They say necessity is the mother of invention and in Brooke’s case that has been proving true.  She decided yesterday that she would like to make a travel car seat that has a hidden potty below so we wouldn’t have to stop the car for her to go potty.  Then this morning, as with every meal, Cody was still munching away when we were ready to go.  Brooke started giggling and asked Cody if he would like her to put his food into a bag and attach it to a vacuum and shoot it into his mouth to make things go faster.  We coined it the food shooter.

We left our campsite at 9:30 this morning.  That’s a record early for us lately.  By 11:30 we arrived at Prince George.  We stocked up on milk, bread, and turkey.  We haven’t had an opportunity to buy deli fresh meat lately, so I splurged.  I asked for a pound of meat, and the lady asked if I knew what I wanted in kilograms.  Opps.  You would think after being in Canada a cumulative of over a month that I would have caught on by now.  Not having any idea how many kilograms I wanted I asked what families usually get.  She said anywhere from 200 – 300 kg.  Since we devour about 1/2 a pound a lunch I went for 300 kg.  I’m pretty sure we ate 100 kg before we even left the store.  Instead of getting a gallon of milk we are usually buying 4 liters.  The milk prices weren’t too horrible today.  We paid $3.67 for 4 liters.  We’ve paid that much for half as much in some places.  What is still incredibly painful is the gas.  We paid $1.15 a liter yesterday. With a thirty-four gallon tank we drove away with $140 less in our pockets.

Lunch was served at a gorgeous park in Prince George.  Before leaving we also hopped through the spray park for a few minutes.  It was actually warm enough to enjoy a spray park for once!

113 km outside of Prince George along Highway 16 is one of my favorite hikes we have had, The Ancient Forest Trail.  The whole 2.3 km loop only took us an hour to complete.  The trails were very well marked and the scenery was exceptional.

Brooke decided she was going to carry Cody today.  That would have been quite a feat as she only weighs ten pounds more than him.

This is Brooke post hike meltdown.  We were very proud of her. Today’s meltdown was only two minutes long.  Almost every hike is marked by a Brooke meltdown anywhere from five to ten minutes into the hike.  It happens just about at the point where her muscles get warmed up, and then she realizes she’s doing work.  We have a brief period of entertainment for Scott, and discomfort for me (the crying drives me batty).  Then she usually does a dramatic fall or gets distracted and then we enjoy the rest of the hike meltdown free.  I didn’t realize how much shadow I was getting in the picture, but it looks like the “big” mean parents are forcing the cute innocent girl on a torture march.  Don’t be fooled.  She was a great Junior Ranger and leader on this hike. That is once we got the usual meltdown out of the way.

The towering ancient red cedars created a very peaceful and awe inspiring atmosphere.  Some of the trees are more than 1,000 years old.  They believe some are as many as 2,000 years old. I found myself stopping often just to fill my lungs with the clean cedar scent and look up in awe.

Not only this a unique forest because it is so old, but it is also exceptional because it is an inland rainforest.

The tree on the left is called “The Big Tree”.  It is a Western Cedar with a sixteen foot diameter.  They think it is somewhere between 1,000 – 2,000 years old.  The rotten interior of its core makes it difficult to date.

A giant tree fell when we were walking and luckily Scott and Brooke held it up so we could get under it!

or so that’s how the story goes…

Cedars often grow in a circle of three to five trees.

The picture on the left is not of a hairy cedar, but of lichen that thrive in old growth forests.

The picture on the left is of a sign explaining that in my picture on the right we have an incredible view of Mount Sir Alexander at 10,800 feet.  We had a great day, but not quite as clear as the picture on the left.  I loved the signs in the forest.  They were all written from the perspective of the trees and lichen.

The picture on the bottom right is of a tree hit by lightning.  Firefighters put out the blaze that was raging only in the hollow interior of the tree.

  I took this picture because the tree looks like it is a Christmas tree decorated with tinsel instead of lichen.  It looks better if you click on it and blow it up.

Brooke wants to make sure that everyone knows during our hike, on a particularly slippery section of trail, I made her hold my hand for safety.  Instead of keeping her from falling I fell and dragged her down with me, bonking her head on the dirt.  Luckily no one else fell and there were no major injuries besides my pride.

After the Ancient Forest Hike we headed down the road a few minutes to a rest area that was also still in the rain forest. to cook dinner  We had no intention of staying here until another couple talked us into it.  We went back and forth about it several times.  It is never advisable to sleep at a rest area.  It can be downright dangerous, even carefree Scott agreed to that sentiment.  However, it was the most picturesque rest area we have ever been to and it even had a playground.  The nearest campground was 100 miles away and our alternative would have been to pull off the road somewhere in the National Forest Land (which you are allowed to do and we have done in the past).  We really enjoyed chatting with the couple and the fact that they were also there and lived only an hour away convinced us to stay.

  This sign explains about the epidemic of the pine forest beetle.  The beetle is a natural part of the pine forest ecosystem, but unfortunately due to over a decade of warm winters the beetle is taking over.  The cold winters usually kill up to 80 percent of the beetle, but the warm winters are only killing up to 10 percent of the beetle.  The beetles are supposed to eat old trees and pave the way for new forest growth, but at this rate they are eating timber that thousands of people make their living harvesting.  We have seen gigantic sections of forests looking ill, and now we know why.