Hiking the ghost of forest past

Today we were invited along with Allan, a local Pt. McNeill resident and retired logger. He wanted to show us his trails he'd been working on for locals and dog-walkers from the harbor.
They were rough-cut out of second-growth and through an occasional clearcut, and we'd have gotten completely lost without Al as our guide. Note Chance keeping an eye on the cookie pocket.

Chance loves posing with deadly Amanita mushrooms. "First you see stuff - and then you die", they say.

Al's two Rat terriers "Rascal and Cricket", were a lot of fun to try to photograph and kept Chance in line.

Not having claws on their paws, the old loggers used an interesting approach to gaining traction on slippery log bridges. This "z"-shaped cast iron wire was stapled down to give trucks some bite.

We loved the walk - about 3 miles total was all but it felt like 5 with all the twists and turns. Thanks Al. We really enjoyed the guided tour. Blain mapped them with his Garmin - just to stay in practice... Maybe one day the town will embrace these walking trails as a facility that improves quality of life. Right now they are too afraid of the goblin of "liability" to consider even putting them on a map.

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Last night was gorgeous and calm, so I took the camera out and about.

I like the composition of this shot - and the TV in the fishing boat's window.

Oystercatcher's ready to go - if we could just figure out the hydraulic steering, she'd be ready to take us out again.

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On another hike - Marble River - we enjoyed the big trees. The really big ones were all hollow - evidently burned after hurricane-force winds blew through and created deadfall that eventually caught fire and burned. I'd bet Canadians can't get natural disaster insurance policies on their houses in this area.

Looking straight up the charred remnant of a massive cedar.

At the end of the trail a big black bear was fishing for salmon in the river. A perfect hike and highly recommended.