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.
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| 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.
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| Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum |
Location of the Jim Haberl Hut
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.
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| Alan, Kathy, Derek, Evelyn, Dennis, George, Les, and Ron |
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| Jason, Karen, Keith, Lynn |
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
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| Ken |
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.
