More Trail Blazing at Eucott Bay

September 19th (Thursday)
Jason and I had been eagerly looking forward to going back to work on our trail. So, this afternoon we headed out armed with our garden clippers, handsaw, and flagging tape. The tide was low when we landed ashore, so we were out on the mud flats down from the grassy area where we had landed before. The mud turned out to be quite sinky, and as we carefully, and as light-footed as possible, made our way up to the grass line, Jason stepped in a particularly sinky area, and sunk right up to his knee. Luckily when he managed to pull his foot out, his boot came out too. Of course his one foot, and lower leg, were now wet and saturated in mud, so I paddled back to the boat to get him a change of pants and socks for our hike, and grabbed a set for myself just in case it happened to me when I re-landed ashore. Luckily the tide had risen enough by the time I got back that I was able to land on the grass and avoid the hazard.
We followed our trail until our last orange ribbon, and then consulted our gps before continuing. As we continued along we tried not to lose our elevation, but also to not gain too much. The terrain started to become littered with rocks and boulders, and eventually we entered an area of an old rockslide. Although some trees had grown up over it, many of the rocks remained unstable with unseen holes hidden under moss, and we decided it was an unwise way to proceed. We backtracked, removing our ribbons as we went. 

After retracing our steps until we were on a lower level, we continued following the bottom of the slope instead of trying to proceed upwards. Although there were still some massive boulders and jumbled rocks through parts of the lower area, we were able to find a safe way through, and avoided all of the loose rocks. There was one tree in particular that acted as a landmark for us; it was a giant spruce tree. I think it was the biggest spruce tree I have ever seen, and it was so tall and perfectly straight. Our trail goes right by it, so we get to say "hi" to it every time we walk our trail.

Jason at the giant Spruce tree.

Eventually we turned around and had the pleasure of walking back along an easy, well cleared, trail. We had our mushroom book out and took our time going back, looking at many of the mushrooms we had passed. There were so many types; it was a very mushroom-rich forest. We hope that if we study our mushroom book some more we will be able to find some other edible mushrooms in the area. There were so many that we just had no idea what kind they were. Along the way home we found some more Chanterelles, and picked a bunch for dinner. We also found another good patch of them in another area, so we have more to look forward to another day.
Chanterelle mushrooms have become my favourite mushroom.  I find that they have a very distinct smell when they are cooking, and once cooked they almost taste candied. Their flavour is very unique and rich, and they are incredibly easy to eat. Quite delicious!!
After getting home we grabbed our stuff for going to the hot spring, and went for a soak. The people who were here and soaking yesterday evening, had left the plug somewhat out as the flow of hot water was running quicker than how we normally leave it. This made the water quite hot, and although we pushed the plug back in when we got there, it took quite a while to cool off. We were still able to enjoy the water, and it was a lovely way to relax after our trail building. However, our bodies overheated faster than usual, due to the hotter water, and we went home for dinner.
It was a lovely day!

(Sheya's mom writing:  Some of you sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that since the beginning of the blog, the secondary lines in the e-mail notifications were coming through as "Curising Adventures of the Red Witch" rather than "Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch." It always stood out to Sheya and I as a problem, but I was unable to find the source of it in the publishing process in order to make the correction. Over this past weekend Sheya's uncle assisted me in a search through the hidden pieces of blog publishing and was able to find the source of the misspelled line. It now seems to be corrected, for which I am very pleased. Thank you Harold!)