The beautiful White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum) is one of many wildflowers in bloom along the Canyon View Trail in Elk Falls Provincial Park. The Canyon View Trail in Elk Falls Provincial Park is a six kilometer loop that follows the banks of the Campbell River is spectacular right now and getting better every day. Allow yourself about 1.5 hours …
BC Parks
A Sad Day for Strathcona Provincial Park
Bedwell Lake is accessible by fairly good trail from the Buttle Lake corridor of the park (if the suspension bridge at the trail head isn’t damaged). BC Parks turned 100 just over a month ago on March 1st, 2011. On March 11, 2010, the BC Liberal government quietly and radically amended the Master Plan of Strathcona Provincial Park, the first …
A Mountain Tree: Yellow-cedar
Guest Post by Jocie Brooks On a sunny Saturday during the recent cold-snap I took a morning off to do some cross-country skiing at Mt. Washington, gateway to Strathcona Provincial Park. The smooth, creamy-white snow glistened in the morning light, studded with troops of frosted trees. They call this “Paradise Meadows” for a reason; it’s a spectacular place and feels …
Marvelous Mudflat Snails
A couple of weekends ago we enjoyed a sunny trip down island to Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park. This BC Park is a fantastic place for kids and in the winter time the number of people using the trails and beaches are few(er) – note that on a sunny day there are still plenty of people out enjoying the park. The …
Summer Hikes Begin at Paradise Meadows
The new Strathcona Wilderness Institute centre at Paradise Meadows in Strathcona Provincial Park. Summer will officially begin in July in Paradise Meadows, when the new Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre opens for the summer season. The beautiful new building located at the Paradise Meadows trailhead, adjacent to the Raven Lodge, will be open weekends from July 3 to Sept. 12, 2010. …
Orchids at Little Qualicum Falls
Last week my afternoon destination with the kids was Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park, just outside of Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The falls are truly spectacular, there’s nothing “little” about them! However, I also searched for late spring blooming plants and wasn’t disappointed with the orchids. The habitat here is fairly open with Douglas-firs and mossy areas underneath. …
Miracle Beach Birdwatching
Miracle Beach Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia provides a good place for both forest birds and marine birds. It has a great mix of “old growth” Douglas Fir, Big Leaf Maple, and open, well established Red Alder (in the campsite area) as well as stream habitat alongside Black Creek, productive estuary habitat at the mouth of the creek, …
Guess that Gull
I admit that I struggle with identifying gulls. Not only do you have to deal with four years of different plumages, you have to deal with hybrids as well. It can be extremely challenging and there are many opportunities to second guess yourself. In situations like those, sometimes it’s better to simply close your eyes, wait until the gull leaves, …
Brown Clustered Ear Cup
If you keep your ear to the ground you never know what you might see on your next walk in the woods. The Brown Clustered Ear Cup (Otidea alutacea) looks like delicate ears poking up through the moss. In actuality, it is a cup fungi. Brown Clustered Ear Cup (Otidea alutacea) We found a group of these cup fungi growing …
Lungwort
Lungwort | Lobaria pulmonaria November storms provide an opportunity to look at lichens that are usually a little higher up and out of reach. This week, while walking at Miracle Beach Provincial Park during a lull between squalls we found some beautiful Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) on a branch of Big-leaf Maple that had blown down in the high winds. Lungwort …