Looking especially lush and green after a few weeks of mini-summer.
Brunette River
Walk 96: But I can still walk just fine
I did a walk to the turtle nesting area at Burnaby Lake and back and today I saw no turtles at the nesting area (as usual), nor anywhere else. But there was also no sun for them to bask in, as conditions were cool and cloudy–which would have been nice for running (sob–see previous post).
Still, despite an apparently poor sleep, I managed a very decent pace of 9:07/km and experienced no pain, discomfort, heartbreak or ill-tempered dogs. So it was a nice walk. Even the geese never hissed at me. It seems several families have taken up camp between the dam and the turtle nesting area, so I suspect I’ll be seeing them regularly until the young ones can fly and become true poopmonsters. Speaking of poop, the amount in that area is…growing.
Oh, and on a technical note: If you haven’t connected a Bluetooth device in a while, expect problems. My AirPods refused to connect to my iPhone (“It just works!” has always been a filthy lie) and the issue did not fix itself until I restarted the phone. Technology!
Anyway, it was a nice little outing.
Stats:
Walk 96 Average pace: 9:07/km Location: Brunette River trail Distance: 8.40 km Time: 1:16:35 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 15 °C Humidity: 63% Wind: light BPM: 117 Weight: 166.4 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 719.79 km
Brunette River, May 13 2023: Hot spring
It’s 30C today, like it would be in the middle of July, except not even then. Crazy climate.
The river looks nice, though. I got some photos of a heron hunting fishies as a bonus, too.
Brunette River, May 5, 2023
Just a shot of the river taken on a grey evening, about 10 minutes before sunset.
A little spring along the river
The Brunette River is looking more spring-like in this shot I took this afternoon. It was also 23C–the warmest it’s been so far this year, and a weird thing to experience after The Rains and the cold, horrible weather that has been April up till now.
After the storm
Easter Sunday was a good day to be outside, if you liked torrential rain and high winds.
But by early evening the storm blew over and we saw a little light before the dark.
Brunette River, March 5, 2023
It’s been awhile since I posted a shot of the Brunette River. Here’s one with some rare bits of blue sky in it!
My hopefully last batch of snow shots for 2022
Snow is not in the forecast, and it’s mostly washed away (again) due to heavy rain, but here’s a last few photos to look over before the year comes to an end. Taken on December 26th.
Fun fact: I regularly mistype “Burnaby” as “Burnbaby.”
A shot with almost no snow in it
Woo. And it only took 10 days from when the snowfall happened!
This is off the Brunette River trail, near to the river. I just like all the green while we’re only weeks away from the start of winter.
Walk 91 and 92: A pair in the snow
There was definitely no running involved!
(Okay, a tiny bit as an experiment as I mentioned in the prior post).
Basically, I walked to the lake and back, as if I were doing a run, but without the running part. This was done to:
- Assess how viable running would be on the trail (not very)
- Get out for some fresh air
- Burn a few calories instead of sitting on my butt eating crackers
The main thing here is that once I got onto the river trail (which is to say, once I was off nicely shovelled sidewalks), my pace slowed a fair bit over my usual walking pace. It wasn’t super slippery, but it was enough that I couldn’t walk at my usual breakneck (for walking) pace. The first walk, my left big toe got cold for some weird reason. It was fine on the way back.
Stats:
Walk 92 Average pace: 10:04/km Location: Brunette River trail Distance: 4.08 km Time: 41:02 Weather: Overcast Temp: 2 °C Humidity: 93% Wind: light to nil BPM: 108 Weight: 161.8 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 690.18 km
Walk 93 Average pace: 10:17/km Location: Brunette River trail Distance: 4.33 km Time: 44:32 Weather: Overcast Temp: 5 °C Humidity: 91% Wind: light to nil BPM: 181 Weight: 161.8 pounds Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Total distance to date: 694.51 km
The view along the way (the debris is from a now ex-tree that fell over):
Snowscapes on the river, December 2022 edition
My original plan was to walk the 6 km to Piper spit and take pictures of the birds. About halfway there, the snow started coming down hard enough that I turned back (my camera equipment is not really snow-compatible). But I did get some shots of snowy scenery with my phone. Enjoy these over a nice mug of hot chocolate!
Leave it to beaver
The beavers tried to take out this tree on the Brunette River–and another one a short distance away. I wonder why they never finished the job.
