Squamish is an hour’s drive up the coast from Vancouver (on the way to Whistler.)  It is home to the Stuwamish Chief, a world-class destination for climbers, and is a mix of sea life and high mountains.  First I visited the estuary.

Where grew a lovely fly agaric mushroom obviously eaten by something.  It is highly hallucinogenic so maybe there is a slug somewhere having a great trip….

Downtown, there was an interesting art installation.  From the ground it looked like this.

From a viewing platform, it looked like this.  Here is the history.

My friends lived not far from the first picture on this post, and from their house it was a short drive to the start of the trail into the Garibaldi Park.  At first the trail slogged up through the coastal rain forest with its dank growth of greenery.  (Everyone was complaining about the drought, but it was all dripping!)

This bracket fungus was wearing Christmas lights…

The fog thickened as I climbed, and quite suddenly I reached the subalpine level, which was glorious with fall colours.  I had not expected to see any after I left home so this was a wonderful surprise.

The sitka mountain ash was yellow

The blueberries and huckleberries were red.

And the fruit on them!  It was a real taste of Nuk Tessli.

About 2 hours up was a cabin, and nearby an outhouse.  They get a lot of snow up there!

The trail went on for miles but I had to speak at the Squamish library that night so turned back after lunch.  It was a real treat to see this country – and, because it was Monday, to be alone for a few hours in the mountains.