ATVING AND CAVES

Roosevelt Elk

Black Bear shot with Canon Rebel XT and i18-125 Sigma

Male Blue Grouse shot with Canon XTi and 18-125 Sigma

Where we had supper on the mountain overlooking the ocean

Looking into Resonance Cave

Looking out of Resonance Cave

Looking out of Glory'ole Cave

John looking into Glory'ole Cave

The cave and creek go off to the left at the bottom

One of the two bears we saw in the evening. Shot with Canon 5D at ISO 4000 using Canon 100-400 lens

Chainsaw carved wolf howling at the sunset

We both slept past 8 Sunday morning. It was a pretty laid back morning. I worked on my blog and finally got it posted with 24 pictures. It was fairly late when John and Anne made an appearance then Aileen went for a walk with them. Finally, the decision was made to go ATVing again. We took Anne with us to town along with our share of lunch. John had gone earlier to drain the hot tub and finish his lawn mowing. Before we left town, Dennis and April and the kids came by with their Father’s Day stuff, then we had to go to the store for some supper makings. Aileen said it was 3:30 when we unloaded the ATVs at the same place at Noomas.

We had a great trip again. First off, we went and found my sunglasses which were right where Aileen thought they would be (I was missing them when we got back to the trucks on Saturday). The next road we went up turned out to be a good one. First off, we saw a herd of elk (12-15) then John found us a male blue grouse. I started taking pictures of it then John called me back up to the road as there was a black bear about 150 feet in front of the ATVs. I took some shots of it then went back to working with the grouse. The bear was difficult to shoot because of the contrast. The grouse let me approach within about 10 feet so my shots are sharp and well exposed. When the grouse decided to wander away from me, he went toward the road. It turns out Mitzy had staked out a place in the shade and the grouse came nose to nose with her and then exploded back towards me, too fast for a picture. It was exciting though! We carried on further up the road to a good viewpoint where we had supper. Bean, pasta and potato salads from the grocery store tasted great. We had Danish pastry for dessert. The forecast cloud was beginning to roll in so we lost the light.

John took us up an unused road being user maintained, and after some rough stuff, ie. corduroy, rocks and brush we came to a dead end. John poked around and found an unmarked trail which led to a natural cave within 100 feet or so. It was not quite high enough to stand in and ramped gradually down and had several bends in the first 100 feet or so. We found out later it is called Resonance Cave and is 314 feet deep and 4224 feet long.

When we were having supper on the mountain, I picked up a message from Georgia wishing me happy Father’s Day. Bev had sent me an e-card this morning.

It was fridge defrost day Monday and Aileen did a complete wash with baking soda. She took darks over to the laundry as well. After spending too long on the internet, I took Mitzy out to the sand pit for a stroll. It had been a Scotch Mist morning, dampness in the air but not actually raining. Aileen called and made an appointment for Mitzy’s haircut on July 7 in Parksville.

While Aileen napped Monday afternoon, I went to Anne’s and washed our truck and theirs. Then I did the grocery shopping. I took Mitzy along the river trail before supper and trimmed more brush with the pruners. John was here with a full load of wood when we returned. I helped with the last of the unloading. He then went home for Anne and Nikki and Travyn as Dennis and April were playing ball.

After supper, John and I took his truck and roared out to the Noomas area. He’d done some research and talked to a co worker so we found another trail which led us to the Glory‘ole Cave. It’s one of those big holes in the ground where a creek goes down into it. This one would have been easy to walk right down in and apparently it goes 1030 feet down and 6716 feet in length. . It was pretty steep going down the trail at times with notches cut in sloping logs to aid access. It only took about 10 minutes to return to the truck.

We went back up the road we saw the elk on the day before but none were there. We did see two good sized black bears though and a button spike. It was 10:30 when we returned home.

Today we have my cousin Chris bringing her parents, Mac and Nancy, down from Port Hardy to join us for lunch. Nancy is my Dad’s youngest sister and is the same age as my Mom.