Season Opener

Although we've been out hiking for awhile this spring, the past couple of days has to count as the real "season opener" in this year's hiking/scrambling season.

The plan for this past weekend was for a group to cross the lake, spend a day working on the Mt Loki trail, camp overnight up near the mountain and climb the peak the next day.

Eight of us met Saturday morning for the 8:10 ferry and by 9:30 were on the trail. Loppers, grub hoes and a chain saw found use in clearing deadfall and even re-routing the trail in a particularly steep section. We crossed the remains of large avalanches from mid-winter, enjoyed the alpine flowers that were popping out all over (glacier lily, spring beauty, heather, mountain avens...) and by early in the afternoon we had pretty much completed the work.

Some of us had elected to stay overnight so we set up our camp and rested in the sun, admiring Loki which was only about 15 minutes away. A relatively early start saw us on the summit at 8 am with great views in all directions - the usual sea of endless peaks.

After an hour or so admiring the view, we made our way down to the camp, packed up and headed back home.

Catherine has posted on her thoughts about relocating in this part of BC. For me, the pleasure is being in an area that is only short distances to all the outdoor activities you can imagine. I really appreciate how welcoming so many of the people are here and how many of them make the effort to include you in their activities. It's quite amazing how many little groups there are here that get out to hike together on a regular basis, maintain trails, explore the mountains, go skiing together..... I can't imagine anywhere better to be.

Chrome - Someting to Take a Shine To

Both of us have been increasingly annoyed with how often IE8 freezes up. It's been reminding me of the truth of an old joke: A good example of an oxymoron? Microsoft Works.

Decided the other day to give Google's "Chrome" a whirl. Surely it couldn't be any worse than Internet Explorer. I can report that so far, so good. Simple, effective and hasn't frozen up once - yet.

Is it STILL Hockey Season?

I don't usually talk (or care) about professional sports. Way too much overpaid ballyhoo in my mind. However, there's something about the current NHL controversy that has me shaking my head even more than usual. Keep in mind the last time I paid much attention to the NHL was back when there were 6 teams and the best season ever was the one with the strike. Soooo.....

RIM owner and founder Jim Balsillie wants to buy and move the Phoenix team (hmmm - what's the name? Roadrunners? Coyotes? Such a silly place to have a hockey team...but when you have team names like the "Mighty Ducks"...) to southern Ontario. The NHL, eyes ever fixated on the American market, persists on throwing up roadblocks ...er... I guess that should be throwing body checks.... They claim that letting the court decide would be a "dangerous" precedent. They talk of imposing a $100 million "relocation" fee.

The Phoenix franchise has been losing money for years, perhaps ever since it moved there. That's been over a decade now? How much longer does the NHL think it's going to take before the financials turn the corner? What's dangerous about letting the current "owners" sell the team to whoever is silly enough to buy it? And if you can't do what you want with something you own, do you really own it? Hockey in Phoenix? Potential of playoffs in Phoenix in June? You must be kidding. If Jimmy's ego will be massaged by buying the team and moving it (back) to Canada, let him. As much as I don't really care, hockey in southern Ontario (or the Peg, for that matter) makes more sense than Phoenix. And as for the NHL management? Two minutes for interference.

Creston - Bird Watching & Nurseries

We took part of the day off on Monday to make a quick trip to Creston, across the Lake and south about an hour.

Since we caught the 6:30 am ferry, we were there before most of the stores were open, so we spent nearly 2 hours wandering around the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area because it's a good place to see birds.

Among the birds we managed to see included a Yellow Warbler, Redstart, Bullock's Oriole, Song Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat, Ring-Necked Duck, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Barn Swallow, Olive-Sided Flycatcher.

Creston has a good supply of plant nurseries, so we roamed around a couple of those, bought a few plants to fill in some holes in our perennial beds and headed home. Our late lunch was at the Sirdar Pub just up the lake from Creston. We've driven past it many, many times and never stopped but Monday we had the time. The beer and the food were both good so I'd be recommending it.