Tag: old growth forest
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Pacific Northwest’s Barred Owl
The Barred Owl is a wonderful presence in North America’s forests, its distinctive echoing call and striking plumage marking it as both a biological force and a subject of human wonder. They are most vocal during the breeding season, which typically occurs from late winter through early spring.
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Canada’s Largest Sitka Spruce
An afternoon sun shone between fluffy clouds and reflected off the massive grey trunk of a giant Sitka Spruce, the warming rays illuminating the great tree’s salal, young conifers, fern, and moss-covered understory. The tranquil scene was alive with wildlife sounds the gentleness of a hidden brook, and the tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker, bore witness…
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A Coastal Rainforest Giant
The tree’s massive trunk is covered in thick gnarly brown bark… and stretches defiantly over 65 metres into a cloudless Vancouver Island morning. A broken top, a silent witness to the prosperity this ancient giant has afforded to surrounding conifers: a mix of maturing Red Cedar, Hemlock, and Sitka Spruce.
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The Marble Maria Monument
A search in Vancouver Island’s Nimpkish Valley for a stone and marble monument to Maria created by Italian pioneer Rufino Mancinelli. Know locally as the Marble Maria the shrine is a tale of romance and lost love. The stone memorial is about the size of a large woodshed, the work of Rufino (Manny) Mancinelli, an…
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A Hike to Historic San Josef Bay
Welcoming our Netherlands friends, René and Hanny Gijsel to San Josef Bay promised to be an adventure especially during May, a time of natural flora renewal after long cold winter months… invigorating aromas, colourful vibrancy, and subtle forest sounds captures one’s auditory soul and visual imagination… San Josef Bay
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A Woodland Afternoon
The air carried a pleasing sweet earthy scent, a mix of fall leaves, fir cones, moss, fungi, and ripened berries; as we quietly walked on an old gravel road unremitting forces of nature would soon reclaim. Our goal: simply to enjoy the outdoors and forest life amidst the openness of shoulder-high young rejuvenating evergreens and…
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A Grizzly Bear Encounter
The sun was high and warming to the grizzly bear as he moved slowly down a narrow path.. He was heading towards a grassy estuary, a favourite summer feeding area for bears, deer, moose, ground squirrels…. But today, a primeval stirring was in the June air; an irresistible restlessness felt throughout the Wild kingdom, the…
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Coastal Rainforests of British Columbia
BC’s Coastal Rainforests are a living, breathing, and interdependent synergy of ecosystem components, coexisting in balance with each other. Collectively they are self perpetuating biosphere of tall trees, plants, wildlife, reptiles, and many other organisms found along coastal British Columbia. Forest ground cover includes decaying matter that continuously supports soil nutrient input and replenishment. Optimal…
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Woodland Lichen
The diversity of vegetation in British Columbia’s Rainforest is amazing, especially in the cool humid environment of North Vancouver Island’s coastal forests. During snow free seasons, hikers are rewarded by volumes of lush foliage sporting unique shapes and designs, scattered between tall evergreens….. Wonderful flora pleasing to the eye with exciting shades of green and…
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Mushrooms: The Incredible World of Fungi
Fungi has an essential role in the natural function of forest ecosystems. Wood-decaying fungi are the primary decomposers breaking down dead wood and recycling nutrients back into the soil! They are also instrumental in creating diverse wildlife habitats by softening wood to form cavities, providing shelter, and forming the base of a food chain for…
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The Nimpkish Valley
The Nimpkish Valley links the west and east coasts of Vancouver Island and in ancient times served as an important First Nation commerce route via waterways and forest pathways. Such routes were commonly called “grease trails” because of first peoples trade in oolichan grease, a much sought after commodity. The Valley’s westward trails were used…
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September in the Tlakwa
September is mating season when massive heavy antlered male elk (bulls) are on the move, seeking slender females (cows) to start a new generation. Like clockwork as soon as leaves start to turn yellow and shades of brown, elk begin their annual hormone driven mating (rutting) season. Male animals become solitary and roam & bugle…
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Lake Surprises
A stillness laid upon the lake, creating magical reflections of snow capped Insular Mountain prominences, exacting in every detail right down to fluffy white clouds. Perfect conditions for the kayaking & wildlife viewing we hoped to do. (Who could have imagined the wonderful fortune nature would bestow upon us today?) Magnificent Roosevelt Elk.
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Douglas-Fir Flowers
Spring is a renewal time for Mother Nature, especially visible in the Pacific Northwest outdoors, we knew this and why we were out and about. Still, can you imagine our amazement happening upon a fabulous and unexpected curiosity: a “flowering evergreen tree”! We had no idea such flowers existed, yet here before us was a…
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A Short Day on the Trail
Leave pavement behind and Nature miraculously appears… everywhere to the fortunate, affording many reasons to put on wool socks & hiking boots. Perhaps a Pine Marten, a Black Tailed Deer, a Barred Owl… So many possibilities fill our imaginations as Rosie, Chris, and I ready a daypack for a days adventure. So it has been…
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The Quatse River
Nestled in the Pacific’s coastal paradise of beautiful North Vancouver Island, Kwakiutl traditional territory, is a small but mighty Quatse River system. It is made huge by an amazing diversity of plant, trees, fish, animal, and bird life found in the river and along its shores. This magnificent river is a glistening jewel in British…
