Diving Photography

Taking decent underwater photographs is a challenge. This post is about my experience this trip. Warning: it gets technical.

I was surprised on our diving live-aboard boat trip how many people had elaborate underwater camera setups. I'm used to being the keen photographer in a group, but I was definitely outgunned this time.

I have a much better camera now than I used to - a Canon G12 instead of the little Powershot. It has much better low light abilities and can shoot raw which allows a lot more adjustment afterwards.

The big difference with the more sophisticated setups was the lights. It's dark underwater and the colors get washed out. I don't use the built-in flash on my camera because flash on camera like that is harsh unnatural lighting, and the little built-in flash isn't very powerful anyway. A better setup is to have multiple (two or more) separate strobes (powerful flashes). But this kind of setup is heavy and bulky and awkward (not to mention, expensive).

You can get underwater cases for SLR's but if the case leaks that's a lot of money down the drain. One of the people on our trip had borrowed a fancy underwater camera and it flooded on the very first dive - ouch!

Because I don't have lights I prefer to take photos fairly shallow where there is still light and color. But most of our dives on this trip were around 20m (70ft). For this, shooting raw and using software like Lightroom is key to getting some color back.

I started the trip shooting fully automatic, but the G12 tries hard to use a low ISO (light sensitivity) because that gives a better quality photo (less noise or "grain"). The problem is, that means a slow shutter speed. But underwater, everything is moving - you're moving and the fish are moving and the only way to "freeze" that movement is with a fast shutter speed. (Another reason why flash is better - it also helps freeze the movement.)

Next I tried shooting at the G12's maximum ISO of 3200. That resulted in faster shutter speeds and less motion blur, but a lot of noise. Next day I tried 1600, and then the next 800, where I left it for the rest of the trip. It seemed the best compromise between sensitivity and noise. Part of it is diving skill - how well you can "hover" in one spot and hold steady while taking a shot. I'm gradually getting better at that but I still find it a challenge. Sometimes you can find a spot to put a finger against which helps a lot.

At shallower depths, like 10m, when the light is relatively bright, I was finding the highlights were often burning out. You can recover some of this, especially if you're shooting raw, but not if it's totally white. In these conditions I found it worked better to override the exposure to be darker by one stop. This is where the G12 is nice because it has a separate dial for exposure adjustment, rather than having to poke around in the menus (especially underwater!) There's also a separate dial for ISO. The downside of forcing the images to be darker is that it increases the noise. But I'd rather have more noise than have totally burnt out areas.

Although other people on the live-aboard had better cameras, or at least better lights, they didn't seem to be as familiar with adjusting the photos on the computer afterwards. Using software like Lightroom or Aperture is the modern day equivalent of having and using your own darkroom. Just accepting the default processing that the camera does is like accepting drugstore prints in the days of film. (And if you're going to adjust them you really need to shoot raw, assuming your camera is able.)

In Lightroom my normal adjustments would be: Clarity +50 (sometimes all the way to 100, although that can look unnatural), Luminance Noise 50 (depending on ISO), Strong Contrast Tone Curve, sometimes increased Vibrance, sometimes Recovery. If one side or corner is too bright I'll use an exposure gradient to adjust it. Other than parts that get too bright, the images almost always look murky and washed out and I'll increase the Black and Exposure settings to improve the contrast. (I should probably directly adjust the tone curve more, but I haven't got to that point yet.)

If there's something neutral in the image, like a black wetsuit or (relatively) white sand, I'll try using that to set the white balance. If not, or if that doesn't look right, I'll adjust it manually. Underwater photos taken with natural light are very blue. Getting rid of that and bringing back some reds often requires extreme white balance adjustments, pushing Temperature and Tint to the max. But it really is blue underwater, so sometimes it looks better to just let it be blue and not try to remove it all.

I always smile when people claim their photos are "unprocessed". There's no such thing as an unprocessed digital image. All it means is you are keeping the default processing your camera (or computer) does. That processing isn't necessarily any more "true" than when you adjust it manually. Of course, you can push the processing to extremes and end up with something unreal. The closest thing to an "unprocessed" image would be a raw image with all the settings zeroed. But that looks awful and won't be anything like what it "really" looked like. Unless I'm deliberately trying to achieve some abstract artistic result, I try to make the images look as close as I can to how it "felt" to see it in person (with, admittedly, variable results).

Of course, apart from all these technical issues, the subject and composition are still critical. No matter how technically excellent an image might be, it still needs to be interesting and pleasing to the eye. And there's still a lot of luck involved in being at the right place at the right time.

Photos from the week coming soon, as I select and process them.

PS. You can see why so many computer geeks get into photography - there's plenty of technical details to obsess over!

Bahamas #2

We had a great five days at Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros Island in the Bahamas. Exactly our kind of place - small, low key, quiet, nice staff, like minded guests, great diving. Conditions weren't perfect for diving - a little too windy and therefore not so good visibility, but still excellent dives. As long as you're not looking for shopping or night life we'd strongly recommend this place, either for diving, or just for a relaxing place to hang out.

Since we were flying today we didn't dive yesterday. Probably could have, at least in the morning, but we're conservative and we wanted a chance to explore anyway. In the morning we rode bikes to the Androsia batik factory. Small, but interesting. It's connected to the lodge and the staff all wears their clothes, and the curtains and bed covers etc. are from there. Very colorful and great designs.

In the afternoon we biked and hiked to the Rainbow Blue Hole. Blue holes are water filled caves, often connected underground to the ocean. We had a refreshing swim to cool off. We took our mask and snorkels, but there wasn't much to see. This one was almost a perfect cylinder of rock dropping straight down into the black. Still have no desire to go cave diving!

We took the early morning flight from Andros back to Nassau and this afternoon we head to Providenciales in Turks and Caicos to start a week long live-aboard dive trip. Between flights we took a taxi into Cable Beach to hang out in Starbucks and use the wi-fi. Thankfully we found somewhere to leave our luggage at the airport. That's almost impossible in "civilized" countries now because of security issues.

More photos (click to view). These are from back in Nassau at a National Trust site called the Retreat. And yes, I like lizards :-)

2011-11-12 Bahamas

A few photos Shelley took. We picked the British Colonial Hilton in Nassau because it's a historical building, and it is a neat building. But otherwise it's just a big Hilton, nothing special. Close to downtown, but that just means it's surrounded by tourists when umpteen huge cruise ships are in. (Note to self: avoid places where cruise ships visit.)

2011-11-13 Bahamas

And more diving photos: (a lot, but I love all the underwater life)

2011-11-15 Bahamas

2011-11-16 Bahamas

And finally, some pictures from our last day of exploring. Thanks to decent wifi at Starbucks that brings us up to date on photos. I don't imagine we'll have internet on the boat so we'll no doubt have a bunch more to post when we get back to civilization.

2011-11-17 Bahamas

Bahamas

A few photos from when I arrived.

2011-11-11 Bahamas

From our first day of diving. Still trying to figure out how to best use the G12 underwater - did a bit better later days.

2011-11-14 Bahamas

More diving photos to come (probably more than you want to look at :-) when I get a chance to upload them.

See also: Shelley's blog post - Spirit and Adventure: Eyes on the Horizon

Not So Smart

I got to Fort Lauderdale after a relatively painless 12 hours on the train. Interesting scenery - forests, orange and lemon orchards, lakes. Saw a few birds - bald eagles, turkey vultures, great blue herons, white ibis. I think I spotted a few turtles and a couple of lizards on a wall but hard to be sure when you're zipping by.

The train was freezing again. I'm sure engineers think that thermostats and heating/cooling systems are a boring solved problem. Obviously they've never ridden the bus or train much! Eventually the attendant noticed that everyone was wearing all their jackets and wrapped in blankets and turned off the air conditioning briefly. (My theory is that because it was too cold they had opened the door at the end of the car to let some warm air in. But I suspect that the thermostat was near the door, so it got the warm air from outside which kept the air conditioning running full blast.)

I was expecting a main train station, but it was more like a commuter stop. I figured out how to buy a ticket from the machine to take the local train to near the airport and my hotel. I'm glad I got my ticket right because a train cop handed out two tickets in my car to people with incorrect tickets! (The ticket machine was poorly designed - one of the too common systems with a row of buttons beside the screen and labels on the screen, where it's very hard to tell which label goes with which button.)

I wasn't quite sure where my hotel was relative to the train stop but I knew it was close. I went out the front and looked around. Sure enough there were a couple of hotels and one of them was a Marriott. The trick was to get there since the train stop was surrounded by freeways. (This was the airport stop and most people were just getting on the shuttle bus to the airport.)

I managed to play frogger across the freeways and get to the hotel. I was a little tired and hungry at this point, but feeling pleased with myself for navigating another day of travel (not to mention, 10 days of train travel from Saskatoon to Florida). One of the reasons I like taking the road less travelled is that it's more of a challenge and therefore more rewarding. But pride goeth before a fall. When I went to check in, they couldn't find my reservation. But I was prepared, I showed her the confirmation number on TripIt on my iPhone. That didn't work either. But being a belt and suspenders kind of person, I was prepared with another fallback - I had a printed copy of my confirmation email. I'm feeling a little smug, obviously tempting fate. I joked, "This is the Marriott, isn't it?" What I didn't realize was that there were two Marriott's and I was at the wrong one. Damn! 

I asked how far the other one was. She said it's just across the street. I breathed a sigh of relief since I had started to wonder if I got off at the right train stop. "But," she said, "you can't walk there from here." I'm normally pretty suspicious when non-walkers (i.e. just about everyone) tell me what is walkable. But given that we were in the middle of a bunch of freeways I make the mistake of believing her. She said she'd get a shuttle to take me over. So I sit and wait for 20 minutes. 

When the shuttle finally comes, it takes me back to the train stop! The other Marriott was about 100 yards behind the train stop, across the parking lot. If I'd looked around a bit better when I came out I would have seen it. Doh! Luckily I wasn't in the Amazing Race or I would have had to face Phil telling me I was the last one to arrive and I'd been eliminated.

Savannah Photos

I've enjoyed Savannah. There are a few too many Ye Olde Candie Shoppe's and you have to be careful not to get run over by the tour trolleys, but the history and old buildings are interesting, and I love all the squares with big trees draped in Spanish moss. (actually an epiphyte in the bromeliad family)

click to view photos

Tomorrow I continue on the train to Fort Lauderdale, and then a short flight to Nassau in the Bahamas where I meet up with Shelley to do some diving. I'm almost happy to have a day sitting on the train again - my feet are getting sore from all the miles I've put on them walking around Savannah!

PS. For what it's worth, I think this is my 1000'th blog post (between this and my computer blog).

Savannah Encounters

It's the middle of the night on the train to Savannah. I'm squirming around for the umpteenth time trying to find a semi-comfortable position. I notice that the seats behind me are empty - they must have got off at some point. The guards, I mean attendants, aren't around so I decide to move back and give myself and my basketball player sized seat-mate a little more room. A few hours later we make a stop and the attendants reappear. I pretend to be asleep in hopes they'll leave me alone. No chance, they make a point of coming over several times and telling me that they're going to need that seat. (Which is a stretch since the car is only half full.) For some reason it always pisses them off if you don't behave like a good school kid. I've been chewed out about it and seen other people get in trouble over it as well. It's not like it's hurting anyone, or causing any trouble. A while later they can't stand my impertinence any longer and they order me back to my assigned seat. The seat behind stays empty for the rest of the trip. I try not to get too worked up about it. It's demeaning to be treated this way, but there's not much you can do. I don't imagine arguing with them would be a good move. It's not so much the comfort issue, I'd have no problem if the train was full, it's the irrationality of it that gets me. I don't think it has ever occurred to them that their job is actually to make the customers happy. Instead, they seem entirely focused on keeping the unruly inmates under control.

I was organizing my pack in the Savannah train station when I realized there was someone standing beside me. I had noticed him and his pack when he boarded the train and wondered if he was a backpacker and if so, what trail he was headed for. I said hi. He said "I noticed your backpack. Mine is over there", nodding towards his pack. I asked where he was headed. He said "Here. This is Savannah isn't it?" He asked "Is there an 'occupy' here? Or some other campground?"  (Shelley will relate to how "occupy" is morphing from a movement to a campground.) I said I didn't know, I had a hotel. Suddenly I was no longer his bro and he wandered off.

Train stations are often conveniently downtown, but not this one. It was miles (literally) outside town. I could have taken one of the waiting taxis, but after sitting for so long I felt more like walking. I had downloaded some offline maps to my iPhone but I hadn't got a big enough area and I didn't have around the station. But I knew the river was north and downtown was east, so I headed for the rising sun. It took about an hour and a half of walking to reach downtown, but it was a beautiful sunny warm morning. (My sympathies went out to everyone at home in snowy Saskatoon!)

Almost everyone on the train with me was African-American. (Although that probably wasn't the case in first class.) As were the people I saw in the poor neighborhoods on the way into town. (Except for one white guy jogging down the street smoking a cigarette!) But once you got downtown the situation reversed and almost everyone was white. Sadly, some things take a long time to change.

I was pretty happy that the hotel (Planters Inn) had a room ready, even though it was only 9am. Refreshed after a shower and a change of clothes, I headed down the elevator. (Annoyingly, the stairs are emergencies only.) Four middle aged tourist looking women got on the elevator with me. They eyed me up and down and one of them said "We caught you!" Huh? I had no idea what they were talking about. "You were out late partying and you slept in and now you're going for breakfast." she explained. Sorry to disappoint their imaginations I said, "No, I just got in from the overnight train." I probably should have made up a good story about my wild night, I'm sure it would have made their day!

Schenectady

On the move again, I took the train (Amtrak now) from Montreal southward. Daylight savings changed overnight, making me a little nervous about getting to the station at the right time. An hour early would be ok, but an hour late would be bad.

There was the usual delay crossing the border, not a big deal when you expect it. And you get to stay in your seat on the train. The customs person asked me where I was born. I said "Arusha" and he gave me a blank look. "Sorry, Tanzania." Still the blank look. "Africa." His eyebrows elevated. "What nationality were your parents?" he asked. "British" seemed to satisfy him and he gave me my passport back. I like the quirk of being born somewhere "different" but in today's political climate I'm also very glad it wasn't somewhere like Iraq.

This train goes to New York which is where I need to switch trains to get further south. But one of the advantages of trains (in my opinion) is that they stop at more places, unlike airlines, which tend to just go from hub to hub. I'm sure there's lots of cool stuff in New York, but it's a huge city and likely a challenge to find somewhere to stay that's nice without being ridiculously expensive.

So I stopped in Schenectady, as I did on my way to Boston in the spring. Small towns are nicer stopovers - they're more walkable and hotels are cheaper. I'm staying at the Stockade Inn again - a small place in a historical building.

Having had sufficient wining and dining in Montreal I opted for the Moon and River Cafe for supper. Another funky place (but friendlier than L'Escalier) They don't serve alcohol and they don't even have an espresso machine OMG :-) Good vegetarian food though. I was tempted to hang around for the live music but I decided to read my book by the fireplace back at the inn instead.

It's fun to explore new places, but it's also nice to revisit places and know your way around. Last time I was here I had quite a search for a decent coffee. This time I knew exactly where to go - Villa Italia - only a short detour on the way to the Amtrak station :-)

I change trains in New York and travel overnight to arrive in Savannah in the morning. It's still cool here (frost on the cars this morning) I'm looking forward to putting the heavy jacket away once I get to Savannah, although I'm sure I'll need it again in on the way back.

It's nice to have wifi on the train now, and power outlets at every seat! On Via Rail from Saskatoon to Toronto there's no wifi and a single power outlet for all the passengers to share!

Too many people seem to regard travel as a necessary evil, getting stressed and irritated. Occasionally I find myself falling into the same trap, but for the most part I love the journey as much as the destination.

Penn Station was as big and busy as I expected, but it was also clean and bright and more modern than I expected. I looked for somewhere to have lunch. There was lots of fast food down in the station but it would be nice to find somewhere a little better. I made my way up to street level. At which point I was reminded that I'm really not a big city person and retreated into the known world of the station :-) I managed to get a sit down lunch at Fridays.

Next challenge was coffee. I asked the waitress if there was a Starbucks in the station. Her eyes lit up and she said "No, but there's Tim Hortons". As a Canadian, I'm happy for Tim Horton's international success, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I wandered around the fast food places looking for an espresso machine. I found one at a place called Chickpeas, not exactly where I would have looked first, but I'll take what I can get!

Unfamiliar transit terminals are always a challenge to figure out. There are never enough signs or instructions for newcomers and they all have their own unique inscrutable procedures. Penn Station was no different. Even for the long distance trains, they didn't announce the track till 15 min before, at which point there's a big scamble for everyone to get in line.

One common point on longer Amtrak trips is that the conductor assigns seats as you get on the train, according to some unknowable process. And regardless of how full the train is, they always pack people together, leaving half the car empty (or even entire empty cars), rather than letting people spread out. I hope there's at least some benefit to the staff, because it certainly wouldn't be the choice of the customers.

At least I managed the scramble well enough to get a window seat :-) Now it's just a matter of sitting back for the ride to Savannah.

(I planned to post this yesterday, but there was no wifi on the New York to Savannah train.)

Canal, Market, Sphere

click to view photos

It was a beautiful sunny day today, although still quite cool. It is November after all.

From the hotel I walked along the Lachine Canal to the Atwater Market, quite a distance, but a nice path. The market itself wasn't that impressive - more shops than a "farmer's market". Probably there's more outside in the summer.

After a coffee break at the market I took the metro downtown and went to the McCord Museum to see an exhibit of Edward Burtynsky's "Oil" photographs. Great photographs and worth seeing full size. And it happened to be the first Saturday of the month so admission was free.

I had lunch at the museum restaurant (quite nice) and then took the metro to the Biosphere. The geodesic dome was built for Expo '67 and is now a museum for the environment. They had some interesting exhibits and the sphere is cool, but overall it was a little disappointing. But I walked around the island for a while enjoying the sunny fall day.

Supper was at Barroco and it was excellent. Even booking the day before, all I could get was sitting at the bar. But that was entertaining as cocktails are a specialty and the bartender was kept busy preparing them. I left it up to the chef to come up with something vegetarian and I wasn't disappointed. I got a platter with arugala and grape salad, risotta, and wild mushrooms and roasted vegetables.Very tasty. I had the squash soup to start - served in a hollowed out pumpkin. And at the bartender's recommendation, the apple tart for dessert. I'm afraid I didn't try the cocktails and had a French Malbec instead.

Domes, Bugs, and Carrots

Had a good first day in Montreal. Breakfast at the hotel (Auberge du Vieux Port), coffee at Equi-Tasse. Then walked over to Berri-UQAM station to take the metro to the Biodome and Insectarium. (Not to be confused with the Biosphere.) Managed to figure out the metro without too much trouble, although it definitely seems to be aimed more at locals than tourists - few maps or instructions, and scant ticket machines.

The Biodome is next to the Olympic stadium, both are pretty amazing structures. The Biodome is split into four sections. First, the tropical section. I immediately saw some monkeys up in a tree and pulled out my camera. Big mistake - bringing a cold camera from barely above freezing outside into a hot humid tropical atmosphere inside immediately fogged it up totally. No photos for a while!

I smiled when I saw the capybara. The last time I saw a capybara was in the wild, beside a rain forest river in Peru. The river otters were entertaining as always. The beaver came out of the water to grab some food (half a potato?). There was a porcupine up in a tree.

Scuba divers were feeding the fish in a huge tank. At the surface, sea birds were paddling around. In the polar area puffins and penguins were entertaining. The penguins were fat little torpedoes in the water. 

From the Biodome it's a short walk to the Insectarium in the Botanical Gardens. It's not very big, but it's well worth visiting, if you enjoy the wonders of nature. It's a mix of dead and live bugs. Both are amazing!

Back at Berri-UQAM I hunted for a late lunch. I had recommendations, but they were all a long way away. Yelp showed a vegetarian restaurant, L'Escalier, with a good rating just a block away so I gave it a try. It turned out to be pretty funky as you can tell from the front door! (Maybe a little too funky for my liking!) I ordered soup and a sandwich. Somehow I only got the soup. It could have been my French, but I think they just weren't paying attention. The waitress was in the process of leaving and the cook was trying to have his own lunch. Oh well, the soup was good.

I'm not sure if I'm looking more like a local this trip, or if people don't expect tourists this time of the year. Whatever the reason, people keep trying to talk to me in French. And not just talk to me, but ask directions, including a kid on a skateboard! Previously, it seemed like everyone would switch to English as soon as I opened my mouth. Thankfully, I can usually figure out enough words to guess what they're asking, and give a finely crafted and exquisitely pronounced monosyllabic response :-)

I stopped at Equi-Tasse again for my afternoon coffee on the way back and started checking the internet for somewhere for supper. Of the recommendations I had collected, the only one that was nearby was Restaurant 400 Coups. But when I tried to make a reservation on-line, I could only get 9pm, and nothing available tomorrow. But I stopped by the restaurant and they offered me a spot at the bar at 6pm so I took it.

Supper was excellent. A glass of Canadian Gamay wine. A cucumber, grape, and goat cheese salad. And a main course of roasted carrots with whipped ricotta and mushrooms. Considering most chefs can't imagine a main course without meat, it's pretty amazing they would offer something centered on such a humble vegetable as the carrot. It was, of course, very tasty. And last, but not least, I had an exotic chocolate dessert that was scrumptious.

Those of you that don't know me so well probably won't believe this, but as much as I enjoy staying in wonderful boutique hotels and eating at fabulous restaurants, I'd really be just as happy freezing my butt off, feeling like crap at high altitude, sitting in a cramped tent in a storm on the side of some mountain. Somehow I've ended up in a situation where the former is much easier to do than the latter. Obviously took a wrong turn somewhere :-) And environmentally, there would be much less guilt on the mountain than in the hotel. Oh well, can't dwell on that right now, I have to get back to my hotel and get ready for my dinner reservation!

Here are some photos from the Biodome and Insectarium: (with the usual indoor low light challenges)

click to view photos

The Rational Optimist

"It is the long ascent of the past that gives lie to our despair" - H.G. Wells

I just finished reading Matt Ridley's recent book The Rational Optimist.

I was prompted to read it by his Long Now talk. I find it hard to be optimistic these days, but I try to read a variety of viewpoints. One of the problems with today's abundance of information is that it is all too easy to only read material that you agree with. Not a good plan if you want an open mind.

It's an interesting book, that makes a lot of good points. There have always been people forecasting disaster and it makes good press so it tends to get amplified. And often they turn out to be wrong. By many measures the overall trend of the human race has been upward.

I would like to point out that when people raise the possibility of a disaster and then it doesn't happen, that doesn't mean there was never a danger. Take Y2K for example. Look at all the fuss there was, and look at what a non-event it turned out to be. But if no one had made a fuss, if all the preventative work had not been done, maybe there really would have been a disaster. Sometimes when you cry wolf, there really is a wolf.

My biggest complaint about the book is that it is overwhelmingly people oriented. Although the non-human environment is mentioned, it is definitely secondary. It's natural for people to be people-centric. But the history of mankind is one of expanding horizons, from family to tribe to race to all of humankind. I'd like to think that the natural continuation of that is to expand our empathy and concern and attention to our whole environment, not just the human part.

The book seems to assume that the measure of "success" is economic growth. Even within the human sphere, I have my doubts about the value, wisdom, and feasibility of unending growth. Contrary to popular belief, more is not always better. Obviously, poor people can benefit from a higher standard of living. But those of us in rich countries may already have gone too far. Depending on which study you pay attention to, more money doesn't even make us happier. Having more income to spend on more stuff to fill up our ever larger homes has little redeeming value and likely does more harm than good in the big picture. And to further complicate the story, our "growth" in the last few decades has almost entirely gone to the already rich top few percent. Do the billionaires really need more billions? I guess it gives the other 99% something to dream about. But is that much more productive than dreaming about winning the lottery?

Still, it was an interesting read, and a nice change from doom and gloom even if you don't agree with all of it.

Outgoing

I remember sitting in an airport one time thinking that the travelers could be divided into two categories - the ones heading out, and the ones heading home. And that this categorization cut across most other groupings - it had nothing to do with race or gender or education.

Right now, I'm outgoing, headed away from Saskatoon on the train again. I find my mindset is quite different at the beginning of a trip than it is at the end. The beginning is a process of letting go, of breaking free from normal life. The end means looking ahead to reentry into the regular routine, back to all the issues you temporarily left behind.

We just passed one of my favorite parts of the train trip east from Saskatoon - the section along the Qu'appelle valley near the Saskatchewan / Manitoba border. In the spring when I passed through it was green and wetly flooded. Now, the leaves are all gone, the water has retreated, and dry browns predominate. Unlike the prairies there are hills and trees. Unlike the seemingly endless boreal forest, there are still open views.

I also like the lakes, rivers, rocks, and forests of northern Ontario. They make me wish I had my kayak with me! (Although it doesn't seem right to call it "northern" Ontario when it's actually in the southern half of the province.)

Nine of us got on in Saskatoon, more than last time I rode the train. Less foreign tourists this time, they mostly travel westward through the mountains and in the summer. Quite a few people are traveling all the way from Vancouver to Toronto. A few are switching trains to continue on to Montreal or Halifax. I don't imagine too many are taking trains all the way to Florida the way I am :-)

When you fly, you jump over countries and continents. Taking the train or bus, you are, instead, immersed in the country. You cannot escape the size of the continent, or the variety of the terrain.

Another aspect of riding the train is that you are surrounded by other people that take the train. That sounds self evident, but in any other group, taking the train is an oddity. This sense of being with people that share a certain common ground doesn't really happen with flying, since flying is so common, and you have little time or circumstance to mingle with the other passengers.

When you are in "sleeper" class on Via Rail meals are included. This helps pass the time and also forces even introverts like me to meet some of the fellow travelers. On many cruise ships you have an assigned table and sit with the same few people every meal. Here, you are seated at a different table with different people at each meal. Last night I had supper with a pair of cute young girls 2 and 3 years old. My main fear was that I was going to end up wearing some of the food they were waving about! As usual, the food was excellent and there was always a good vegetarian option.

I have a few days in Montreal and a break from the train before continuing south.

Black Hills

We recently took a road trip down to the Black Hills. The plan was to climb, although I was worried whether the weather would cooperate. As it turned out the weather wasn't the problem. Shelley hurt her back just before the trip. She thought she'd be able to climb, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Of course, the weather was perfect!

We did manage to hike up Harney Peak (the high point in South Dakota) and visit Wind Cave. I've always avoided the caves because I thought they be too touristy, but this one is a national park and was quite interesting.

We haven't been down here for a few years and never this late in the fall. We were surprised how much stuff was closed for the season. And two of our favorite places in Custer - The Songbird Cafe and the Bank Coffee House were not only closed, but up for sale. We did find a couple of good coffee shops (Common Ground and Green Bean) and a nice restaurant (Bay Leaf Cafe) in Spearfish.

The Mickelson Trail (by bike) and the Centennial Trail (on foot) looked interesting. Might have to go back and do those one day.

click to view photos

Rules are made to be broken

I recently booked the train from Saskatoon to Montreal. Literally a few hours after I booked, Via Rail announced a 50% discount. I was in the middle of a road trip, but when I got home a couple of days later I called Via Rail to see if they would do anything.

I navigated the usual maze-like computerized phone system (I really hate those things - I can only think they are designed to discourage people from calling.) When I finally got to talk to a human being they pointed out that I had 24 hours to cancel my booking and re-do it with the discount. I explained that (a) I wasn't aware of this, and (b) I was travelling and wasn't able to do this. They "helpfully" pointed out that if I had read my reservation email I would have seen the 24 hour cancellation. I checked, and it's there, at the bottom, buried with all the other terms and conditions that no one reads.

They said it was too late. I asked if there wasn't something they could do. They passed me over to "customer support" (which raises the question of who I was talking to initially?).

I went through my whole story again, and got pretty much the same answer - "there's nothing we can do". That may be true in terms of the powers of that individual, but in terms of Via Rail, it's patently untrue - they can do whatever they want. It's not like it's illegal to bend your own rules.

The final explanation was that even if they did allow me to cancel and rebook, I wouldn't save much money. Huh? It turns out that the 50% is off some hypothetical "regular" price that is higher than what you would normally pay. (I also hate sleazy marketing scams.)

I gave up, it isn't worth trying to fight this kind of bureaucracy. There's not much joy in trying to deal with people that are just going through the motions. Of course, by the letter of their rules, they are perfectly in the right.

(On the positive side, I had only booked one direction so I was able to get the discount on the return trip.)

I can only hope my own staff understands that there are times when it pays to bend the rules. And that rules shouldn't be an excuse not to care about and look after your customers.

Overheard

I'm not sure it's a good idea to eavesdrop on the guys doing work on your house:

"Oh my goodness"

"I don't know if this is going to work."

"Don't worry, s**t happens."

"That's in the wrong place!"
response: "Too late now."

"Hey, I'm fixing up your f**kups, so you don't have to worry about it."

(but as far as I can tell, it all ended up fine)

Back on Wheels

It's a "hybrid" Giant Seek 0 - Shimano Alfine 8 speed internal hub, hydraulic disk brakes, 700 x 32 tires, from the Bike Doctor.

My previous bike was a Cannondale F600 mountain bike - quite a different beast. But the fact is, I'm not riding off pavement these days so I decided I might as well get a bike that's more suited to the riding I'm actually doing - which is getting around town. I even put fenders on it - so much for my image!

Without the front shock and with skinnier tires, it's definitely a "harder" ride. You notice the bumps in the road a lot more (and avoid them more!) But it also feels fast and responsive. The internal gears shift smoothly and easily. (Although I'm still getting used to the shifting being "backwards") The range of gears seems ok. I think I would have preferred the range a little lower - I haven't found myself using the top few gears so far. But the lowest gear is still pretty low so it's ok.

I'm not sure how it'll be in the winter - that can be a lot more like "mountain" biking. I can still put studded tires on, albeit skinnier ones. And most of the time in the winter I ended up riding with my shock locked out because it had gone flat. And when it got really cold, shifting often didn't work reliably. From what I've heard the internal hub should still work ok when it's cold - we'll see.

I've been interested in the internal hubs for a while. The straight chain path and internal gears should (in theory) be nice low maintenance, especially in the slush and grit of spring and fall. Shimano has a new 11 speed version which sounds even better, but the Bike Doctor didn't have any yet. In fact, the Seek 0 was the only bike they had in stock with internal gears. Fall might be a good time for deals but not so good for selection. (and of course, this bike wasn't one of the ones on sale!) MEC has a bike with the 11 speed hub which looks pretty good, but I'd rather buy locally. Especially when you want to get good service. (And MEC was out of stock anyway, eliminating any temptation.)

It's a fairly nondescript gray which suits me. (Even the branding is subdued.) I figure it's less likely to get stolen if it doesn't look too flashy. Although the disk brakes are a bit of a give-away if you know to look for them.

I think Shelley is just going to get another mountain bike. Not because she's riding off pavement any more than I am, but more because that's what she's always ridden and is used to. (And I have to admit, the mountain biker "image" is more appealing than "commuter"!)  Although I've been riding mountain bikes for quite a while, before that I rode "ten speeds" for many years, so this style of bike isn't as alien to me.

I reinforced the door of the shed so it won't be quite as easy to break into. But it's still just a flimsy metal shed so it's never going to be that hard to get into. I'm locking my bike up inside the shed as well - I would really be pissed to have the new one stolen. And I wouldn't put it past the thieves to come back in hopes of finding new bikes.

I'm happy to have a bike again. I hate to drive, so without a bike I'm reduced to walking, which is ok, but nowhere near as quick to zip around or go longer distances.

Sprinklers & Freezing

Our first overnight freezing temperatures a few days ago, but the sprinklers had still come on in the park.

Taken with Canon G12

Paddling into Autumn

With the weather still holding I couldn't resist heading north with my kayak. Had a great paddle around most of the Bagwa Loop although I didn't do the portages. (I'd rather paddle than slog through the mud.) Instead I stayed both nights at the Pease Point campsite and on Saturday I paddled through Bagwa and Lily Lake, walked across the portage to have a look at Clare Lake, and then paddled back. Quite a long day with meandering about, and of course with the wind inevitably against me going back.

I didn't see any moose this year, but saw a few bald eagles reasonably close. And there were ducks and the odd Canada goose, a pelican, and a few Snow geese. The loons were making their iconic cries. Not many people around.

As forecast, the weather started to turn Sunday morning. It was clear and calm all night but the clouds gathered and the wind picked up as I paddled back. I seem to get rougher water for the paddle back. The waves were getting to be about three feet high in the worst parts, leading to a bit of a roller coaster, and the occasional splash in the face. Even with the spray skirt on, water still tends to get inside resulting in a wet ride. Thankfully a few of the bays were sheltered enough to take a breather. When I got to the end I was lucky to have a cart waiting at my end of the rail portage. And the rain held off until I was just about back to the car :-)

I haven't been out paddling much this summer so my arms and shoulders was pretty stiff and sore by the end. But it was a good kind of tired. And it was great to get out and enjoy our wonderful northern lakes.

(click to view photos)

The Grackles Come to Visit

Someone coming to the door said they thought they were in the Hitchcock movie "The Birds". A flock of Common Grackles that has been hanging around the neighborhood the last few days discovered our bird feeder. There were a lot of them - maybe a hundred. It was hard to get good photos, every time I came to the window they would all fly away. They're probably on their way migrating south. Often when you see them they just look black, but in the right light they are actually quite colorful. They seemed to be going after the bigger food that the sparrows don't eat like the corn and peanuts.

(Click on the photos for a larger version.)

Along the River

I've been kicking myself all weekend for not getting out on a kayak trip or something on this last bit of beautiful summer weather. So I took a hike to Waneskewin and back to at least spend some time outdoors.

It's not exactly wilderness, but it's always nice along the river. I came around a corner and four great blue herons took off from a sandbar, gangly but gracefu. An owl (long eared?) rose up out of the underbrush in front of me and perched on a branch eying me suspiciously. A hawk circled low around a coulee. Canada geese called from the river. Grasshoppers exploded up out of the grass all around me. Frogs jumped off the bank into the river. A muskrat dived in and swam away. Fish disappeared in a swirl of water. Clam shells and crayfish claws littered the shore. Ants feasted on a caterpillar. Bees and butterflies enjoyed the last flowers of the summer. I enjoyed the last of the summer!

click to view photos

Photos taken with the G12 this time.

Fall Feast

Beautiful black and yellow wasps feeding on a half eaten crab apple.

taken with iPhone 3GS

Amazing Riding

Climbing Weekend

Shelley and I just got back from a quick climbing trip to Kananaskis. We left Thursday after work, climbed Friday at Barrier Bluffs, and Saturday we did Joy on Mt. Indefatigable. Sunday, somewhat sore and worn out from the long day on Joy, we had a leisurely breakfast and drove home.

Joy is an easy climb but a long one - about 10 pitches on the face and then three pitches or so of loose exposed ridge scrambling, followed by a long steep hike down. We had some trouble finding the right way down and ended up getting the rope back out to rappel a final cliff band. We'd done Joy before, quite a few years ago, but selective memory had edited out the ridge and descent.

It was great to get out, and the weather was beautiful as you can tell from the blue skies in the photos.

click to view photos

Dragonfly in the Grass

One morning a few days ago, I found this guy in the shade on some dew soaked grass, not moving. I wasn't sure he was alive but when I carefully picked him up he grabbed onto my finger. I carried him home and set him in the sun while I ran inside for my camera. I took a few shots quickly, but the grass wasn't the best background so I picked him up to move him. He must have just been cold and was warming up now. He started to vibrate his wings, which I've read insects do to help warm up, in the same way we might do some jumping jacks. Before I had a chance to set him down for more photos he must have warmed up sufficiently and off he went. So this is the best shot I got:



There have been a lot of dragonflies around this summer. No doubt the result of several wet years. I'm happy to have them around eating the mosquitos. They are amazing fliers and hunters.

Climbing Gym Reaches for Sustainability

Britain's Biggest Indoor Climbing Gym Reaches for Sustainability : TreeHugger

This Culture Is #/?*#-+

An article by Derrick Jensen in Orion magazine. I wasn't familiar with Orion but Candace Savage recommended it and it looks excellent. Even if you don't want to pay to subscribe, they publish a lot of content on line for free. If you're not familiar with Jensen, this is a mild introduction.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6350/

iPhone Photos

It does surprisingly well, considering this is an older 3GS, not the 4 with the better camera.

Peppers

I love the profusion of produce at the farmers market this time of year.

iPhone + Lightroom (click for larger view)

Patagonia Time Lapse

Beautiful time lapse video of Patagonia by Adam Colton.



As usual, it's worth viewing it larger size.

Happy Birthday Mendel

Cute Google graphic for Gregory Mendel's 189th birthday:

Growing is Forever

Watch it on Vimeo to get a larger version.

Urban Friends

I went for a run this morning and even within the city it's great to see other creatures besides humans.

The pelicans were out cruising the river. They are such beautiful flyers, although a little awkward looking taking off and landing.

A Northern flicker was out in the grass. They are the only woodpeckers that feed on the ground, often on ants. They are even known to crush ants and rub the resulting formic acid on themselves to kill parasites. I've seen quite a few of these this year.

A couple of Yellow warblers were hopping around in the bushes and trees. Such colorful little birds.

After my run, when I was sitting on a bench watching the river go by, a short-tailed weasel (aka stoat) ran across the path in front of me. It didn't seem to notice me and stopped under my bench for a moment before running a bit farther down the path and disappearing into the underbrush.

Life is good.

Fern Meadow

A beautiful meadow carpeted with ferns. This was from our recent Appalachian Trail hike. The video is not the greatest quality but I hope you get a feel for how beautiful it was. The music is, suitably, Copland's Appalachian Spring. (I thought I was using a short enough clip of the music to be legit, but it got detected and can't be played in Germany because of copyright.)



For a bigger version, click on the Vimeo button at the bottom right.

Shot with a Canon G12 and stabilized with iMovie.

2011-07-07 Update: The video quit working on YouTube, probably because of the copyright issue, so I switched to Vimeo.

Spreading the Word - EcoFriendly Sask

For some time I've wanted to do something to help the environment, but it's hard to know where to start. I have this blog where I sometimes talk about environmental issues, but I doubt whether my rants really do much to help the environment.

And so EcoFriendly Sask was born.

My sister Penny has a blog as well (Wanderlust and Words). I really liked the way she told the stories of people and their passions. She also has a weekly Flavourful Saskatoon post about local food happenings.

What if we were to start a blog (and Facebook and Twitter, of course) to talk about local environmental stories and happenings?

At first we were both a little sceptical as there are already so many environmental organizations and websites. But there aren't any websites focusing on the local environmental news and issues in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. No one was gathering the news from all the different organizations, each with their own focus. And no one was telling the stories of the local people and their passions.

Did you know that Saskatchewan's newest national park, Grasslands, was recently expanded? Did you know that the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives has a Saskatchewan office that recently released a report on Sustainable Power Options to Complement Wind and Solar? Do you know which businesses are out there if you want to install solar panels or geothermal? Do you know what events are going on this month related to the environment? That's the kind of information we wanted to share.

The more we thought about it, the more it made sense. I was already following the environmental news, and Penny had already developed a reporting style that we thought would work well.

We brainstormed for names and ended up with EcoFriendly Sask. We're not sure where we'll end up, but we're going to start by gathering the news and stories on the environmental front in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan and passing it on via blog, Facebook, and Twitter. We hope to raise awareness, educate, and encourage.

I hope you'll join us at EcoFriendly Sask, and please Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Pike Lake

A few photos from kayaking this morning at Pike Lake.

(click to view photos)

Pool of Possibilities

I stopped by the Mendel today for coffee at Museo and to check out the Pool Project exhibit of Courtney Milne's photographs.

If you get a chance I would definitely recommend having a look at the exhibit - wonderful photographs.

My father went on photography workshops with Courtney and was always envious of his photographs and his success. I also wish I could take such beautiful photographs.



A nice video about Courtney and his pool project. Best full screen.

Complete Streets

Complete Streets: It’s About More Than Bike Lanes - interesting video on the issues of bike lanes, pedestrians, and traffic in New York.

One thing I noticed in this video is that not only are the bike lanes inside the parked cars, but there is also a space between the parked cars and the bike lane so you don't get wiped out by someone opening their car door.

Unfortunately, this also reminds me about how minimal our biking infrastructure is in Saskatoon. If you want to get wiped out by a car door in Saskatoon I suggest biking south on the downtown part of Spadina. Although this is nominally a bike route, you're squeezed between busy traffic and people frequently getting in and out of parked cars. If someone does open their door in front of you, you'd better be able to stop since your only other option is to swerve out into the traffic. Saskatoon's idea of bike infrastructure is to paint a few sharrow chevrons on traffic lanes and fantasize that somehow that makes it all better for bikers. Sorry, but that's pathetic. A recent study doesn't show much benefit to cyclists. (Their conclusions are the opposite, but aren't supported by the data as far as I can see.) I guess they might be better than nothing, but not by much.

Prairie Skies

The living room faces the sunset so when I see colors like this through the trees sometimes I have to grab my camera and try to capture it. The mosquitoes also enjoy the opportunity to feast on me while I'm standing in the driveway taking pictures!

Conservation in the Real World

Kareiva began by recalling the environmental "golden decade" of 1965-75, set in motion by the scientist Rachel Carson. In quick succession Congress created the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act---which passed the Senate unanimously.

Green influence has been dwindling ever since. A series of polls in the US asked how many agreed with the statement, "Most environmentalists are extremists, not reasonable people." In 1996, 32% agreed. In 2004, 43% agreed. Now it's over 50% who think environmentalists are unreasonable.

Peter Kareiva: Conservation in the Real World - The Long Now

Some interesting points in this summary of his talk.

Reflections on Water

Here are a few photos I took wandering around the waterfront of the old town in Montreal. The blue and yellow tents are Cirque du Soleil. Some of the reflected color is from graffiti. I find water and reflections fascinating.

(click to view photos)

Note: These are all quite tweaked in Lightroom - boosting the contrast and saturation a lot. Here are the before and after versions of one of them:

China's Unthinkable Population Problem

China’s Unthinkable Population Problem - Long Views: The Long Now Blog

We struggle to lower the birth rate, and then as soon as we do, the economists panic because their myth of infinite growth is threatened. You get, OMG, an aging population that isn't as good as consumer fodder and actually wants services back from the economy.

Countries, like Italy and Malaysia, try to increase their birth rate by giving financial incentives. And if they succeed, then what? About face and panic about the population problem?

I applaud China for not giving in to the economists and for maintaining their one child policy. It's those same economists that got us into our current bind.

Great Places don't have bottled water

Last night I went to the Spacing Road Show event put on by Great Places Saskatoon. It was an interesting discussion.

But I was disappointed to see the speakers / panel with bottled water. Here's the email I sent them:

Thanks for the event last night, it was interesting. 

One small suggestion - don't use bottled water for the speakers and panel. Even if the bottles are recycled/recyclable/compostable there is still a lot of energy involved in manufacturing and transporting them. All to get water that could just as well come from the tap. (and hopefully not served in disposable cups) 

I realize that Great Places focus is not strictly environmental, but obviously the environment plays a large role in great places. 

People attending these kinds of events look at them as good examples. If they see you using bottled water, they are going to think it's ok.

Chebeague Island

I love the ocean. Maybe it's something to do with living on the prairies, after all, I love the mountains too. Or maybe it goes back to childhood summer holidays on Vancouver Island with many happy hours on the beach.

To see a little more of New England and to get to the ocean, Shelley and I took the train from Boston to Portland (Maine) and then the ferry to Chebeague Island where we stayed at the Chebeague Island Inn. The inn is expensive, but we figured it balanced out with our (free) nights of camping.

It was a nice quiet contrast to the hustle and bustle of Boston. The inn is a lovely place to stay. It has a great verandah to sit and look a the view, an attractive lounge, and a great restaurant (the only "fancy" restaurant on the island). The menu doesn't have any vegetarian main courses, but we threw ourselves on the mercy of the chef and he created wonderful meals for us. The deserts were also great, especially the homemade gelato and ice cream.

The island isn't very big, just four or five miles long. The inn provides bicycles and it's an easy ride around. There isn't a lot to do or see. (There is a small golf course right next to the inn, but we're not golfers.) But if I've got the beach, I don't need much more - I can spend hours poking around finding shells and crabs and watching the birds. When the tide was out we walked over to Little Chebeague Island. (Where you can camp.)

We didn't have much time in Portland, just enough to have lunch as we passed through to and from the ferry. On the way there we ate at the Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro, and on the way back at the Olive Cafe. Both were good. (Thanks to Yelp and its iPhone app for helping us discover them.)

(click to view photos)

Pedestrians and Falcons

On my way home I stopped in Albany instead of Schenectady. Due to track maintenance I had to take the bus from Boston, rather than the train. That's fine except the bus terminal is in Albany, and the train station is in Rensselaer, on opposite sides of the river. There is a bridge, but it's a freeway with massive cloverleafs (cloverleaves?) either end. Shelley and I had come this way heading for our hike. Google maps had shown a walking route across the bridge, but its walking info isn't always accurate. The bus terminal is under the freeway overpasses and we couldn't see any way to get up there. And it wouldn't surprise me if there was no allowance for those pesky pedestrians. After all, they just get in the way of the supremely important traffic. I asked if there was a way to walk across the bridge and they said no, you had to take a taxi. Which we did, but the taxi had no meter and charged us $15 for a two minute ride. To add insult to injury, from the taxi we could see what looked like a walkway across the bridge.

This time I had time to explore and found the entrance to the walkway just a short distance from the bus terminal, connected, logically (for a change) to the paths along the river. As it turned out, google maps was accurate.

In case anyone googles for this, here are some directions: from the bus, head towards the river, past the Holiday Inn. Take the underpass at the end of Broadway. The walkway starts just on the river side of the underpass. On the other side of the river (Rensselaer) you need to make a u-turn off the end of the ramp to get to the small bridge across the train tracks to the station. It's an easy 10 or 15 minute walk.

On my way across the bridge a pair of Peregrine falcons were swooping and circling, making alarm cries. I'm not sure what they were upset about, but there was some construction on the bridge. Maybe it had disturbed or was close to their nest on the bridge? I stopped to watch their flying skills from up close for a change. Beautiful birds and one of the (rare) conservation success stories since they were almost wiped out by DDT and other pesticides, but have since made a good recovery.

Six Days on the AT

Our first day of hiking had a little bit of everything. We started by taking the bus from Rutland to Manchester. Then we had to find our way a couple of miles through and out of town to the start of the trail. I was glad to see the trail actually existed since all we had to go by was a line on on outdated topo map. The morning was already hot and humid with towering thunder clouds on the horizon. We were glad to get off the sunny streets and into the deep shade of the forest.

We didn't see any other people except a couple coming down the trail - a lucky meeting for us because they told us the trail we'd been planning to use to connect to the AT (Appalachian Trail) was impassable. (A windstorm had blown down an area of trees and the beavers had built damns that flooded it.) Luckily, there was another alternative trail we could take.

As the afternoon progressed, the distant rumbles of thunder gradually grew closer. When the rain finally arrived it was light and we were too hot to put on rain gear. But it turned into a downpour and we had no choice. Through the worst of it we huddled under the biggest tree we could find (not very big) as marble size hail fell. Once it slowed down we continued hiking. Needless to say we got pretty wet. But it turned out to be the only rain we'd get on the hike, so we can't complain.

We considered stopping at Bourne Pond but decided to continue on to Branch Pond. It had stopped raining by then and we found a good campsite by the pond. Unfortunately, the black flies liked the site (and us) too so we retreated inside the tent. It was still hot enough that we just hung out in wet clothes and gradually dried out.

Day two went smoother except for an annoyance that plagued me for the rest of the hike. Soon after we started hiking my left knee started to feel a little "funny". I thought it would be fine after warming up. But instead it started to give twinges of pain if I moved it the wrong way. It got steadily worse. Eventually I told Shelley I didn't think I wanted to walk on it any more that day.

Of course, I'd planned our hike to be away from roads and towns so at this point it was 20 miles to the next town and 20 miles back to where we started. Not a pleasant thought if my knee got much worse. On the positive side, I'd had a similar problem on my Lake Superior hike and it had improved after a few days. And it wasn't the joint - I could put my full weight on it - it just hurt to bend/lift the knee. It seemed like a tendon/ligament issue.

The next day I took some ibuprofen and borrowed one of Shelley's trekking poles and we started hiking. It still hurt but it didn't seem to be getting any worse so we kept going. As long as I could keep the leg straight it was fine. That was easy when the trail was smooth and level, but most of the time we were going up or down, over rocks and fallen logs. My good leg definitely got a workout compensating. Thankfully the knee gradually improved and by the end of the hike was much better. We went a little slower, but we still did the 20 km per day that we had planned.

A lush green forest overflowing with life is one of the most beautiful sights. And the green of new leaves with the sun filtering through is one of the most beautiful colors. I'm amazed at how much forest there is here (in the Appalachians). Above the populated valleys, the hills are totally covered with trees. Of course, it's all been logged before, multiple times, so the trees are relatively small - the big ones were 12 or 18 inches in diameter. In the towns you can find some older trees that are 3 feet or more in diameter. The original old growth forest must have been impressive.

Although you don't get many views hiking through the forest, we were glad of the cool shade since it was quite warm and humid. And the occasional views were all the same anyway - rolling hills covered in trees!

We saw a variety of wildlife - deer, beaver, porcupine, salamanders, garter snakes, tadpoles, frogs, and various birds (mostly heard but not seen). A porcupine visited our campsite the last evening just as it was getting dark. He approached with a rolling gait, stopped a couple of times to eye us, then continued on to a tree that grew at an angle. He climbed up the tree to where the leaves and branches were, about 50 feet off the ground and stayed there all night - munching away, judging by the sounds. He was gone by the time we got up in the morning. The salamanders were Eastern Newts. We saw a bright orange terrestrial juvenile "red eft" and several olive green aquatic adults.

The AT itself is well marked with white "blazes" (rectangular paint marks) on the trees. The trail is even marked when it goes through towns. We didn't run into many people on the trail, a handful each day, but there were usually people at the campsites and shelters. We tried to find campsites away from the standard spots but it was harder than expected in the thick forest.

Overall it was a great hike, definitely recommended if you're in the area.

(click to view photos)

* A lot of these photos are by Shelley