I learned something about compliments the other day.

Sometimes when people give compliments they are really just impressed by your abilities. They're thinking "Wow, that guy is just really good at that."

But sometimes compliments are more like a way of saying "I love you". And when they are, boy, you better respond. We all know that an unreturned I love you spells some pretty serious consequences (or at least some damn awkward moments). When one of these "I love you" compliments comes up... same thing. Don't leave it hanging, you gotta return that compliment, asap.

Good luck.

Just returned home after a week off! Hiked through Cape Scott for 4 days 3 nights. All told I think we walked nearly 50 km in 4 days.

We had great weather and great spots to camp! Here's the breakdown.

Day One - Camp Wetoff AKA Nissan Bight We arrived at the trailhead around 12:30 after making the short trip from Port McNeill to Port Hardy (enjoyed a short visit with John and Andrea Adrachuck and the Salts boat), Port Hardy to Holberg, Holberg to the trailhead. Loading up all our stuff on our backs, ugh so heavy, we made guesses at how much our packs weighed. Sadly, we never did weigh them so we had no idea. Then we were off like a herd of turtles at 1:10pm. Ticking off the kilometers, we settled into a steady 3km and then take a break rhythm. We made a quick stop for lunch at Eric Lake. 13 kms later we were dead dog tired and we were at the junction choosing whether to go to Nissan Bight (only 2 km more) OR Nels Bight (4.3 km more). There was only a moments hesitation before we choose the shorter distance, Nissan Bight here we come. Arriving at the beach we took a quick look at Fisherman Bay and then headed for all those sweet sweet camping amenities, such as bear cache and pit toilet at Nissan Bight (a couple hundred meters away). We setup the camp in short order and got down to our precooked pasta and roast beef, leftovers from my sisters wedding. Yay leftovers! more like yay we don't have to carry heavy heavy food!

Day Two - Camp Bear AKA Guise Bay We woke up and packed up camp. A little rain the night before made the packup a little interesting. But our trusty tarp setup kept us and the tent nice and dry. We hit the trail around 11:00 and set off for Nels bight. We thought we might stop there but we reached there by 1:00 and figure that with 7km more to the cape that there was no way we could have gotten all the way to the cape and back without some bitter, bitter weeping and gnashing of teeth. So, we decided to lug our stuff in the extra 4km to Guise Bay and camp there. Making for a longer hike with the gear but a shorter hike for the day as a whole. And Guise Bay... Guise Bay was beautiful! Sandy beach, sunny, little bit of wind and some great spots to camp. We setup behind a wooden log fortress that was built up by previous campers to guard the tents against the wind.

Day Three - Camp Stink River AKA Fisherman River

Day Four - Out and Home Woke up early... 8am! Hit the trail by 9ish. The walk was pretty uneventful except for one slip and trip that stirred things up. The kilometers seemed to go by pretty slowly considering that we were almost out. The family that we had seen at many of our other camping spots we met on the trail. They had woke up at 6am and walked from Nels Bight... Ouch!

We finally walked in sight of the parking lot... and then sweet sweet relief as we could take off those heavy packs for the last time. The drive out went pretty well, except for the fact that we were both quiet and getting dozy. Back to civilization.

And I packed like an idiot. Towards the end I was really REALLY kicking myself.

I don't need to bring 3 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of short, multiple shirts.

Next time there won't be a whole jar of peanut butter, jam, black beans and salmon in my backpack... Maybe one of the above but not all.

In an effort to live off the land in my 4th floor apartment, I have planted kale, mint and chives. I plan to live on these through the winter months... Hopefully not exclusively!

The Mint and Chives were easyt since some one at Canadian Tire managed to provide already growing plants. But the kale I'm growing from seed and by all reports if it grows I am going to be swimming in kale. My 2.5 foot by 1 foot balcony planter completely overwhelmed. I hope that is the problem I have to deal with instead of the trying to figure out how I am going to eat a plant so small!!

If this project succeeds I will consider myself a vegetable green thumb of the lowest level of expertise. Lord knows I am not a decorative plant green thumb... I just can't seem to care about those beautiful beautiful plants that i can't eat.