Christmas Day Along the Songhees Walkway

Andrew and I went for a Christmas Day walk along the Songhees walkway. It's amazing how much you see when you meander and have camera in hand. 

From a very cooperative hummingbird to a hidden heron, to roses and seaweed. We also saw a harbour seal and an otter but they were too quick for us today!  :-)   

E&N Rail Trail and Gorge Park

I have definitely not been keeping up with blog posts. This is from a bike ride a couple weeks ago. I did a loop from our place, along the E&N Rail Trail, a stop at Portage Park and Thetis Cove, and then back along the Gorge walkway. The walkway doesn't fully follow the Gorge waterway so it was interesting discovering what was at all the dead ends as I tried to stay as close to the water as possible.  :-) 

Along the E&N Rail Trail

Thetis Cove from Portage Park

Thetis Cove from Portage Park

Along the Gorge walkway

 

Pkols (Mt. Douglas) Hike

Since there was no rain in the forecast this afternoon, Andrew and I decided to take a quick hike up Pkols (aka Mt. Douglas). And by "quick," I mean less than an hour up and down, including a couple stops for scenic views along the way and at the top. Beautiful! 

"Located in Wsanec Territory and on the border of Lexwugen Territory, this has been, and remains, an important meeting place for many nations. The reclamation of Pkols, to replace the colonial name Mount Douglas, recognizes the nation-to-nation agreements negotiated here and supports ongoing efforts of Indigenous and settler people to restore balanced relationship to the lands they call home."

Kayaking at Thetis Lake

After several days of devastating rain on the Island and lower mainland BC, that left many people without power, stranded due to mud slides and washed out roads, and many homes flooded, today turned sunny and warm. 

Andrew and I had been looking ahead to the forecast and hoped it would hold for us to try out our new folding kayaks at Thetis Lake. 

It was a beautiful day! Thetis Lake Regional Park is just a few minutes drive from our home and, in addition to the lake, has over 40 km of hiking trails. 

Thanks to Andrew for this photo!
 

The kayaks start out small and are just 20 lbs. 

First time for me setting them up but it didn't take long at all.

They're definitely not ocean kayaks but our main goal is just to meander around,
enjoy the scenery and for Andrew to take photos.

Even I took a few reflection photos today!

I always bug Andrew to wear brighter colours so that my photos look better!  :-) 

And a beautiful sunset to end the day.

En Route to Our New Home

Andrew and I have moved to Victoria, BC. It was a somewhat sudden decision but we're happy with it and looking forward to a milder winter season. 

Full moon over Victoria Harbor

Andrew headed out a couple weeks before I did so that he could be there when the movers arrived. I still had the SARscene 2021 conference and a few other things to finish up. And also to be at the Saskatoon end when the movers picked everything up. 

But finally, I was on the road! I left late in the afternoon and got a beautiful Saskatchewan sunset view just outside of Swift Current. 

Driving through the mountains and seeing the changing colors of the trees . . . no photo can do it justice. 

Andrew and I always stop for a short hike at the bird sanctuary whenever we pass through Creston, BC. It was a sunny day but just as I pulled into the parking lot I could hear a couple drops of rain on the van and soon after there was a literal downpour! With the sun still shining. I waited for a few minutes for it to slow down, started my hike, and caught this beautiful rainbow. 

Next stop was Osoyoos where it was a gorgeous evening for a walk on the beach after supper. 

Since I had a shorter driving day before arriving in Port Moody to visit my niece and her husband, I stopped at Manning Park and enjoyed a short hike. 

It felt great to finally arrive in Victoria, to reunite with Andrew and get to our new home! 

 

Grey Owl and Other Trails - June 2021

One of Andrew's running goals this year was to run the Grey Owl Trail (40 km total). He was continually checking the weather forecast and finally found a day wasn't too hot or too rainy, and that I was able to go with him. 

Before

Finishing strong!

After

He finished the run in very good time and looked strong when I saw him coming back into the parking lot.  Here's his post about how it went.  

While he'd been running, I did a leisurely hike out and back to the Chipewyan campground (approx. 13 km total). There had been reports of bears along the Kingmere Trail on the other side of the lake so we both carried bear spray and both had our inReach devices with us. Andrew sent me a message when he arrived at Grey Owl's cabin so I knew he's made it that far and could guess at what time he'd be back. We arrived back at the parking lot within a couple minutes of each other. 

Not a great photo of this little guy but he sure was cute. That acorn is half the size of his head!

The cloudy day made it perfect for hiking and stopping along the lake helped take a break from the mosquitos that were ferocious if you stopped for too long on the trail.  

So many ferns in the boggy areas. 

Remembered the veggies ... forgot the chocolate bars. Dammit! 

We'd arrived in Waskesiu the day before, early enough to do a late afternoon hike along the Waskesiu River trail. There are so many beautiful flowers out this time of year. 

On our third day, we did a few more hikes before heading home -- Boundary Bog trail, Shady Lake trail, and stopped at Height-of-the-Land Tower. 

A very typical photo of Andrew on most of our hikes.

A lovely evening on the beach at Waskesiu.

Views from Height-of-the-Land Tower