Hiking – Page 2 – Just An East Coast Girl

ACROSS CANADA DAY: 12 July 21~ Sea to Sky in Squamish

Squamish is a community in BC, located at the north end of Howe Sound on the Sea to Sky Highway. It had its beginning during the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in the 1910’s. It was the first southern terminus of that railway now CN.

It is THE “Outdoor Adventure” place in the area. We left Van city this morning and headed to Squamish. The road to Squamish is amazing as it winds through the mountains.

The Stawamus Chief on Canada’s West Coast is a world-renowned rock-climbing destination known for its beautiful multi-pitch routes and unrivalled crack-climbing pitches. But many visiting outdoor enthusiasts are unaware that the iconic granite monolith also carries the scars of a legendary battle. The region’s Squamish people tell of the mythical hero Xwech’taal vanquishing the double-headed sea serpent Sinulhkay before uniting the Squamish Nation.

The Stawamus Chief — pronounced stah-WAH’-muss, but known simply as “The Chief” attracts thousands of visitors every year, both for its premiere rock-climbing offerings but also for accessible hiking trails that climax in rewarding ridge-top vistas.

The mountain towers 700 metres over the head of a picturesque, inundated fjord, about 50 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. Looking down from the first of its three rounded granite summits, the slithering Squamish River can be seen reaching the salty waters of Howe Sound, which ripple between shades of teal and aquamarine under a shifting, cloud-covered sky. The initial peak is accessible about 1.5 kilometres from and 540 metres above the trail’s starting point, while the two remaining summits are located slightly higher and farther along. It’s all straight up climbing on all trails.

The panorama offers a view across the core of the Squamish Nation’s territory.

Today’s mission should you choose to accept it….to Conquer “THE CHIEF” To start our day, we took the Sea to Sky Gondola just to get a view of what we were looking at for a climb. We were able to look down on the Chief Peaks from a viewing platform a short hike away at the Gondola Summit. We had fun on the Suspension bridge and a snack before heading back down.

Later this afternoon when it was cooler we were ready to climb the Chief! We chose Peak 1 because it supposedly has the most amazing view of the 3.

We stopped by Shannon Falls and connected on the Sea to Sky trail then connected to the Stawamus Chief Trail. And from there it was straight up!!

It was a hardish climb…well for me with short legs, David was fine…

And after we were all finished and had a refreshing shower, we enjoyed a lovely dinner beside the Squamish River at the Watershed Restaurant.

ACROSS CANADA DAY: 7 July 16~ Badlands & Hoodoos and Pearls & A Pirate Ship

This morning we left Calgary and headed for the Badlands! Drumheller and the Hoodoo trail to be exact. This is such a cool area just an hour and a half outside of Calgary. What is really cool is the way the landscape gradually changes as you get closer to the badlands. We went from flat land with roads that you can see for miles lined with beautiful green and yellow. The canola crop is in full bloom and it’s amazing. As you get closer it gets a little hilly and then all of a sudden you are in the Badlands!

Badlands are dramatic landforms that develop an intricate network of deeply incised, narrow, winding gullies and occasional fantastically shaped hoodoos. Steep, often precipitous and densely rilled slopes almost devoid of vegetation are striking evidence of the forces of erosion.

Hoodoos (aka fairy chimneys and earth pyramids) are tall rock pillars created from soft sedimentary rock (sandstone) topped with a harder rock which is more resistant to time and the elements like wind and rain. Over time the weather creates 4 to 7 metre tall red rock pillars shaped like mushrooms. The hoodoos are easily identified. These hoodoos are a symbol of the Canadian Badlands in Alberta, Canada. Aboriginals in the 18th century used “hoodoo” ( not voodoo) to communicate with evil and supernatural forces. They believed the hoodoos were evil giant gods turned to stone by the Great Spirit. It was really cool to see this!

After a quick lunch at a picnic spot along the way…

it was on to Edmonton. To West Edmonton Mall. We just HAD to go back! I wanted to see what changed in the last 29 years. There’s a huge pirate ship, the Santa Maria ( an exact replica of Christopher Columbus’ flagship for his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492). And it is here at this spot, One of the special memories I have of our visit to West Edmonton Mall in July 1987 was choosing an oyster and inside was a beautiful pearl…a bluish one. David had the pearl put in to a ring as a 1st year Anniversary gift for me. I still have it BUT I don’t wear it often because the ring part has worn a little bit over the years.

My pearl ring from West Edmonton Mall 1987

I think that started my love for pearls and I am so fortunate to have many beautiful strands from China. Maybe I should have done this again for our 30th Anniversary, after all it’s the suggested gift 😛

Screen Shot 2016-05-30 at 4.37.31 PM

There’s a skating rink, an amusement park, mini golf, a Fantasyland hotel, a wave pool…all these things I remember. It was fun to go back!

There are also shops and many stores at West Edmonton Mall BUT really…who goes to shop?

On the way home we stopped very quickly to see our niece Rachel, Gerald & baby Kiet in Airdrie.

and the outlet mall, Cross Iron Mills.

To end another wonderful day we had a great visit with a very dear friend ( she’s like family) Amber. She used to baby sit our kids and is very close to our family. She know lives in Crossfield so she came to visit at our hotel and I totally forgot to get a picture…

Another great day but I need to get to bed and rested. Tomorrow starts our “romantic two days” that are celebrating our Anniversary.

Adventure Awaits…

I picked up a copy of the 2016 Nova Scotia “Doers & Dreamers” book as well as the Culinary Guide.

Oh the possibilities & choices….

I love our East Coast province ❤ and I love summertime to explore and see and try new things!

This is such a great picture captured by a local photographer… Catherine Rose Photography.

Enjoy your last day of June!

Chaga

What in the world is Chaga? lol

James brought some Chaga home for me to try. His friend (boss) has been collecting it when he’s out on his hikes and introduced James to this interesting…mushroom? I had to google it.

“Rather than soft like a mushroom, chaga is hard, almost as hard as wood. It is unique, nothing like common mushrooms.” In fact, the Siberians call it the “Gift from God” and the “Mushroom of Immortality,” this vibrant growth has been used by humans to support health for thousands of years. The Japanese call it “The Diamond of the Forest,” while the Chinese deem it “King of Plants.” For the Chinese that is saying a lot, since they have an immense history with countless plants.”

Now, you can get the great powerful secret of the Orient in your very own backyard…kinda…if you know what to look for.

Inonotus obliquus, commonly known as chaga mushroom , is actually a fungus, parasitic on birch trees and other trees. The sterile conk is irregularly formed and has the appearance of burnt charcoal. Weird… The name Chaga comes from the Russian word for mushroom.

Chaga is traditionally grated into a fine powder and used to brew a beverage resembling coffee or tea. But you can also leave it in chunks and brew a “chunk” in a pot of water and keep reusing it until all the goodness is out of it. James brought some ground chaga home and then yesterday his friend gave him a bag of chaga chunks. Of course, I HAD to try it!!

It has a mild flavour and really isn’t too bad. It’s mellow.

Guess I better go for a walk and find some Chaga!

A new kind of fun

Anyone who has been reading my blog for any time knows I love adventure and I love to explore. Unfortunately time & money these days doesn’t allow as much travel as I like so I have been looking at new ways to incorporate some extra fun in our walks and hikes around here.

GEOCACHING

Have you heard of it? What is it?

I have heard about geocaching for a long time and wanted to give it a try. My youngest son had his first go at it 3 weeks ago and since then I have really been wanting to get out and do it. So last night we did. I had my first introduction to geocaching.

…so what is Geocaching? Here is the definition from Wikipedia.

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, anywhere in the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, such as toys or trinkets, usually of more sentimental worth than financial. Geocaching shares many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

Sounds like fun, right? That’s what I thought and so this summer I want to do more of it as we are out and about.

Last night we loaded the app on our phone and set up a user name. The app shows caches in your aerator wherever. I just have the basic version for now until I learn more. The basic version gives you quite a few spots but also shows the premium ones in grey ( A LOT MORE) You click on the one you want to find, it gives you basic clues and then you walk or hike to find it. We did some easy ones in our neighbourhood last night just to see how it worked. You log in and when you find it, you can add comments and/or a picture and it sets a marker that you found it. Pretty cool!

Here are a few pics from last night. We are really hoping to get out and do some more geocaching really soon.

Geocaching…I think it’s the perfect activity to get you out exploring!!

A Unique Place

Unique, unspoiled…tucked away at the end of a rocky beach. A trail that is 6.5 km round trip. It consists of marine, terrestrial and wetland ecosystems. Both sides have steep cliffs and tidal pools, shale beaches and just AMAZING views along the shoreline. Just a perfect little walk for such a gorgeous afternoon!

And where is this unique place? It is Hirtle’s Beach And Gaff Point.

What a beautiful afternoon!

Years and Years ago…

How many we don’t know for certain. In the coal age…

These exposed layers of rock reveal the world’s most complete fossil record of life in the “Coal Age” when lush forests covered Joggins on the coast of Nova Scotia.

The swamp forests produced massive quantities of organic matter that, over years, created the coal deposits for which this period of history is named. Embedded in 15 kilometres of accessible coastal cliffs, rare fossils reveal details of life in the “Coal Age”.

The tide was coming in when we visited so we had a little time to explore the beach and look for fossils.

Interesting!

A Walk on the Ocean Floor

Have you ever wondered what was on the bottom of the ocean along the coast? What was lurking under that muddy water in the Bay of Fundy?

We enjoyed a day trip adventure to Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick.

Hopewell Rocks or Flowerpot Rocks, are rock formations caused by tidal erosion. They stand 40–70 feet tall. Located in the Bay of Fundy, where the World’s Highest Tides make for interesting adventures, the base of the formations are covered in water twice a day. And if you are there at low tide… it is possible to view the formations from ground level, while walking on the ocean floor!

High Tide at the Flowerpots at Hopewell Rocks…

And the same place at Low Tide…so AMAZING!!! And we enjoyed a couple hours walking on the Ocean Floor at low tide…

The Ovens

The Sea Caves called “the ovens” are amazing especially at high tide when the water is washing in and out and creating cannon like noises. However tonight, it was low tide, and even though the views were spectacular it didn’t quite have the effect if it were high tide.

It’s a beautiful spot to go for a walk and enjoy the ocean anytime.

Balance is the key

Balance is the key to a happy, fulfilling life. Hard work and leisure, a lot of one and not too much of the other. An appreciation and enjoyment of both.

Today we went on a small hike to Balancing Rock in Tiverton, NS.

It’s a very easy groomed 2.5-km trail and 235-step staircase that leads to a platform with view of the Balancing Rock and St. Mary’s Bay. Just beautiful. This 9 meter high rock is a part of the North Mountain columnar basalt rocks which forms the cliffs along St. Mary’s Bay and the Bay of Fundy.