arbutus

[piranha]

walklog:

8-08 morrell nature sanctuary to westwood lake, all the way around, and back, 10.73 km, 4:31, elevation gain 1451m. if it's worth doing it's clearly worth overdoing -- my feet hurt. i didn't mean to walk that far, but since i hadn't walked at all last week, managed to get out of the house early today, and there was a breeze, it wasn't too hot, and i was still in the mood when i hit westwood lake. by the time i had gone around it, i was no longer in the mood, but had 3km more to go.

about 1/3 of the walk was on unofficial trails, which meant it was nice and quiet -- there is a way to not have to climb up onto the rocky knoll on the north side of westwood lake, which requires a wee bit of scrambling over rocks, but not too bad. lots of garter snakes, a pileated woodpecker, chipmunks, and an as-yet-unidentified squirrel. good eating: sakatoon-, thimble, huckle-, and salal berries (the latter only in the sunniest spots as yet).

Comments

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I hope you recover from such a long walk! I run that distance every Sunday, but it took a bit of time to build up to, and I know jamver0 is far too prone to think "that can't be far, aquaeri does it all the time".

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oh, it's really nothing to recover from -- that is long for me, but stamina-wise i can handle it; i am perfectly fine today. it's my shoes, really; i should get off my butt and buy new ones -- the EVA sole is completely worn down, and while that's no problem for the usual shorter walks, it becomes one on longer hikes.

[zxhrue.livejournal.com]

fascinating. so that's a deliquescent flower structure against bark?

arbutus

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oh, new word! (had to look up "deliquescent".

no, it's just bark. at this time arbutus has 3 layers, an outer scaly reddish brown one, underneath which there is a thin russet one, and then the pistachio green newest layer. in summer the outer two strip off and expose the inner one. it looks awesome.

in the centre is exposed wood from a wound.