I put a pair of 5.11 Tactical Pants to rest today.
Sigh. . . I have two pairs, and one pair was so worn with multiple patches that it finally bit the dust.
The seat was so worn that you could almost see through it, and though I like to think I have a cute butt. . .
These are amazing pants. They have, like, a bazillion pockets, and when I had them fully loaded, they probably weighed over 5kg .
I rotated between the two pairs, wearing them nearly daily for years and years.
Hiking, camping, streamkeeping. . . Wedding and event photography because they looked nice enough to wear with a blazer, yet could carry extra batteries and flash units in all those pockets.
We went to a wedding in Toronto, ON, recently, and had several lovely walks in the autumn colours.
One walk was along the Humber River where there were lots of people watching salmon returning to spawn, cheering when the fish got over a weir, and groaning when they slid back down, to try again. . .
I took a two-night camping trip to Nairn Falls Provincial Park just south of Pemberton, BC, on the last week before it closed for the season.
While I was there I did several loops of One Mile Lake, looking for wildlife and nature shots.
I chased this Pied-billed Grebe around for about an hour before I got this shot. It didn’t mind my presence, just kept hunting, diving and coming up, diving and coming up. . . until . . . success!
And a Belted Kingfisher diving and taking a fish at One Mile Lake.
Dang, these were the best shots I got, though a pair of them teased me several times .
If I got any closer, they’d skeedaddle, so these were taken with Big Bertha from a looong way away. . .
My summer job as an ambassador for ParkBus is drawing to a close, and I’ve met lots of interesting hikers from all over the world.
It’s great seeing so many people coming back to the bus after 3 – 6 hours on the trail with huge grins on their faces! Some may be tired, and snooze all the way back to Vancouver, but “we loved it!” is a nearly unanimous response to “how was your hike?”
Joffre Lakes is incredibly busy, and I’d say 98% of folks I’ve talked to appreciate the daypass system that was put in place to limit numbers of hikers.
Also thanks to the BC Parks Ambassadors who have staffed the trailhead all summer long. I’ve enjoyed chatting with them, they’ve been a great crew!
I have one more trip and I hope it’ll end on another lovely day like this one was.
I’m being repeatedly reminded of people’s stupid behaviour while guiding weekend buses taking folks on hiking tours north of Whistler, BC.
Passing on curves over double-yellow lines? Sure!
Missing head-on collisions by a few meters because of passing on curves over double-yellow lines? Sure!
Not checking your rear-view mirror and hitting the brakes for no apparent reason in your subcompact with a bus behind you? Do you have any clue how far it takes a coach bus to stop?
I’d rank half-ton and 3/4-ton truck drivers as the worst (we’re invincible!), followed by supercar drivers (way more money than responsibility), followed by motorcyclists (gotta go fast, gotta go fast, gotta go fast.)
You may all not care about being in line for a Darwin Award, but I care about the 50+ people on the bus.
One walk was along the Humber River where there were lots of people watching salmon returning to spawn, cheering when the fish got over a weir, and groaning when they slid back down, to try again. . .
