Trestle Tourism 2017

Trestle tourism seems to be becoming a habit for Jeff and me. For several years now we've packed the panniers and set out on bicycle adventures, riding the rails so to speak on former BC railbeds that are now re-purposed for cycle-tourism. We started with the Kettle Valley system, first Kelowna to Penticton, then Kelowna to Midway. More recently, last year in fact, we ventured across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to traverse the Lochside Trail, which blends seamlessly into the Galloping Goose.

This year we thought about doing Kettle Valley again, but didn't for two reasons: the prevalence of brush fires and the fact that reasonably soon I understand another section will connect Kelowna to Vernon. I haven't seen or read any specifics, but I've seen that the rails have been removed at the crossing that runs parallel to the Kelowna Airport. Hopefully a new trail will be added to the system soon.

I'd heard of another trestle on the Island near Shawnigan Lake and did a little research. From scaling some distances on a map and factoring in a Mill Bay ferry round-trip crossing I figured a same-day trip to see the Kinsol Trestle was entirely possible to add some new material to the adventure we'd had last year.

After already passing through the town of Mill Bay I thought we'd have been
closer...but as Jeff points out we still had 12 km to go.

It's no wonder I hadn't heard about the Kinsol trestle until recently; it only re-opened as a re-purposed tourist destination and park in 2011.

"Move along people; nothing to see here."

Not trying to take anything away from it; it's a pretty impressive structure.
Just wanted to try out a new (for me) photography technique.

Jeff cycled end to end while I messed around with camera settings.

According to Wikipedia, the Kinsol Trestle is the
largest such structure in the Commonwealth of Nations.

The next trestles we encountered were on Day Two, in Sooke Potholes Park. The Charters Creek span was no problem, but just as signs we'd seen earlier indicated, there was a detour set up around the Todd Creek trestle due to structural timber replacements.

We're not getting the bikes over that fence.

A map indicated the route up the adjacent hill. It started out tame enough, although some bike-pushing was involved until the top portion flattened out.

It would appear that the replacements of timbers might take a while as there
is evidence of construction of a reasonably long-term re-routing taking place
involving concrete supports for a timber-planked bridge over the creek.

I hafta say, this is as steep a slope as I could push a bicycle
up with 50 lbs of gear packed in the panniers. I was 
starting to lose shoe grip in the dry soil.

The long wood checks marked with orange tape make it pretty plain that
repairs are required. 

The upshot of the hillside detour is that we got to see a family of four deer. I think both parties, them and us, were equally startled to see each other. But they soon settled down to munching on branches while I photographed them.

East Side 10K 2017

It's simply ridiculous how fast time flies. It's already been more than a week since the East Van 10K and it's about time I posted something.

Much better weather than last year; if anything, it was a bit too hot for the last portion of the event. And that hill! Don't get me started about that hill! But it must've been OK because my elapsed time was 3 minutes faster than last year; 1:01:11. Not bad. Not as good improvement as Shauna however; she posted a personal best. And that spurred her on to enroll us both in the Victoria 8K event coming up on Thanksgiving weekend. That'll be fun as most of our running group is spending the weekend in the capital city to participate in the half marathon. Gotta have some fun with all this exertion!

Granville Isl Spiderman

You just never know who you'll run into at Granville Island on a hot summer weekend...

Careful calculation of distance...ready...aim...

Somehow I always pictured Spiderman to be bigger...I guess the big golden screen adds about 95%.

Our friends from Spain were here so we arranged to meet at Granville Island for lunch.

Our (almost) annual reunion photo.

"Giants" at Granville Island. I like the asparagus concrete mixer truck as well. 

Solar Eclipse 2017

Monday was the 2017 Great Solar Eclipse. Obviously I really wasn’t paying enough attention prior to the event because I didn’t manage to acquire appropriate eyewear ahead of time. Been too busy I guess. Also, I really thought I was already well equipped as I have a welding shield that I was planning to use. Little did I know that welding filters vary in degrees of eye protection. I learned last weekend most welding helmets are constructed with a #12 filter; however, number 14 is the lowest grade recommended for viewing the sun. Doh!

Sunday evening found me searching for a box and a Youtube instruction video to construct a pinhole viewing box; basically a pinhole camera without photo-sensitive paper inside. I built one, and it worked, but boy, was it ever inferior to viewing the event directly through a safe filter! 

Here's Shauna modeling my home-made pinhole viewer.

On Monday morning we traveled to Science World to at least view the spectacle with hundreds of other people. As luck would have it, some generous people were letting others less fortunate (like us) borrow their viewing glasses for quick glimpses of the slowly unfolding event.

It really wasn't as hard as I make it look to find the tiny reflected image
of the sun inside my viewer.

I think what surprised me most is how much the air temperature dropped as more of the sun disappeared from view. Officially it was only a degree or so, but on our skin it felt like quite a few more. Officially in Vancouver about 86% of the sun was covered by the moon at peak eclipse. It’s also surprising how light it remained with only 14% of normal sunlight striking the ground. I’ve since watched videos of how the daylight diminished approaching the full eclipse, essentially producing night during the day. It looks like it would have been a bit of a creepy experience, but none-the-less one I’d like to experience. Maybe next time in eastern Canada in 2024.

This is about as good a view as was possible inside my home-made pinhole
viewer. 

Unfortunately this quality of image is unattainable from a simple pinhole
viewer.

Eclipse aftermath; pinhole viewer recycling.

GCVW 2017

To shift gears entirely (pun intended) from Saturday’s full immersion salmon experience, Sunday was car show day. The Great Canadian VW Show congregated on the paved area just north of Science World. Hard to believe that site has been vacant for over 30 years now. For a few years, way back when, it played annual host to the Vancouver Indy race; now it’s mostly used for parking semi-trailer trucks for stadium events, and for siting such events as Cirque du Soleil. One of these days I'm sure there will be more highrises on the site.

Coincidentally since it's been about 30 years since Expo 86 occurred, I’ve been a VW (air-cooled) nut for over 30 years. For some reason I just can’t shake that particular addiction. Lots of split window Type 2s (vans) this year. They’ve skyrocketed in price in recent years. Every time I see one I’m (painfully) reminded of the one I bought around 30 years ago for $500. It was minus its engine and transmission, but that was OK because my customization plans included removing the stock gearbox and reduction gear assemblies to swap in a Beetle transmission to greatly reduce the vehicle’s height. I was all about lowering cars back then. Mine was a late ’55 model which meant it was the one of the first ones produced after the “barn doors” (the engine lid was double the size of later models) meaning, even then, that it wasn’t quite as valuable as an early ‘55. This trip down memory lane was probably sparked by the very first Volkswagen I saw through the fence on Sunday as I approached the event; a lowered barndoor panel van sitting in the swap meet area. Not for sale mind you; it was apparently driven there by a vendor.

This lowered barndoor panel was my favourite, and it wasn't even entered in
the car show portion.

This was by far the most colourful entry. But what's up with that exhaust pipe?

I was really hoping to see this panel van again. It was built by the same guy
responsible for the creation of Heb Rod. Subtlety is the van's strength I think;
not to mention the 2.7 litre Porsche 6 stuffed in the engine bay! 

This Syncro completes VW's rear-engined van heritage. I'm really not interested
in their modern front wheel drive models. To me it's all about the classics!

2020 VW Microbus

Update: However, it would appear that all is not lost. I may not get back my beloved rear engine format, but as of today, Sept. 5, 2017, an electric Microbus has been unveiled. In all likelihood this one'll be all wheel drive to complement it's announced electric propulsion. It's even claimed that "driverless mode" will be an option. Despite that innovation (I really can't imagine me "not driving" at any point), sign me up to that waiting list! 

Salmon Under Cambie

On Saturday morning after jogging our 7 km training segment for the (rapidly) approaching East Van 10K, and a wonderfully big brunch afterwards, we finally settled on Saturday night to take in a new visual projection about wild BC salmon that is being shown under the north end of the Cambie Street bridge all summer. We’ve tried a couple of times previously to see it but once it was a Nights of Fire fireworks night (not playing), and another time it was a Sunday (not playing).

It’s an amazing production, definitely recommended. It’s the same technology that we witnessed in Beaune, France this summer. Every evening they project light shows on many buildings in the village. The best one I saw was a cat running vertically up a clock tower from bottom to top chasing a red laser dot, until the cat jumps through a top floor window. The walls then appear to turn transparent revealing the building’s interior and we see the laser dot transformed into a red ball bouncing from landing to stair tread to landing until it reaches the ground.

This is the Beaune tower but I didn't get a photo of
the red ball bouncing down the stairs.

The Cambie Bridge presents an odd sensation in that the best viewing position is lying flat on one’s back looking up, because if you think about it, you’re actually watching a stream flowing above you, defying gravity. In other words it’s like a full immersion experience, like you’re in the water with the salmon. The complete life cycle is shown in the film starting with travel upstream to the spawning beds as a golden autumn umbrella unfolds in a slightly water-refracted tree canopy above. Frantic motion of fish tails burrowing into rocky stream beds ultimately leads to bright red fry hatching, starting lives of their own. Completion of the lifecycle must ultimately result in rapid aging and decay of the parent salmon. I didn’t realize how much I’d forgotten since I was a kid at school learning about them, but it was certainly a surprise to see what jagged teeth the salmon skulls display as they lie scattered on the stream bed.

Bubbles under the bridge.

Bubbles under the bridge.

Swimming with the fishes.

The salmon stream.

Autumn canopy.

Almost makes ya hum a few bar of the "Jaws" theme...

Day Two of Leg Two (Mackenzie)

Once I was safety off the clock, I did some more exploring. I asked at the hotel front desk for some suggestions regarding where to find attractions of interest rather than following roads that led to lumber/pulp mills. Apparently all the interesting stuff is north of town.

Williston Lake.

At first I thought there was a bird of some sort in the trees, but it turned out
to be artistically placed deadfall.

I decided that since I'd received a free upgrade to an all-wheel-drive SUV, I might as well take advantage of it to traverse a few roads that a car may find uncomfortable; hence the mountain view site at Morfee Mountain Trail. I took the wrong turn-off the first time and drove through a gravel pit; definitely not it. The second time produced the ski-doo ramp I'd been told about, so I knew I was on the right road.

An abstract explosion of berries noticed en route to a mountaintop viewing spot.

Two communications towers on two distant peaks (centre; the right side tower
is hard to see in the photo). That's where we're going!

The view from close to the top. Again, looking like a Nissan commercial.

Not sure what these two metallic items are, located on a steep slope. They
look like remains of a UFO crash site, but more realistically they're likely
related to the communications tower higher up the slope.

There's Mackenzie with Williston Lake behind it.

A rainsquall near the northern end of Williston Lake.

Parts of the mountaintop appears somewhat lunar.

I watched a truck crawl up the moon-like far slope. From my perspective it
looked like bug. I would have compared it to a toy, but it was even far too
tiny for that. I've had to crop the photo even to be able to identify it.

A splash of rainbow appeared over the east mountains, although I have to
admit, it looked more impressive in person; more intense colours.