Sandcut beach on the south-west of Vancouver Island has become one of my favourite beaches since discovering it last year after moving to Victoria. This is one of the most beautiful locations I have ever visited. I have made a number of trips to this beach in the past little while and hope to be able to continue to do this. Unfortunately the current owners of this property, Western Forest Products is looking to sell off 5,700 hectares along the Juan de Fuca straight near Jordan River which includes many of the popular surfing beaches as well as Sandcut beach. Right now local governments and private parties such as UBC and the land conservancy (TLC) are in negotiations to prevent the privatization and development of at least the waterfront portions of this land if not all of it. I can only hope that some kind of agreement is reached so not only Sandcut beach can be saved but this whole area which is simply stunning.
Tags: CRD, jordan river, logging, sandcut beach, sandcut creek, sooke, threats, victoria
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This weekend while I was in Nanaimo I also made a day trip up to Port Alberni. I am always trying to find new places to go and often find it difficult to find good resources to find new locations, which is one of the reason I started www.WildBC.ca. The night before I left I did a quick search and found a semi dated site that did seem to have a pretty good catalog of hikes around Port Alberni. I set off without setting my hopes to high because I knew the area I had chosen to hike had been logged at some point and the guide I did have was from 2005. The directions did not really stand up but I ran into some locals who where able to point me in the right direction. I was quite amazed to find the “hole in the wall” and not only that but a patch of decent sized trees was left around it.
This locations was unlike anything I have seen before let a lone something so close to home and the walk in was very pleasant. I would highly recommend checking it out if you are passing though or making a trip out to Port Alberni and have an hour or so to spare.
Tags: hiking, hole in the wall, Port Alberni, stokes creek, Stokes Falls, vancouver island, water falls
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This past weekend I was visiting Naniamo and spent a few hours enjoying the spring like weather down at Neck Point park. While I was there the tide was very low and a pair of Canadian Geese caught my eye on one of the little islands just off shore. Since the tide was low enough I was able to make it over fine, but on the way back I did get wet. The things you will do for a few photos!
Tags: birding, birds, Canadian Geese, nanaimo, neck point, neck point park, spring, sun
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I first went to Sandcut Beach last year around the same time of year and have been wanting to go back ever since. This is an very beautiful location that does not get much traffic which makes it perfect to relax or in my case get some nice photos without any distractions.
I arrived to the beach shortly after sunrise and was welcomed by a tantalizing golden light that only lasted a few minutes.
After taking in the lovely sunrise I continued down to the twin falls that empty onto the beach from Sandcut Creek. When I was last here there was a pretty substantial channel through the sand and gravel that lead to the ocean but this has since disappeared. The falls now just dissipate into the porous gravel beach.
Tags: jordan river, ocean, sandcut beach, sandcut creek, sunrise, vancouver island, water falls
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I was back in Lantzville vising my parents and I went up to the Lantzville Foothills, I have always enjoyed it there, great scenery, lots of activities (hiking, mountain biking or even rock climbing) but since it has been logged to put in a large housing development that claims to be “green”. Although this project is setting aside park lands most a lot of these areas are where they could not fit in a lot and they still logged and ruined many good hiking and bike trails. You can still find some nice trails but it is not the same and the view is not nearly as good as it was.
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Tags: hiking, lantzville, lantzville foothills, logging, mountain biking, rock climbing
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