Saturday, August 22, 2009

Oh, Alexandra...




This week we had a chance to break out of it for a couple of days. Gerry and Alice VandeBurgt had offered to be here to feed the dogs and attend to whatever might need attention.
A couple of weeks ago we had dreams of going to Oregon for two weeks but that never happened...not a good time, too many things to do...

Seeing that G. & A. were planning to come here anyway so Gerry could do some carpentry stuff, we asked them to stay for a couple of nights.

On Wednesday we took off for the Fraser Canyon. A lot of new caches had been placed there so it looked like we could easily spend two or three days there.

The Fraser Canyon never stops to fill me with awe and wonder for all its beauty...not necessarily 'nice' beauty but often brute forces, unstoppable currents, mountains shaken by the hand of God and dropped down again so that all the seams run any which way...

It is hard to catch depth in pictures...this lady, below, is a few feet away from a 100 meter drop into the river...it makes me uneasy in my stomach just to look at the picture...but she has no fear...


On our way along the river near Yale, we came across this interesting structure...



We have had a lot of very large and destructive forest fires this summer but fortunately that did not affect this area. We did see smoke, probably from the fires that are still burning near Lilloet.

A pretty picture of a sand castle?


One spot that always intrigued me as we drove through the canyon was the reference to the Alexandra bridge, the first bridge across the Fraser in that area to accommodate the Cariboo Wagon Road which was built during and after the gold rush(es). I had seen glimpses of the bridge but never been close to it. This time we had no choice for there was a cache across the bridge so down the very good trail we went, across the railroad, of course, because they are just everywhere, and suddenly, there was the bridge. Not a ramshackle, ready to drop-into-the-river structure of rotting wood but a solid steel bridge with a solid deck.

But alas...the deck is of the kind that is in my bad books...it is a metal grate so that when you walk on it you are at all times aware of how high you are above the rushing current...no escaping that...
Look ahead and up as you go, you say? Don't work, I am afraid...my eyes are inexorably drawn to where I need to walk, and the spot I am about to set my foot is on see-through grate...step after step after step...

I have to give myself credit that I ventured out out onto the bridge...just like the little doggie that just could not stay behind but had to follow its owners...but its poor feet were too small for the sizeable openings of the grate so it had to place its feet on the edges...you get the picture...it made it back safely...and so did I after turning around after about 30 or 40 feet. It just was no go...

It helped to know that I did not really have to make it to the other side because I was not there just by myself but accompanied by my faithful caching partner who is either going or gone depending on the situation. This time she had no problem being the going one so there she went.

It is unfortunate that we did not take any pictures there, choosing instead to do a bit of a running commetary on the video camera. However, since I do not know whether you can attach that to a blog or how to get you to look at it in one way or another, you may never see it...too bad because I found myself to be quite capable of keeping the chatter going, much better than my feet a little earlier. Instead of the bridge, here is the Alexandra Lodge along the TC...


Mrs. Going made it safely to the other side which put her out of view because the bridge has a bit of a hump like most of their ilk...so now it was waiting and watching other people cross the bridge. Quite a variety of nationalities...I heard French, German, Dutch and what not all...

I was mightily comforted in my soul when one member of a party decided that he was not the graty type either. I endeavoured to draw him into a conversation about being kindred spirits and all that, but he declined because he did not understand me. Briefly I entertained the idea of conveying my thoughts to him by means of mime but it was beyond me...well, if you think it is so easy you try it...

Make the graty shapes with your two hands...yes you need two hands, that's how big the holes were...than try to step on your hands and walk at the same time...and while doing that show well camouflaged fear...note that little touch...show something that is camouflaged? try it sometimes...all the while being in extreme agony, of course, because my hands are not made to walk on...So, in spite of the fact that I had it all figured out, I had to give it a pass. I let him go to pick blackberries...

In the meantime, time was a-moving right along. The estimated time of return by Mrs. G. passed and passed some more...quite some more actually...it became somewhat uncomfortable to be honest...I knew she had to go downslope toward the river somewhat and I was beginning to worry whether she had slipped and hurt herself or what...mind you, I was not too greatly worried...there were enough people at the other side to be there to help her should she need it, saving me from having to cross after all...

All is well that ends well...she did return, rejoicing at having found the cache at the fourth maple she visited...maple was the hint, you see...
However, when she had arrived safely on the safe side, the exertion combined with the heat got to her (I have not had time so far to mention the heat...38C!)...she became very uncomfortable, red, and nauseous...perhaps a light case of heat stroke...
It did not last too long, and our way back up to the car was mostly in the shade (shadow for those who get the wink...:)) so by the time we got to the jeep she was okay again.

At one of our caches we were forced to search for gold...mom's necklace broke spilling the two pendants into the gravel...fortunately, her sharp eyes quickly located them among the rocks...


We had booked a room in Cache Creek because we could not really find anything that appealed to us in the closer-by towns so when we had enough of caching for a day (we had done 26 by then) we drove an hour to get to CC...

Wave to the old Indian if you wish...


We went for dinner to a small restaurant and found that their AC had broken down...why we did not turn around and go somewhere else we will never know so I cannot tell you...but we made it through our meal and went back to our AC'd room...

Seeing that it was not yet totally dark we went out again to do one last cache but we failed to find it...which was a good motivation for doing more caching the next day...so see you then.

3 comments:

Thelma said...

You can post a video on the blog! Same as a photo. I do believe, however, that your miming skills need to be recorded for posterity.

Eddie said...

Glad to see you got away from the day to day and had a chance to spend time in the Canyon. It's a potpourri of caching through there now; a lot of it is drive up so the caches just stack up.

have fun you two...

PS Video through the blog site is a bit slow; better to post to YouTube and embed the file.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for your charming musings! I do so miss just "tootling around" - from one adventure to the next with my kids as I have spent the last 2 summers working quite a bit. I will keep reading and looking :O)You have given me cause to smile and escape.
Cheers,
Melissa
Maple Ridge