Our last day started with a hike along two excellent trails including this one through an ancient stand of Cedar which somehow was spared from the lumberjacks who mowed British Columbia down.
After a rough road, we hiked up a bit of gravel and rock to the Cougar Mountain trail which connected to the Cedar stand.
We came upon another Cairn farm.
We also found the world's most tart blueberries.
If you looked closely, you may see a waterfall (which would be somewhat rare in the BC autumn.
We asked this gentleman, over 7 feet tall, to pose so that we could get an idea of the size of the cedar logs. (He's a bit shorter without that hat.)
Many of these cedars are over 600 years old with some as old as a millennium....
...but we didn't stop to count the rings. (We did, however, stop to smell ...
The fungus. Given that this was a deep, dark forest, we didn't see many flowers. However, we saw a lot of fungi; they may same the same about our group...
...including these two as seen from a mushroom-eye view. If you were a mushroom, would you say there's intelligent life up there?
Dick broke off from the group to take a ride on a pontoon plane that lifted its pilot and six photographers above the area's many glaciers. His plane was a variant of de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. The plane was last manufactured in 1967, the year Dick graduated from college. He's retired; why isn't this plane?
Here we see the base of Blackcomb mountain with the sliding sport track. Note how the mountain homes snake around the base. These facilities are engendering criticism as the Canadians are restricting access to all Olympians other than their own, increasing their home court advantage. (They're a little embarrassed as they have never won the Gold on their own soil. ) This is most controversial on their luge/bobsleigh track which is considered the fastest, and perhaps the most dangerous, in the world. (Details at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/sports/21olympics.html?_r=1 )
Whistler will be the Nordic events (sliding sports) venue for the Vancouver Winter Olympics which will start in a few months. This winding track is used for luge, bobsled (bobsleigh), and skeleton (where participants ride head first and prone on a sled shaped like a human skeleton).
Soon we flew over areas with minimal habitation -- at least by humans.
Lakes greened by rock flour were trapped behind high mountains and fed by glaciers.
Here we see the olympic athletes' housing, built on 96 acres of a former garbage dump about 4 miles south of Whistler. To the left are gravel piles kicking up dust. Some of the construction funds were used to mitigate methane pollution, lest the athletes run on gas. While this is to be a permanent village to be used to train Canadian athletes after the Olympics, the large tent is obviously temporary and will be used as a 42,000 square foot dining room for the nearly 3000 athletes, officials, and coaches participating in the "sliding" games. Housing includes a 100 room hotel and several duplexes.
One of the more distinctive mountain caps, this may be called "smokestack."
For you photoshop fanatics, here's a mountain top in color...
...and black and white for you artsy folks (you know who you are.)
The next slides have been pasted together with software so expect a bit of lens distortion.
A strangely pasted-together slide
After a half-hour, it was time to return to civilization. The plane's base at Green Lake shows progress coming to Whistler with hydroelectric towers enhancing the landscape and power boats creating interesting patterns on the pristine water.
The Jack Nicklaus designed golf course is quite spectacular from the ground but somewhat less impressive from the air. Is it called "Green Lake" because of the color of money?
Soon we were landing.
But it doesn't have to end for you if you're really into glacier pictures. We've posted nearly 90 more at: http://picasaweb.google.com/schmitt.dick/WingOverWhistlerBCCanadaSupplementalSlides#slideshow
For those of you who are into Canadian Rockies glaciers, I've put my August 2003 pictures from the Columbia Icefield (near Banff/Calgary) on Picasaweb at http://picasaweb.google.com/schmitt.dick/ColumbiaIcefield#slideshow .
For those of you would rather stay very close to ground level and who need a screen saver, we've posted the flower pictures in their own screen show at: http://picasaweb.google.com/schmitt.dick/WhistlerSFlowers#slideshow .
All in all, a great trip. Don't let this picture mislead you; we actually ended up with all ten relatives that we started with, thanks to our experienced and fascist white water rafting guide and 8 wet suits (a best practice). The accomodations were large and pleasant, the weather (except for morning of day 1) was near perfect, and the company -- as always -- was perfect.
