Sometimes the best falls are the ones that are a little bit off the beaten path. They don’t have to be spectacular drops, but they should be a little harder to get to. The extra effort makes it worthwhile. This weekend I joined a group of Comox Valley Camera Club photographers on a day trip to the Triple Falls on …
British Columbia
Down at the Brown’s
Brown’s River falls have been on my “must visit” photography list for a while—the problem was that I really didn’t have a clear idea of where exactly they were. The Comox Valley Camera Club did a field trip there earlier in the month but I had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t attend. There are a couple of different ways to …
Phillips Beer + Nature = Vote for Swan Lake’s Rye Ale
Who doesn’t like beer? Who doesn’t like nature? Now’s your chance to enjoy both. Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary has been selected as a finalist to receive funding in the Phillips Beer Benefit Brew 2013 project. You can support this wonderful nature sanctuary located just minutes from downtown Victoria, British Columbia by voting daily at Benefit Brew 2013. Note …
Free Spirit Spheres
Guest Post by Rachel Dodds As the wind blows, you gently rock back and forth hearing the whistle of the wind and the rustle of the leaves. Sometimes bears and elk walk underneath – oblivious to you watching. There is something quite surreal to realize you are hanging from a tree! The sensation is like being on a boat but …
Crossing the Country Road
For the last couple of weeks I’ve seen at least 30 banded woollybears (Pyrrharctia isabella) crossing the country roads every time I’ve been out on my lunch time walks. One of my colleagues has taken to rescuing these cute little caterpillars and moves them from the middle of the road to the safety of the shoulder. They curl up in …
An Occupation of Snow Geese
If you’re in or visiting the Lower Mainland over the next couple of months, make sure to make your way out to either Richmond or Ladner and take in the seasonal spectacle that is the wintering flocks of snow geese (Chen caerulescens). The word flock doesn’t really do justice to the sheer number of birds: gaggle is more appropriate to a …
Golden-crowned Kinglets!
Earlier this week I ran into a flock of close to twenty golden-crowned kinglets (Regulus satrapa) feeding in the hedgerow alongside a country road in rural Merville. With the thick fog of the last couple days, it seems that birds are hunkering down and feeding in large mixed flocks. There were a few song sparrows skulking on the edges of …
Trent River Falls
Last fall when I hiked up the Trent River I met some people who told me about a spectacular waterfall on the downstream side of the Inland Island Highway. At that time I did a bit of research on-line and talked to a couple of friends who had been into the Trent River falls—it sounded like an easy walk (aside …
Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites
The massive gates, battery gun emplacements, underground magazine rooms, towers to climb, windows to peek in and out of, and secret rooms to discover. All of these things and more make Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites of Canada very cool destinations for kids (and adults) of all ages. Last weekend I took Clara and Alden on a …
Ecosystems In Peril: The Coastal Douglas-fir forests of British Columbia
Guest post by Vijay Somalinga Forests in British Columbia appear to stretch forever. To someone who is seeing these forests for the first time, it seems like they have remained untouched since the beginning of time. But, even the remotest stands of pristine old growth forests have been logged, and only scattered patches of protected old-growth forests remain today. Even these remnant …