This is a rather long story, if you can bear with me. We booked a couple of nights in a lovely condo in Whistler...the big adventure being a heli picnic. The helicopter takes people to a remote lake at the top of a mountain along with a gourmet picnic. You have time to hike around and take photos as well. When we arrived in Whistler, it was 30C and not a cloud in the sky. We got a call from Blackcomb Helicopters saying that they had to cancel our adventure the next day because the weather wasn't looking good - it was going to be 17C, raining and stormy. I was so disappointed, as this has happened once before, and here we were, ready for a wonderful day ahead.
The next morning, sure enough, it was raining and you couldn't see the mountains for the clouds. So I researched some hikes. I found what looked like a really good one that ended up at a lake. I did a final check and found out the trail was closed because of bears, along with about 10 other Whistler trails. Two for two... So I looked for more hikes. We had done one in Whistler before that led to a train wreck - about 10 train cars that had crashed and were now covered with graffiti. My husband found a shorter route. So off we went. According to Google maps, we found the spot and started hiking in. There was a sign that said the trail was "Most Difficult." But it was a much shorter route than the one we'd done a few years ago. It was, indeed, difficult, but beautiful as you can see here. The roots reminded me of a creature crawling up the hill, which was how I felt in a few places. When we got to the top, we found one train car, as well as about a dozen other people looking for the wrecked train cars. People were going in circles looking for them. We tried as well, but obviously weren't in the right place for the main area of train cars, so turned back. Three for three....

We still had a really good time in Whistler, and know there are a lot of good trails there for next time.

Tags:   Train Wreck hike Whistler Nature Trees Roots Crawling up the hill Forest Hike big rocks Mountain

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In some mysterious way, woods have never seemed to me to be static things. In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me.
- John Fowles

This is another scene from the mountain bike trail we hiked on in Whistler last week.

Tags:   Whistler Most difficult trail Mountain bike trail in the forest Primeval I love being in the forest getting away from it all woodlands train wreck trail trees light and shadow roots Orton effect

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I was trying to photograph the dried leaves on the ground, and just when I clicked the shutter, along came a flying dog! :)

Tags:   photographing dried leaves on the ground dog came along blur trees Low PoV forest light Photobombed dog I was happy the dog ended up in the shot

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ICM of autumn in the forest....

It's Thanksgiving weekend here so happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!

Theme: Autumn colours

Tags:   ICM Artistic camera flinging autumn trees russet orange red forest Anything goes for 2012 Autumn colours

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I've always thought fairies are like mushrooms, you trip over them when you're not thinking about them, but they're hard to spot when you're searching for them.
~ Jo Walton

The day we left for our time away on Vancouver Island, there was a huge windstorm. We knew the first two ferries of the morning had been cancelled but were hopeful that ours would still be sailing. We were almost at the ferry, when I got the call saying our sailing had been cancelled. The car was packed. So we had to turn around and go home. I immediately made a reservation for the next day, and I was lucky, because two hours later every sailing the next day was full. So we had to unpack the car and pack it again the next morning. As we left a day late, we also came back a day later, but had a wonderful time seeing family. But I didn't get a chance to do any photography...oh well!

Tags:   Mushrooms in the forest I see a face bokeh focus stacking macro I looked for mushrooms but couldn't find many in the right places didn't have my macro lens with me

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