Burnaby Lake

The restorative power of a really long walk

As I type this, the Fitness app on my watch is reporting that I have completed:

  • 31,878 steps
  • 25.31 km

This is not just higher than my average daily going-out-and-aboot, it’s way higher. Was I tied to a runaway horse? Yes! Well, no. I decided to go for a walk to Burnaby Lake, to take photos of birds and soak in nature for awhile.

Weirdly, I chose to start this at 7 a.m. (I got up and had breakfast at 5:30). I got there shortly after 8 a.m., spent some time at Piper Spit, took about 350 photos, then continued to walk the entire lake loop and back home, returning just after 11:30 a.m.

A few observations on this early morning trek:

  • It was chilly starting out–only 2C. By the time I was back, it was up to 8C and fairly comfy.
  • Despite the chilly start, I only felt a little cold while snapping pictures at Piper Spit, since there was a breeze coming off the lake and my hands were naked while holding the camera.
  • Speaking of Piper Spit, there were only two people there, both at the far end of the pier with absurdly gigantic telephoto lenses on their cameras. I believe they were taking photos of the recently-returned swallows.
  • Speaking of Piper Spit even more, a lot of birds were snoozing at 8 a.m. and most were farther away from the pier, possibly because there was a noticeable lack of free food supplied by the public.
  • Even though I walked over 20 km as part of the trip there and back, it felt entirely manageable, as I broke it down into chunks, stopping and taking what were effectively breaks when I saw things to take pictures of.
  • The weather was perfectly decent, with little wind, and the sun eventually came out. I wore my lined hoodie and t-shirt and this was quite adequate. I also wore pants.
  • I didn’t see as many birds as I had hoped, but I still saw a bunch, plus two bunnies! No squirrels, though. Maybe it was too early for them.
  • I am very glad I went out.
  • Going early was aces, as the kids say. It’s already light at 7 a.m. and the only people around are joggers and people walking their dogs and wishing they were still in bed. So peaceful and still.

I will post select pics in a follow-up post. Yesterday was bad, but today did a lot to erase the bad, or at least smear it around so it’s less easily identifiable.

Burnaby Lake, March 26, 2022

Apart from a few light showers here and there, the weather held up and the light was actually pretty good for a cloudy day.

Here are a few photos I took.

Northern pintail x2
Coot under good lighting to catch every weird detail
Mountain bluebird. First time I’ve seen one, woo!
Mountain bluebird couple hanging in the drizzle.
I was wondering if I would see a goose going berserk. I was not disappointed.
Sandhill cranes grazing and keeping clear of that goose.
Piper Spit
Looking down Still Creek

Photo of the Day: More snow!

We got another decent dump of snow last night and everything looks fresh and pretty again. I neither have to drive in it nor shovel it, so I don’t mind snow too much these days.

In fact, I went for a walk all the way to Burnaby Lake this afternoon, to get some fresh (if chilly) air and a few pics. I actually saw one person jogging on the river trail. I mean, sure, you can do it, but this is why I got a treadmill. Another guy was riding a bike, but was cheating because he had an electric bike with those silly fat tires. There were a fair number of people out, especially for midday during the week. I assume a lot of people have time off between Christmas and New Year’s.

Here are some photos, all taken with my phone, since I didn’t feel like lugging my camera and accessories out across the frozen tundra. It’s too bad HDR wasn’t more common, the originals on my iPhone 12 look awesome where there’s some dramatic light to provide contrast, such as in the first pic below.

Burnaby Lake, now part Popsicle.
View from Cariboo Dam, Burnaby Lake. Probably not safe for skating, unless you are a duck.
Brunette River in early afternoon sun.
Snow, water, sky. Plus more snow.
Happy pail!
My feet, well-protected by my booties.

Walk 54: Also unplanned

I didn’t plan exactly on doing a walk today, and when I did decide to head out I didn’t plan on doing any running.

So I went out, and I did do some running here and there, so my pace is faster than the last walk, breaking the 9:00/km mark, which ain’t gonna happen if I’m only walking unless I suddenly grow giraffe-length legs, which would admittedly be funny and also horrifying.

The weather was very similar to last time–pleasantly warm, but not nearly hot like we’ve seen so much this summer.

I took a few pics while out (this is easier when you’re walking than running) and will post one below the stats. Speaking of stats, here they are!

Stats:

Walk  54
Average pace: 8:57/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 8.41 km
Time: 75:13
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Humidity: 48%
Wind: light
BPM: 123
Weight: 178.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 414.13 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12
Lily pads in late summer

Photo of the Day: Flower up close and personal

Removing the date from the title of the post because I am more often that not posting these photos later than the day on which they were taken, making the title a LIE and a SHAM.

This was taken at the Nature house at Burnaby Lake on August 14, 2021. I basically wanted to get as close as I could and as straight-on to the flower as possible.

Taken with an iPhone 12

A long walk to a sore heel

UPDATE, April 4, 2021: The injury took a long time to improve and then, after mostly disappearing, came suddenly back worse than before in December. My doctor identified it as plantar fasciitis. As of this update, the foot is much improved, but still not 100%. This is what you call a long term injury.

Today the weather was warm and sunny (after an initial forecast of mostly cloudy) and I couldn’t just sit inside while it was summer all over the place outside.

So, I went for a walk around Burnaby Lake, wearing my running stuff in case I started feeling extra zesty (more on this in a bit).

I felt pretty good heading out and indeed, my walking pace was a bit better than in recent months. That continued as I hit the 5K mark midway around the lake, still brimming with energy and feeling fine. I even started running off and on along the Southshore Trail.

The resurfacing of the Cottonwood Trail is coming along nicely and the notion that it will take until September to complete seems silly, as they are probably more than half done already (and were diligently working away when I walked through this afternoon). It will be spiffy for running when complete as this trail section has about a hundred billion exposed tree roots waiting for me and my feet.

There were more people out than perhaps expected, but it is summer and it was very nice out, with a breeze providing just enough cooling to keep it from feeling hot (it’s not really hot, but weather the last few weeks has been a little cooler than seasonal, so even 24C feels a bit toasty when you’re out in the sun).

I finished the loop just before 3 p.m. and as I exited the lake trail and crossed over to the river trail and the return home, I was still peppy. The peppiness finally began to fade around the 16 km mark, when my right hip began to feel a bit tweaked. It wasn’t bad and didn’t really slow me down. In fact, after a few minutes it worked itself and I continued to steam along. But then my left heel started to hurt. Weird.

It continued to hurt the remaining two km or so on the remainder of the walk and as I type this at 10:23 p.m., it is still sore. The right heel is fine.

I have no explanation for this, just guesses and crackpot theories:

  • The few minutes the right hip hurt, I overcompensated in favoring my left side, making my apparently brittle left heel very sore
  • The orthotic in my left shoe is sufficiently worn in the heel that it reached a breaking point where it started hurting instead of helping
  • aliens
  • previously unknown injury suddenly surfacing (aliens?)
  • karma, somehow (also the name of my next album)

It may be fine or better(ish) by morning, but it’s a sore note for what was otherwise a fine afternoon out. I was even delighted by unexpected wildlife, watching a crane hunt food and a turtle laying out on a log enjoying the sun.

Here’s a few photos before the hobbling started.

Just starting out, I thought this field of what is really just weeds looked interesting, but it didn’t turn out quite as I had expected. This field had previously been kept cut and served as a small park area. I’m not sure why it was decided to let it grow wild.

The classic shot of the lake from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook. I managed to tilt the view slightly, but was too lazy to fix it. Just pretend the earth was rotating too fast for me to compensate.

From the point just before the Cottonwood Trail, looking west.

The heron snatching a snack:

Close-up of heron from the shot above.