Visit to Rolf

We are none of us getting any younger and coming to that realization reinforces the desire to get in as much time as possible with those we love.  So it was with that in mind that I planned a trip to see my brother, Rolf, last September where he lives in Truckee, California.  Somehow this trip came up in a conversation with my grandson, Sam, and he said he'd like to come.  It was just before he had to be back in university so the timing was perfect and Sam is an excellent travel companion so I welcomed the opportunity.  He takes good care of his Opa.  

Rolf had been having trouble with one of his hips which he'd just had replaced for the third time. I was under the impression that he was on the mend and so was surprised when he met us at the airport barely able to walk.  He'd had had a setback and the hip was very painful, limiting him to sitting for the most part.  But we made the best of the situation and did a lot of sightseeing in the car which is not necessarily a bad thing up there around Lake Tahoe in that beautiful area where Rolf lives.  When Sam and I needed exercise we went cycling or hiking or Sam went off running when he needed more.  Lots of time was spent preparing food and eating and hanging out on Rolf's beautiful deck overlooking the roaring Truckee River.

One day we drove around the circumference of Lake Tahoe, one of the natural wonders of the world.  

The lake is 35km long and 22km wide and at an elevation of 1,897 m.  Our family has a lot of history at Lake Tahoe.  My parents went there often, hiking and skiing and camping, loved it and eventually retired there.  I went to summer camp there for a number of years there when I was a kid and Rolf has lived in that area for many years.  So it was a lifelong feature in our lives.  A notable feature driving around the lake is Emerald Bay with it's multi-hued water and Viking castle replica built in the early 20th century by some rich folks.  

There's a nice two or three km hike down to the Vikingsholm from the highway and Sam and I left Rolf to hang out in the parking lot and hiked down to the bay.  

Vikingsholm

One day we drove to Virginia City, a place with some notable history.  The biggest mother lode of silver in the United States was discovered there in 1859 and Virginia City boomed in that era. Now it's a sort of boomtown theme park.

 The Old Washoe Club reputed to be "one of the most haunted locations in the west"

A night out for pozole and margaritas at Casa Baeza in downtown Truckee.
 


Sam had to leave a day before me so Rolf and I dropped him at the airport and proceeded on to Pyramid Lake, NE of Reno on the Paiute Reservation, a place I went to on overnights with the summer camp as a kid and where I like to visit when I'm in the area.  
 

48km long, Pyramid Lake is the terminus of the Truckee River which drains Lake Tahoe and it's an other worldly sight there in the desert of western Nevada.   

The next day saw the end of my time in Truckee with Rolf and we made the trek down to the Reno airport again and off I went back home.  It was a lovely time.  I give thanks for these times with family.

Hikers Reunion cont.

The next phase of the adventure was a kayak/canoe trip and so the next day was spent getting ready.  It would be Terry, Michael and myself on this outing, Terry with his big, motorized canoe, me with a good sized ocean touring kayak and Michael with his little kayak. We piled the boats and provisions we'd need for four days into and on top of the cars and made the 60k drive north to Campbell River where we caught the ferry to Quadra Island, drove across the island to the launch site at Harriet Bay, loaded the boats and off we went, Terry and Michael in the canoe with the little Honda 2hp engine doing the work, me being towed behind and behind me, Michael's little boat loaded with gear.  We were quite a procession.  

As a kayaker, it was a little embarrassing being seen by other kayakers, towed behind a motorboat.  But, a trip that would have taken a couple of days to paddle, took us a few hours, and no wear and tear on old joints and muscles.   

 From Harriet Bay we headed northeast through a group of islands until we reached Rendezvous Islands. 
 

These are a group of islands within the Rendezvous chain and the southern most is a provincial park having achieved that status largely through the lobbying efforts of a canoe/kayak group that Terry and Diana were part of.  Once they were successful and a park was declared, the group set about clearing away the homestead that had been there, and creating a wilderness campground. It's a very pretty spot and very tranquil campsite.  

When we arrived, there was a large tour group already setting up camp there, ten or twelve people, so we had to make do with improvised tent sites.  But they were nice people and we had some good chats.  In fact, it turned out that one of the women in the group graduated from the same high school as me in a small town in the south San Francisco Bay Area.  A cosmic confluence. They left first thing the next morning and we had the site to ourselves so relocated our tents and set up a proper kitchen.  

The next three days went by in a tranquil haze.  We each went out fishing separately in our own boats during the day and might reassemble at tea time or maybe not until dinner time.  The fishing was good............. if you like rock fish.  And don't get me wrong, rockfish are fine but it would have been nice to mix it up with some salmon or ling cod.  In any case, it was enjoyable to paddle slowly around the island fishing here and there.  The scenery is really spectacular with the mountains on the mainland rising right out of the sound up to the high peaks. 

Humpback whales were all around and we constantly heard their big breaths.  

Once a pod of orcas passed by.  

Michael pitched his tent on what was an island at high tide, and connected to the beach at low tide.  So at high tide he had to ferry over to us.  Interestingly enough, his regular home is on an island in a river.

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Our little camp buddy, Siggy the squirrel as he was dubbed.  His territory seemed to be the maple tree over our kitchen but he showed no interest in our food.  He spent his time furiously collecting maple seeds and chasing away interlopers. 

  

It was a very peaceful few days and we left with some reluctance but feeling more at peace than when we set off.  Those times of immersion into nature can be so healing. 

GTO Hikers Reunion

This past August saw the fruition of an idea that was planted last year among a group of us regulars in Guanajuato who live in the Northwest.  I thought it would be fun to get together somewhere back home during the summer, have a little reunion.  Terry and Diana who live in Comox, here on Vancouver Island, were gracious enough to host the event at their lovely place, surrounded by forest, eating veggies our of their bountiful garden, salmon they'd caught, enjoying the deer who joined the gathering every evening and enjoying the camaraderie.  Most of us only know each other in the context of Guanajuato, hiking and socializing together there, so this was a nice opportunity to spend time together in a completely different setting.

Terry and Diana organized some events for us so the first day saw us hiking in Strathcona Park, the activity that originally brought us together in Mexico. 

 Strathcona Park is a large Provincial park, the oldest in BC.  It has the highest mountains on Vancouver Island and endless hiking opportunities of every type, from wheelchair accessible 

 to technical climbing.  

There's even a big ski resort.

Two friends of Terry and Diana's joined us on the hike, she an expert birder, he a naturalist, so between them we were well informed about the flora and fauna we encountered.

 A cheeky jay

And so hiking occupied our first three days, when we weren't wining and dining and chatting.  And then three of the folks had to go home and the remaining four of us made preparations for the next phase of the reunion.