Leader of Men

bruises make me nostalgic

My damaged knee is turning some wonderful colours. It makes me really miss the fall foliage back home in Ontario. As beautiful as the west coast is, the trees really tend to slack off in fall in the lower mainland. With the exception of the Japanese maples.

Just down the block from my place, an Acer palmatum var. dissectum is busy eating a lamp post. From the form I'm guessing it's an Inabe Shidare. The colour is so brilliant it almost hurts the eyes. It's like a giant stoplight at the end of the street. I may skulk down there in the dead of night and steal some clipping and try to grow my own little mini-stoplight.

i hiked up 495 metres and all I got was this lousy view

And I smashed my knee on a rock. That'll teach me to be one with nature.

 

It was a gorgeous day out today, so Mere and I decided to go for a hike up at Buntzen Lake, just east of the Burrard Inlet. I foolishly chose the Diez Vistas trail, which my guidebook mildly described as "challenging". Quite the sense of humour my guidebook has. Buntzen Lake is also where they filmed Lake Placid, if you happen to be a Betty White fan. Fortified with trail mix, maple buds and blueberry Pocky, we made it to the first viewpoint before time constraints made us turn back (or turn knee-first into a rock, as it happened). When the weather's good again, we'll go back and try the whole thing. There are Nueve other Vistas to see, of course.

Not far past the trailhead a floating bridge passes over the lower part of Buntzen Lake, which is not very lake-like at this time of year. It was quite chilly out and there was steam rising from the mudflats.

 

Little groves of young alder turning glowing orange-yellow.

 

Funky little mushrooms. No, I didn't eat them. One act of extreme stupidity per day is enough.

 

Glorious.

 

Snarfin' Pocky and soaking up sunshine cliff-side. No, I did not fall off. One act per day, remember?

 

I foresee a great deal of pain tomorrow, but it was worth it.