July 25 Fort St James

Look who we got to see this morning.. Mount Robson with no clouds!!!

Oh yes! Another waterfall and another hike. Our last jaunt in Mount Robson Provincial Park

Rearguard Falls

The Fraser leading out to the Pacific Ocean

Rearguard falls marks the end of the 800 mile migration of the Salmon from the Pacific Ocean.

They say only the strongest Chinook make it this far

The sun just settled into the mountains for the night and the kids have just snuggled into their sleeping bags. Cory brought his pillow that blows up and is kind of like an air mattress pillow. Each night it rotates around to the unlucky fellow to rest their head on. Isaak lucked out tonight, but he wrapped it in his jacket. I brought my own pillow and refuse to give it up. The kids have mostly opted to use our backpacking pillows which is nice because they roll up so small. We made a long trek today. We drove 5.5 hours. We left the tall mountain peaks of the rockies behind and embraced the prairies and smaller mountains of northern BC. We explored the grocery store in Prince George. It was lovely to shop there and not cringe at the prices. Gas also dropped about 40 cents a liter. They had samples and gave the kids cookies. They were in heaven. They weren't as excited about our stop before that as we embarked on another hike. We were meet with a wall of fierce opposition. Isaak and Chloe both kicked in their heals, threatened to wait at the bottom of the trail, said their legs hurt, their eyes were too tired, there knees too worked out from the hike yesterday....until we saw the first massive cedar tree. They were entranced as they walked into an Ancient Rain Forest. The only known rain-forest in the world to be over 800 km from the ocean then we had to drag them away from the boardwalks that were graciously placed by the community.

We learned that the Cedar trees grow in circles usually 3-5 trees at a time. I loved to look at four or five of the trees growing together. It was impossible to even capture an entire tree with the camera, even with a wide angle, because they were so tall. I loved the idea of them growing in circles because I imagined my family standing in a circle holding each-others hands and thinking of the strength and support that we can give to each other when the winds blow or the trail is to hard to get through alone. Some of the trees were over 2000 years old and nearly all the oldest trees grew in clusters of three to four. Maybe insinuating that we aren't meant to achieve greatness alone, but we all need to depend on each other. We need a helping hand and support.

This gives you an idea of the sheer size of these trees

photographer and skinny on the Big Tree

The infamous Big Tree

Growing in a cluster

I loved these boardwalks. Chloe jumped all over these. It wasn't like hiking at all

Another viewing today off the side of the road. I didn't dare get out because I didn't want to meet Mama Bear

The sunset was my silver lining today and the end of our low slump. I could feel that we had moved past the difficulties of the last couple days and embraced the adventure that lies ahead. We were like the Cedar trees leaning on each other for support. Cory and I dug our feet in the sand as the kids dug in the rocks on the beach of Stuart Lake looking for Agat stones. They found 3-5 per person. Chloe declared they are good luck. We gathered them into a baggy and hope they bring us just that.