Squamish Murals

     

The murals from the recent Squamish Mural Walk were fresh and bright, adding to the festive atmosphere. 

https://www.downtownsquamish.com/squamish-mural-walk

Squamish, Climbing Capital of Canada

Squamish, BC, was the double apogee of our trip to the Northwest -- the furthest point north and the prettiest surprise.  We went because we'd seen it in a documentary, The Alpinist.  Supposedly it's the most popular climbing spot in Canada.  I hoped to get a feel for the lifestyle of the climbing community.  It didn't disappoint.

This granite massif is Stawamus Chief, or simply The Chief.  It's where the advanced climbers play.

We strolled the trails of Smoke Bluffs watching beginners-to-advanced folks practicing.  In this photo I count nine people.  These kids, many of whom live in their vehicles, walk around with an attractive air of relaxation, camaraderie and fun.  A lovely woman asked us what we were doing as we stood in the parking lot looking around.  An enjoyable conversation ensued about her/their life style and sense of community.  I whined with envy about being too old to start.  Later, when I was insisting she really had to go to Utah, she said, with a sly smile, "I just haven't lived long enough yet to have had the time to do all that."  A sweet touche.  

 

                                                                 Best seats in the house!

          

Squamish is at the north end of Howe Sound, an inlet that eventually winds out to the Pacific.  That's Mt. Garibaldi in the distance.  The famous ski area, Whistler, is just up the road.

In the evenings, the climbing community gathers in the Howe Sound Brewery (and Inn, where we stayed) to share stories of the day's accomplishments...a very lively scene.

And then there was this, a dental office on the main street:

Apparently it’s not all fun…sometimes they kiss the rock hard!

Everywhere we hiked was beautiful.  But don't go!  It's already on the verge of being taken over by people like me.  A 600 square foot condo in the old, nice part of town is over $600,000!  We were told people finding Whistler too expensive were moving south.  Indeed!

                      

Shannon Falls

Brandywine Falls

The Jemez: Heart of my World

This was going to be my good-bye tour, then the angels brought me a buyer who will be away a semester each year, so I get to rent.  The roller-coaster of emotions getting to this point has been rough, but now I'm able to slow down, look around and reconnect with the magic here.

What I saw today...

Underwater scene?

Seaweed and anemones?

The old oak's lichen!

Staying Home has meant wandering around our field day after day.  I'd photographed all the wildflowers I could find.  Then, one afternoon, I happened into the world of lichen.  My timing was lucky because they're drying out fast.  My iPhone 8 doesn't have great focus, but it's not bad!

The small orange splotches drew my eye and camera.  The enlarged image surprised me -- I didn't know what I was seeing...moss?  fungus?  lichen?  But don't lichen just grow on rocks?  Lichen it is, and there's lots to learn, but I'm satisfied just knowing about the basic shapes in front of me:  fruticose, the leafless, shrublike ones; foliose, the ones with leafy structure, including the little orange platelets that look like anemones; and crustose, the flat ones often seen on rocks.  They're not bad for the trees.  They're actually algae and fungus living in mutual symbiosis, not parasitically.  Bottom line:  They're beautiful!

When I focused on the trunk instead of the branches, I found all these fibrous, hairy filaments curling their way through the bark's passageways.  I haven't figured out what these are yet.

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area

"The Tibetan's textual maps had an ambitious purpose: to convert wilderness into a sacred realm and to chart the interface between mind and landscape...In a passage through a landscape lush with symbols...the lake, the cave, the cliffs all offered fulcrums where perception could turn to revelation and open the gates to some previously inaccessible space, whether within the outer landscape or the mind."   Heart of the World, Ian Baker

a walk in the field

a walk in the field

zillions of tiny flowers

hiding in plain sight

again, Loren Eiseley

                                                                                                                              The Bisti Badlands Wilderness

"...this was a country in which time had no power because the sky did not know it, the stones had not heard it passing, the river had been talking to itself since before man arose and in that country it would talk on after man had departed.  I was alone...looking upon a time thousands of years remote, yet so meaningless that at any moment flame might spurt from the ash of a dead campfire and hunters come slipping from the rocks...No bird sang no beast stirred...I had come across what seemed to be a hidden fragment of the days before creation...I had brought time in my perishable body into a place where, to all intents, it could not exist."

                                                                                                    The Invisible Pyramid
                                                                                                    Loren Eiseley