East Sooke

the mountains are in Washington, USA

see my tiny blackberry on this HUGE log...

gnarly arbutus tree

Karma looks so small here against the tall trees!

I went for a hike this afternoon in East Sooke, at Aylard's Farm. The hike took me along some gorgeous coastline, and past a really nice man named John from Afghanistan...we had quite a chat actually and talked travel, and he kept flattering me with comments about being strong and smart, because I traveled much of it alone, and I'm a woman. I don't think he was being sexist, I think he just hadn't met many women who are willing to travel alone. He is just back from a visit to Morocco, and lives here in Sooke, has for 20 years he said. He was sitting on a bench along the way, enjoying the scenery with a thermos of coffee and a doobie.

I had wanted to go in the other direction and tried but it was far too muddy and I didn't wear my rubber boots today for some reason. There are petroglyphs in that direction, so I shall have to return another day with me rubber boots on. In any event, the scenery was amazing, so I happily snapped away.