Along Brown Ridge

 

These photographs are all taken along Brown Ridge, the top of Mount Warburton Pike on Saturna Island.  We spent the day there yesterday celebrating Harry's birthday with some friends.  Here's what it looks like from the top.  This tree has quite a lot of character, don't you think?

We're walking along the ridge in the sunshine.

The trail we were walking on is nothing but an expanded goat path, pretty close to the edge at times.  A couple of the group were experiencing vertigo.  It's a long way down.  Those little white dots in the water are sailboats.

Can you see the goat paths all up and down the hill?

These are the trees above the goat path.  I think they're old growth fir. I just love the silvery grass up there at this time of year.

Back at the cabin we enjoyed the view for a while and then made dinner.  Then came the high point of the day...

the goat parade.









Brown Ridge is the home to a huge herd of feral goats.  They hang out in the gullies resting during the day and when evening comes they follow the path along the top of the ridge, heading out perhaps to do some grazing.

We couldn't believe the numbers we were seeing.  Old and young, mothers and kids.  They just kept on coming.

 After most of them had passed I went outside with my camera to try to get a little closer.  They quickly ran away up into a wooded area.

This fellow stopped to stare at me for a moment.  Then when I went back inside he headed off, followed by the last goat of all hoofing it to catch up with the herd.

It was an amazing show. We were too entranced to count them but there were well over a hundred that passed in front of the cabin.