June 1 part two: Pining for the fjord

Blogger's Note: I'm having to do this piecemeal, because Picasa will blog only four photos at a time, and I figure doing it this way is still faster than individually sizing each photo in Picasa (the version of Photoshop on this laptop is essentially useless) and adding it as a page element in Blogger. I could be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do this that isn't time-consuming and frustrating.

Also, I used my new Flip video camera to shoot some video, but I don't have time at the moment to try to figure out how to get it onto YouTube. I'm hoping there will be a couple of hours soon when I'm not (a) looking at astounding scenery, (b) packing or changing clothes, and (c) fully conscious. I've been running on four to four and a half hours' sleep since before I left, and when I fade at night after dinner, I tend to do it very suddenly. Sometimes in the middle of a sentence.

Which is why I was up at 5:30 this morning to do some remedial posting before breakfast.


But hey, are you looking at these pictures on the right? They're not optimal, because they're shot through train windows and the train is moving, but they should give you a taste of what the trip on the Whistler Mountaineer is like.

One of the things I'm noticing about rural British Columbia is the wonderful smell of the air. It always seems to have this faint, elusive perfume of pininess and fresh, damp vegetation, a very clean and natural scent.

That big hunk of gray rock is the Stawamus Chief, an enormous granite monolith that some people are apparently crazy enough to climb.


Other highlights of the train trip are Cheakamus Canyon, which is a craggy ravine where the train crosses a couple of trestles over a roaring, raging, surging river. I shot video of that, though some tipsy Australian guy talked over it.

I'm hearing lots of Australian accents, a fair number of British ones and more than a few I simply can't begin to identify. It's definitely very multicultural out here.

There's also a lot of consciousness -- going way beyond lip service -- of environmental issues, carbon emissions and sustainability. I saw evidence of logging on the trip to Whistler (stripped logs lined up along the water's edge), but the paper mills have mostly closed down and moved farther north, according to Onboard Attendant Lisa.

Despite all the talk of bears and bald eagles, I didn't spot any wildlife, but I can't imagine too many wild critters want to hang around noisy train tracks when they have acres and acres of nearly silent old-growth forest to enjoy.

I couldn't believe the couple sitting in front of me actually reclined their seats and fell asleep in the midst of all the waterfalls (Brandywine Falls is taller than Niagara, though much skinnier) and cozy mountain villages. I didn't even like to blink. This must truly be one of the most relentlessly scenic train routes on the planet.