Strathcona Provincial Park takes up a big chunk of the middle of Vancouver Island. I've wanted to visit for a long time, but never got around to it. Finally we took a few days and headed up there. It's not the easiest park to access. We stayed at Campbell River for two nights and visited the north east end, and then we spent one night in Courtenay and visited the east side. It's a huge park and we barely scratched the surface but at least we can say we've been there.
On the way there we stopped at Kye Bay (near Courtenay/Comox) to eat our lunch on the beach. When we got to Campbell River we visited the Discovery Passage Aquarium. It's small but we always enjoying seeing more of the local sealife. The octopus was even out roaming about rather than hiding.
We found a nice vegetarian restaurant for supper - Meraki.
The first morning we hiked in Elk Falls Provincial Park, along the Campbell River. When you drive into Campbell River there's a big sign saying "Salmon Capital of the World". But then you find out the river is well and truly dammed (or is it damned). They need a hatchery to produce fish and they have to bring in gravel by helicopter to promote spawning. I was expecting to see Bald Eagles and Osprey, but the closest thing we saw were Turkey Vultures.
I also spotted a Kingfisher but it was across the river and hiding in the bushes.
The morning reflections were nice.
Next we drove to the end of Upper Campbell Lake to get to the corner of the park where we ate our lunch on the shore near Buttle Lake Campground. There were lots of dragonflies but none of them sat still long enough to be photographed.
On our way back we stopped to see the actual Elk Falls. I had a telephoto in hopes of birds so I could only take a closeup of part of the falls.
Pacific Wrens never sit still for long, but I managed to catch this one.
Back in town Shelley thought this sculpture reminded her of someone :-)
The next day we did a longer hike (10 km, 3.5 hrs) at Paradise Meadows from the Mt. Washington ski area. There were lots of Bog Blueberries to snack on along the way. The birds were also enjoying the berries.
There were lots of mushrooms everywhere. I think these are Fly Agaric, one of the few that I have a chance of recognizing.
The clouds were hovering and occasionally descended on us.
There were quite a few birds around, mostly Dark-eyed Juncos, Canada Jays, and Stellar Jays.
It was past the flower season, but there was still some Fireweed remaining.
Our final morning we made a brief stop at Millard Nature Park just near Courtenay (next to the big box stores!). According to the sign it was logged when we weren't as "efficient" at clearing the land, so the habitat regenerated quite quickly. Good to know we're more "efficient" now. Heaven forbid we should leave remnants of nature still alive after our pillaging.
Vancouver Island isn't known for its fall colors, but there are occasional splashes of color.
The weather had turned to rain, but the slugs didn't mind. Slugs can be tricky to identify but I think these are a Pacific Banana Slug and a Meadow Slug, both native for a change.
And of course, more mushrooms and other fungus.
See also Shelley's posts - Part 1 and Part 2
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