Another Hike and a Mystery Ship

Hullo! I am doing another hike today as part of the Virtual Pacific Crest Trail... today we are going down to the river estuary to see what we can see...

The bushes are putting out leaf buds! (This was February 9...) It seems a tad early...

Do you see that white thing right above my head... it is a big ship... beary strange... 

It's not a ferry... and it's not a cruise ship... let's zoom in...

Huh... beary strange! We did a quick internet search and...

It is a Floatel (floating hotel) for workers who will be working in Squamish on the woodfibre LNG plant.

The ship is called the MV Isabelle and used to house refugees in Estonia before it got bought by a Vancouver company. It's going to be hanging out here for a few months before heading over to Squamish. Interseting. Wonder if they will do tours...

It's beary pretty down here at the estuary and the tide is in so the river is high.

One of my friend asked what the "Hike" button means... it was part of a three-set of pins that I got for Christmas... part of a geocaching set! The full set is: Hide, Seek, Play... I can't wear them all at once or I will tip over!

More leaf buds!

We are along the edge of an old railway embankment here and the black stuff behind me is coal detritus...

It's kind of neat here because...

There is a carving on the rock over there!

Oooh... and over there... on the log...

Is a great blue heron! Or Great Blue Heron... if you are into capitalization.

This looks like it might be a good swimming spot... 

We came here once... further down towards the mouth of the river in the summer... for the Summer Stuffie Olympics and... the tide was out and the river was low and it was a weed fest... but this spot looks nice.

I poked around the old ruins here for a bit... they always look so intriquing.

With stairs to nowhere...

This, I think, is some old grating that used to cover a crawl space window/opening...

Windows to nowhere too...

And yes... we are beary green for early February (when these pics were taken)...

We had all that snow but it's all melted and the trails are a bit murky.

With big puddles to navigate...

But this little bear is beary careful not to fall into the murkiness!

We also found this sad dumping ground. A bunch of old mattress springs and general garbage. So sad that people do this...

Even sadder was this dilapidated stuffie! Rest In Peace little guy...

Don't dump in the woods!!!! 

It is beary pretty here... and a nice place to catch the sunrise.

The marsh is also beary full of water, which is nice to see. Lots of ducks and other waterfowl.

Now... if I was hiking the "real" Pacific Crest Trail... I would be looking for a place to pitch my tent and...

I think this place would be prefect! It has a fire pit and an ocean view! Need to get myself a tent...