More Hikes, and the first camp of the year

Junuary has led into Julebruary, and things are looking good to go for a cool Augtober, but we've still managed to get out a bit (despite another weekend ruined by lousy weather - we had a nice spot picked out and everything).

A couple of weeks ago we went to Zoa Peak, which would be normally be mostly free of snow by now, but that still somehow had over 2m in places. It was hard packed so we didn't need snowshoes. It's a bit closer to home now though, so I think we might make this a winter trip.
Sarah likes to make it look like she's standing on the edge of a cliff - she isn't.

Again. We got a little excited on the way down, and followed a gully down the wrong side of the ridge. Luckily I had my trusty compass and excellent (sort of) orienteering skills, and got us out alive only a little worse for the wear. There was also bear poop everywhere. 'Tis the season.

 This is a fake smile. This is a couple of weeks ago. We went to a trail that was first created in 1848, and since re-discovered and mapped. It was very steep uphill most of the way.

 This is funny because we thought we were close to our destination. It was pretty though.

Maggie is getting used to her pack again.

 Eventually we got to a camp. The water was a little brownish, but the view was good.

 We had leftover corn, so we packed that up. Worked out pretty well on the campfire. Maggie is forever hopeful we'll drop something.

 Maggie and her Christmas present: a portable food/water dish.










We had a view to the west, so a pretty good sunset.

We decided to skip climbing to a nearby summit, and to lounge around the camp all day. It's a nice way to spend Canada Day.

We have about a million flower pictures, but one more can't possibly hurt. It's a tiger lily, pretty common early in the season.

Then it rained on the way out (obviously), but it was pretty in an area that burned in 2006.

The forest on the way out was pretty, but full of mosquitoes. You can't tell from the picture, but Sarah was running (and cursing - but I'll spare you the specifics).
All in all it was a pretty good weekend. Nice to finally get away from the city for a while - even if our new city is a lot more tolerable that Vancouver...

We might do something interesting tomorrow, but probably not if the forecast is even a little accurate.

R

More Miscellany

We've been busy, but not too busy writing blogs. So I'll go back a couple of weeks to a hike we did not too far from our new home: Elk-Thurston. It's a high ridge with a couple of summits. We only did the first summit-ish because visibility was nil, it was cold, and there was really no point. It was nice to get out of the house though.

This was the best we could do for a view for a few seconds. Barely worth writing about, but here it is...

 This is a walk we did to a waterfall up the road. Just something to do around here.

 I over-photoshopped this, but here it is anyways.

 It was nice.... we may go back for a picnic if summer ever decides to show its face.

Obviously she had fun.











Then a highlight, Krista came over and was our first official house guest. We made her sleep on the floor. And if that wasn't enough, we found a mountain for her to climb. It was pretty though, and I might be talked into going back there someday.

On the trail: it was still easy at this point.

 A nice little lake near the top. We decided to skip the summit proper because we were too lazy, lunch was tasty, and why leave a spot like this?

 Maggie was lazy.

 We were tired, but putting on a brave face.

More nice views of the forest on the way up. It was a nice hiket, going through at least two distinct ecosystems, but Krista and Sarah didn't seem too interested, so I spared them.

We went camping last weekend, I'll post about that later.