hikayaking

enjoying nature and the great outdoors

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Spring blossoms are blooming.

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"However ill-founded, however misguided, hope is the basic stratagem of mortality. We need it, and an art that fails to offer it fails us."

"Facing It", from Dancing at the Edge of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin

[radical-revolution]

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A little bird who visited during lunch.

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A beautiful day for a hike. Followed a game trail to a little cozy nook for lunch.

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I love a good charcuterie board.

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Dakota 576 Crash Site from (19-April-1944). While on a navigation exercise, the aircraft overshot the Port Hardy Airport and ran out of fuel.

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Hiking through the forest after a fresh rain.

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The fluke of a diving orca while whale watching from my kayak.

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A refreshing start to the morning.

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A couple of starfish off the port bow (left hand side) of the kayak.

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Sometimes a crab will look like a grumpy old man of the sea, ready to chase me out of their yard.

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Is that really just a tiny island, or is it the camouflaged top to the entrance of a secret lair for a James Bond villain? I wonder. I mean they have to hide somewhere. Why not here?

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When I solo hike, I'll find these places (sometimes on the trail, sometimes off-trail) where I am completely at peace. Can be a little outcropping with an open view to the landscape below - a rocky finger of a mountain stretching into the sea - a moss covered forest floor surrounded by the graceful presence of great fir trees or red cedars. It's hard to explain. While technically, I am alone, I am not actually lonely. I've often wondered if I'm simply feeling the ultimate form of acceptance. After all, the land accepts me as I am, warts and all. Doesn't judge. Doesn't scold. Just let's me be me. Whatever's going on, it's beautiful and I appreciate it.

[hikayaking]

I love the shallow waters at the edge of a beach, where freshwater streams trickle into the ocean. There's always a colorful collection of stones to explore and play with.

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The thump, a thump, thump of a driftwood log, knocking at the edge of a beach.

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Rainforest Passage