Rocky Peak

                                                             ROCKY PEAK
                                  This is my latest solo hiking video with original music   
                        

   


.     It was a cool fall day at a mid-elevation lake where I stopped to cook some pasta on my stove. I try not to scatter things around when I'm cooking in the back country because on past trips bears have quietly crept way too close investigating the food, before I even spotted them. As I took in this beautiful scene everything suddenly changed when I spotted a big Grizzly bear foraging along the lake about 100 meters away. It must have been in the bushes when I arrived. First, I turned off the stove then I made sure the bear spray was handy as I scrambled for the camera. Too bad I don't have a good lens for this but great news not to need the bear spray!

                                                                    Silvertip Grizzly?
 As it moved around I was surprised to see some white on its shoulders. I think they call this a 'Silvertip'. It was with enormous relief that I watched  it wonder AWAY from me and my tasty 6-day stash of food. I saw another black bear on this trip but there is plenty to eat so they left me alone. It was my job to avoid them.These solo trips have taught me to relax but always be ready for situations to change quickly. It always feels better when I have eaten and the food is all tied up far away.
                                                         

Up above the treeline where snow collects, reluctantly melting during the brief summer, there are small open areas where I like to check out the moss and small plants.They have to be tough to survive this environment. In some places you see several varieties with different colours all jammed together..

 In the example below there was this strange pattern with open strips exposing the fine gravel below. Maybe someone scratched it up or it is naturally occurring, This is know as biovermiculations.

In the video you can see the emergency locator 'Zippy'  that my family got for me. It doesn't make any sounds by the way but is sure is great to have, particularly on these long solo trips into the mountains.I can send an 'I'm alright' message with a GPS location each day or send an emergency signal that will go to my contacts as well as Search and rescue. On a couple of trips it indicated a signal sent that wasn't received [yikes!], hopefully that was due to low batteries. Once again I am reminded that I must make smart choices that will get me out in one piece.
The music. This time I decided to keep it simple.Whenever I have music ideas I capture them on video showing the fingering on the guitar. This time I decided to use an open E tuning EBEEBE [ the palindrome of tunings?] for the acoustic guitar. After developing some short bits I added the mandolin. and then electric guitar for fun.
I hope you enjoy the video. If you are out hiking and think you see a Sasquatch...look again because that scruffy critter loping around is probably me working on the next exciting episode of Ridgewalkerpete.