Thursday 4th June 2015…always a good day when it ends with a waterfall!!!

I left Deb’s lovely condo at 9am and I was on a nice two lane road with hardly any traffic….I was thinking yesterday that in the last few weeks in all the open country I have driven and walked only seen two deer…well that was rectified this morning!!!

A few years after my Mum passed away in 1995 my Dad came to visit me in Nanaimo and stayed a few weeks..at that time I had a nice apartment on a small bank and lots of deer came right up to the balcony.  I shall never forget one night I came home from work(yes in a previous life I worked) and I asked Dad if he had a good day and he told me this story of him sitting in the lounger outside on the deck when a big deer came and sat right below him not more than 5 feet away and the deer had no idea my Dad was there.  My Dad told me he put his book down and watched this deer for over an hour….he told me how he watched this deer lick every part of his body except behind his neck..he said it was one of the most memorable sights he had ever seen…..I was so happy   for him and since that day I have always had a special affection for those animals.

It was some several years later when I was staying in Allison’s lower apartment which had windows at ground level looking over her garden…….I received that dreaded in the middle of the night phone call from my Brother Malc telling me that our Dad had passed away……it was about 5am and I opened the curtains and there right by the window almost looking into my apartment was a small deer……needless to say I knew this was my Dad’s way of saying goodbye.

A few months later when Malc had sorted out of the legal stuff and there was deposited in my bank account some money from my Dad…..that day I was driving somewhere in the States when I stopped at the side of the road to have a drink and there in the bushes was this huge deer..just stood there looking me right in the eye and he seemed to be saying to me ok son now you have the money all is well!!!!

Then on that same journey I was driving late into the evening and I was falling asleep at the wheel when this humungous deer ran right out in front of me…I braked and missed him but I knew it was my Dad telling me not to be so stupid and to get off the road…..

So you see deer I like and I got my fill of them this morning…

 

For the next while the road ran level with the river and I stopped a few times…

After a drive of about 350 km I arrived in the small town of McCall where I had an apartment booked for the night but before I checked in I went here for a 5 mile hike!!

The trail was through thick forest and down hill…

The shot below is at the top of the waterfall

I then managed to scramble down a bit for these shots of this raging fall…

It was a great work out after the drive.

I then found the place I was staying and met the hostess who showed me to this wonderful large apartment.

So it is gone 10 o clock and after this I think it is time to read my book before I fall asleep….

Yashi Kochi!!!