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.