Back home. Pictures from Canada.

So I'm back home after my annual summer hiking in Canada. I spent eleven days hiking at Mistaya Lodge near Golden, BC, and twenty-two days hiking at Selkirk Mountain Experience near revelstoke, BC. I'd say it was my best hiking summer yet. I've only been hiking for about ten years, and when I started I was a complete neophyte. I've learned more every year, and gained in capability and confidence accordingly, until now, for the last couple of years at SME, they take me on hikes they say they would not take anyone else. An example is Grizzly Lake, shown in the photos. It's about 50% farther than the longest hike they take groups on, and that 50% is off trail, down (and up on the way back) an extremely steep slope with some exposure and some very sketchy spots. Not technical, but difficult. It was a nine-hour hike, stopping only to swim, and later, after we were warmed up, a short lunch stop. The lake was VERY cold, and I hate swimming in cold lakes, but since they had never taken anyone else there, I was the first person hiking from SME ever to swim in that lake. (It is likely that miners in the area bathed in the lake when mining was active there several decades ago or more.) The eldest daughter of the owners, Charlotte, 20, was guiding, and two friends of hers were along since you need four people to go into potential grizzly bear territory. Though she's young, she's lived there all her life, and is extremely competent, having recently climbed Mt. Moloch, a technical and very difficult climb. They also take me to a lot of places that other guests just don't want to go because they are long hikes, or because there's a lot of downhill before lunch, so a lot of uphill in the afternoon.

Here's the link to the photos on Dropbox.

I'm new to Dropbox, so I'm not sure, but I think that link should take you to the folder without having to sign up for an account. Please let me know if that's not the case. In the next week or so I'll be uploading other pictures (mostly hiking), and I'll post links.

The little bonzai-looking tree is the first from SME. The ones before that are from Mistaya. The woman striking poses on the big flat rock is the sister of the owner at Mistaya, and was my guide about half the time. The young woman in the pink shirt on the rock that juts up with the long valley in the background is Charlotte, daughter of the owners at SME, and one of my best guides ever, in spite of her youth.

Charlotte and her sister have a rule for swimming in the (freezing-cold) lakes: You have to take at least three strokes and you have to dunk completely, or it doesn't count as "swimming" in the lake. I took about five strokes out, dove completely under, and swam back. Unfortunately, the only picture was taken as I was getting out. I have chosen not to post pictures of the girls as they were getting out, for obvious reasons.

 

More pictures, also on Dropbox:

Sedona, 2013. Pictures from two trips, January and April.

Churchill, Manitoba, 2012. Polar bears congregate here in the fall, as it's the first place the ice forms on Hudson's Bay. Their only food is seals, and they can only catch them by waiting at holes in the ice. No ice means no food for the bears, which means they do not eat all summer long.

A few miscellaneous pictures from Canada.

 

I have added PDF files with descriptions of the pictures to the above-linked Dropbox photo collections.

 

I believe I am all done posting photos to Dropbox until my next trip produces more photos. (That will likely be snowshoeing in December, though I don't know if I'll have my camera along, due to the cold.)

So here are all the links in one place:
(Each folder includes a PDF file with descriptions.)

Canada summer 2008:
Dropbox - Canada 2008

Churchill, Manitoba, 2012. Polar bear viewing trip:
Dropbox - Churchill 2012

Sedona 2013, two trips, January and April:
Dropbox - Sedona 2013

Canada summer 2013:
Dropbox - Canada 2013

Miscellaneous, a few older pictures that didn't fit into the above:
(Note: Some may be duplicates from the 2008 folder.)
Dropbox - Miscellaneous