Tag Archives: countryside

Commentary, nature, Photography

Island Hopping

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Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of 150 islands, but it’s mainly comprised of two larger islands: Graham Island and Moresby Island.

Graham is the biggest and most populated of the two while Moresby is home to a small population, the airport with scheduled service and also to the Gwaii Haanas [“Islands of Beauty”] National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, a federally protected area that shows evidence of Haida habitation from 13,000 years ago.

A 20 minute ferry ride connects Graham and Moresby Islands and is another chance to see more of Haida Gwaii’s breathtakingly beautiful scenery.

Earlier this year, the British Columbia government, through the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act, returned sovereignty of the islands to the Haida First Nation, the first time since 1787 that the Council of the Haida Nation has been functioning officially.

Because of its ecological diversity, Haida Gwaii is said to be the “Galapagos of the North.” It is home to a unique subspecies of bear as well as to the Haida ermine, animals that aren’t found anywhere else.

In the last two centuries, Haida Gwaii has had a very turbulent history as it contended with colonialism, newly introduced diseases, exploitation and racism, to name a few of the worst issues. The Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act goes a long way to addressing many of these historical wrongs.

Reblogs

#ScenicSaturday July 20th 2024:

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This continuing series of posts depicts our beautiful world, encouraging people to share them and maybe even help save our unique home planet from …

#ScenicSaturday July 20th 2024:

A stunning picture of Yorkshire Dales National Park from Stuart Aken. I hope you take the time to visit his beautiful photography blog.

nature, Photography

Wild Flowers of Haida Gwaii

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I loved seeing all the wild flowers everywhere on Haida Gwaii – a beautiful bounty.

Wild morning glories. These were growing next to a vegetable garden fence, but we saw them everywhere, even in the forest. These are not bindweed, an invasive plant that looks like morning glory.
Crane’s Bill. Very, very tiny blooms. I found these growing next to a beach.
Wild pea.
Alberta wild rose.
Wild foxglove. These are everywhere too, in forests and next to beaches and roads.
Cloudberry flowers. There are huge numbers of these growing all over. Some of the fruit are already very ripe.
Nope, this isn’t a wild flower, but I thought I would add a picture of a cloudberry. Very sweet with tangy overtones.
Buttercups are so bright and pretty!
And my favourite, daisies.

We also saw many, many bees on Haida Gwaii. Their numbers have been dropping in lots of places so it was fantastic to see them thriving.

Happy Wednesday.

nature, Photography

Haida Gwaii

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We arrived on the archipelago of Haida Gwaii after a very smooth ferry crossing from Prince Rupert.

The distance looks a bit deceptive but we were also crossing the Hecate Strait, an area of ocean that can live up to its namesake, so caution is required, even in the summer.

We spent our first few days in Masset at the northern end of Haida Gwaii and explored lovely beaches and many trails through the rain forest.

Haida Gwaii sits in a very temperate weather zone; it’s almost a “Goldilocks” location. It’s never too hot; never too cold, despite its more northern location. It’s lush, verdant, stunningly beautiful and very, very green with lots of huge old growth trees everywhere.

Near the ocean, we frequently found moss encrusted trees with huge ferns growing on the forest floor in this natural ode to recycling. Old trees die, fall, and then provide nutrients for the next trees and other plants.

There were many of these “nursery stumps” with new trees growing from the old ones.

More will follow later.

Happy Tuesday.

nature, Photography

Daisy Deer

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We recently saw this mule deer when we were hiking in a provincial park.

She looked up from whatever yummy plant she was eating, waggled her ears, posed, let me take a picture and then went right back to her lunch.

She looked so beautiful and unconcerned as she stood among the daisies, feeling comfortable that no harm would come to her.

Happy Monday.

Reblogs

#ScenicSaturday July 13th 2024:

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This continuing series of posts depicts our beautiful world, encouraging people to share them and maybe even help save our unique home planet from …

#ScenicSaturday July 13th 2024:

A beautiful July picture of the River Wye, courtesy of Stuart Aken. Please click the link above to see more of Stuart’s lovely photography.

nature, Photography

River or Lake?

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We have seen some truly fantastic landscapes on this trip through northern British Columbia as we near our ultimate destination: Haida Gwaii.

The rivers are magnificent, which leads me to this question: in the photos below, are you seeing a river or is it a lake? Or, is it a river and a lake?

River? Lake?
This might be a lake. But maybe not .
If you remember my comments about glacier-sourced rivers a couple of posts ago, then you might have a clue.
It was a very hot day, but seeing all this water helped to cool us off, at least in our imaginations, and it didn’t matter if it was a lake or a river! 

I’ll provide the answer in the comments.

Happy Sunday.

nature, Photography

Bulkley River

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The Bulkley River of northern British Columbia is a major tributary to the much larger Skeena River – I’ll post pictures of the Skeena later; it’s huge.

Bulkley River with the Hazelton Mountains in the background.
Rapids on the Bulkley River.

This river is greenish-grey which indicates that it’s fed by glaciers and their forceful runoff. The colour comes from pulverised rock particles that absorb and scatter sunlight; the rivers and lakes near the Rockies are an impressive bluish-green.

Happy Friday.