My westcoast visits.

Finally, my pictures from the West Coast. I love BC and I'm so glad I've had the chance to take the ferry to Vancouver Island twice in the past year. It's one of my most favourite places to visit.

This time, I flew into Vancouver from Whitehorse. I stayed at the HI hostel on Jericho Beach. The hostel is really cool. It's in an old building and it has a lot of character, sprawling lawns, and is right beside the beach. It's a seasonal hostel and had only been open for a few days before I arrived so it was not busy at all. There were 3 people in my 14 person dorm. The weather was so perfect. The most perfect weather ever, really, after spending extended winter months in the Yukon. I sat on the beach a lot. I wandered around the city. I visited with Crystal and Geoff. It was a quick visit because Crystal was already a few days overdue with their little one, but we caught a few exciting hockey games (sadly Vancouver lost out of the playoffs) and had some lovely dinners.

The day I took the ferry across to the Island, I realized I had lost my camera. I was on the bus that was going to take me to the ferry and into Victoria when I noticed. This entire trip takes about four hours. When I realized I had forgotten it, I got off the bus, packed my gear into a locker, went back to the hostel and searched all over the place. I told the guy at the front desk all about my situation. He knew me because I had spent time chatting with him about the playoffs. I went back to the bus and took the ferry across. Three days later he e-mailed me to tell me that my camera had turned up. I have no idea where it was found, or who found it, but I was really happy. Thanks Jericho HI, however that happened, you're the best.

All of these photos were taken by Leah and Jill. My camera was mailed back to my parent's house.

Leah and her housemate picked me up at the busstop in his truck (thank goodness because I had 100 lbs of gear from work in the north. She didn't believe me because she thought I was exaggerating the weight) and was going to pick me up on her bike. That would not have worked.

We spent days at the beach, neat little cafes, ran into one of my MSc committee members in a fancy little grocery store (he was quite surprised to see me in such a trendy part of town ;), hosted a picnic for her housemates, and hiked along the shoreline. One night Jill and her wwoofer, Malte, came into town and we all went out downtown. Being back in civilization was great. There was ice cream and flowers and cool little shops.

On the shore in Victoria.


Right where I was sitting, we found this bright purple seastar. I thought it was a sea cucumber, but it just had its arms folded in. Cucumbers generally aren't this brightly coloured because they need to hide from their predators.


Later that week, I took the city bus out to Metchosin to meet Jill. I spent a week at her family's ranch. This was the place I started my travels the previous August. Jill was working at the local market farm so I spent the days in her garden with Malte, jogging along the Galloping Goose Trail, and knitting my wool from Whitehorse.

One day, Jill, Malte, Bella the pup, and I went hiking along the Jaun de Fuca Marine Trail. Even though it rained most of the day, we had a fantastic time.

Me in the bright blue, Malte, and Bella


Some of the smooth rock formations on the shore. The colours were amazing. You could see the historical tide lines and since tide was low, we could walk right into these caves.


Bella and I exploring a cave full of drift wood, polished stones, and big tube seaweed.


Kettles worn out of the rock on the shoreline.


Bella having a great day by the tide pools.


One more of the slippery, smooth rocks covered with seaweed.


Leah and some friends came out the last night I was visiting to celebrate Jill's birthday! We had a delicious dinner and Leah made a little carrot cake complete with pink Jill sprinkles.

The last days at Squirrel Camp.

I'm currently at my good friend's homestead on beautiful Vancouver Island. I've had a great time here on the ranch. We hiked a bit, I helped out at a local farmer's market, the Montreal Canadiens won a game, and we had a great birthday dinner celebration for Jill. Tomorrow, I'll take two flights, first to Vancouver, then on to Toronto, and by this time tomorrow night I'll be tucked into my bed back home.

I've had these pictures uploaded for awhile now, but haven't gotten around to writing any captions. So, here goes.

Many mornings, especially when I managed to get out of bed on time, I would wake up to the sunrise colouring the St. Elias Mountains pink. We called these, of all things, Pink Mountain Mornings. One morning I happened to have my camera in my pocket. This probably isn't the best picture, but I think it's one of my favourite souvenirs, just so I can remember how fantastic the view out our front door really was.


During my last weeks I really wanted to find some squirrel babies on Chitty. I didn't succeed, but I did help out with a few other nests. Here's one more nest two pup. I have to admit I sort of miss working with the tiny, fragile squirrel pups.


One of the perhaps hundreds of Arctic Hares that live on Chitty. During the winter months they were snow white, but this one has started to take on it's spring colours.


My morning commute to work. The Old Alaska Highway. I took this picture to show how little snow was left by the start of May. And it was only about 40 cm deep on grid at this point. I was usually off my snow shoes, but still sinking through in the afternoon when the air was warm and the snow crust softened.


Little lichens I found on grid.


Common name is something like, speckled leatherleaf lichen.


A beaver-chewed tree, with sap running out in the sunlight.


This is an actual mosquito. It's actually the same length as my finger is wide. These guys were terrifying. They buzzed so loudly. I'm scared for the friends I left behind in the Yukon. The good thing is that they were very very slow. You could easily squish them out of the air.


A cone rose that I squirrel made for me.


Me and my last five nest babies on Lloyd. Lindsey took this picture. One is trying to escape, but I won't let it.


Lindsey and the same little five. They really want to go back in their nest now, but it's nice out, so we're taking advantage of this photo op.


The very last day at the KPI. I think I just wrote a blog post before Dylan took this picture. I told him to capture the action in the background including the locals you can see sitting on the wrong side of the bar. What a great place.


The musk ox heads and the KPI's solid gold edition of the Law of the Yukon. Posted in every public building in the Territory.


The outside view of the KPI. Doesn't it look like a welcoming place for weary travelers? This is the centre of town. The truck in front of the KPI has a permanent sign that says, "burls for sale". The man who owns it collects giant burls (a lot of trees up here have several witch's brooms, which are actually parasitic growths that create large bumps on the stems of the trees). These burls are used as decorative posts in many yards. I called this man, the Burls for Sale Guy. He liked me because I drank Five Alive every week at the KPI and that was his favourite drink. I may have mentioned him previously.


The town landmark, the Giant Mountain Cupcake. It was designed by a local artist. The blue thing at the top is an explorer. There are all sorts of animals on it.


For my last camp day dinner (and the first Squirrel Camp dinner for the new summer crew), I decided to make a special dessert and replicate the Giant Mountain Cupcake in honey spice cupcake form. I made a tower out of plates and a special little sign for each cupcake. All of the cupcakes were personalized for various crew members.


This ground squirrel was for Julia because she caught a lot of them on Agnes. We talked about that a lot because she carpooled with me and I also caught a lot of them on Chitty. I also made a ground squirrel nature video, which I will post when I get home.


The musk ox was one of my favourites. He was for Frances because she was learning to knit and that's where quiviut comes from. One of the newbies got the "Welcome" cupcake.


The little red squirrel went to postdoc, Amy. She is a great squirrler. And so on.


The sunrise on May 3. Frances and Dylan walk the 1 km stretch of road to Agnes. I head into Chitty. We leave Sasquatch at the pull-out.


That same morning, the frozen Old Alaska Highway, the day after spring blizzard.


Sulphur Lake begins to open, though. And Erin and Julia see otters playing in the water. They came flying up to camp to get up and we all went to see them, but the otters were hiding.


One last ground squirrel, flicking his tail and looking around. Probably for something good to eat. Like peanut butter. Or a blade of grass.


And, last, but not least, one of the summer crew brought Mini Catan to camp! Everyone was too tired to play, so I set up a fake game to take a picture. This is the number one item on my 2010 Christmas List. Coolest little thing ever. I think I would make a little Barbarian ship and expand.


So, that's all I've got for Squirrel Camp. I'm glad I got these all up. I still have to post about my last week in New Zealand. After this I went to Whitehorse for three days, Vancouver for three days, Victoria for a few days, and then out to the country to visit the ranch. I'll be back with a post about the southern Vancouver Island once I recover from jetlag. And we all know that takes me about two weeks or so.

Guten Nacht, Cass