December 2009
Keeping busy over the Hollidays
Campbell River Area
With the Island highway, Campbell river isn't that far away from Comox
(where my family lives). Durring the summer, Helen and I spent
some time in the north island (
Hiking
to Cape Scott) and driving through Campbell River I was reminded
that there is probably nice things to see and do there too. I had
a bit of spare time so I decided to poke around for a bit.
Elk Falls shows up high on any "to do" list for the
Campbell river area. In classic BC Parks tradition, there is a
nice parking lot and a wide (probably wheel chair accessable) trail to
a fenced in viewpoint. Unlike most BC parks stops, there is a
short trail from the safe viewpoint to an exposed slippery
viewpoint. The exposed slippery one was once official - the trail
is concrete in parts - but the trail is now disused and tricky - not
what you want when there are long falls close by.
We stopped into town for lunch, walked around the
spit for a bit (nice redevelopment what was once industrial land) and
then drove up to do a wildlife loop that promised the possibility of
seeing elk. I've seen lots of Elk in my travels - you
basically stumble over them in town in Banff. Vancouver Island is
has many signs warning you about Elk, but I have yet to see one on the
island. We took a drive around the loop (until the snow got too
bad), but saw no Elk. It was near golden hour (sunset), but was
also foggy so the light was quite fun - good light is often good
photgraphy.
As we gained elevation, the effects of the cold became more
pronounced. We passed a swamp where everything was coated in
frost (including the water surface until I put my foot through
it). A larger lake was frozen over by a thin sheet of ice.
The combination of fog and light is always fun.
Time well spent - if I had my car (which has higher clearance and all
wheel drive), it would have been interesting to push further.
Comox Valley
I should proably spend more time in the Comox Valley
given how much family I have here. My Mom was out shopping so my
Dad and I went for a bit of a local drive. Every winter the swans
come to town to feed on the fields and wait until the Artic warms up
again. There are a number of good places in town to see swans but
I have yet to find an easy place to take good photos - cover and an
interesting background. Swans are big birds so seeing them fly
overhead is quite impressive.
We went out to the Comox coastline and went out
looking for wildlife. There are lots of ducks and shorebirds
hanging out and with a good lens I'm sure there is lots to
see. We watched a large Sea Lion swim by (the birds didn't
care) - I would love to know where he was off to.
Tags: frost(3), forest(2), waterfall(2), panorama(1), monochromatic(1), fog(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > December 2009
Last Modified Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at 23:48:53 Edit
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