My Love Affair with Steam Locomotives

by Sylvia Blishak

Yes, that looks like a really big dog. Yes, he's got his teeth right next to my neck. No, he isn't sampling me for dinner. And, well, he's also a 100 per cent grey wolf. It's all part of a wolf education program run in Golden, BC, in Canada. The idea is to learn about wolves, dispel some myths and get to walk (and nuzzle) with them. And if you go in winter (this can be done year round), there's also skiing and snowmobiling.

One chilly morning, we waited next to the commuter tracks between San Jose and San Francisco. We had lots of company; many young fathers and their sons who had never seen a live steam engine before were in attendance. We all gazed down the tracks awaiting the first puff of steam. The engine put on a thrilling show, with steam expanding in to the cold air, chuffs aplenty, and the sort of clanging and chugging that only steam engines can create. I was mesmerized as my old friend charged by.

True magic began at the Devil's Corral Trestle Bridge. It was restored in 2010 after a 2000 wildfire burned 900 feet of the bridge's east end. A short distance from the bridge, the trail dips under Highway 36, and reaches the Devils Corral Trailhead and Campground. The final seven miles to Susanville and its historic railroad depot is pure delight, with two tunnels, most of the trail's 12 bridges and eye-candy sights of the river, canyon walls and northern Sierra Nevada range.

Insect Shield Clothing

by Yvette Cardozo     

Golden, BC: A Playground of Earth, Water & Sky

By Vicki Hoefling Andersen

With all this news about Zika, I recently went to the Florida Keys and South Florida mainland well protected. I had assorted bug repellents brimming with DEET, and also, a suitcase brimming with bug repellent clothing.

Clothing by the Insect Shield company isn’t new, but its importance, now with the threat of Zika, is greater than ever. 

At this moment, I see a flotilla of Canada geese, a solitary great blue heron, a lone bald eagle perched in a large Douglas fir, dragonflies in the shore lilies and swallows darting about collecting insects for their diet and the diet of their newborns. This morning a beaver swam by the dock and soon after, a pair of river otters. Bats will come at twilight as will a rare full solstice moon. Dang, I'm stuck in paradise again.

In the summer many visitors arrive by canoe or stand-up paddle board, switching to cross-country skis or snowshoes in the winter. Depending on the season you may spot elk, deer, moose, grizzlies, wolf, cougar or coyote. Beaver and river otter dwell along the shoreline, the latter playing with and feasting on trout, ling cod and kokanee salmon. Watch for herons. osprey, eagles, song birds and shore birds taking flight.

Who we are: For brief bios on the writers who form this Pacific Northwest collective, please click here.