Tag Archives: British Columbia

nature, Photography

Summer Evening Sky

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We’re in the middle of a hot spell right now with 38C (100.4F) or thereabouts for the next several days. While it’s a dry heat, I prefer to get any outside activities completed before 10:00 a.m. or so, but we are also getting beautiful evening skies that cool off to a much more comfortable 23 or 24 (73 – 75 F).

Sitting outside on a cooling evening with a great scene in front of you is a wonderful thing.

Happy Saturday.

nature, Photography

Rainforest Scenes from Haida Gwaii

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Rainforests are such interesting (and damp!) places. Here are a few photos of some of my favourites.

I wasn’t able to find out what type of mushrooms these are, but they remind me of mussel shells.
New trees growing out of a nursery log.
Wild honeysuckle. We saw a number of large honeysuckle bushes growing in the rainforest. There are also lots more growing in the village of Masset, so I’m not sure if wild ones have migrated to town or cultivated ones have migrated to the forest. Their scent was heavenly.
The underside of a large stump showing part of the intricate root system. We couldn’t find any evidence of the fallen tree, and maybe it has already been consumed by the forest, but it must have been very tall and large.
Moss and lichen have engulfed many of the lower limbs of this tree but the upper branches are more exposed to light and overall, the tree seems to be healthy.
I love this scene and find it very representative of how the rainforests on Haida Gwaii appear. But I also think that it could be in one of the Harry Potter books!

Happy Tuesday.

Commentary, nature, Photography

Inside Passage to Port Hardy, Part One

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To return home from our visit to Haida Gwaii, we decided to take the 15 hour ferry trip through the Inside Passage from Prince Rupert to Port Stanley.

Our route is marked by red-circled numbers.

The passage is sparsely inhabited and quite narrow in places so we easily saw lots of bald eagles, hawks, a couple of bears, deer, and several dolphins. I was more interested in watching rather than taking pictures so the few that I did take weren’t great. The scenery was gorgeous, however, so I have lots of those photos!

Our seats at the front afforded fantastic views, although I have to admit that the ship movement provided a nice nap!
Our ship – the Northern Expedition
The water was the most amazing flat calm. It was a wonderful ride.
I stood outside for long periods just enjoying these spectacular views. This view also shows the wheelhouse on the right.
The Northern Expedition’s stern.

On this trip we took two round-trip ferries and then there was the 15 hour trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy (all with B.C. Ferries). We found all the vessels to be clean, comfortable and in good condition. On the other hand, the onboard meals offered were dry, overcooked, overpriced and ran heavily to hamburgers and other fast food, so for our 15 hour trip, we brought along a cooler and had our own snacks and sandwiches, something that seemed to be commonly done. Overall though, we found that B.C. Ferries were really quite good.

Happy Monday.

nature, Photography

Prince Rupert

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We are in Prince Rupert on British Columbia’s northern Pacific coast, and the views and scenery have been stunning.

This was our view from a restaurant where we had dinner.

As we enjoyed our meal we also enjoyed the sunset and the frolicking bald eagles.

We saw many, many of them calling to each other, swooping, diving and putting on quite a display of their aerial prowess.

Happy Wednesday.

Commentary, nature, Photography

Creek Time

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I have been dealing with a bad case of flu for the last several days but yesterday had enough energy to take myself out for a short walk along Penticton creek, which isn’t far from where I live.

It was a beautifully warm, comfortable day and I was able to take little breaks to enjoy the scenery. It was great to get out and start feeling a bit more like myself again.

There are apparently a couple of particularly nasty flu viruses round and about right now, so make sure you follow your best precautions to try to avoid them. Both M and I have had every symptom in the book, from fevers to severe body aches to nausea, so this one is definitely no picnic.

Stay healthy.