[ Image]
One of the prettiest walks on Haida Gwaii when the tide is in and the sky is blue is the 2 km. walk along the Yakoun estuary known as the Sunset Trail in Port Clements.  A well maintained, user friendly trail  it offers access to all from small children and strollers to elders and wheel chairs.   In 2000 Port Clements applied for a grant from the Government of Canada’s Millennium  Grant to develop a walking trail and campground along it's west facing coastline. The result is this lovely walk on the edge of wilderness.
[Image]The Yakoun River is the longest river on Haida Gwaii meandering about 60 km(37 miles) from Yakoun Lake in south central Graham Island to Masset Inlet, a large salt water inlet.[Image]The Yakoun estuary is broad and shallow partly due do silt deposits from clear-cut logging. It has a world famous fall salmon run and cut throat trout in the spring.[Image]Bank erosion of the river combined with high water in the spring sweeps large trees and windfalls into the esturary[Image]where some continue life as a "nurse stump" for new life.[Image]The sunset trail is bordered by the inlet on the west and Bayview Road on the east and although only 50 to 75 metres wide feels like a walk in a remote  part of the island.  The.trail runs close to the shore with beautiful vistas of the Queen Charlotte Mountains and Masset Inlet.  On the western flyway for migratory birds it is not usually to see sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, brandts, and various other waterfowl along with resident great blue herons and eagles as you walk along the waters edge to the wheel chair accessible bird watching tower at the south end of the trail.  Beautifully constructed it is a great spot to watch birds, enjoy the every changing skies or have a picnic under its sheltering roof.
The forest walk is a great sampling of what the forests of Haida Gwaii were like with magnificant old cedars, towering spruce, CMTs (Culturally Modified Trees) and an understory rich in flora which in the past year has seen signs posted along the trail to identify the different species of plants.  For a beautiful, easy walk why not visit Port Clements and the Sunset Trail.




For other great skies from around the world why not join us at SkyWatch Friday.[Image]
Labels:Garbage, Masset Inlet, SkyWatch Friday, Yakoun River



23

Extended Warranty.....

On November 16, 2011 I awoke to a group of symptons most woman my age are all too aware of and never want to have... but denying them can kill you so I got myself down to Emergency.  With my blood pressure  through the roof and symptons of a STOKE I was MediVac'd to Prince Rupert for a CAT SCAN, echocardiogram and ultra sound of my neck arteries!

Within an hour of stablizing my blood pressure I was loaded into an surface ambulance and then an air ambulance for the one hour trip to the mainland and from there depended on what my tests disclosed.

Nothing devasting showed up on the tests so after a night in emergency because there were no beds in the hospital I was on my way home.

Leaving Prince Rupert.
Prince Rupert does not have a walk-in clinic so everything goes through the emergency room....it was a busy night.

I was expecting to stay an other night in Prince Rupert because of weather however they(the helicopter pilots) said there was a window of opportunity....I didn't see it!

Fog over  Prince Rupert Airport(the planes were grounded!)

Heading out across the Hecate Strait in the fog.

Never let someone look at your camera if you don't want your picture taken! 

I could at least smile as I was heading home with some things to work out but generally a clean bill of health.

 (I also always travel with a camera in my hand or my pocket!)

The skies cleared but the seas where still pretty rough.

Finally the shores of home.

A welcome rainbow over Skidegate.

My ride! 

In Canada we have universal health care.  It varies a little from province to province but if you need care you get it.  That trip there probably used up all my premiums to date and then some! 

I am eternally grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff of Queen Charlotte and Prince Rupert General Hospitals and the EMTs and pilots of BC Ambulance Service for their care and compassion. 

11.11.11 ~ Lest We Forget

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

Watery Wednesday ~ I am always amazed...

 I am always amazed at the simple beauty that surrounds us.

Check out other great watery places at

Watery Wednesday

Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections

 A mercury sky on an outbound tide!

More beautiful scenes and reflections at

Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections

SkyWatch Friday ~ Morning Skies

Each morning I wake and if it is not raining or blowing too hard I take myself out to my meditation bench about 50 steps from my cabin.

Even though there is a temporary protected porch on the cabin

the bench on the dune always draws me that extra few steps...

 to witness the beginning of a new day

 and another

 and another

and another.

Each different and each so beautiful!

 Some of you have asked about the progress of the cabin......all I can say is slow and sometimes very frustrating!

The stove is a tiny but very efficient Jotul, the floor is 11/2" tongue and groove pine with a built in ceramic tile stove pad.  This was the first fire!

The insulation is here, the outside is sided, wiring is in for solar power and wind power

the scaffolding sits waiting for the pine siding to be milled and plained so sometimes I sleep out here and sometimes I come out and vent my frustration with a glass of wine and a warm fire....the stove needs to be broken in!!!

For more beautiful skies from around the world why not join us at

SkyWatch Friday

Scenic Sunday ~ There are days when ...

  

 There are days when Mother Nature just takes your breath away!
(These were all taken on the same day!)

Visit

Scenic Sunday

 for more breathtaking photos

SkyWatch Friday ~ Extreme Weather

Last night, this was the weather system sitting over top of us. Winds blowing 70 to 90 km/h with gusts to 130 km/h and I can assure you there were lots of gusts at 130 km/h.  Despite the winds the cabin remained sound.

This mornings sunrise(?) saw the tailend of the overnight hurricane force winds but brought with it an unstable southwest weather system.

We are also experiencing extreme tides.  Yesterday we had a 25' 3" high tide (about 16" over our usual high tides and the low was a "0" tide(usually it is 3 to 4 ft.)

 High tide was at 2:53 PDT today.  If we had been experiencing last nights winds during this tide there would have been a 1 to 3 ft surge and the waves would have breached the dunes. 

 As it turned out the winds calmed before high tide and the waves just scoured the beach of logs.

Still photos do no justice to the power of the ocean.  Tlell is on the east side of Haida Gwaii about 100 km from mainland British Columbia so we don't get monumental surf but watching these waves form and watching what they do to the beach gives one a glimpse of what being on the ocean is like.

By the time the tide started to ebb and I headed back to the cabin there was no time to lose as another weather system was moving in. This is my Friday skywatching!

 For other great skies from around the world why not join us at

SkyWatch Friday.