Walking up PKOLS with Petra

The cherry tree, doing its thing

My friend Petra (from the Netherlands) came to visit for a week!   Fun times!   It was raining when she arrived, but that just means that things are green.  And, the cherry tree in the back yard is in full bloom. 

    

Stopping to admire the rock face

This morning, it had been dry enough that I decided it was worth doing a walk up PKOLS.  

So... off the two of us headed.  

Well... three of us, since Petra thought Penny the dog-of-adventure could use the walk.   Yikes!  It was Penny's first time going up the hill  :-)

The ferns like a waterfall of green on the rocks

High enough to begin seeing the water below

I love the part of the walk where you finally emerge out of the forest and can begin to see the waters below.  

As we were moving up this side of the hill, there were a pair of (what I think were) falcons, floating around in the updraft currents of air that seem to swirl around the hill.  

can you see the bird behind the trees?

 I had my camera out, trying to catch a picture of them as they soared by.  

There was a fair amount of waiting... hoping one of them would just fly by into to the picture window I had open and waiting.  

Success!

The sky was a beautiful blue, but streaked through with clouds that did make me thing of cotton balls... or cotton batting.  

I do love how the colour of the sky and the colour of the water seem so closely related.  

And the ways that the Islands seem to also be inscribed of a dark inky blue.

mountains floating on clouds

 When you round the next set of corners in the walk up the mountain, you are facing towards downtown, and can see across the waters to the US side of the border.

Today, you could see a cloud bank covering the other coast, and the mountains peeking up above them, seeming almost to be floating on a horizon of cloud.   Yes, this is life when you live in a rain shadow.   

taking a rest on the rocks

 I acknowledged my gratitude for the beautiful clear day were were having, knowing that some 45 km way, folks were having a cloudy day.

We did take a rest here on the rocks, stopping to eat an orange, and enjoy the winds.  

The birds joined us again on this side of the hill, floating effortlessly on the updraft winds.

Birds floating in the wind

Stopping to get a selfie at the PKOLS sign

My lovely hair do tells you something about the wind!

Islands spread out across the waters