A Hike Full of Discoveries!

 Hullo! Sandy bear here... today I am going for a little hike in the woods. I wonder what I'll discover... cause I always find something!!

Ah-hah!!! Do you see... on that old rotten stump?

It's a painted BEE!!!! Soooo cute!!!

Oh... I think I see something on that arbutus tree...

Another beeeeeee!!!! They are super cute!

It's nice that people are still painting rocks and leaving them in the woods for people to find! Kinda like what Beanie Mouse does over in England!

And the lake... so calm... so peaceful...

Love this lake and the great views you get from this bluff... but...

When you look at the ground you see this... the detritus of party-ers... sigh... humans can be soooooo ignorant!!!!

There was stuff spread all over the bluffs...

And behind me too... don't know if you can see it... but all those light coloured bits are beer cans.

I started collecting cans while Mama picked up garbage... I know not all humans are this stupid but... still...

Why come to a place of beauty and pollute it??

Cause it's not just the water that's important... look what else we found!!! It's a turtle!!

Who had dug a hole... and had her little bum in the hole... She's laying eggs!!! We think she's a Western Painted Turtle... we didn't know they were in this lake! (They are endangered).

We didn't see any eggs... she must have just started... so we left gave her a wide berth (and just zoomed in with the camera).

See... odd location for a turtle nest but... turtles do what turtles need to do!

It's not that far from the lake... and all I can say is... it would not be good if the baby turtles had to navigate a mine field of pop cans, broken glass and garbage. Hmph!

Good luck baby turtles!!! We hope to see some of them sunning themselves on logs in the future....

A Beary Special Visitor!!

 Oh, hullo!!! Today I am super excited to introduce you to a beary special visitor!!! Are you ready?? (And no, it's NOT Otto the Otter!!)...

Ta-dah!!!! Meet Kiwi the Dragon!!!!

Kiwi is beary excited to be here for a brief visit... we hope she'll come back later in the summer again!

And yes... Kiwi came over from Vancouver with Rose!!!

Oh... have you met the rest of the Dragon's brood... wait... what is a gaggle of dragons called? OMG!!! How appropriate!!! OK... you know how a group of mice is called a Mischief of Mice (beary appropriate if I do say so myself)... and a group of bears is called a Sleuth of Bears (Sherlock Sandy approves)... well... wait for it... a group of dragons is called.... a Thunder of Dragons!!! What a COOL name!!! Anyhow... That's Salsa the Dragon (red one obviously) and Guac (Guacamole) the Dragon...

So... we left the Thunder of Dragons at home... cause we were going somewhere watery (dragons aren't into water)... and they happily stayed at home doing what dragons do...

Meanwhile we headed for Coombs!! We stopped at Coombstock... cause they have cool pins and things...

 

 

And of course we stopped at Goats on the Roof... you see why taking dragons on this trip might have ended badly...

Goats on a roof are PRIME targets for hungry dragons...

And we ended up here!!! Oh... and look who snuck along for the trip as well!! Otto! (You just knew Otto was going to make an appearance, eh?)

Ahhhhh... such a beautiful lake...

But before paddle-boarding happens... we all need a snack! Oh... I forgot...

DROOL ALERT!!!

Right then... here we go... open the box and... we got this at Coombs!

It is a MASSIVE cinnamon bun with extra icing and...

It was scrumptious!!! And yes... we are bringing some back for the dragons...

Right then... paddle-boarding!!!

**** hours later****
And sunbathing for exhausted stuffies!!

One more Campfire

 Sigh... oh, hullo! Ya know... I've been home for a month or so now and... I have to say... it's kind of quiet here without that chatty Cocoa Beanie. I never thought I'd say it, but I kinda miss the little guy.

Normally I'd offer him a smore but... I guess I'll have to eat them all myself.  (For those of you who missed the memo... Cocoa headed off to the UK for a Mouse Reunion with his Beanie Mouse cousins!)

Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm having a campfire!! (These photos were taken a few weeks ago before the fire ban kicked in).

I know Jerry and Ben were talking about coming up for a visit too... wonder if they still have plans.

Ah well, I guess I'll just have to eat this all by myself!!

 

 

A Grand Adventure to the Waterfall

 Well, we got up early this morning for a grand adventure!!

It's been weeks and weeks and I want to go and check out the waterfall. Apparently they put the stairs in!!!

There's a new bench here near the start of the trail... cool!

It's just after 7 am and there is nobody else out on the trail. Which is just dandy... I like an empty trail, I do!

Love this part... this is all second-growth timber too... already quite big.

So pretty!

And that sun is already hot!

We had a heat wave at the end of July... it got up to 34C and it felt like 38C. Ugh!! That's... ummm... 98F I think?

Ooooh... the red huckleberries are ready!

Alright... here we are at the top... Do you remember what this thunder slog of a slither down to the creek looked like before?? No... Check out this blog and then come back here...

Messy, eh?? Not anymore!!! OK... let's go!

Seeeee!!! A nice cable railing and a wooden walkway...

With stairs leading town to a flatter area... that's 57 stairs down to the flatter area... (we counted).

This was the old bit you had to scramble up with ropes...

So much easier now!

So, from this flatter area, you can't really see much...

You have to go down another 29 steps to get to the viewing platform.

From which you can see a sliver of waterfall and the deep pool.

Oh... there it is!!! It's quite pretty from up here.

But we are going down to the bottom... another 60 steps to go!

Yep... that's one steep slope!

Oh look, there's some of the old rope... awwww... that was so fun before!

Not too shabby... and definitely much cleaner!

And there's the waterfall! It's a bit thin right now because we're in the middle of summer. Now that we've got this lovely wooden staircase, I'll have to come back in the fall or spring when it's really going!

Oh... and one last little bit down to the creek bed.... still a bit of rope climbing to do!

So pretty... although the spray is making me a bit damp.

Righto... that was an excellent hike!

Now it's time to climb up 146 steps... ugh.

And we made it!! So pretty in the morning.

We even found some wild blackberries along the trail!

See? They are tiny but they sure pack a flavour punch!

Four for me... one for you...