An unexpected find in Barcelona

Sometimes while travelling it's the unexpected things that stand out most.  When I was in Spain in 2009, I stopped inside a mall in Barcelona to pick up a few things in a department store.  While waiting for a clerk at one of the counters, I wandered over to some framed photographs on a nearby wall.  It was some sort of photography contest and looked interesting.  One of the first photos I looked at felt instantly familiar and really struck a chord with me; it looked like my hometown of Trail, Canada, a smelter town with a population of 8000 people.  I thought: "That's strange, there's a town in Spain that looks like Trail".  Then I looked closer and thought: "Wow, the resemblance is remarkable".  About a second later, I decided there's no way it could not be my hometown.  And indeed it was Trail.  An elderly man from Trail, named Thomas Gardiner, had entered photos into the contest halfway across the world in Spain, and had been chosen as a finalist.  What a strange coincidence it was.  It made my head spin a little bit.  It made me nostalgic and homesick, and made the world feel small but also strangely interconnected.

An early season hike

It's early spring on the West Coast of Canada, a gargantuan winter snowpack still lies on the mountains, and it's way too early to do any serious hiking.  But nevertheless, I've had the urge to get out and hike, so I made it happen this past weekend.  I decided to try a lower-elevation hike, one below or near the snow line.  I chose the Lindeman-Greendrop Lakes trail in Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park.  This is in the Cascade Mountains, where they edge north over the border from Washington state.

It was a short, steep hike up to Lindeman Lake, which is around 800m elevation.  The trail was free of snow and upon reaching the lake I was amazed that the slopes of scree and brush above the lake were lacking snow too.  Lindeman is a beautiful little lake with gorgeous blue water and striking views of rock pinnacles above on Flora Peak.  Content with Lindeman, I headed onwards to Greendrop.  The hiking was more challenging, with some boulder fields to scramble over, but simple enough as it followed the Post Creek valley bottom.  Eventually though, I hit snow.  The deeper, shadier forests in the valley bottom still held quite a bit of snow.  The trail was also icy in spots.  It started to feel like a winter hike, I didn't have gaters to keep away the snow or snowshoes to stay on top of the snow, and I was very much alone.  It was one of those moments where you realize that a few little mishaps could be troublesome.  It was still a good distance to Greendrop, so I decided to turn back and return to Lindeman, the lake that held what I was looking for.  Sometimes as a solo hiker, you have to cut your plans short, and you can't let your pride get in the way... not always an easy thing to do.  Greendrop will have to wait till next time.  Looking forward to scrambling the boulders that were hiding under the snow! 

Here are a few photos of Lindeman Lake.