. It started off as a rather normal Saturday: a quick trip to Nelson for some building supplies, a trailer-load of topsoil, some groceries. A "trip to town" as the locals say. We find the plumbing shop is closed as is the locksmith shop. At the last stop, things begin to unravel. A fan belt breaks, in this case, the one running the alternator and the water pump on the truck. Things begin to heat up quickly. We stop at an Esso not far from the BOB (Big Orange Bridge). Not only are their service bays closed, but the owner seems more interested in berating his employees and ushering us off the lot than helping out in any way (guess I won't be buying gas there any time soon). We nurse the overheating truck to Walmart where the young fellows in the service bays seem more interested in fiddling with their studs and nose rings than helping, and besides, they don't "do" fan belts. A local garage, seemingly with the only service bays open today, might be able to do the job by 3 pm (it's only late morning at this point). As a last resort, I hike over to the local NAPA store to buy a fan belt and the two wrenches I will need to to the job myself. A pleasant surprise awaits: the fan belt is available and the fellow at the desk loans me a toolbox with all the things I need to replace the belt. About 30 minutes later, I'm finished the job and we're on our way home for a beer, a late lunch and the jobs I'd planned for the afternoon.

I'm sure that unhelpful "service" businesses are everywhere and Nelson isn't the only place with few repair options on a weekend, but I've got a giant RASPBERRY for Walmart and the Esso on Nelson Ave near the BOB. I've also got a big BOUQUET for NAPA and the guy working there Saturday. Thanks a lot!

Exploring the Koots 0807

Today was a day off work for an "ascent" of Meadow Mountain, just west of the north end of Kootenay Lake. The ascent was done in typical BC style: find the appropriate Forest Service Road and drive to the top. In this case, about 26 km of steep, dusty, somewhat rocky road. This got us to the meadows and from there it was about an hour up a steep hillside to the summit of Meadow Mtn.

Although views to the east and south were pretty well obscured by smoke haze, the mountains to the east, notably Mt Cooper with the Spokane Glacier (in Goat Range Provincial Park) were in fine form. The glacier on this mountain faced north and although I'm sure it's melting quickly like all the rest, it still seemed pretty big and impressive. We would have been able to see the Bugaboos, but for all the smoke. We could see the Macbeth Glacier which is up the Glacier Creek valley. A trip for another day.

We also spent a short time in the meadows once we were done with the summit of the mountain we had come to climb. The meadows were a bit dry at this time of year, especially with the hot, dry weather we've had. However, there were a few small tarns with nice plants around their edges. There is also a BC Forest Service Site on the edge of the meadows that would make a nice place to camp for a night or two while enjoying the 360 degree views and the flowers in the meadows. Plus the ridge up here extends a ways in two directions, sort of east and northwest. Several hours of easy walking seem possible.

Plane Spotting

On our way back from Meadow Mtn this afternoon (see next post) we noticed unusual activity - several water bombers working as well as some choppers with their buckets.

This first picture shows a Martin Mars water bomber heading towards the Slocan fire and a Canso water bomber heading down to Kootenay Lake for another load of water. The Martin Mars bomber was pretty impressive as it flew almost overhead a few times in a sort of large, stately, noisy way.


Today seemed to be a good day for fighting the surrounding forest fires. Low winds and cooler temperatures apparently allowed crews to make some headway on the fires. Watching from the Kaslo airstrip, I was able to see two choppers flying buckets of water to the fire in Kemp Creek, just a few km away from the town.

From Meadow Mtn we were able to get a view of a fire in a valley at the north end of Kootenay Lake (Hamil Creek). We also note that "finally" there is a campfire ban in the Rocky Mtn Fire District. What I can't understand is why such a ban wasn't put in place several weeks ago AND why the woods haven't been closed to all commercial and recreational activities. The fire hazard around here is very serious and yet the Forest Service seems to be pretending that it's business as usual.

'Tis the Season

The forest fire season, that is.

Several bloggers have recently commented on how hard it is to post regularly during the summer and I have to agree. When you get up at 5:30 am to start on your outdoor list just to beat the heat, and you don't quit until mid-afternoon anyway, one is somewhat disinclined to spend much time on the computer, even if the basement is the coolest place to be. There have been whole days in a row when I haven't even turned my computer on. Hard to believe, eh?

Anyhow, on to the topic at hand: forest fires. We're in the Southeast fire zone in BC and it's pretty much the only zone that's in an extreme fire situation. There are about a half-dozen fires burning within a 70 km radius of our location. The one closest to home is actually in the watershed for the Village of Kaslo's water supply so there are some concerns in town. Our subdivision's water comes from Kootenay Lake, fortunately, so we only have the "normal" contaminants to contend with.

The Kaslo airport has been busier than normal lately, since the local fire is just a couple of minutes away. Last night we saw a Skycrane up there. And the other day we saw a Marten Mars water bomber fly by. Although it didn't look like it from our deck, this plane has a larger wingspan than a Boeing 747. Pretty impressive, making its stately way up the lake.

The past couple of days have provided some respite, a bit cooler, with lower winds and some showers. Steep, rocky terrain doesn't help the firefighters' job any either. There is a chance that cooler weather will be more likely in the coming week.

Park Your Disappointment Here

I seem to spend at least some time hiking the trails in the National Parks of the Rockies each summer. I really have to say that I continue to be disappointed by the abysmal level of trail maintenance, backcountry campground maintenance and that sort of thing. It seems as though National Parks has given up on looking after anything further than a couple of km from the main roads and the hordes of tourists. Bridges over major rivers and streams are out, large deadfall blocks many trails and the backcountry campgrounds are scruffy, much as they were 25 or more years ago when I first started hiking in these areas.

Now I know the Parks have a cash flow problem and are chronically underfunded, but they have been collecting backcountry fees for years and those fees plus park entry fees have been rising much more rapidly than the rate of inflation in recent years. Where is that money being used? Do the Parks have trail maintenance crews? Do they ever leave town with a chain saw? How scruffy will they let the backcountry "facilities" get before they just fall apart? Is this a plot to discourage people from even visiting the backcountry?

What Parks doesn't seem to understand is that if there is a log across a trail, people will go around it, making a new trail and damaging more vegetation. Keeping things clean and maintained goes a long way to fostering respect for our wilderness. Parks needs to clean up its act.

Cooking in the Rockies

A recent post from The Clothesline speaks to the heat. Seems to be everywhere this summer. I just spent 3 days with some Saskatoon friends while doing some mountaineering in the Rockies. Saskatoon is cooking. In the Little Yoho Valley, where we were climbing, the tactic was to get up at 4:30 am, eat and get the climbing done by noon before we cooked too. My eyes seem seared by the heat and sun even with the sunglasses I always wear. Snow and ice up high is melting at an astounding rate and more parts of the glaciers are bare of snow than I've seen at this time of year. Needless to say, the glaciers are falling apart more quickly each year, it seems.

I spent a week on the Wapta Icefield and 3 days in the Little Yoho, climbed several peaks and generally wore myself out, but the one thing that stands out is the heat. Makes you yearn for days where it "only" gets to +23C.

Turning up the Heat

Just got back from a week on the Wapta Icefield. I was somewhat shocked to see more bare ice than I've ever seen at this time of year. This despite a heavier than normal snowfall this past winter. A couple of weeks of super hot weather just stripped the snow off the glaciers. In addition to seeing the glaciers melting faster and faster, other problems are showing up. For instance, the route up to the Balfour High Col is showing signs of falling apart. New crevasses are opening up that are threatening to block the route. We passed debris from a huge serac fall from the cliffs high up on Mt Balfour. The debris did fill the crevasses, but it's an indication of how the route is changing. It may not be long before that route is impassable.

Baking in the Kootenays

No picture today - hard to take a good picture of the inside of an oven. At least that's what it feels like outside. It's not as hot here as some places in the Interior of BC, but it's nearly +35C along Kootenay Lake today and nary a cloud to be seen anywhere. It's the sort of day where you're eager to get up and busy at 4 am just so you can spend the afternoon in the basement. I suppose I could go find a cool stream somewhere or a shady spot next to the Lake but I think I'll just stay in the basement. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.

Makes me think that I ought to find plans for a solar oven, solar panels, solar hot water production. Thouse could be projects for later to get ready for next summer. I remember that August 2005 was likewise hot and sunny. We get lots of cloud in the winter, but summer would normally have lots of solar potential.

I've been using my inside time sorting out camping equipment, cleaning up and even digging around in some of boxes that we haven't unpacked yet.

Seems like there will be another reason to be glad we don't live in Vancouver. There's a chance that "sanitary engineers" will be on strike shortly. With the heat working on all that uncollected garbage, Vancouver would be a good place to avoid.

The Shed - an Update

Another blistering hot day in the Kootenays, indeed all of southern BC. Temperatures well into the 30s and not a cloud in the sky. I got my outside work done early, had a momentary lapse of sanity and rode my bike into town and I'm now back in the basement, keeping cool.

The shed now has a roof. I finished that on Sunday, added the ramp this morning and now there's just shingles, a door, a woodshed on the left side and some siding. All projects for August or September.

One of our interior BC realities, at least where we are, is lots of water (in the lake) but somewhat restricted water pumping capabilities. The little neighbourhood where we live owns and operates its own water system: we pump water from the lake, then filter and chlorinate it. Trouble is during such hot weather the system has a bit of trouble keeping up with the demand. We've gone to drip irrigation in our garden because it really saves water. That and a little computer that controls when things are watered (ie: 4 am before the sun gets up). No signs of any rain or cooler weather on the horizon (or out in the Pacific).

Evolution of a Shed

We decided quite awhile ago that we would need a garden shed. This was to be storage for tillers, shredders, garden tools, potting equipment - all the stuff that I really didn't want in the garage. It started out being something I'd probably build in late summer or the fall....

Well, with the stinking hot weather we've been having lately, and a few days to go until a mountaineering trip near Lake Louise, we made a quick trip to Nelson for some building materials and serious work on the shed began the other day. I say serious, but Catherine has been working on it for a week or so, and I don't mean just dropping subtle hints. I'd mark out the corners and she'd dig holes in the rocky BC soil so I could pour cement posts to support the shed. We finished that 2 days ago and I've been spending mornings in the shade getting the building up.

Wednesday I got the base built and one wall up. Today it actually started looking like a building. I quit around noon because the sun starts hitting the construction site again. Temperatures today are forecast to hit the high 30s. I'm cooling off in the basement and will probably spend the afternoon in the garage. If I overheat, it's back to the basement.

Tomorrow I get to decide on roof designs. I'm thinking of some home-built trusses.

Canada Day - Eh to Zed

As noted on The Yarn Harlot. I'm really not into the knitting theme that pervades most of the postings on that blog, but I did get a chuckle out of Oh Canada. I think all real Canadians will understand.

Exploring the Koots 0702

Coinciding with the Canada Day long weekend and a visit from Andi, Demitri and a friend from France, we decided to do a day hike to either Woodbury Cabin or Silverspray Cabin. We discovered briefly into the hike that the first main bridge was out so we changed plans and hiked up to Sunset Lake. The lake was actually quite nice, set back against Pontiac Peak. Views were available over to the Silverspray area, bear droppings were common along the road and we did have to walk through some snow. There is actually quite a bit of snow up high. The Silverspray bowl seemed to be still full of snow. Given the amount of snow we had this past winter, it seems possible that some areas won't lose their snow this summer. That could be good news for glaciers this year.

By the way, booo to BC Parks - their trail signs could be a bit more informative. A few more words would have made the trail conditions much clearer.

Canada Day

Yesterday - 140 years for this improbable country. Spent most of the day with a mild stomach upset, reading, drinking liquids, sleeping, lying in the sun. It was another beautiful West Kootenay day. By evening I was feeling well enough to go out for desserts at friends who live above Kaslo and watch the fireworks over Kaslo Bay. This is our 2nd Canada Day in Kaslo and I have to say that fireworks against the backdrop of mountains across the lake and the booms echoing off the surrounding hills makes for an excellent location for a firework display.

We've been hiking too - more on that once I do some work on my pictures.

Mixing Shopping with Camping

Needing a break from digging, rock hauling, trim sanding and all such joys of house-building and rural living, we decided to take a couple of days off last week. This time, that meant a quick trip into Northern Idaho, some camping in their very nice National Forest and some shopping in Sandpoint and Ponderay, only an hour south of Creston.

We had fine weather, one night of camping was a bit noisy because of yahoos who obviously didn't realize that not everyone wanted to listen to their music and conversation all night, and one night of camping that was very quiet and peaceful. It also helped that the Moyie River was making enough noise to blot out any other possible noise.

The shopping was good, especially with the increased value of the C$$, much better than during our USA trip last winter. And, added bonus, bless Steven Harper's cotton socks, the increased value of stuff you can bring back from the USA after only 48 hours. A good time was had by all shopping, trying out a new restaurant or two, wandering around, reading, resting....

All things must end, and with a quick stop at Customs en route, we were back home Friday afternoon and back at the business of hacking an estate out of the wilderness.

More Wildlife

I took some time off this afternoon from deck work, rock walls, tree chopping and other rural pursuits and tried to get a few good pictures of some butterflies that have been flitting around here. Gave me a chance to experiment with the digital zoom and spot metering, neither of which I'd really used too much until now. The object of my attentions was really quite cooperative, hanging around on some nearby lilies and letting me get quite close.

My next goal is to get some photos of those hummingbirds. That could be more of a challenge!

I'm also taking recent news seriously about the need for more Vitamin D so I stretched out on the newly completed deck (sans railing for now) and allowed my body to soak up some rays. That and the 2-beer lunch put me in quite a mellow frame of mind. Didn't take too much time off, though, and once Catherine got back home from town, it was back to work for me. Our new rock walls and flower beds are starting to take shape. More on those later.

A Bit of History

I've had quite a fascination with the history of nuclear physics, especially as it relates to the development of the first atomic weapons. I guess this comes from years of teaching Grade 10 Science where one of the topics was Uranium --> mining --> uses --> science of --> history...etc. For many years I always showed an excellent video called Race for the Bomb which did a great job of explaining the physics and of introducing the main characters in the Manhattan Project. Sadly, as one CBC musicologist used to say, that video is now in "cutout limbo". I don't have a copy any longer and I wish I had. It's one of the best shows I've seen.

A long introduction to my main comments about a book I just finished reading: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Unlike many books I read, this one took almost 4 weeks to finish, but was very interesting, giving more insights into the life of the Father of the Atomic Bomb. I was especially struck, once again, by the paranoia that existed in the USA in the decades following WWII, characterized especially by the McCarthy witch-hunts. Oppenheimer was swept up in all of that. The idea that someone is a traitor if they don't agree with their country's policies; whether scientists must avoid comment on sensitive issues if they want to continue working, and especially how one can be tarred with the communist or "liberal" brush unless one is clearly seen as a reactionary knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. Where illegal wiretaps and surveillance can use the power of the state to silence independent thought. I always thought that Americans (and Canadians) lived in a democracy where we had freedom of association, thought, speech, and so on. This book might make you think about that more than you've been accustomed to.

Exploring the Koots 0613

I've mentioned that we can hear these falls across the lake - must be at least a mile or more away. We had a pleasant canoe for a couple of hours last week when it was so hot. Half an hour gets you across the lake where Powder Creek enters Kootenay Lake. It's a short walk up to the falls from the beach. At this time of the year, with all the snowmelt coming down, they're really thundering. As an added bonus, there's a pleasant place to camp near the lake and a small gravel/sandy beach.

This time, we continued up past the falls and found an old logging road. Given that this is BC, I guess I shouldn't have been very surprised (old and new logging roads seem to be everywhere). We hiked up that for awhile (only a few minutes, really) and came to the active logging road that runs along much of the east side of Kootenay Lake. I was interested to find that road because it's the main access to any peaks on the east side of the lake such as Mt Loki that I want to explore. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

Cascadia

I'd sort of forgotten about Cascadia. I think Scott told me about it awhile back, so my ears perked up today when I heard the term used in a CBC Vancouver news story. Something about BC residents having the longest life span in Cascadia, or something like that.

What I find interesting is the concept of Cascadia, or, as it's sometimes known, the Republic of Cascadia. The concept makes more sense once you actually live out here, west of the Rockies. We do hear news about the rest of the country, the world, even, but there is something about crossing the Rockies that seems to move one into a different mental space. The term has been used to refer to different things, of course, but I like the idea of living in a republic out here in our little corner of North America. Vivre la Republic. Vivre la Republic libre! Thanks for the idea Charles.

Our Only Home

I find it amusing that on a day when I start questioning the "task" of posting to a blog every day or so that I finally get around to writing 3 entries....it must be one of those days.

I've been wandering around YouTube these past few days. There was the Paris Hilton goes back to Jail video which I eventually realized was a parody of a video/song that she was featured in awhile back. Seemed to fit in quite well with the fascination we've all been having with the lives of the rich and famous (er... notorious?). I also found something called the Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot video which was nice as well. Not anything new - that message has been around for quite awhile, but still an important message all the same and the video was well done.

This after reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. If you can find the time, it's a good book to read, especially since Canada has soldiers in Afghanistan. If you're decidedly against that mission, the book might not change your mind, but it should give everyone something to think about. I was kind of subdued and mildly depressed all morning - so unlike my normal demeanor.

Wood for Winter

One of the rural tasks we have here is to collect enough wood to run our two stoves during the admittedly mild winters that we normally have here. This year, there have been several large trees that had to come down because they were either dying (Pine Bark Beetle) or because they were shading the developing garden area. I think I've taken down 7 large trees over the past 2 months. Plus they had to be chainsawed up into chunks and split so they can dry. Catherine does the wedge and maul splitting and I finish up with the axe. We now have several piles of partially split wood down below the house. It's one reason why we have 2 chain saws and why I seem to be always mixing oil and gas to run them, plus sharpening them...and so on. That said, it's kind of fun, good exercise and results in the satisfaction of not having to use any additional heat (electrical around here) for months at a time.

Last winter we had to protect our wood by covering it with unsightly tarps and plastic. This spring I've been building woodsheds. Here's one example, just waiting to be filled with wood to dry over the summer.

I'm still wondering if this is a net environmental gain or not. However, we're not using any fossil fuels to heat the house, so I suppose that's a plus.

View from the Lake

Despite all sorts of things to write about on this blog, I've been sort of distracted by other things: building another (and final?) part of the deck, working on a cold-storage room in the basement, gardening, and so on....

Enough excuses. A few days ago when it was very hot, we took an hour or so for a canoe down on Kootenay Lake. This is the view looking north from the lake just south of our location. We're probably two-thirds up along a 60-mile long lake which runs from Creston in the south (only miles from the USA border) north to Meadow Creek. This is the lake in one of its placid moods. Today, by way of contrast, is exceptionally windy with whitecaps on the lake. Not a good day for canoeing today.

Hummers and other Wildlife

No, not those symbols of North American excess, but the birds. We finally got a hummingbird feeder up the other day and the hummers have discovered it. So far, we've seen a Black-Chinned Hummingbird and another that we can't figure out. They swoop in to feed and are getting relaxed enough to actually sit on the little perches by the feeder. They are just so amazingly tiny.

We also have a small family of coyotes denning just up the road from our house. We saw the new pups, 4 of them, just the other morning. I happened to be awake at 4 am a couple of days ago, and heard them doing their yelping/singing chorus for just a minute or so. Maybe that's why the deer seem to have disappeared from the neighbourhood recently.

Exploring the Koots 0528

Last Saturday I took the opportunity to have a day off from building woodsheds, chopping wood, wiring, cutting big pieces of wood into little pieces of wood, etc. Catherine had a Library Board meeting in Nakusp (about 100 km away in the Arrow Lakes valley), so I invited myself along to go biking and exploring.

One of my objectives was to find Halfway Hot Springs. The West Kootenays have many hot springs and some of them are undeveloped, called "bush" hot springs. A drive of 25 km north of Nakusp and 11 km along a logging road got me there, but it was fairly busy for early on a Saturday morning and one of the pools was VERY hot, so I washed off the dust and wandered off in search of other attractions such as the falls along the road on the way back to town.

I found the old N&S (Nakusp/Slocan) Railway, which has been turned into a biking, hiking, horse trail, as have many in the BC Interior. Rode along it for awhile, but decided that I'd come back to do it from the other direction: downhill from Summit Lake rather than the other way 'round.

Biked around Nakusp and found the flower gardens along the lake promenade. Not bad for a small town on the Columbia River. This was probably the first time I've actually explored Nakusp and I actually found the town to be quite pleasant. The main drawback is the all-encompassing view of clearcuts across the lake.

On the way back to Kaslo, we stopped briefly in the cute little town of New Denver so Catherine could have a walk after being cooped up inside all day. I chose to lie in the car and read, having already had my exercise. I did, however, wander out for a picture of some flowers and trees in the very nice little garden they have there.

After that, it was the 45-minute hop over the pass back to Kaslo and home, one of the prettiest drives around, as you drop down from the pass and go along the Kaslo River.

All in all, a nice day and good to be away from house construction and yard development for a few hours and to spend some time exploring this wonderful part of the country.

Exploring the Koots 0518

We decided to take part of Thursday off for a short hike: Davis Creek trail, just up the lake from here. Like many trails around the Kootenays, there's lots of elevation gain; I think this one climbed about 500 m in the first 45 minutes. Great views out over the lake and to the peaks across the lake. Unfortunately, once we got up into the mature hemlock forest in about 90 minutes, there was too much snow to make it worthwhile pressing on. Oh well - I guess we'll just have to go back later on. Took time for a leisurely lunch at Lost Ledge, skipped some rocks into the mill-pond lake and meandered back home and back to work.

Those "Darn" Mountains, Again

Well, it just wouldn't do to criticize BC's Department of Highways, or National Parks, OR the Federal Government. So it's got to be the fault of the mountains, eh? After all, with only ONE highway through the mountains (other than two others that are WAY out of the way), serving as really the only land link joining the Kingdom of BC to the ex-Kingdom of Klein, what are a few mudslides? Gotta expect them, eh.

Yup, after a winter of multi, multi-day closures on the Trans Canada Highway (rock slides, avalanches....), the venerable TCH was closed for 2 days recently from a mud slide; it just re-opened today only to be promptly closed again from another mud slide.

I'm beginning to wonder if these are the signs of years of neglect from various levels of "government". Major transportation links almost unusable. Is this poor planning? Or can we just blame this on those "darn" mountains? All I can say is it's a good thing, given the state of Passports Canada, that we don't need passports to leave BC. But of course, the chances are good that if you tried to leave, the roads would be closed anyway.

What am I thinking? Who'd want to leave the Kootenays, anyway?

Mountain View

Thought I'd take a breather from rants about gas price whining, complaints about any level of government and other annoyances. Today I'm going on (as I often do) about the beauty of where we live. Beside a 60-mile-long lake about a mile wide and often as still as a mill pond. Views of rocky peaks and trees everywhere. This lake used to have paddlewheelers steaming up and down not so many years ago. One of the last uncrowded, peaceful places in southern BC. Pretty special, I think.

Gas Price Blues, Again!

A recent item on the CBC Sunday Morning show and an article I saw in Kelowna's newspaper both raise the issue (again) that consumers are being gouged by the big oil companies. I'm getting sooooo tired of these stories every time gas prices go up.

Sure, I like paying less for gas and I will always go where gas is cheapest, or the retailer gives me a discount of some sort. I've been know to carry gas with me so I can bypass places where prices are higher. That being said, here's my real rant:

Why does everyone seem to think that gas HAS to be cheap? Why are there these continuing stories that try to insist there is (must be?) a direct link between crude prices and other costs plus markup, and the price of gasoline? We have NO right to cheap gas. Retailers and oil companies are free to charge whatever the market will accept, just as all other retail stores selling other things do. (What's the real cost of producing a CD or DVD?). I don't know why oil companies even try to justify what they charge (pick your fable - not enough refineries, Hurricane Katrina, suicide bombers, fear of a recession, fears of inflation, whatever). The real reason is that demand remains high. High demand, especially when there is a somewhat restricted supply, results in high prices. Simple as that. It's called the Law of Supply and Demand.

If people want to see gas prices drop, they need to reduce the demand. Drive smaller cars (and trucks), drive less, drive more slowly, use public transit, use your bike. However, I don't see ANY of that happening. None at all, not in any significant way, at least.

If people don't like the price of gas, then they should do what they'd do for anything else - DON'T BUY IT.

No Place Like Home

Just returned from 3 days in the Okanagan (Kelowna, specifically). Nothing against Kelowna, other than their insane traffic problems and how crowded it is, but I'm really, REALLY glad that I live in the West Kootenays. I woke up this morning to the sound of a gentle rain and, othat than that, complete silence. Well, there were other sounds: a Pileated Woodpecker attacking a nearby tree, a Hummingbird zipping past the open window, and Powder Falls, a mile or so away on the other side of the lake. I suppose there would have been a time when the Central Okanagan would have seemed like a great place to live, but not to me, not any more.

Imperfect Past; Idyllic Present

I've been shaking my head while reading Gwynne Dyer's semi-recent book - Future: Tense. The coming World Order. Not that what he writes is all that surprising, I suppose, but I guess I'm still astounded by how badly formulated American foreign policy continues to be. Even more astounding is how many voters accept and believe in what their government is doing. You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time ....

My "recreational reading" notwithstanding, today was one of those stunning West Kootenay Days. Blue skies, mild breezes, snow on the peaks across the lake.... A peacefulness disturbed only by the occasional snarl of a chainsaw, the whine of the miter saw, some acrid smoke from a burning brush pile, the clank of mallet on wedge as Cath splits wood. Yes, it's house-building and land-clearing on the daily agenda. We should have started this 10 years ago!

We're from the Government....

... and we're here to help you....

Right in the middle of the developing mountain view springtime is this news from the centre of the BC universe: our honorable provincial legislators have (at least most of them) decided that they should receive a 29% increase in their income. We wouldn't want to be accused of knee-jerk reactions, so let's review the issues.

The honorable members haven't received much in the way of increases for 10 years, from what I hear. Our representatives do work long hours and many of them need to support two residences. On the other hand, this government (Liberal, they say) is the one that cut the salaries of nurses in this province by 15% and can't manage to find the money to upgrade decrepit, unsafe schools. We won't go into the way recent negotiations with the province's teachers have gone.

So, I have a suggestion: It's my observation that BC has the highest sales tax of the 3 western provinces (yes, even higher than Saskatchewan). Perhaps it's time for a payday for BC residents as well as our honorable legislators. If they can manage the BC economy well enough to allow a decrease in our sales tax, then how about they vote themselves a salary increase as a bonus for a job well done. Oh, one additional thing...most of us in the sticks (ie: anywhere outside of the Lower Mainland and the Island) would really appreciate knowing that our representatives are listening to OUR concerns for once. Health care in the Interior, for example?

OK - I Give Up

My kids both have blogs, my un-technical partner has a blog, Quirks & Quarks has a blog and so I'm giving up and starting one (this is what my partner calls FOMO). Mostly now for testing out some things, but perhaps I'll eventually get into this. Frankly, I see this as a more modern variation of the somewhat older saying: "If no one wants to listen to you, what makes you think they'll want to read your T-shirt?"

I'm sitting here looking out over Kootenay Lake at rugged peaks on the other side of the lake. Can't beat the view.

Anyhow, I have some rock walls to build and a life to live and it's Saturday afternoon....

No Comparisons

A couple of recent radio programs about the building of the Trans Canada Highway 4 or 5 decades ago keep going on about what a great feat it was.  Keeping in mind that is the longest national highway system in the world (Wikkipedia), Canadians and visitors from out of the country will know that very little of it is divided highway and/or limited access, a situation that will be slow to change, given the inter-provincial/federal squabbling and turf wars that so often stand in the way of getting anything done up here.  So we seemed doomed to insane traffic congestion through the mountains for the foreseeable future.  No comparison to the US Interstate system .... sorry, I wasn't going to start comparing.....

Recovering from Travels Down South

There's been some time to come down from that USA trip (16,000 km, 28 states, 8 weeks) and as a long-time pro-Canadian, it's difficult NOT to compare certain things on both sides of the 49th, but that's what Canadians do all the time, right?  What I can say is that there's a lot of pretty great stuff "down there".  People were friendly and helpful everywhere we went and I'm looking forward to traveling down there again soon.  Some photographic impressions of this great trip are here....