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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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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The Vancouver Island marmot is a critically endangered species of marmot that is only found in alpine meadows on Vancouver island. The latest population count was around 300 marmots with only about 30 of them living in the wild. The rest of population is found in zoos and other facilities trying to boost their numbers. Many of these programs are in place to release them back into the wild with the idea of boosting the population. On the weekend I made the trip up to Mount Washington to see if I could find some of these extremely rare animals. Finding these little guys was not an easy task, I spent 10 hours hiking 10KM and climbed about 2000M. After spending 9 hours looking and considering myself defeated I was on my way back to the car when I spotted my first one.
After leaving this guy and continuing back to the car I noticed a little ball of fur out the corner of my eye. To my surprise I had found a little pup hiding in a pile of loose rocks. This guy was untagged unlike the other older one I had found earlier.
Overall it was a very long day but in the end was very rewarding to get some photos of one of the most endangered animals in the world. I am really hoping to get some more photos this year before they start their yearly hibernation.
Tags: mt washington, vancouver island, vancouver island marmot
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River otters are quite abundant in and around Vancouver Island. Unlike sea otters they do come ashore when it is time to eat and sleep. Although it sounds like a river otter would spend all its time in a river you will find them in both marine and fresh water enviroments. You can quite often spot these otters around dusk as this is when they like to come out to feed.
River otters at Cattle Point in Victoria.
Otters can quite often collide with humans as they like to make their dens under decks or lounge around on rafts. This river otter in Lantzville on Vancouver Island is enjoying a meal on a raft on a calm summer night.
This romp (group) of otters is taking a short break from fishing to look around at French beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Tags: parks, river otters, vancouver island, wildlife
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I have realized that I have quite a few pictures of waterfalls from Vancouver Island so I thought I would combine them into one post. These pictures are in no way even being close to a complete list but these are a very of the waterfalls I have seen and have pictures of. Although I have not been to it or have pictures of it I have to mention Della falls which is the tallest waterfall in Canada at 440 meters and is located near Port Alberni, I really hope to be able to make it out to see it sometime.
We will start with Niagra falls which is in Goldstream park just outside of Victoria.
Spring.
Fall.
Winter.
Next we will goto Little Qualicum falls.
And the last stop for now is in Strathcona park.
Lower Myra falls.
Lady Falls.
Tags: goldstream park, strathcona park, vancouver island, water falls
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