Mount Prevost, Duncan, BC

Mount Prevost is just north of Duncan, BC.  We have some friends that live just south of Duncan and it being a lovely spring day they invited us to haul our asses up island and go for a hike.

Sounds good to me!

Wait a minute... It's supposed to be a lovely spring day!

The car definately isn't getting up that road.

And just after the 'parking lot' that we couldn't reach there are two huge stumps in the middle of the path.  I can only guess they are up there to prevent the ATV fanatics from ripping up the area.  Of course they fail.  There is a rough beaten ATV trail just on the other side of these stumps that cuts down through to the parking lot.

There is a cairn at the top of the mountain commemorating the local soldiers that died in the first world war.  It was built in 1929 and what a lot of work it must have been to haul all the materials up there.  At later dates plaques for WWII and the Korean War were also added.

The Cairn can be seen from the foot of the mountain as a thin, white, vertical line.

It looks like there used to be a door on the cairn, but some yahoos have ripped it off and probably used it for firewood.  As a whole the cairn really could use some TLC.  Hopefully some enterprising locals will realize this and mounta  restoration effort.

 

Someone's also commemorated the life of G. Bowie who lived from 1945 until 2002.  Respectfully this isn't scraped into the side of the cairn, but is incised into a rock sitting opposite.

April 6th and the snow is quite deep in some places... I stepped into a drift that gave me a very chilled shin.  Not that perfect day to decide to hike in shorts.  Still... it wasn't cold enough so that I was ready to put on the cycling pants I'd brought with me in case of foul weather.

I suppose we should have expected to have other people sharing the trail with us on a blue sky day.  It seems like there were dozens of cars parked along the road on the last passable stretch.  A group of 2 other cars was parking just after us and they must have run up the trail behind us because they arrived only about 3 minutes after we did.

Of course the view is what people climb up here for and boy is it worth the trek!

A small lake at the foot of the mountain.

Cow bay with it's associated mud flats.

Looking toward Salt Spring Island and Mount Maxwell's distinctive drop off.

Is this a hydro right of way?  It's gotta be.

Despite some rather heavy atmospheric clutter we could see Vancouver from the top of the mountain.
I've traced distance with Google Earth and it appears Vancouver is about 67km from the top of Mount Prevost.

April 4th and we have sun!

Spring seems to be trying to take hold here in Victoria.  I went riding last week and had to take off my log pants due to it being warmer than I'd thought when I started out.  Thankfully I wear my riding shorts underneath or I would have turned a few heads even if only from horror!

Today looks like another fine day in the offing as there is sun and it's still very early.  Hopefully later I can hop on the bike and get a ride in, on this, my extra day off during Easter week.

 

The sun's really bright and it's only 7.30 am.  Last night we had some frost!

 

For some reason this particular racoon has chosen the large pear tree next door as an overnight spot.  Quite often we see it clamoring around up there.  This annoys all the birds in the neighborhood who squawk and flap about so I suppose they've been pestered by egg thieves in the past.  You can tell by the nonchalant visage that my being about 100 feet away presents no problems or concerns.

All the cats are absolutely insistant that they need feeding as soon as one of the humans is awake.  It doesn't matter if it's 3am, if a human gets out of bed it must be breakfast time.  Having 4 cats milling about under one's feet when one isn't fully awake is annoying and dangerous so out they all go until coffee and toast have been had.  Here Kira sits where she can see in the back window and protest her untimely evicition from warm house to frosty out of doors.

The Bare Esentials

Working in a grocery store, I notice the leavings of the customers.  Some arent' so pleasant.  From lost articles of clothing to post chewed chewing gum, I've pretty much seen it all.  Believe me.  It DOES get worse than a fifty dollar roast stuffed in behind slow moving dry goods.  Worse I tell you!!

However, being the eternal optimist I've chosen to focus on a particular set of leavings.  Ones I can take with me at the end of the day and not feel I need a delousing.  Ones that I won't be apprehended by store security for having on my person without a receipt.

A great many people carry small lists of essential items.  I suppose they carry them for the same reason I do... the fact that if I don't write things down these days they leak out my ear, slide down my neck and get lost on the floor in all the dust and less savory things lurking under shelves and fixtures.

I've decided to collect these little bits of memory and periodically photograph them to include here in this post.

 

Marble Goat Cheese?  I've never heard of the like.  Where can I find it?

 

Who the hell can afford to buy such basic stuff at such an expensive store?

 

This is one of mine.  Notice how everything is entirely reasonable and mostly healthy.  Notice how Dessert is listed last in the attempt that I'll realize I don't need it and skip buying it.  God I hope I didn't end up coming home with a pie that day!

 

Who the hell buys ice and why is it so important as to warrant capitals?

 

Clean ears, a happy dog and no headaches!

 

Some people even use the back of their list even if they are blithering idiots and don't realize it's not 'au jus' it's just 'jus'.  The 'au' bit means 'with'. And who the heck puts Jus on their roast when the sensible people use horse radish?

Mount Baker on a clear day

The other day I was driving home from work and had my camera in the car because it was the day I take my 52 weeks shot out on Burnsaide road at Prospect Lake road and I noticed that Mt Baker was fully visible in the distance.  I pulled over and tried to get some shots from the sidewalk  This not working I tip toed to the newly planted median and took these shots whilst leaning on an ugly traffic sign that warns people not to run over the beautiful plantings they've installed in the median.

Mt Baker is located some 130km or 80 miles from Victoria; across the Salish Sea on the mainland in Washington State.

 

I don't think I need mention that Mt Baker is an active volcano.  Its shape is a dead giveaway

Total Lunar Eclipse

I was up early on the morning of Dec 10th 2011.  I often do this on my days off as switching back and forth between working nights and having weekends like a normal person is not easy.  I was also listening ot the radio stream from CBC and the news happened to mention that western Canada and the US would be getting a good view of the Lunar Eclipse.  It was frosty and clear outside and I was up at the right time so I grabbed my camera, put on a hat and set up the tripod outside.

Even with a tripod things move.  With the long exposures I was using the wobble becomes pronounces.  Of 90 shots I took over the course of the 45 min I was outside only 10 were steady.  I quickly found out that standing anywhere near the camera as the shutter released caused the image to blur.  My breathing and my body moving back and forth were the culptrits.  I tried standing really still and holdimg my breath, but that wasn't good enough.  I had to walk away from the camera and lean against the house while not breathing and hope that my automatic shutter release would work.  (It sometimes sticks and i have to turn the camera off and back on to reset it).

Anyway.. here are the 10 shots.

Colquitz River Park

Colquitz River Park can be divided easily into two parks.  Narrow strips of land on either side of this wide creek have been reserved for a walking trail and wildlife corridor and extend quite a distance.  They also connect other parks in the area making for a nice long stroll through green space.  Where the creek enters the Gorge Inlet the waters become muddied and tidal.  A small flood plain emerges and the underbrush is thick.  A large low hill raises above this and holds a mixed wood of evergreens, oaks and other decidious trees.  I ventured forth with my camera.

 

I have no idea what sort of berry these are, but they've been fascinating me for ages.  Thankfully I finally got off my ass and got some images of them.  Depending on where they were they were either frosty or not and in some cases they were even crusted in ice.

 

 The creek and inlet create several situations where bridges are needed to get from various parts of the park to adjacent areas.  I imagine at one time these bridges were completely wood but now their superstructure is heavey steel.

 

  

 The day's outting was marvelous, if a bit nippy.  With chilled fingers and dripping nosed I headed back to the car thinking I'd had a good outting and got all the shots I would.  I was walking past the big bush just opposite the multi-plex movie theatre when I heard them.  The unmistakeable high pitch racket I hear in my backyard as I'm being chastized for letting the ants steal all their food.  Anna's Hummingbirds.  About a dozen of them, all fighting over the same bush.  Zip and dart and circle and chase.  How the heck are they finding enough food to gain the 6600 plus calories they need in a day?

I was shocked to find out that the Anna's Hummingbirds are resident to Victoria year round.  What the heck they eat when all the nectar filled flowers are dead and all the insects are gone is beyond me.  The males of the species have a ruby red head and I'm uncertain about this here bird.  It could be male and the iridescent feathers are at the wrong angle to show the colour or it could be juvenile and not yet in adult plummage.  It could also be female.  Regarless of sex, it was being quite accomodating and sitting on a low branch that allowed me to take oodles of pictures of good quality.  Just as I was packing my telephoto lens back into the bag it had a little poop and flew off.

This one is definately male.  He was loud and brash and his head was bright, ruby red.  He was also sitting WAY up at the top of the bush all the other hummers were fighting over.  I had to go in with software and try to get his crest to show as the combination of distance and being backlit had his looking quite dark and not at all as spectacular as he really.  I'm not fully happy with the result so I guess I'll be buying a stronger lens some time in the future.