January 2021
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Making the most of the days
Golden Ears Provincial Park
This is my first time
ever visiting Golden Ears Provincial Park. This park is the
closest large (>200 campsites) BC Park to Vancouver and it's busy
in the summer - they often have to turn people away because the
parking lots are full. Of course in early January it's pretty
quite, but there were still cars there and lots of people were
hiking. We didn't have a hike planned, I just wanted to see
what the facilities looked like.
We stopped at South Beach. There is parking here for hundreds
of cars and there are dozens of picnic tables to accomodate day
trippers. There is a canoe rental place, but it was closed.
The kids are used to making the best
of situation I present them so very quickly tried throwing stones
and then figured out they could build a rock bridge out into the
lake. Sadly, they didn't make it very far before they ran out
of rocks.
We had lunch in the car (the kids got cold), used the outhouse
(clean and tidy!) and then drove around the park to see what else
was super easy. We drove up to the Gold Creek Parking next to
the start of the North Beach trail, but the parking lot was almost
full and it was raining pretty hard so we turned around to come
home.
Pitt Addington Marsh
As I was driving home, I realized we
were going to drive near to the Pitt Mash - one of my favorite
places. We drove up and found the parking lot had lots of
room.
We walked as far as the bird
watching tower because it provided cover from the rain.
The stormy weather made for some nice views, but the kids again got
cold.
We got back in the car and drove home in time to pick up mom from
work.
Seawall
The days aren't very
long in January and if it's raining some of the day, you need to
have a plan ready to use up what part of the day remains. The
Vancouver Seawall is one of the premium destinations in Vancouver
and we are luck to live close enough that we can just go for a walk
on a moments notice.
We have a favourite
route - walk down to Olympic Village on the seawall and then walk
the return trip more inland where the route is a bit more
direct. Along the way to Olympic Village there are a few nice
stops and rock causeway to Habitat Island is a favorite. On
really high tides, the rocks are surrounded by water, but most of
the time they are well clear the of water.
The target is of course Earnest Ice Cream. Our kids favorite
is cookies and cream and I think they think it worth the walk.
Sunrise on Canada Place
At this time of the year sunrise is quite late so setting up a
morning timelapse for sunrise isn't getting up much earlier than
normal. The weather is a wild card, but composition isn't easy
either. Of course you hope for a dramatic sky, but this time
of the year that is rare. If you don't try, you don't succeed
so I drove out with my tripod and took a sequence.
When I first got out of the car I scared a coyote. Stanley
Park has been having problems with Coyotes biting people so it was a
bit of warning. Thankfully, I never saw the coyote again.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Again, trying to make the most of the day, we drove to QE Park for a
little walk. QE park is one of the highest points in Vancouver
and the leeward side has quite a bit ground that never gets sunlight
in the winter. This lets frost and ice grow which the kids
enjoy.
There is a tree on the other side of the
rock quary which blooms very early in the season. Back in
2019 I saw the same species of bird (Ruby Crowned Kinglet) in the same tree. I think experienced birders get to the
point they just know where to find certain species at certain
times of the year so they can get exactly the kind of shot they
want.
Walk at the UBC Endowment Lands
My Nikkor 28-70mm lens is slowly dying. I've dropped it (and
me) a few times and had it repaired a few times, but it's time to
retire it. Nikon had some large sales on so I decided to buy a
replacement now 24-70mm lens with VR. Nikon is going through a
transition now - my larger SLR format camera is being replaced with
smaller "mirrorless" formats and with that, there is a new lens
mount and new lenses. Lenses for my current camera are
probably at the end of their life - 5 years from now, Nikon just
isn't going to make them anymore. Buy them now, or it will be
used examples in the future. I decided to go for a walk to see
how it worked out.
Tags: Pitt-Addington Marsh(3), ice cream(2), time lapse(2), Vancouver(2), boat(1), dock(1)
People: Claira(12), Nara(11), Helen(2)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > January 2021
Last Modified Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at 00:09:20 Edit
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