Sunshine Meadows September 9, 2022

All along I had intentions of catching the gondola back up to Sunshine Meadows to witness the autumn shades that appear before summer is even over.  With that opportunity ceasing on Sunday, I went for it today. There was rain in the forecast for last night which was due to end around 4:00am, I knew it would not be rain at the top of the world!  I was excited for that and it was more of a reason to get up there today to hike.  I could see nothing out the snow covered gondola other than through the top where the window was open. The window had been left open over night so the seat was partially covered in snow.  

I was dressed in my winter layers and I needed them!  I ascended the trail that would take me to Rock Isle Lake.  This was the view behind me. It was an incredible view and feeling to be here right now!

Hippies on Sticks dressed in Winter White

the view in front of me

When I reached the bridge that crosses the creek to view Rock Isle Lake, 

I sighed knowing I would be making the first foot prints in the first snow of the season up here.  

at the Rock Isle Lake viewpoint

At the junction it was time to decide whether to visit the other lakes first or head a couple of kilometres west to the Monarch Lookout.  The lakes were calling me!  As I rounded towards the backside of Rock Isle, the red popped brightly through the new white gold.

looking across to where I was, at the Rock Isle Viewpoint on the left

The trail through the forest from Rock Isle to Grizzly Lake was so pretty, yet as I descended there was less snow, nevertheless, it was just as beautiful.  I could tell no had been yet.  I was warned that on Wednesday a grizzly roamed this location so I stayed vigilant.  After leaving Grizzly Lake behind.....

.....I found more snow along the way to Laryx Lake.  While we are well into September, the Larch trees remain as green as can be.  With this weather though, they could begin to change colour quickly.

I was in awe of the look of Laryx Lake!  

Cold meets warm and this is what you get!  

From the snow to the Lake, to the reflection, to the clouds, 

to The Monarch in the middle over there, this view was a photographs dream!  

along the trail beside Laryx Lake

With the loop around Grizzly and Laryx Lakes complete, I ascended back up to Rock Isle Lake and then veered west to hike along the Twin Cairns to Monarch Lookout Trail.  To see these reds, was one of the main reasons for wanting to be here today. 

heading west along the trail that meanders through the middle of the photo

As noon approached, the sun was higher yet it was still chilly, chilly enough that I was thankful to be donned in my winter wear.  It's this chillness that is necessary to assist in turning these green larch trees to gold.    

Just before reaching the Monarch Viewpoint, I met two Parks People who had spent the night at Egypt Lake and were now on their way back to the Sunshine Village.  They were glowing, as I felt like I was, knowing we were witnessing such beauty.  Here is the view from the Monarch Lookout over to Healy Pass and down to Simpson Pass.

view from the trial down to Simpson Pass

I settled down on the bench at the Lookout for a little while.  The view was incredible, it was peaceful and I savoured every second while snacking on my sandwich and sweets.  I exchanged pleasantries with a fellow who ascended from below carrying his heavy overnight pack.  After investing plenty of time, I then geared back up and got on with my day which was to hit the trail back and then continue straight down to the Village.  This was the view I had in front of me as I left the Monarch Lookout behind. 

It was time for one last selfie before descending into the forest.  I was warned a black bear had been spotted on Wednesday in this forest area, so I stayed vigilant.  

view of those reds again

The entire stretch of grassy area beside the trail down to the Village was covered in red. This was the view as I looked back from where I came and just before popping out to where I had a view of where I would catch the gondola.

As soon as I got back to the Village, I jumped on the gondola for the ride back down to my car.  By now, the snow melted off the windows and views were available.  I admired the scenery on the way down and also sighed many sighs from that feeling of fulfillment.  It was a most amazing day to say good-bye to Sunshine Meadows until next summer!  

KAYAKING Good-bye August Hello September

As we Bid Adieu to August, the heat wave continues!  What has been working best for me through these days is to be "out & about" being active early for a couple of hours.  On this morning I did just that at Bowness!  I like that by going early I get to park beside a grassy area where I can inflate my packraft, gear up, leave everything in my car, walk a minute or two, hop in and paddle off.  It was a hot start to the day so being on water was a comfortable place to be.   I am savouring these kinds of moments because September is just about here and only time will tell what will come with that!  

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Welcome September!  But, certainly not welcome to the smoke that I smelled for the first time this summer!  When I walked out the door, there it was, it wasn't strong but smoke was in the air.  The further into the foothills I drove, the more obvious it was.  It wasn't strong but smoke was in the air!  I arrived at Forgetmenot Pond, the location of my maiden voyage with the packraft on July 28th.  Once again, I arrived early with hopes of hanging out in my kayak for a couple of hours before it got too hot.  Deja vu, it was a hot start to the day even out in this location of the foothills.  I did a few easy slow laps around the pond, then aimed for the middle and settled back to relax.  By late morning, it was time to head to shore and seek space away from the sun.  I hope to get out here again paddling before the end of the season, but only time will tell if that will happen!

"Aussie Coastal Bushwalk" Conquer 2022 Virtual Challenge Progress September 1, 2022

More often than not, my in depth progress check was not in depth at all!  I still posted my purposeful distances, saw that I remained ahead of plan, saved it on my google map and that was that.   When I did do a deep dive, I discovered I made a gross mistake in the distance between my "start" point and my planned "finish" point.  But first things first, at the end of the day September 1st, I have covered 1470 kms of my 2022 kms goal as you can see my chart.

This map shows what I accomplished so far and as you can see I am now virtually at Wallagoot which is only 105 kms north of the border between New South Wales and Victoria.  That border was my planned finish location. I calculated that border to be 2022 kms from where I started at South Stradbroke Island which is not the case with the route I planned to take.

I had to revamp my plan! The orange tack just north of the border is my current location and the orange line after the tack is now the route I plan to take.  The orange line above the tack is the route I covered already except I did not veer inland to Canberra the capital, I virtually hugged the coastline instead.

From this day forward, I will carry on with reaching the goal of covering 2022kms in 2022, yet I will be doing this without a planned finish location.  Where I end up is where I will end up! If I reach my goal before the end of day December 31st, I will continue to move west and track my distance whatever it may be.   

I still have my eye on this medal with confidence I will conquer 2022!

The Conqueror People are beginning to put thoughts of Conquer 2023 out there.  No more year conquering for me!  I will consider a challenge or two or three though if there are offers of interest, such as The Icefields Parkway!  

in a whimsical mood

It's the bright cheerful colours that grabbed my attention the most!  Add to those shades, a light-hearted feel and a whimsical look, that's where you will find me these days.  I have been getting lost in working with higher quality water-colour paints.  I picked up a few to try and this is the outcome.  When I looked for lessons on blending colours, I came upon a set of fun tutorials.  I love this look!

Some of these tutorials were to give ideas on painting home made greeting cards.  I will probably not go that route though.  The main purpose for me was to learn the wet on wet technique and also blending.  I learned how to use a fan brush as you can see in the bottom two birds in the top left painting.  I learned lots and I look forward to gaining more knowledge along this path.  What I realized is, I now need to buy a few more brushes of various sizes.  For now, I am OK with the paper I use, but if this becomes serious, I will need a higher quality of paper too!

Just looking of these projects makes me smile!

Guinn's Pass & Galatea Lakes August 25, 2022

Today's hike was in the making back on July 13th when we last shared a day in the mountains.  Since that day our life happenings took us in different directions, mine not so far reaching as my friends.  With hours and hours and hours worth of stories to now share, it was time to take on Guinn's Pass and Galatea Lakes, that objective we set back on July 13th.  

Early starts are the best these days and that's what we went for.  We turned off the main highway west to head south along "Highway 40 Where Life Begins" and I then felt that feeling that I was already in my happy place even before stepping foot on the hiking trail.  When our boots did hit the trail, we first had to descend to the river and cross this suspension bridge.  No biggie descending, but in the back of my mind I knew it would be a biggie ascending at the end of the day! 

The approximate six km hike up to Lillian Lake through the forest is not my favourite place to be.  While it seemed to take forever, in hindsight it passed somewhat quickly thank you to the multitude of wonderful stories my friend had to share.  We arrived at Lillian Lake while it appeared most of the backcountry campers were still enjoying slumber.

From Lillian Lake, we worked our way up through a bit more forest along a rough, rooty, rugged trail. After that we crossed a broken up boulder field which led us to the junction where we planned to make the decision whether to ascend to Guinn's Pass first or descend to the Galatea Lakes.  We based our decision on what the weather looked like around us.  We opted to make The Pass our priority.  While scampering through the dull coloured rocky section, the sky was on the grey side, both which helped make the fireweed pop.

As we were heading towards Guinn's Pass, the Lower Galatea Lake came into view behind us.  

photo credit Malcolm

Our focus was to get to Guinn's Pass and possibly to Guinn's Peak which is what my friend is eyeing.  

We arrived at Guinn's Pass!  I knew at this point for me it would be best if we made this our high point.  I still wanted to tack on seeing the two Galatea Lakes on the way back.  I enjoy seeing this view across the way.  I was at a few of those passes and on top of a few of those peaks on this day.  

We confirmed this would be our high point, we admired the view,  

 then we embraced that rocky mountain high feeling! 

at our happy place

(don't be fooled, mine is the smaller pack at my friend's feet)

It was time to dine!  There would be no escaping the light winds up where we were exposed to all elements.  We scooted up a bit to where there were large boulders to settle down on.  An extra upper layer did the trick to help keep warm.  This was our lunch time view! 

view as we began the descent from Guinn's Pass 

Lower Galatea Lake came back into view 

There was lots of blue in the sky and it was very warm when we arrived back at the junction.  

We decided all conditions were on our side to carry on with visiting the Galatea Lakes. 

Lower Galatea Lake

This is the view of Lower Galatea Lake after hiking around it to the back side.

From the back side of the Lower Lake, there is a trail that ascends to the Upper Lake.  With the weather turning even more beautiful, we of course carried on up.  At a high point, this was the view looking back at the Lower Lake.

My friend arrived at the Upper Galatea Lake first and when I rounded the corner even before I saw the Lake, he gave me the thumbs up.  When I arrived where he was, this is what I saw!  WOW!  We were both impressed!  During a later conversation, we both agreed this was the highlight of our day. 

taking in the beauty

happy to be here

It was time for another dining break.  We found a trail that descended to the lake.  There were large boulders to comfortably settle down on and just be one with where we were.  We owned it outright!  This was our dining time view!

When it came time to carry on with our day, we discussed what route we wanted to take back to Lillian Lake.  Instead of going back the way we came around the Lower Galatea Lake, we picked up a trail that crossed the scree at the south side of the lake.  I had read about this obscure trail a few years back.  It appeared well trodden.  

working our way around a boulder field

We came to a spot where we had this view of Lillian Lake far below.  We could see an obvious trail hugging the tree line on the left so we went for it.  It turned out being a treat going down this way, although it was steep and rough in sections, yet we got to incorporate a loop into the day.

We exited from this trail landing on the main trail that meandered through the backcountry campground.  We aimed for a bench at Lillian Lake. We had some snacks here then began to attack the approximately six kms down through the forest back to the suspension bridge.  We did have this nice view for a short period of time on the way back.

We reached the suspension bridge!

view from the bridge

It was all uphill from here which just seems so wrong!  Really it was not that bad, it was a matter of just getting it done.  When it was done, I breathed a sigh of relief!  For the drive back to the city, we carried on with unfinished stories and began new ones.  By the time we arrived back, we were all caught up.  Now it's time to go forward living our life's happenings, making more stories to share another time!