Writing therapy : Stinkin' Hippies

So I understand that's how people concerned by environment are called by Hummer drivers.

I was surfing the blogosphere yesterday and ended up on a blog I won't name here. The only thing I will say about it is: the author was hosting a pseudo-debate that I was interested in until my contributions were censored - which happened to be right after I dared disagreeing with the author.

Anyway. Yesterday, the author of that blog was bragging about parking her SUV in the "reserved for green vehicles" spot, as a way of protesting against the construction of a green building. 

What??

I mean, who is against environmentally conscious constructions, or cars?

Even if you believe that global warming is just "God hugging us a little closer", if you deny that there is a human contribution to global warming, I thought that everybody agreed that we need to do something!

What is wrong with encouraging people to drive green cars? You have your SUV and the constitutional right to drive what you want when you want and where you want. Is that all there is about it? Nobody is telling you what to drive, but since you're dumb enough to drive that gas guzzling rig, you'll have to walk a little more. 

And they're right, but you probably haven't realized it:

The more people drive fuel efficient cars, the less people will need oil and pollute. I know you are no stinkin' hippie so this last aspect probably doesn't mean anything. But less oil means (tell me if I'm wrong) energy independence sooner, no need to invade oil producing countries (so that would be saving trillions of dollars to your country that could be injected in the economy for example?), less exploitation of the people in these countries, less innocent civilians (including children) killed because of these greed-based conflicts.

But again, you probably don't care about what's going on outside of your town/state/country. 

So my last point might be the only one that will resonate: if you drove a green car, you'd spend less money to fill the tank. And wouldn't you like to have some spare cash to send for McCain's campaign? I heard he needs it.

Busy thinking and planning

and not doing much these days. It's nice and warm in here, and cold and wet out there. I can't wait for the winter to REALLY begin.

Canyon Lake

The sun is rising above Canyon Lake, on Sunday, Spetember 28th.

And I take this picture before disturbing the quiet waters with my filter-pump. I'm also enjoying a few minutes of solitude before the camp wakes up behind me...

As usual the trip didn't go exactly as planned. The Norwegian connection and I took along a new crew so we thought it would be wise to just plan on an easy road rather than following the Romney ridge.

It turns out Princess J had never been hiking, let alone backpacking, and besides the fact that she could not carry much, she was quite a demanding person. It made things a little harder a some members of the crew became maybe a little impatient at some point, especially Junior, who happened to be her tent-mate.

But overall the experience was a good one. 

The hike to the lake took us about 4 hours following Canyon Creek trail, a few miles west of Hamilton. It starts easily on the flank of Romney ridge, then winding through the trees along the creek. The slope progressively steepens to become a quite strenuous climb when carrying heavy backpacks.

We never saw the Canyon Falls, which were probably dry or very small at this time if the year.

We were relieved to finally see the dam that closes Canyon Lake on its east side. 

The lake was half empty. On the west side, there was Canyon Peak, our original goal, about 1500ft above us.

Since our group was not too enthusiastic about going any further, we decided to set the camp on the side of the lake and enjoy the last rays of sun.

For dinner: pasta, creamy mushroom and salmon, and bread and cheese. We had food for maybe 5 days! No wonder the bags were heavy! 

A little cherry bounce, marshmallows in the fire, and a perfect weather to look at the stars...

The next morning, same pace: a lazy breakfast as the temperatures - slowly - climb up, we pack the bags and start our hike down.

Even if we didn't reach our initial goal, it ended up being a nice little week end in the mountains. I don't think I'll ever get tired of this.