Report and Photos by Leader – Bettina Matzkuhn Nine members of Nature Vancouver and one guest participated. The weather was warm and breezy. We saw a Humpback whale spouting in the distance en route to the island. We covered approximately 10km to and from the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal, with a short stop at the historic Japanese Charcoal Pit Kiln. We made a few mistakes with the route but were rescued by Teresa’s GAIA track. The trail that goes up the back…
Trip Report by Kelly Sekhon; Photos by John Martin Nine members of Nature Vancouver and a guest, participated in this trip to North Saanich on 15 April 2023. Forecast was for rain but it held off until after we were back on our return ferry to Tsawwassen. We had very pleasant day walking around the park with White Fawn Lilies, and Shooting Stars at their peak of flowering season. Other flowers in bloom were Blue-eyed Mary, Small Monkey Flower, Red-flowering…
Snowshoe Walk – Thursday, March 23, 2023 Submitted by Caroline Penn Nestled inside the elbow of one of the hair-pin turns of the road to Cypress Mountain is the Old Growth Conservancy. It is a 54-hectare forest located at an elevation of 760 metres just south of the Works Yard. The area was saved from development as a golf course in 1990, and is now conserved and protected by municipal bylaw. Like many old growth forests, it is a mix…
Book Review by Nina Shoroplova Linda P. J. Lipsen and Derek Tan’s Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium, published in February 2023 by Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia One of the hobbies I enjoyed as a girl was pressing wildflowers. My friend Rosemary lived in a house that backed on to some wild land near Cyncoed Village. We would walk the lanes and trails collecting wildflowers: lesser celandine and meadow buttercup (we could tell the difference), willowherb, red campion, and red clover….
Trip Report by Caroline Penn On September 22, 2022, nine members of Nature Vancouver gathered at the Snug Cove Library / Info Centre on Bowen Island at 10am to hike around Killarney Lake. It was a perfect early fall day with a slight breeze. We took the counterclockwise route. It is not clear whether Killarney Lake was initially man made or natural, but a dam built in the 1920’s increased its size and caused the ghostlike trees that we see…
Trip report by Christine Thuring From Thursday to Saturday (June 16-18), a small group of five backpackers enjoyed the trials and tribulations of early summer in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The wildflowers were quite behind schedule, there were 5 active bears in the area and the snow line was surprisingly low. Still, we had a fantastic time. Our home base was the Cheakamus Lake Campground (at 850m elevation), where we occupied two sites, separated by a thicket of dogwood and hawthorn….
Report & Photos by Helen Baker On April 30, Ryan Regier, a tree enthusiast and UBC librarian, and Laura Cottle, a forester, guided a group of tree-lovers through Jericho Park, an urban forest with a mix of deciduous and conifer trees. With Ryan and Laura’s help, we learned to identify some common trees by examining bark, leaves, needles and cones. Starting at the east side of the park, we followed a path that runs by the duck pond and into the forest. Ryan…
Trip Report by Jane Srivastava Sometimes it’s good to slow down and look at what’s at your feet. On April 26, eleven of us enjoyed an easy walk to see many delicate wildflowers and other delights along the chain-link shaped trails on the bluffs in the northwest portion of Whytecliff Park in West Vancouver. We met in the overflow parking lot. Then, passing red flowering currant in full bloom we followed a path from the far end of the parking lot,…
Trip Report by Janet Snell & Lyn Grants This hike on, March 21, 2022, was scheduled to see the early evidence of spring emerging from the snow in the Yew Lake / Bowen Lookout area of Cypress Provincial Park. Instead, we were treated to 20 cm of new snow on top of another recent snowfall. All evidence of spring was obscured, and winter’s grip stayed strong. The creek leading from Yew Lake was nestled in a canyon-like cradle of snow….
Trip Report by Helen Baker On March 16, Sally McDermott led a group of 13 on a four-hour loop hike through Lighthouse Park. Together we gazed up – way up – at the Douglas Fir and Red Cedar giants and made stops to look out at the ocean at Eagle Point and Juniper Point. Signs of spring were everywhere – bald eagles flying into the treetops with sticks for nest building, salmonberry buds getting ready to burst and skunk cabbage poking up…