Midway!

After a rough night past Chute lake (I had bad stomach problems,  hot and flushed but shivering), we cruised past Hydraulic lake and down into beaverdell.  Looking at trackleaders, we saw that Monica and Trish were just up the road at the pizza place so I rode up to say hi, but they were gone. Checking again, I saw that their track was from an hour ago, so we missed them. Off we rode down to Taurus canyon for a quick dip in the river. I hiked back up to the bikes and was packing stuff up when Trish rode up - they had made a wrong turn (due to some bad directions from drunk locals) and lost an hour.

We rode with them to Rock Creek,  where we stopped for food while they continued on to Midway.  After eating and a bit of rest,  Ciel figured she could make it to Midway too, so we showed up in time for a shower and to watch the Canada day fireworks. Now we get breakfast before heading up through Greenwood. 

-mark.

Penticton pizza

Time to refuel at the Bad Tattoo Brewing Company,  conveniently close to the route. We'll have to load up for the push up the hill - I don't know if we'll get past Chute lake, but Ciel has ambitions for Myra Canyon. 

-mark.

Made it through the night

We did a few extra km as Ciel met some people in Princeton who said we could camp at their place up the Princeton-Summerland road. We followed their directions carefully,  but ended up way too far up and didn't want to backtrack, so we got back on the rail grade and found a spot to camp. Ciel was cold in the morning, but I was fine, so we may have to make some adjustments to our sleeping arrangements. 

Going down from Osprey lake,  we ran out of water,  but we cruised to Crump campground where we filled up and got ready.

Now we're heading down into Penticton,  where we'll have to load up with food and water - the next section has nothing until Chute lake, and I'm not sure if Ciel can make it all the way up there today.

-mark.

Day 1

Well, we got to Princeton after a rough start - the pace on the hills out of Merritt had me hurting.  I was feeling a bit out of sorts after all the excitement of meeting riders last night, but after a stop in the bushes and an easy roll down to the rail trail, I started to get into a groove and rode pretty comfortably after that.

We rode with a couple of women who were riding at about our pace, and we leapfrogged all the way here. Now it's time for some good food at Thomasina's and a bit of rest before heading up the hill to Erris, where we are planning to camp this evening. 

-mark.

It starts tomorrow

But we got together for the rider's meeting and barbecue this evening. Drooling over all the bikes was optional!

People paid lots of attention to Richard's setup, with the front loading, but he likes the feel after riding it halfway here. 

Now we just need to get some sleep before an early morning!

-mark.

BC Epic 1000!

The start of the 1 million meter race that is the BC Epic 1000 is approaching...are we ready? I sure hope so. After the last two days of riding, I'm not so sure...I couldn't beat 3 hours around the Greenwood-Midway-Curlew-Grand Forks-Greenwood loop, and riding our loaded bikes up McCarren creek road kicked my butt (and a lot of other places too, judging by how I feel). 

I was concerned that Ciel hadn't done enough training for this ride, but now I'm thinking I'm the one who needs more time...she had no problems riding up McCarren creek with all her gear.

Well, after Saturday, we'll find out!

-mark.

Happy Earth Day! British Columbia just earned an "F" today.

So upsetting to see this recent news that John Horgan, Premier of British Columbia is no longer going to be pursuing enacting endangered species legislation for the province.

Not-so-happy Earth Day!

OPINION: Is climate change driving you to despair? Read this.

OPINION: Is climate change driving you to despair? Read this.

WRITERSara S. Moore 
@stripeygirlcatClimate change adaptation researcher

Retrieved 10-16-17 from https://ensia.com   http://bit.ly/2gIN9l6

To maintain our capacity to address climate change, we need to recognize and address the trauma it creates.

September 19, 2017 — The damage climate change does in terms of loss of life, health and property has been under the microscope of researchers for many years. Only recently, however, have the mental health impacts of climate change, including the impacts on people working in climate change research, policy and related fields, been subjected to scrutiny. The award-winning biologist Camille Parmesan described becoming “professionally depressed” as a result of her research on climate change in a 2014 Grist interview. Previously, she was quoted in a 2012 National Wildlife Federation report on the mental health impacts of climate change on scientists: “I don’t know of a single scientist that’s not having an emotional reaction to what is being lost. Some of these people have been studying a particular reef or a particular bird or a particular mammal for 40 to 50 years. And to start seeing it die off is a very hard thing.” Referring to an ocean reef she has studied since 2002, she added, “It’s gotten to be so depressing that I’m not sure I’m going to go back to this particular site again, because I just know I’m going to see more and more of it dead, and bleached, and covered with brown algae.”

People whose work is related to climate change need to recognize that they are susceptible to a special kind of stress due to the overwhelming nature of the problem. Such work can lead to psychological trauma, shattering our deeply held assumptions and beliefs about the way the world works and our role in it. This in turn can lead to burnout and disengagement.

To protect ourselves and our communities and maintain our capacity to continue to address climate change, we need to understand, recognize and respond to climate trauma.

What Climate Trauma Looks Like

Climate trauma is a term coined by filmmaker and social justice advocate Gillian Caldwell in a 2009 blog post “Coming out of the closet: My climate trauma (and yours?).” It is used to encompass toxic stress and psychological trauma from living with the consequences of climate change as well as the knowledge of those consequences. For individuals, it can come in acute and chronic forms, per a 2017 report from the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica, “Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance”:

Acute:

• Trauma and shock
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Compounded stress (e.g., when climate trauma exacerbates other stress-related problems, such as substance abuse, anxiety disorders, and depression, or when natural disasters lead to increased risky behavior)
• Impact on physical health
• Strains on social relationships

Chronic:

• Aggression and violence
• Mental health emergencies
• Loss of personally important places
• Loss of autonomy and control
• Loss of personal and occupational identity
• “Ecoanxiety” (concern for the well-being of current and future generations in the face of climate change)

Evidence of climate trauma can be found on the website Is This How You Feel?, which provides a forum for climate scientists to share their feelings about climate change. Comments posted to the site include words and phrases like “dismayed,” “powerless” and “overwhelmed.” One contributor writes of his concern that “we will leave behind a fundamentally degraded planet for our children.” Another writes, “My overwhelming emotion is anger.”

What Can Individuals Do?

The 2017 ecoAmerica report offers these suggestions for addressing climate trauma at an individual level:

• “Build belief in one’s own resilience.”
• “Foster optimism.”
• “Cultivate active coping and self-regulation”
• “Maintain practices that help to provide a sense of meaning.”
• “Promote connectedness to family, place, culture, and community.”

Bob Doppelt, director of The Resource Innovation Group, recommends building presencing and purposing skills to cope with climate trauma. These include:

• Stabilize your nervous system by centering yourself (e.g., use meditation to lower “fight-or-flight” hormones triggered by stress).
• Take stock of your personal skills and internal and external resources.
• Observe your reactions and thoughts without judgment and with compassion for yourself.
• Notice moments of growth, insight and new meaning.
• Remember the values you want to live by.
• Find hope by making choices that increase the well-being of yourself, others and the environment.
• Help others.

Other suggestions from climate professionals gathered at a session on climate trauma I organized and co-led at the National Adaptation Forum in May 2017 include:

• Release the need to be right.
• Stay offline after work.
• Talk to and hug friends.
• Cultivate a sense of humor.
• Walk dogs for the Humane Society.
• Adopt a contemplative practice.
• Participate in outdoor activities like gardening and hiking.
• Practice yoga.
• Sleep.

Caldwell’s suggestions, based on the advice of forensic psychiatrist Lise Van Susteren, one of the co-authors of the 2012 National Wildlife Federation report cited above, include:

• Take care of yourself physically and spiritually.
• Remember that you are not alone.
• Participate in activities not related to climate.
• Reinforce boundaries between your work and personal life.
• Connect with colleagues without talking about climate.
• Remember that your fears are realistic but your expectations of yourself might not be.
• Don’t overwork.
• Don’t do climate-related work at night.
• Admit what you are going through.
• Recognize symptoms of burnout.
• Don’t give up.

What Can Organizations Do?

Climate trauma researchers have suggested ways to deal with the issue on an institutional scale as well. The 2012 National Wildlife Federation report suggests these organization-level responses:

• Create comprehensive plans and guidelines for mental health practitioners, first responders and primary care professionals for dealing with climate trauma, with priority given to training those who serve the most vulnerable populations.
• Work to better assess, diagnose and treat individuals with climate-related mental health problems.
• Estimate and compare the costs of addressing the psychological effects of climate change and ignoring the problem.
• Develop and deploy government mental health incident response teams.
• Develop helpful models for positive individual and community action (e.g., the “health belief model”).
• Factor the psychological implications of climate change into public policy development.

It also recommends that the mental health community help the public and leaders become aware of how climate change is affecting us and what we can do about it and advocate for protecting people from climate change.

Taking Care of Ourselves and Each Other

The discussion of climate trauma rose to a new level of intensity after the 2015 Esquire article “When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job” presented the stories of several climate scientists coping with fear, despair and depression. Since then, the question of how to create a community of practice to support climate change workers dealing with climate trauma has been left largely unanswered. Particularly in the U.S., with its current political climate, this is a hard time to be working on climate change. In order to keep this good work moving forward and not burn out under the pressures of the current moment, those of us trying to address climate change in our day jobs need to be aware of the stress we face and do what we can take care of ourselves and each other.

Editor’s note: The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Ensia.

#resist

The Governor of Washington just declared Donald Trump an enemy of the United States.

This is powerful - please listen to Governor Inslee's common sense message.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9UojBAthg

Read this book for anyone who want to know what happened 75 years ago to the Japanese in the United and Canada.

Take my advice and I'll try to use it too

Morning self-care and focus

Start every day with a solid morning self-care routine.

Wake up before sunrise. Drink water, take vitamins, brush your teeth. Eat a small healthy snack or drink.

Do some yoga, or go for a run, or both. At least a 15 minute walk outside near your home, up a hill, by the water, through some trees.

Shower and brainstorm actions for the day. Eat a proper breakfast.

Execute on things that matter, and continuously let go of (ignore), cut, get rid of distractions, noise, unnecessary things.

Be ever healthier and kinder

Feed your body and mind nourishing food and information, not sugary things that spike blood sugars (and emotions), nor inflammatory media (nor status update social streams, instead, read thoughtful blogs). Eat modest meals regularly and in a timely fashion. Eat dinner early, get to bed early.

Show even more kindness to everyone who is obviously hurting.

Listen to, use, and deliberately process emotions

There’s no time to to let stress or anger distract from all we must do.

When emotions help motivate, tap into them, when they distract, take a break to breathe, relax, take a walk, get fresh air, let go, and refocus.

Then get back to work.

Spend time on good people and things every day

Keep spending time with people you care for, and doing & making plans for all things you appreciate & enjoy so you keep in mind & heart everything you’re fighting for.

That’s a good start. In addition to all that, try to write something constructive every day, if not publicly, at least for yourself, or to friends & family.

From:  Managing Stress, Anger, Grief, To Be Useful And Productive (Çelik 2016-11-15)

We have a lot of catch up to do.

“… nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.”  – Mark Twain.

What I've been doing this summer is being very busy outdoors cycling on the Trans-Canada Trail near my house.  I have a job as the trail coordinator to help with a 155 km section of the TCT between McCulloch and Eholt, and even though it's a part time job, it's a full one.

My goal is to bring bicycles back to it as it's been taken over by gas-powered engines who don't seem to understand the right use of a rail trail is for human powered quads.  

Our friends from England who we met in Nepal reminded me that I was at the hospital in the spring and hoped I wasn't still there.  I've been adventuring with my partner Mark and we are quite happy. We've just had a super busy and fun summer.  The autumn colors are here now and snow will be flying soon.  I gotta stay out of my head and be in joy as the world is just going to do what it wants to do despite my lack of approval.  I'm praying for peace in Syria right now, the end of the grizzly bear trophy hunt, a plan for the TCT that will incorporate regular bicycles back onto the grade instead of super athletes, a free flowing Peace River and a democratic president. 

Acceptance doesn't mean approval.

I was supposed to be at a meeting when this rainbow happened to shine.  Thank greatness the meeting was cancelled and I knew where to go to see the light show.

My friend Jean wanted it so she got it.  It's been a long time since she rode through this 900 meter tunnel.

Wonderful trestles on the Trans-Canada Trail Rail Trail near Castlegar

The light at the end of the tunnel.  On my commute home on my bicycle.  Active transportation corridor for the future.

Harborview Hospital, Seattle

White Christmas present

Phoenix Mountain was closed, so we got the opportunity to earn our turns
and check out the snow up on Mt. Baldy, a beautiful mtn to the west of us.

This tree reminded me of an Inukshuk

Mark was super strong as usual breaking the trail.  I was conserving energy.

At the top the rime ice was pretty spectacular.

You can see these structures from miles away looking at Mt. Baldy.

This is proof I was there...

and finally, what we came for after hitting the top.  Pow pow all the way down.

Sunny day for a hike above Greenwood

It's a beautiful day and the HF bands should be open, so I've got my radio and a thermos full of hot chocolate in my pack as I explore the hills West of Greenwood.

-mark.

Purcell tripping into Jumbo Wild

We like being outdoors together and

yep, we kinda like each other...

Larch trees were just spectacular.

Peaking out as usual

Just like the old days

We called it Shangri la

This is where a huge ski resort is being planned by the BC Government in conjunction with a land developer.  The area does have roads going up to it and clear cuts from logging almost up to the glacier alpine, but it's an incredibly small area and an important corridor for wildlife, particularly Grizzly Bear.  It also needs to stay undeveloped if there is any chance that the mountain caribou could be brought back with conservation biology recovery approaches.  Check out HERE the film that was released last month to help keep JUMBO WILD!  The West Kootenay Eco-Society is also working super hard to stop this resort project.

An apple a day

The apple trees in our back yard have been quite prolific. They have attracted a bear who has wandered through, knocked over a section of fence, and left big piles of bear poop. So, we recently cut most of the branches off one of the trees and picked as many of its apples as we could reach. Yesterday, we peeled and cut up what we thought were quite a lot of apples.

They made quite a bit of applesauce.

But it didn't really make a dent in the boxes of apples!

-mark.

We can breathe again

Mark and I had a nice bike ride yesterday to Curlew and back.  It was the first ride since the middle of August it seemed.  When there was an inversion of smoke from the Washington State fires I actually purchased a breathing mask in order to walk around because it gave me a headache.  So yesterday was quite the pleasure to see the colors again and be appreciative of the beautiful place we live.  The fires are mostly contained now.  Reconstruction and recovery will be a long process for this region.  We spoke to emergency personnel from Bellevue Wa who said they're going to be in Washington for another week and maybe more.  They said the USFS and DNR are working hard now to remove the traces of fire lines, re-erecting fences and conducting fire patrol.  I also overheard people talking about salvage logging.  I can only hope there will be a balanced approach to that and not just looking at short-term profit.  There are benefits of fire to the forest ecosystem and land and property owners have access to good information about how to take care of their property.  I hope the Colville Tribe and Forest Service will take a balanced approach with the Kettle Complex since they have almost 75,000 acres that burned. 

August 28th 2015

September 2nd, 2015

Thanks for all the help from a long way away

Shitty "neighborhood" forest fire

It's kinda interesting my last post was about a fire lookout who didn't have a map of Canada because he works in a lookout on the USA side.  Well, I'm sure he saw the smoke from this one.  In fact, that lookout was surrounded 360 degree by active forest fire last weekend.  I wonder what it must be like for a person serving as a lookout to witness smoke emerge all over the landscape, puff, puff and roar.

In fact, there were people on the highway who saw it light up.

"My husband was on the way to Oliver and saw a little puff of smoke.
By the time he parked and got to the other side of the road, the trees went up".

Hopefully because there is a road cam looking up the highway the RCMP and Ministry of Forests and Ministry of Transportation will be able to find the car that threw out the cigarette.  -We're pretty sure there was no one on the Trans-Canada Trail/KVR, but there was cyclists going over Anarchist that afternoon.  We all knew it was ripe for a forest fire, but like human behaviour, I always think it's going to happen to someone else.  Now my neighborhood is responsible for dealing with a forest fire that continues to be dangerous. No fatalities yet, but lots of dead live stock that couldn't escape.

The fire went from where it started north, fueled by high winds and it was a super hot day. Considering that no human was killed is an absolute miracle because people left the  Kettle River Provincial Campground running.  I don't know when they changed the name to a "recreation area". Everyone around here calls it a Provincial Park.

Photo by Dylan Dar Eckes

So far, 30 homes have been lost and dozens of other structures in the fire zone.  Our communities have mobilized like crazy and a Facebook page was set up that communicated how people could help and how to get help.  Facebook is very useful for gauging opinion and to activating people to action. I'm studying social media/technology use and to understand how to best reach out to people in the community development work I'm doing.  This fire situation is another case study for me.

The evacuation zone is still active, although as of this afternoon the evacuation order
was down graded to an alert and they are able to return home.

And then there's the debate about people and residents defending their own home and property... makes interesting reading that hopefully will not all be forgotten by October.  I have no patience for the comment about needing to follow WorkSafeBC regulations.

These are the same regulations in effect for professional ski patrolling in British Columbia - the course that is required for WorkSafeBC regs is Occupational First Aid III which is completely insufficient training for outdoor emergency work or medical emergencies that are on a ski hill.  The training basically assumes you have access to all the gear that's outfitted in a medical response truck.
Rant over.

It's led Mark and me to pack our 6 p's:

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance 

or 

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance 

or 

people and pets

plastic

paper

photos

prescriptions

personal computers

The day the Rock Creek Fire started, we had gone swimming and cycling with some friends and luckily had done a car shuttle so we had a car.  The good news is that we were able to call our neighbors and get help for our fur children who we had left at home, and then we drove around on Friday via the Hwy 6 to Edgewood/Grand Forks where I've always wanted to travel. The Boundary has over 8,000 km of logging roads and honestly it seemed a pretty good detour for me.

Just glad I didn't have to ride home on a bike.  Usually  I get dropped off and cycle down the railroad grade when I'm working for Trails to the Boundary and then get picked up late in the evening.  If I was by myself that evening, I would've been not very prepared.  As it was, I learned that in order to be a true Boundary Girl, I need to carry my passport with me.  If we had our passports it would've been much shorter in time and distance to go through the US home.

Along the TCT/KVR there are some sweet swimming spots

The "clouds" in the background is actually smoke.

Edgewood - the plaque reads "this protohistoric pole depicts the life habits of the 

lake tribe of indians (Senatcheggs) who made the arrow lakes their home.  

The Senatcheggs now extinct were water travellers, hunters, fishermen and basket weavers 

who believed in a mythical god, the coyote.  Their pit houses and pictographs are 

not covered by the waters of the arrow reservoir."

Needless to say, the Sinxt are not extinct except in the government eyes, they are alive and well, but you sure wouldn't know it by reading this deception.  How we tell ourselves stories.  The story of the Rock Creek Fire will be a story that stays for a long time. I hope something really great comes out of it, like more community development focused on sustainability and optimism about the regrowth of the ponderosa trees and native grasses.

The bad news is that Mother Nature may be throwing a few more challenges our way with decreased humidity, increased temps and wind. This climate change is something we need to demand from our government leaders action on.  I've noticed people on social media commenting that this drought we've been having is a wake-up call.  We humans are good at dealing with the day to day, but long-range planning isn't the easiest.  It's hard to change but change we must.  There isn't a back-up plan.

August 15, coming home via the backway

Moving up in the world

Mark and I have for several years now looked at this beautiful mountain from afar, and said to ourselves, "we should go there sometime..."

We said it in the winter.

We said it in the fall.

We don't have to say it anymore, because we went up to the top at 7,258 feet last weekend.  It's a beautiful operational lookout, an easy day trip from where we live as long as we use the car.  Passport required because it's in the USA.  It's called Bonaparte Mountain and it's the tallest thing around for a long ways  The lookout at the top didn't have a map of Canada so we have to go back soon and bring him one.  He probably sees as much in Canada as he does in the US.

It had a beautiful solar array that we envyed.  Lots of raptors and birds, didn't see any critters except for a really good looking deer and some mice.  Good for our souls to check out our neighborhood. Several humans were spotted who were hiking the Pacific NW National Scenic Trail which goes from the Continental Divide in Montana to the Pacific Ocean in Washington.  Much less congested trail compared to the Pacific Crest Trail, but I'm sure the lookout will get a lot more visitors as this long distance trail gets more known.

We got to see it one last time coming up Hwy 3 from Osoyoos with the setting sun.  

I'm sure it continues to be a special place for the Native people who have lived in this area for over 10,000 years - it almost cold up there with the wind on a hot summer day.  That's where I wanted to be and want to go back to...

Hot Water

Mark and I are militant anti-car drivers.  At least that's what they would say about us if we lived in 1970.  In a LIFE magazine from that year there was a story that talked about the fear of people "being militant" about not driving their vehicles.  

 Any time we can find a good reason to not get into our vehicle we try not to go, although sometimes we are just lazy.  So when we took our car into the body shop last Friday, we thought "no sweat, we'll just ride home" (we weren't feeling lazy).

What the picture doesn't tell you is that the Boundary Country like the rest of Western North America is in a massive heatwave and we just got the "third burst" of it after experiencing cooler temps for a week or so.  How soon do I forget?  We knew at the beginning of the summer it was going to be a tough year for water with the lack of accumulated snow at higher elevations .  Already forest fires have been totally crazy and the budgets overspent.BC has just experienced the warmest winter and spring since 1948 when temperature records began.

I really think I am in denial too.

So, we rode our bikes into the heat thinking it wouldn't get so bad, but at about 2pm getting water at our favorite watering hole (Tugs at Curlew) the woman working said it was 100 F out, that's 43 C for my celsius friends.  That's nothing to what the temperature  was in Iran where it hit 73 C.   It was hot. where I was, but a lot hotter in Iran - when you look at the numbers it seems impossible that anyone could even live in 73C.  But yet we do and adapt.  I think we need to do something different because our adaptations  and the critters of the world like the plants and animals aren't going to be able to adapt quick enough to what we are experiencing now.  This is climate change warm up.  A pre-event for us silly humans who think we can control nature.  We change nature, but I think it's way more powerful than our societies and governments - we need to learn within it's confines and respect the feedback we are getting.

We have just got to protect our winters.  Places that used to be viable ranches will end up having problems because without the winter snow I grew up to expect, our groundwater will not be replaced.

I saw so many homeowners in the middle of the day in Grand Forks watering their lawn.  It saddens me that even though it's a Stage 4 drought alert that people want a green lawn.  Tonight when I was coming home I saw people watering the road and I wondered how bad is this climate change going to have to get for people to realize this is serious. 

I strongly believe that climate change and reducing our CO2 emissions is the #1 enemy to our species and to all the other living things on our planet Earth.  We are slow to change and the change is coming at us faster than we ever expected.  The summer we are having this year is the summer that will be EVERY year in the year 2050.

We made it to the border before closing and crashed in the local city park to cool off on their nicely green cool lawn that absolutely nobody was using except for us. Then before we road home, we stopped again to sit in the creek to cool off again for the last 15 km home.  I really hope that the elections that are coming in the US and Canada the public selects leaders that are going to reduce carbon emissions to as little as possible.  All the other critters and beings on the planet can only wait for us humans to change.  Change we must.