2012 - Washington D.C., Jim Haberl Hut, Lake Louise, Manning, Kelowna, Diamond Head, Golden Ears, Swaneset

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

As Ken and I hiked past the Red Heather outhouse, one of the park guys working on replacing the steps up to it looked at me and asked, "Is your name Keith Rajala?" I replied "Yes", wondering how on earth he knew my name because he certainly didn't look familiar. He said, "Your web site is awesome", or words to that effect. I thought, "My goodness!" After a short conversation Ken and I continued on to the Elfin Lake campground intent of doing some afternoon and evening photography, and if luck would hold out, some sunrise shooting. Even though it did cloud up in the evening and the morning dawn with us thoroughly socked in, it was a memorable overnight trip. What it also did is motivate me to finally get around to working on the Red Lobster Journals for 2012. So with that said, let's take a look at some of the Lobster adventures from my perspective.

One of the significant changes in the winter of 2011 - 2012 was the lack of snow adventures. No skiing. No snow shoeing. There were a number of factors including poor weather, friends whose paths have diverged from mine, and other interests. I hope to do more in the coming winter, but I have many fond memories of past ones to entertain me until the next ones.

Washington D.C. - May
Location of the Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C.

- My slide show of our trip to D.C.

Lynn with the Capitol Reflecting Pool and the capital building behind her.

We took the AmTrack to Washington D.C.. It was our first time in D.C. and we looked forward to the collection of world class museums all in close proximity to the Washington Mall. It was very warm and muggy. I would not want to be in D.C. in the summer. I think it would be intolerable, at least for someone like me with Scandinavian genes. :-)

The museums were fantastic and the side trips to the Washington Cathedral, Georgetown, and Arlington Cemetery were well worth making. The Vietnam Memorial was a moving experience. The tour of the capital building was also well worthwhile. I am very glad to have been able to visit this history rich city.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Jim Haberl Hut - July

 Location of the Jim Haberl Hut

- My slide show of the trip.

Alan, Kathy, Derek, Evelyn, Dennis, George, Les, and Ron

Like last year, my friend Dennis invited me to come along on a trip in the Tantalus Range just north-west of Squamish. We helicoptered up to the Jim Haberl Hut in early July and had glorious weather the whole time. Sunny days and wonderful sunsets met us each day. Alan, Dennis, and Les climbed Dione and all of us did various glacier walks. The north face of Serratus was sluffing itself of snow too much for people to feel safe on it, but we all seemed to have a very good time. The only wrinkle in that was Derek suffering a fall while walking on some rocks and slicing open one of his fingers. Fortunately George is a surgeon and Kathy and Evelyn are nurses! After a minor operation on the hut table, the finger was dealt with.

Keith with Mt. Dione in the distance.

The video accessible in the link above really gives a much better idea of the time we had.

Lake Louise - August

Location of the Lake Louise campground

Keith, Ken, Chuck, Dave

Ever since Ken and I have retired, we have made at least one trip to the Canadian Rockies for hiking and photography. We camped at the Lake Louise campground and made day trips along the shores of Lake Louise and up to the Plain of the Six Glaciers Tea House and along to the very end of the trail. One day we drove up the Parkway and hiked into the Bow Glacier Falls, and we even did some night photographyincluding star trails. Dave was able to do his painting, and we were able to do our hiking. As always, we were able to relax and have a great time.

Manning Park Photography - August

Location of the Blackwall upper parking lot

Chuck

Chuck and I went up to Manning Park at the end of August to do some afternoon and night photography. A room was booked at the lodge, and we headed up to the meadows in the afteroon for some shooting. We had an enjoyable time taking a series of pictures of sunset for a time lapse movie, but by the time sunset was over, it had clouded over. So much for star pictures! We ended up playing with light painting which turned out to be a lot of fun.

Kelowna - September

Location of Kelowna

Jason, Karen, Keith, Lynn

In early September Lynn and I went with her sister Karen and husband Jason to a time share they arranged on the west side of Lake Okanagan near Kelowna. It was a week of mountain biking, walking, relaxing, and wine tasting. It was tough! I even got some photography in. 

One of the things that was rather fun was getting some pictures of the Andromeda Galaxy using my wide angle lens as wells as with my 200mm.

Diamond Head - September

Location of the Elfin Lakes

Ken

I had been thinking more about night photography and the desire for clear air and I thought the 5000 ft elevation of the Diamond Head area above Squamish would be good. It's a beautiful area and not a hard hike. The down side would be the need to lug in our camera equipment. Working with tripods dslrs and the associated lenses and filters is normally wonderful, but the stuff is not light!
We hiked in during the afternoon and while passing some park guys fixing the outhose in Red Heather Meadows, one of them looked at me and asked, "Is your name Keith?". That rather surprised me since I didn't know him from Adam. He said, "Your website is great!", referring to the Red Lobster Journals. For him to know about the journals is one thing, but to remember my name and face? Remarkable! We later talked to him a couple of times around our campsite and while shooting around the Elfin Lakes. Mark, the brightness of your special headlamp was remarkable!
I got some nice shots of Mt. Garibaldi reflected in Elfin Lake, as well as the sunset reflected in it. Low clouds hung around the Squamish valley all day and they made me feel like I was in a separate world. As the last of the light went away, I pondered my time on the Tantalus Range in the distance two months before. As night set in, it became damp and dew settled on the cameras and lenses. We were able to get some star shots, but we quickly learned that we had to repeatedly wipe down the filters to avoid clouded images. About ten o'clock we packed up and walked back down to the campsite, only to find we walked into a very thick fog. No wonder our cameras had water droplets on them!
We got up early in the morning hoping for sunrise shots only to find that things were socked in all over the place. Oh well, a cool walk back down the road passing over ninety people coming up (it was Saturday at this point) and a drive down the potholed road got us to Tim Hortons for coffee and muffins!
Thanks again to Ken for a great time. If only my pack had been lighter! ;-)

Golden Ears Trails

My fellow Lobster, Alan, has spent countless hours creating and maintaining trails in Golden Ears Park partly because our provincial government doesn't consider it important enough to fund, even though it's one of the most used parks in the province. Here are a couple of maps that show some trails and routes as of the fall of 2012. It includes trails that go through demanding terrain.  Do not rely on the maps as things can quickly change in the woods. You are are responsible for your safety.

Click on the map for a larger version.

- southern portions of Golden Ears Park

- eastern side of Golden Ears with route to the summit.

2011 - Spring in Rockies, Diamond Head, Powell River and Van Island, Washington State, Whistler, Rockies, Spain and Morocco

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

Another Spring Trip to the Rockies

Location of the Banff Springs Hotel

Chris Cooper, Bob Needham, and I made another trip to Canmore to enjoy the Canadian Rockies. I promptly hurt my back by picking up a pair of shoes in the motel room. So this is what it is like getting older! Either that or I need to do the exercises that the physio therapist later suggested.
We spent our first day around Lake Louise. Bob and Chris went up to the Lake Agnes Tea House and I hobbled around the Chateau Lake Louise. Another day Chris hiked up the trail to the top of Sulphur Mountain at Banff. Bob and I were welcomed at the Banff Springs Hotel to walk around and do photography. Really. I had never been inside before. Many of the rooms were wonderful bits of cultural history. I went away that this hotel is a great piece of Canadian history.

I am sure that I have seen this room used in a WWII movie. I just can't remember which one.

My pinched back certainly slowed me down and partially spoiled my trip, but it's always good to be back in the Rockies.

Diamond Head

Location of the Red Heather Hut.

Chris and I made a couple of trips up to Diamond Head for skiing this winter, although the trips are getting noticeably few each year it seems. There was a lot of snow at the Red Heather shelter.

Powell River and Vancouver Island
Location of Powell River

Lund Harbour After A Storm

For some time I had been thinking that I should head up to visit my old haunts and friends in Powell River. I had started my teaching career in Powell River in 1971 and left in 1973 to go to Nepal. (Journal write up on my Nepal trip) I finally got in gear and packed up the CRV with camping and photography gear and caught a ferry. If people weren't home, they weren't home. My timing was impromptu and so I just wanted to take things as they came.
After briefly stopping in Powell River and James Thompson Elementary where I taught, I headed for Lund and a campsite. It poured that night but waiting out the rain nand lightning under an awning of "Nancy's" restaurant bakery proved fruitful. I ended up having good visits with my old room-mate Dave and his wife Leslie, and dropped in for brief visits on a number of people I knew from my teaching days but hadn't seen literally for decades. It was a hoot knocking on a door and seeing if they remembered me. 
I then went over to Comox via the ferry and had a visit with my cousin John who I hadn't seen, you guessed it, for decades. I investigated the old mining town of Cumberland and the few remnants of its history. Perhaps the most interesting artifact was the Japanese/Chinese cemetery. I spent the night at a local motel and realized I could watch past episodes of "House" on my Global TV app on the iPad!
I then headed south to Parksville to camp for the night. A coffee at Starbucks, catching up on my email, and then a walk on the beach to discover driftwood constructions reminding me of what stranded sailors might build on barren Arctic beaches. Ok, it's a bit of a stretch. You had to be there. :-)

A Photography Road Trip in Washington State

Location of Palouse Falls

Chuck wanted to see the Grand Coulee Dam again, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about in the Palouse. Needless to say that called for a road trip. Ken couldn't go so it was just the two of us. After finding an "acceptable" motel in Grand Coulee we headed to the dam for a movie on the history of the area, and then a laser light show beamed on the dam. The next day we headed south-east to Palouse Falls. As a result of the movie at the dam explaining the geological history of Washington state we had a much better appreciation of what we saw on our drive the next day. Water scouring was clear. The strange fields of out of place boulders was better explained. During glacial times, glaciers formed a huge lake - Lake Missoula. When pressure was too much, biblical volumes of water rushed out of the lake, across the state, and found the Pacific Ocean. This evidently happened numerous times, leaving the landscape forever changed. Palouse Falls shows some of the results.

Palouse Falls showing some of the results of the cataclysmic glacial Missoula Floods.

After walking around in the heat of Palouse Falls, we headed for Steptoe Butte, north of Pullman in the south-east corner of Washington state. The view from the butte of the surrounding farm land was fantastic!

After spending the night in Spokane we drove north and made a minor detour to Trail and Rossland. It was great to learn more about the history of the Le Roi Mine. We drove on to Grand Forks that night and enjoyed some Russian food. The next day we drove through Greenwood and visited the cemetery for Phoenix, one of the largest cities in Canada at one time. So many grave stones marked the deaths of young men, probably killed in the mine.
We then walked about the old chimney of the smelter that was at Greenwood. I remember my visits to Greenwood with my parents to visit our friends, the Cox family and finding it interesting that there were so many Japanese Canadians there. I later learned that this was the result of the forced relocation during WWII. What is worth remembering is that the wealth of these Canadian families, their fishing boats, their land, their cars, was stolen from them by our government. What a shameful part of our history. These were Canadians that were imprisoned and robbed. By our government. Yes I know it was war time.

A cross in the Phoenix graveyard.

We then went on to Oliver to see my friends Lanny and Julie who own Stoneboat Vineyards. Their Pinotage was getting another Lieutenant Governor's award! We had a great meal together. On our last day, we visited a couple of wineries and stopped in at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory just south of Penticton.We ended up meeting and talking with a scientist working on a small dish only to learn that he had worked at the VLA in New Mexico that we had visited a couple of months previous. Another scientist came out and the conversations just got better. I even learned a tiny tiny bit about interferometry. Dangerously little. :-)
All told, it was a great trip with a great friend. I sure like being retired. :-)

Whistler - July 2011
Location of Whistler Village
For quite a few years Lynn and I have made a trip to Canmore and Jasper for mountain biking, walks, and discovering new restaurants. This year we thought we would try out Whistler / Blackcomb for the same thing. 

Lynn with Green Lake

I was amazed at the diversity that the area offers. Crankworx was on so there were a TON of downhill racers taking to the lifts. Lynn and I cycled the extremities of the Valley Trail and put in over thirty kilometers that day! It was a great day of cruising.

Evidently Lynn has been hiding a "bucket list" from me because she informed me that she wanted to go on the Ziptrek line that goes over Fitzsimmons Creek as it was on her "bucket list". It turned out to be a great deal of enjoyable fun. Well run and very safe, I would highly recommend it. If you have a fear of heights, well, perhaps not. :-)

Whistler was a great alternative to Canmore and Jasper and the two and a half hour drive was a lot better than ten or eleven as well. Oh yea, the restaurants are good as well. :-)

The Rockies - August 19 to 15

Dave, Ken, Chuck, and I made a trip to the Rockies to do some hiking but mainly for Dave to do his drawing and painting and the rest of us to do photography.

Chuck and Dave at Edith Cavell

We started up at Jasper and spent a day up at Edith Cavell, (another picture) then made our way south down the Icefield Parkway making a stop at Sunwapta Falls, Bow Lake, Mistaya Canyon (another picture) , and finally to Lake Louise (another picture). We also spent a day up in the Sunshine Meadows near Banff, sometimes getting up close to the wildlife. Even though we couldn't get an open spot on the bus up to Lake O'Hara, it was a marvelous time in a wonderous part of the world.

Red Lobster International Tours go to Spain and Morocco for the Month of October!

The Willis's and Rajalas spent to the month travelling throughout many parts of Spain and four nights in Rabat Morocco. It was a privilige to be able to go to yet another new country for us and learn a little of their culture.

Tapas anyone?

We spent close to a week in Barcelona enjoying the sites around the Plaça de Catalunyaand the Plaça d'Espanya. We saw the outside and inside of the Sagrada Familia along with Gauidi's apartment building, the Casa Mia.

- slide show of Barcelona.

We then took the fast train to Madrid for just under a week.Warm days and cool nights were a welcome change from the heat and humidity of Barcelona. Madrid was just as enjoyable as Barcelona. Besides great museums and neightbourhood walks, we came across paradescelebrating the Spanish speaking world and had many evening walks. Fast trains (300 kph!) made day trips to Toledo (and its church) and Segovia easy and convenient. Town squares and outdoor restaurants were common.

- slide show of Madrid.

- slide show of Toledo and Segovia

From Madrid we took another fast train to Cordoba to see the famous Roman bridge and even more famous Mesquita with its famous arches.

- slide show of Cordoba.

In Cordoba we rented a car and travelled to the Andalucían hill towns of Arcos and Ronda. These towns were on the frontier between Muslim and Christian forces many years ago. Ronda is famous for being the home of bull fighting, which is now not nearly as popular as it once was. From Ronda we made a day trip to Gibralter and saw the famous monkeys.

Ken and the famous Rock of Gibralter. The tacky British tourist district was just across
the jet runway we had to get across before the next flight landed! Honest!

-  slide show of Arcos, Ronda, and Gibralter.

From Ronda, we drove to where we were going to stay for a week - Granada. The apartment we rented was in the hill town of Guejar Sierra which was about thirty minutes east of Granada. The town of Granada itself has a very interesting old section, especially the cathedral with its ornamented apse, but the main draw of the place is the incredible moorish palaca of Alhambra. It consists of many buildings, rooms, pools, walkways, and gardens and is one of the most visited places in all of Spain.

-  slide show of Guejar Sierra, Granada, and the Alhambra Palace.

After a week of relaxation, we drove down to Malaga and took a flight to Casablanca Morocco. We then took a couple of trains to Rabat, the administrative capital of the country where we got a gentle taste of present day Muslim culture. Our hotel was across from the parliament buildings where well organized and peaceful demonstrations took place most afternoons. We walked through the souk and kasbah and enjoyed the view from the beach. We also did a long days walk and visited the mausoleum of Mohammed V and the ancient Roman ruins at Chellah. Before very long, it was time catch our plane back in Casablanca to head back to Barcelona.

We spent our last two nights in Barcelona to avoid a very long return to Vancouver. It was a very good trip with very good friends.

-  slide show of our trip to Rabat and last two nights in Barcelona.

2010 - Slesse Memorial, Rockies With Lynn, Alouette, Diamond Head, Icefield Parkway, Lake O'Hara

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

Mt. Slesse Memorial
Location of the memorial

East side of Slesse

In early June my friends Ken and Paula and I went up to the Mt. Slesse memorial. We found the new trail and made our way up to the plaque. What was particularly interesting about this hike besides the good conversation, was the amount I learned about the plants along the trail. It was really interesting to see the large variety of plants and the different stages of development of the same plant depending on the elevation.

The Rockies With Lynn

Lynn on the Canmore-Banff bicycle path.

In ealy July Lynn and I went off to the Rockies with our bikes. We spent three nights in Canmore, doing some easy mountain biking and sampling restaurants we hadn't been to before. :-) After that, we drove up the Icefield Parway, stopping off at a number of places including Mistaya Canyon and then on to Jasper where we spent three nights in the Pine Bungalows where we did some more easy biking. It was a very enjoyable time. 

Alouette or Battery?

Location of Alouette Mountain

In mid July my friend Ken and I went up Battery Mountain. Or should I say Alouette Mountain? In any event, it was good to feel that I could still do the hike and not have painful knees at the end. Granted, I wore my knee brace on the way down. :-)

Diamond Head

Paula with Mamquam in the background.

At the beginning of August Paula and I went for a day hike up to Diamond Head. The weather was great and the Tiger Lilies and other various flowers were out. 

The Icefield Parkway - Again! :-)

Location of Jonas Creek campground - first camp south of Jasper

It's a frog.  Don't ask. ;-)

I have had the privilige of cycling the Icefield Parkway with my good friends a number of times before. The first time was with Ken in 1996 when we started Shuswap Lake and cycled up the Yellowhead highway to Jasper, south to Lake Louise, then over the Roger's Pass back to Shuswap Lake. After hearing about our great adventure, in 1998 our friends Dale and Chuck joined us on the same ride, but in the opposite direction, but also including a variation including Radium and the Kootenay Valley. The Golden Triangle part was popular enough that in 1999 we did just that with a new group of friends. These were all unsupported rides where we used panniers to carry tents, sleeping bags, etc. In 2003, Dave, Chuck, and I did just the Icefield Parkway - Jasper to Lake Louise and back, panniers and all. It was another great ride. We even got to know Michael and Regula, a Swiss couple cycling around the world. In 2009 we attempted to do a car supported ride from Jasper to Lake Louise and back, but were met with lousy weather at Saskatchewan Crossing.

Ken and Chuck

So here we were again, my good friends Ken and Chuck, with my CRV packed full of camping and bike gear and finding ourselves on another Jasper to Lake Louise and bike ride. This time supported with my car. We changed drivers every forty-five minutes and it worked very well.  Chuck had his folding Bike Fridayand thoroughly enjoyed it, just as he had the month before in France. We have all become interested in photography, so photo ops presented themselves every time it was our turn to drive. We had fun and in spite of the forest fire smoke on the return leg, the weather was very good. It got so smoky though that on our drive west of Jasper, the visibility dropped at times to less than a kilometer!

Lake O'Hara -  Canadian Rockies

Location of Lake O'Hara

Ken Willis

Ken kindly made reservations for the Lake O'Hara campsite sometime in June, and by the time we were ready to go, Chuck had to stay home to help sell his house. So off Ken and I went to an area we had never been to before. I had read and seen quite a bit about it and was really looking forward to it.

We spent our first night in Golden and were at the parking lot in plenty of time for the 8:30 bus. We spent three nights and got some good hikes in between the showers due to the unsettle weather. The first day Ken and I went up to the Opabin Plateau, and then along the Yukness Ledges to Lake Oesea. From there I headed down with a sore knee and Ken continued on to the Wiwaxy Gap and then down the steep trail back to Lake O'Hara. 

The second day I rested my knee and spent three or four hours slowly going around Lake O'Hara doing photography while Ken went and did the All Souls Prospect section of the Alpine circuit.

Ken and Keith

The third day started with showers and we made our way up to the AAC cabin taking pictures and then eventually we found ourselves at the high point on the trail to Lake McArther. We made our way down to the Lodge for afternoon tea and watched another shower from the comfort of padded seats. :-)

During our last night it rained all night and by the time we rode the bus down the road back to our car we had resigned ourselves to the fact that staying on another day as hoped made no sense with the poor weather. Besides, Ken could use the time back home preparing for his upcoming trip to Morocco!
Retirement can be a very busy time! ;-)

2010 - Diamond Head, Spring in the Rockies, My solo "Photo Safari", Chemin de Saint Jacques

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

January - Diamond Head
Location of Round Mountain, on the route into Diamond Head

Chuck McCafferty

In early January Ken Willis, Chuck McCafferty, Chris Cooper, and I went up Diamond Head for a ski (or snowshoe ;-)). We even met Steve Grant on our way up the road!

Sadly, there was no call for an AGM this winter. :-(

March - The Rockies
Location of Burstall Pass trail

Chris Cooper and Bob Needham enjoy a chilly break at Lake Agnes.

So there we were with another spring and time on our side. What were we to do? The Rockies called again. Chris Cooper, Bob Needham, and I had done this kind of trip to the Rockies in the spring a couple of times before and we thought with more practice we might get it right. ;-) We spent the first night with Bob and his wife in Kamloops and drove north the next day to Helmcken Falls, which I had never seen before. (picture of the falls on my flickr page) Before spending our first night in Valemount, we drove up to Robson to take pictures of Mt. Robson during sunset. We just couldn't pass up the blue sky possibilities. (picture of Robson on my flickr page) 
The next day we drove on to Jasper, and as the weather forecast was for a snow storm the next day we decided to drive the Icefield Parkway to Canmore instead of the next day. We made stops at Athabasca Falls (picture of the falls) for some photography and the Athabasca Glacier.(picture of the area) 
We had a very enjoyable drive to Canmore and settled in to the Bow Valley Motel. 
The next day we made a trip to Sulphur Mtn, but as the trail up was very icy, I decided to not risk an injury, but Chris and Bob made it fine. Bob and I are now proud owners of slip on "crampons". ;-)
The second day in the area we went to Lake Louise to go up to the Lake Agnes Tea House. It had snowed the day before, making me glad we had driven the parkway the day before, so Chris wore his skis and Bob and I walked up. It was a great day.

Bob Needham skis up the old road toward the
Robertson Glacier/Burstall Pass area.

The last two nights were spent with Chris's friend Richard Wagers who very generously provided us with luxurious accomodations. The four of us spent our last day in the Rockies skiing up the old gentle road towards Burstall Pass and the Robertson Glacier. We went as far as the open area where the trail branches to those two areas. It was a gorgeous day. Richard brought along with fixings to an enormous and delicious sub sandwich!

My solo "Photo Safari"
Location of the Pavilion road

Relics can be found if you look for them

In mid April I took off by myself on a “photo safari”. I knew that I made myself good company, but it did feel a little weird driving up the Fraser Valley towards Hope by myself.

I drove up the Fraser Canyon to Lillooet and over the Pavillion Mountain road to Cache Creek where I spent the night in a campsite. It wasn’t until I drove the Pavillion Mountain road that I found good reasons to stop and take pictures. I also know it was a matter of adjusting to the situation and simply stopping the car and getting out when I saw something interesting. I simply wasn’t very used to doing that. The road came out just a few kilometers north of Cache Creek.

The next day I drove through Ashcroft and then back down the Fraser River to almost Lytton because I wanted to check out the morning light on the large gravel cliffs on the north side of the Fraser just north of Lytton. It was interesting, but not inspiring.

I then made my way along highway 8 to Merritt where there were a number of interesting ranching relatedtopics of interest.

By the afternoon I decided to spend the night in a motel in Penticton and call up my old friend Bob Cuthbert. He very kindly treated me to breakfast the next morning and after that I made my way down to Lanny and Julie Martiniuk’s place in Oliver where I spent the next two nights. Needless to say I was able to sample some of their Stoneboat wines. :-) As it turned out, my high school friend Todd arrived as well. While there I drove up to the ski area at Mt. Baldy where my mom used to ski int he 1940s and discovered some interesting old buildings just south of Oliver.

I went home realizing that doing a trip like this was an excellent idea and should be repeated. It is so wonderful to be able to go off and see what the world has to offer and the time to soak a bit of it in. :-)

Chemin de Saint Jacques 2010

Location of Le Puy-en-Velay

Randy Wheating and Chuck McCafferty cycledfrom Le Puy-en-Velay to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port. 774 km (481 miles) over 22 days from May 30, 2010 to June 20, 2010 . Randy did a great write-up of the trip in www.crazyguyonabike.com. I highly recommend the full read of the article.

2009 - UBC viewpoint, The Last AGM?, Diamond Head, Rockies Photo Shoot

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

The UBC Research Forest
Location of UBC's Malcolm Knapp Research Forest

The view of the Fraser Valley

The picnic table up at the viewpoint in the UBC Research Forest is a wonderful thing. Here Chris Cooper and Alan Lizee and I enjoy getting above the fog that blanketed the Fraser Valley for part of January. Snow has covered Maple Ridge for over six weeks. It started on about December 18 and decided to stay!

The Last AGM?
Location of the AGM 

Pipes I bought on my first visit to Istanbul.

The Red Lobsters have been having some kind of winter "Annual General Meeting" for more years than most of us can remember but it seems we are getting older.We are no longer single young men stretching our bodies and nerves on rock, snow, or ice. We are married with families and the commitments that come with them. We have also simply gotten older. Our bodies have an increasing number of complaints and it takes more effort to head out to the hills. 

Keith Akenhead's secret recipe?

Keith Akenhead

Besides the long time regulars, the "AGM" and the Red Lobster Club has had enough cache in the past to get a few new friends out for a "One Time AGM", braving the cold winter elements for the sake of being able to say, "I lived through a Red Lobster AGM and am now considered a Red Lobster!" We have seen these "One Time AGM" people for weeks afterwards walking a little taller and their shoulders a little farther back. The sense of pride in their physical and psychological achievement was obvious.

Bob Cuthbert

For the 2009 version of the "AGM" we were able to get a few of the old guard out to enjoy a night in the hills of Manning Park but the numbers were, alas, low. In spite of the low quantity of Lobsters, those of us present tried to live up to the spirit of the AGMs of yore. One Lobster, who shall remain nameless, got into the spirit with very much gusto and showed he thoroughly enjoyed the proceedings by developing a new dialect of English. An audio recording of some of his contributions to this new lexicon is available to Lobsters (in good standing) upon request.

Ken Williams

The morning following the AGM festivities we packed up and just as we were going to ski down, we saw Lobster Ken Willis coming towards us on his new snow shoes. I decided to stay another night and help him drink his wine and enjoy the Christmas lights he brought up with him. We went to bed early and slept a good sleep.

Ken Willis

Was that the last AGM?  If the aging Lobsters want another one, perhaps they will find a way to make it happen again.

Manning Park

Diamond Head

Location of Round Mountain, on the route into Diamond Head

Chris Cooper

It wasn't until March 3 that we made it to Diamond Head. Last year we had been there quite a few times by this time of year. The weather was great and Chris and I had brought our heavy digital slrs with us. For this shot above, I had shot a lot of frames in burst mode. Other pictures from this day are in my flickr account.

Rockies Photo Shoot

Bob Needham, Keith Rajala, Chris Cooper
The Mount Engadine Lodge

Back in 2005, Bob Needham, Chris Cooper, and I made a spring trip to the Rockies where we did a bit of skiing, hiking, and a fair amount of photography. This spring we decided to do something similar. 
Bob had recently retired and treated himself to a Nikon D700, Chris bought a D90 days before the trip, and I had my D80. After spending a night with Bob and his family in Kamloops off we went to the Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge in Camore. The first full day we did a hike up Sulpher Mountain. Well, not exactly. Bob had had recent knee surgery and only went part way, feeling good that his knee was as good as it was. I got half way after having to take frequent rests and decided to turn around due to my slow pace. Those evening treats had caught up to me. 
The second day we drove to Lake Louise and skied to the far end. We watched a number of ice climbers and talked to tourists from Germany and Holland. We skied back through a snow storm and then the sky cleared. We gave our SD cards a good workout! 
On the morning of the third day, we had our usual breakfast at the Rocky Mountain Bagel Company, but met with Val Verral, wife of Dan Verral, who along with Chris Espinel run the Talus Mountain Lodge. She suggested we do a drive along Spray Lake and have tea at the Mount Engadine Lodge. That turned out to be a great suggestion. As we drove along the Smith Dorrien Spray Trail, we noticed that below us and next to the lake were some people setting up some dog sleds. We decided to investigate. It turned out to be one of the dog sled companies in Canmore working with British army personel teaching them how to work with the dogs. It was a most enjoyable hour.
We drove on and soon arrived at the Mount Engadine Lodge. We were made to feel very welcome and soon availed ourselves of the delicious soup of the day and numerous cups of coffee. We spent some time walking about, and taking photos. Outside on the patio, we set up my flash on a tripod and took numerous pictures with Shark mountain as a backdrop. (see picture above) After talking to the owners and soaking up the ambiance for over and hour, I would love to go back and stay there.
On our last night Chris had arranged to meet with some people who had done the 2008 David Thompson Brigade canoe trip. They wanted to learn more about large canoes and what Chris had done on the B.C. coast and about his recent canoe trip along the south coast of England. They generously invited us for dinner and we had a very good time.
We drove home via Radium as the highway was blocked by a fatal accident between Field and Golden. We dropped off Bob in Kamloops, and except for the hill down from the Coquihalla summit being a skating rink in the dark, it was a long, but fairly easy drive home.
A great trip with good friends. Exercise, new experiences and people, lots of photography talk, and being in the Rockies. Who could ask for more in a "Rockies Photo Shoot". :-)

More pictures from the trip can be found in my flickr account.