The only place in Canada that's colder right now is Saskatchewan. Go Alberta!

We had our big entertainment yesterday- bought a cheap loaf of bread and went to feed the fish at a private lake.





The catfish were pretty entertaining- they were like sharks circling.



Two osprey having a loud fight:



We were trying to figure out what made this. Beaver? Otter?



It came up out of the brambles on one side of the trail like this:



...and then ended with the little mud-waterslide into the lake.

Catfish! They are huge.

The ones that were brave enough to come into the shallows were about 2 feet long, but I suspect that there are some out in the depths of the lake that are absolutely gigantic.

I was amazed at how sharklike their movements were.

Took the pup out for a nice little hike.



I tried to get a shot of this view with the dog looking at it, but he only stood there for a second before noticing a smell in the woods immediately behind us.


I'm growing a fondness for balds and high-elevation (for the Appalachians at least) areas, though they're kind of ugly and scrubby.


This is the type of color that the leaves are supposed to be, mixed with equally vibrant reds and oranges. The colors this year are kind of dull. Things have been slowly turning yellow and then quickly turning brown.

But the pup didn't care about any of that, he had a million scents to smell.

Mountains and clouds certainly make for a good view. The odd tree sans-leaves thrown into the mix also helps. Those are some great views, Aarghh.



Bit of vertigo here:


Funnel web spider lairs. Deadly. I wear steel toed walking boots because their fangs can easily pierce leather, they can puncture your toenails.

what kind of tree is that from? also those cliffs look awesome.

I think if I visited australia I'd spend most of the time in the fetal position thinking of all the things that could kill me.

My parents once sent a box of glue traps to mom's Australian boss because there was a funnel web spider that liked to frequent his child's potty chair.

agh.

Aarg: It's a paperbark tree. Not a very imaginative name, to be honest.

Kitsa: I'm sure they accepted the glue trap happily, but there is no way that you would want a funnel web spider "trapped" in your house. The best way to get rid of them is to attract them with a tied up goat (live) and then shoot them.

The leaves on that mangled looking tree certainly don't seem "dull" to me.

Also; SLUGS.

Usually more trees look like that! I took the picture of that one mostly because the leaves were so vibrant, but it didn't turn out so great. They kind of look orange in the picture, but were bright pink.

The one immediately after that also didn't turn out so great in the picture. Too much sun, I guess, since the pink is supposed to be pinker and the green is supposed to be greener. Most of the pictures I took didn't turn out, which is disappointing.

The tunnel was neat, though.

Yeah, the tunnel drew my attention first. I don't know what I can say about it other than 'slightly creepy, but I don't know why'.

The tunnel is the attraction for most people to go there. It's an abandoned road project tunnel, so the road ends almost immediately past it. Unfortunately the inside of the tunnel is covered in spraypaint and you kick the occasional beer can walking through. It's a shame people have to fuck everything up.

It's definitely pretty creepy. Not so much, looking in, as it looks very short. It's deceptively long, and by the time you hit the middle it feels like it isn't going to end. I commented that I'd hate to be in a tunnel in any altered state of mind, but I'd love to hear music played in the center of it--that would sound crazy.


All the way through. Even in the middle, in complete darkness. If you had a flashlight, you'd see plenty of crudely-drawn dicks on the wall because people are idiots.


There's a cool canal tunnel in West Virginia I'd like to visit again, since I haven't since I was 12 or so.

You know, I don't remember ever going through a tunnel in my life.

Even on roads? There's a bunch on the Blue Ridge Parkway here, and other places in the mountains.

We have bridges that have underwater tunnels in the middle.

You're not missing much, as much as driving goes. Walking through tunnels is neat, but not as neat as caves!

AAARG.

sí señor

Cooler in person, but I dig the tree reflection in the top.

Awesome.

Pretty sky.

What am I looking at?

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaby.

Yeah, but why is it shaped like that? :(

That I can't tell you, but if anyone could, I'd be interested!

I've never seen it that, uh, long before. It was all over the place up here, though.

Fantastic photos. Great view.

As far as the ice goes, I've always assumed that it's from water droplets forming on the ice, then they freeze, then droplets form on top of them, then they freeze etc etc. ... Could be wrong, I'm just guessing.


I wish it would snow here for Christmas.