Moominmama's Adventures

In which Moominmama finally gets up to Nevada's highest mountain and its bristlecone pine grove on the third try... Wheeler Peak has been elusive, with Moominmama having failed twice in prior years to get to the rare bristlecone pine grove on its slopes. The mountain, highest in Nevada at just over 13,000 feet, has the rocky limestone slopes -- cold, dry and windswept -- where these ancient trees grow so slowly that the wood is unimaginably dense and insect resistant. The tree pictured here is 3,200 years old, with a birthdate estimated at 1230 BCE. You may think it's dead but if you look on the left-hand side, you'll see a green branch that remains living and growing. Narrow strips of live bark, full of resin, run from root to branch and keep that limb alive even as other parts of the tree have died. In contrast, Moominmama found a young bristlecone; it was about shoulder height to me and not yet twisted with age. According to a park ranger, it was about 100 years old. But...

Wherein Moominmama returns to the Olympic Peninsula and the Oregon Coast... Last year, Moominmama discovered the Klahhane Ridge trail in the mountains of Olympic National Park but was unable to hike its length after a check-engine light ate up the day at the local Toyota dealer. This year, coming back into the U.S. from Vancouver Island, she had a second chance. I awoke to some fog, but the sun was trying to push through. I figured it would clear during the morning so at least, I'd get the spectacular views on the way down. Not so much. In fact, by the time I got back to the parking lot in the afternoon, the fog was so thick I could barely see to back the car out safely. So this hike is on my re-do list, but that said, I had a marvelous time. On my way up, I met a couple who had just turned back because the wife had seen what she thought was cougar scat. (It looked like dog poop to me.) The husband wanted to continue, so there was a bit of a dispute ongoing, which I was able to sol...

In which Moominmama visits the north end of Vancouver Island and ferries to Malcolm Island in search of Orcas before meeting up with fellow Altoistes... Moominmama has been jumping from place to place, proving how exhausting that can be. Normally my travel plans allow for stays of at least a week. This has served as a reminder that fast-paced travel is too much! Moominmama's arrival on Vancouver Island was by ferry into Nanaimo and from there, my reservations required a long drive to Port Hardy in the far north! My campground was along the Gwa'dzi or Quatse river estuary, where this small totem pole, featuring a bear holding a salmon stood, a gift of the indingenous people of the area. This estuary (low tide here) supports the salmon runs of the Coho, Pink and endangered Chinook salmon. It's also home to many bald eagles. I was awoken daily by the bald eagle chirps and whistles, even though I rarely saw them high up in the trees. I had no idea they made so much noise! Moomi...

Wherein Moominmama crosses from the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver Island with a few stops on the way... This past week was focused more on getting from one place to the next than exploring any individual location in detail. Moominmama had an appointment outside of Vancouver to have her trailer bearings repacked, a regular maintenance need that required being there on time!  But with a few days to get there, Moominmama opted for stops in Revelstoke and Kamloops, after original plans were scotched due to an unexpected campground closure. A scramble to find alternatives ensued.  Moominmama found an open spot at Revelstoke National Park, where she visited last year. This gave me a chance to repeat a favorite hike to Eva Lake in sunshine (above), and to swim in the beautiful, clear water, something I opted against last year when it was cold and rain threatened.  This time around there were fewer wildflowers in Revelstoke, but the lupins were still out in all their glory. Famil...

  In which Moominmama turns back to avoid bears but gets more wildlife photos than ever before... One of the striking things about arriving in Kananaskis Country is all the bear warnings. Every provincial park bathroom door, trailhead and many roadside placards warn that you're in bear country. The bear photographed above was nothing to worry about! It is located outside the Canmore Public Library but very much an emblem of the region!  Real bears, grizzlies and black bears, are not hard to find here, drawn to the highway verges, trailsides and sunny mountain fields where the buffaloberries grow. (Moominmama snapped this grizzly from the safety of her car.) Moominmama learned about these berries in Alaska where they're called soap berries because, besides being tart, they taste soapy. Moominmama can personally vouch for this! But the bears love them and come down from higher ground as the berries ripen, then follow the harvest up the mountains as the berries ripen at higher el...

In which Moominmama despairs of getting a good photo of the Canadian Rockies due to smoky haze and rain... Smoke from the west continues to drift east, leaving me with mountain shots that look woefully overexposed. With the forecast calling for rain, Moominmama hoped the precipitation would clear the air. Instead it brought in low clouds, obscuring the peaks entirely. But no one in their right mind complains about rain when so many places in Canada and the northwestern U.S. are burning.  And the rain did let up at various times, inviting Moominmama to do some nice hikes up to some glacial lakes. I saw several bears (from my car), bighorn sheep (in the middle of the road), ptarmigan (including a mama and chicks) and pika, (see below) adorable members of the rabbit family, who live among the rocks at high altitude. Kananaskis, the area on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies, is lesser known compared with the national parks in Banff and Jasper to the north. Rather than national...