Next Hike will be from Van Anda.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 30th December.

The meeting place is the Canadian Legion parking in Van Anda and the time 10:00am

A couple of weeks ago I spent the day trying to find as many different species of birds as I could in a fairly limited area at the north end of the island.  This was because all over North America there is an annual bird count that was started in the US over 100 years ago by the National Audubon Society and I have taken part in this for quite a few years now.  The participants in this Christmas Bird Count also have to count, as best they can, just how many birds of each species they saw during that one day.  I was really pleased to find a lot more individuals of one particular type of ducks called Barrow's Goldeneye.  There was a flock of about three dozen at the government dock in Van Anda and I was able to hide behind some bushes and get good shots and some video of them as they swam along very close to the shoreline.  Pretty obvious how they got their name don't you think? 

JD 

Three male and one female Barrow's Goldeneye ducks at the Van Anda dock, 16 December, 2017

Next Hike — date correction!

That was a slip of the fingers in my last hike notice. The date should read:—

Saturday, 23rd December.

JD.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Friday, 22nd December.

Meet at the Gillies Bay Backpack at 10:00am.

Last week the hikers drove part way down the Pocahontas Bay road and parked at the start of the trail to Pocahontas. They had lunch at the high point that has a large flat reflector for the BC Hydro microwave communications systems.  Hydro have a province wide radio network that controls the operation of it's many power stations, dams and switching stations etc. The view to the west from the site of the Fire Lookout hut was relatively clear, but the sweeping views of the Coast Mountains and Malaspina Strait was hidden by thick fog.

  

JD,

A hike to two Pocahontas Peaks, the foggy Communications Reflector viewpoint and the old Fire Lookout site. JM photos.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 16th December.

Meet at the Ball Park in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

My photo this week was taken earlier this year when we hiked along part of Russ Creek and down to the beach at North-east Bay.  We were walking through an area of very recent and extensive clear cut logging. The giant old growth living Douglas Fir in the picture had been marked "leave" and was standing with a handful of very young trees in the middle of this very large clearcut.  The young trees are an inadequate protection from gales that will sweep across the area in the years to come.  

JD.

The substantial base of a very old Douglas Fir, an old growth giant near Russ Creek. 

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 9th December.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

My photo this week is one I took back in mid-July this year. That summer turned out to be one of the driest on record with many weeks with little or no precipitation, but there were parts of the island, in particular the high ground at the south end where there were local showers that added moisture to the dry soil when the lower elevation areas received little or none.  As you can see in my photo there was plenty of water in this beaver pond on the southern slopes of Mt Davies when I was there.

JD.

A lovely beaver pond high up on the southern slopes of Mt. Davies.