January 2021
And some clever quip...
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.
The weathefr was pretty dramatic - it was
cold and windy and storm clouds were coming through dropping
rain. That said, between rain bursts you would get some
sunlight and some rainbows.
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.ff
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 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. I
decided to go for a walk to see how it worked out.
Tags: time lapse(2), Vancouver(2), ice cream(2), boat(1), dock(1), lake(1)
People: Nara(12), Claira(11), Helen(2)
Last Modified Sunday, February 28th, 2021 at 15:21:16 Edit
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