Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Mojo’s Birthday Walk

Today our Mojo turned 3 ! 

I wanted to stay close to home on the North Shore but also to ensure Mojo got a good walk today.  As it it was bright and sunny I decided to head over to Lighthouse Park as we hadn’t been there for a few months and gives Mojo a variety of beaches, sea to swim in as well as rocky forest trails to charge around on.

We start off down the main trail leading towards the lighthouse before turning left onto the much smaller side trails through the forest.

IMG_6979 Mojo demonstrates the giant size of some of the old growth cedars in the park.

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We take a side trail which leads down to Starboat Cove.

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There’s lots of driftwood to climb over, fetch, lick (it’s salty !) and of course, sit on.

IMG_6991 More views of pretty Starboat Cove.

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Mojo plays for a good 20-30 minutes in the calm seawater, paddling and fetching sticks.  Even though he’s now 3 years old (that’s 21 in human years) he still hasn’t figured out that it’s easier to carry a sick in the middle !

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Mojo fetching a stick in Starboat Cove.

Views West along the cove before we head back onto the Valley Trail around the park.

IMG_6998 A little further along we pass the Point Atkinson lighthouse.

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We take the detour to West Bay for an extra down-and-back-up excursion and another quick swim for Mojo.

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We continue along the perimeter trail of the park until we reach Shore Pine Point.  Views here from Shore Pine Point towards Bowen Island.

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Merganser Bay and the West Vancouver coastline.

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A lone kayaker paddles towards Bowen Island.

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The West Vancouver coastline with the peaks of Tetrahedron Provincial Park in the background.

IMG_7014 Finally a panorama of the views from Shore Pine Point before we continue along the trail back up to the parking lot.

No new views here today but a lovely walk nonetheless and making the best of the great weather before it deteriorates tomorrow (you can see the cloud already forming to the West on the video above).

So, Happy Birthday Mojo !  We hope you had a fun day.  His main present this year was a new dishwasher….perhaps a little unorthodox for a dog but hey….less time washing dishes means more time playing with Kong after dinner !

Fetch me a beer !

On the Raising Ivy blog that we follow Louise recently posted that she has taught Ivy to close kitchen cupboard doors and was wandering what other tricks she can teach her.  It reminded me of a great Youtube video from a few years ago of a dog fetching it’s owner beer from the fridge……

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Wash, Wash, Wash with Spin Clean

Old Vinyl needs a good clean when been stored for 10 years in boxes and probably not that well cared for by a much younger carefree me….

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Using the Spin Clean System and seems to work a treat.

4 down, dozens more to go. But I get to listen to them one by one when they are done!

Friday, February 03, 2012

Gold Creek Falls and Alouette Lake, February 2012

We awoke today to another day of glorious sunshine.  I couldn’t spend the whole day on a walk due to other work commitments but I was able to get out this morning and make the most of it.

My recent walks to Pitt Lake with Buddy & Mojo and to the Alouette River Dykes reminded me of Golden Ears Provincial Park which is just beyond the ridge on the East side of Pitt Meadows. I hadn’t revisited this park since walking with Mum and Dad back in September of 2008. I remembered that there were good views and that Charlie had had a wonderful time in the creek and so thought on this bright winters day it would be a great spot to visit.

The peaks of Golden Ears Provincial Park form a magnificent backdrop to the town of Maple Ridge, East of Vancouver.

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Access to the park is through winding country roads and the trailhead for our walk is the furthest road-access point into the park, about 12 kms from the park entrance.

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The first 8kms or so are paved while the last approximately 4km are good quality gravel roads.  It’s an easy drive in with virtually no other traffic in the park on a February weekday.  Very different to an August weekend I’m sure !

IMG_6897We reach the Gold Creek day-use area and park the car.  To reach the parking lot we have crossed a quaint wooden bridge.

IMG_6898 We cross back over the bridge on foot and down the grassy embankment so that Mojo can get to the river and have a drink.  The views here from the edge of Gold Creek over the wooden bridge to the peaks beyond. When we were here in 2008 there was an upturned car in the creek as the site was being used as a movie filmset…..no such activity today.  I wonder what happened to that movie and if it was ever made ?

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We re-cross the bridge again and head for the Lower Falls trail.  As I only had a couple of hours for a walk I decided to follow the same route we had previously as I knew it was manageable in the time we had and less likely to be snowy than some of the higher trails in the park.   The destination of the Gold Creek Falls walk is nice, they’re very pleasant waterfalls but the actual walk and views enroute are really much more impressive.

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The trail is fairly flat and easy walking.  There are also many watering holes for the four-legged ones.

IMG_6908 However, the initial section of the trail in the forest was very wet underfoot.  It wasn’t the stick-to-your-shoe type muddy but tree-mulch-squishy so your feet sink in when you walk.  It wasn’t a huge obstacle though and you could often pick your way around the sides of particularly wet sections.

IMG_6909 Stopping for a break to catch our breath (him not me !)

IMG_6913 Soon we reach the large beach area where there are good views.  Charlie had enjoyed swimming here in 2008 and Mojo is happy to keep the tradition  alive, well by having a paddle anyway.

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Looking North up Gold Creek.

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Views West from the beach area.

IMG_6919 A clip of Mojo playing in the river and a panorama of the view from the beach.

We continue along the trail, as usual there are many sticks in this park and they all need fetching.

IMG_6920 Views North along the creek

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We get excellent views to the West along the creek, of the Blanchard Range, beautifully snow covered at this time of year.

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A little further on, more views of the peaks in the park.

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We soon reach Gold Creek Falls.  They only drop 10m so they won’t put Niagara out of business for tourist $’s anytime soon but they’re quite impressive at this time of year and a good destination for the walk.

IMG_6932 Movie clip from the base of Gold Creek Falls.

We continue a little further on the trail to the top of the falls.

IMG_6941 The creek rushes through the canyon it has carved out shortly before making the quick descent.

IMG_6942 Video from the top of the falls.

After taking in the falls we turn around and retrace our steps along the trail.  We stop again to spend some more time searching for sticks that were chased but mysteriously disappeared (sunk).

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Once back in the car we stop again for a brief detour into the Alouette Lake day-use area of the park.  Alouette Lake looked good in the summer but this time of year with some snowy mountains as the backdrop the views were stunning.

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Beautiful reflections.

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Panorama from the beach at the southern end of the lake.

The picnic area would be a fantastic place to stop and have some hot soup or sandwich with Mojo, but alas we didn’t bring lunch as we needed to get home and back to work. Another day for sure…..    It was a lovely, very scenic and easy walk and a reminder how beautiful Golden Ears Provincial Park is.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Best Buddies

Yesterday was a break between weatherfronts and so a nice dry day to get out.  Our friend Sig asked me if I could walk Buddy too as she was going to be busy during the day so Mojo got his best friend along on the walk, which delighted him no end !

Just a couple of snaps here of the two boys on their walk, taken on my iPhone.

I am not sure why Mojo was pulling a face in this one ?  I didn’t realise until I got home and looked at the image on the computer. I don’t doubt if Buddy could pose a ‘V’ sign behind Mogo’s head he’d do that too.

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Waiting for me to catch up.

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The nearby ducks made a suitable distraction to create the aurora of posing, thoughtful and intelligent dogs !

Mojo and Buddy 1 Mojo and Buddy are best pals and terrific company for eachother on a walk.