Monarch Head Panorama

Hike Report: Three Women got together and hiked up to Monarch Head on a greyish day. Perfect weather for hiking, it turns out! The path follows an old logging road up to a spectacular cliff, and - as soon as we got there - the show was on. Several cargo ships were moving along on the international line-in-the-water, on their way back to Asia. And a young bald eagle flew right out of the tree on the left...

Above: Ships were on their way, and a junior bald eagle flew by...

Below, here is another angle of the view, featuring Cactus Point down there. I am not good at standing right on cliff edges, so this is as close as I'll get...

On the path, we noticed an interesting group of "white things" that were popping out of the ground. We suspect they could be Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), but we could be wrong, because these were in their infancy. We'll have to walk back up there and see how this group turned out, a couple of days later...

Above: Mystery plant - mushroom or Indian pipe?

Above: A group of kayakers make their way around Cactus Point. They were very competent and proceeded at a good clip.

Above: Cigarette butt in the dry grass. Not really reassuring... at the beginning of the dry season.

On a final note, because we live on this sparsely populated island, we notice lots of small things that might escape other people. One of the things that really freaks out Saturna islanders is carelessly-tended fires, or carelessly-discarded cigarette butts. Especially during the dry season.

I can only plead with the people who visit this beautiful place, and enjoy its spectacular natural setting, to take care. Pretend you are going to "give" it to your children. Because you are... You should care about the state it'll be in when you do. OK, rant over.

Next Saturday's walk will be posted on Wednesday. Have a great week.