indoors with the flu - reflecting

Here in Victoria BC reflecting on my recent travels and fighting the flu and thought I'd like to counteract the last couple of photos with some more positive ones. The first shot is looking down the Stikine valley from the bluff just before entering Telegraph. On the right is Mt. Glenora shrouded in cloud and you can see the beginnings of autumn in the patches of yellow among the poplar trees.

The second photo was taken just outside of Iskut where we walked across a boardwalk and up a hill to stay in a beautiful log cabin for a couple of evenings. Iskut is just a wide spot in the road on the highway leading north through Dease and on up to Watson Lake and yet it is a place surrounded by mountains rising immediately up from the valley floor, dark evergreen forests and lakes which makes a very peaceful impression. We visited the first Tahltan blockade of access roads to their territories here at the entrance to the Klappan area and had some good conversations with the people manning the barricade. While there was some initial skepticism on our arrival everyone was good humoured and after a while had quite a lot to say about the situation. Put in the most basic terms the Tahltan people are asking that there be limited entry hunting similar to what other areas in the province of BC have as well as up to date assessment and monitoring of the

I've begun looking through the video material, transferring it from tape to a portable hard drive where I will edit it and organizing footage in my head. The Stikine watershed is an amazing area and I count myself fortunate to have grown up there. I am excited to have begun rediscovering the country where I grew up and I am already looking forward to my next visit.

As well as spending 3 weeks camped at Winter Creek beside the Stikine, just down from the village of Telegraph Creek, Chris and my road trip took us on a gigantic loop around British Columbia and into the Yukon, seeing the province from north to south and from east to west, from Victoria to Fort Nelson and from Stewart to Valemount.

On this loop, especially between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson, we saw an amazing number of wildlife - the last photo is of a young male caribou who was following a herd consisting of an older alpha bull and about five females and three calves. The old bull first started snorting and lowering his head in my direction as I approached to take photos. Then his attention was suddenly diverted back to the young male who had begun sidling up to one of the females. All of the sudden human intruders were of little importance and the alpha bull roared off after the young bull who quickly retreated back to a safer distance. Then the alpha bull turned back to me to make sure I hadn't moved.

Notice the young bull in the background to the left, alert and curious, watching just beyond where he had been chased to, looking for his chance? It was fascinating to witness the protective bull split his energy between two perceived dangers - one to his herd and the other to his power.