32,000 coho salmon released on Bowen Island

Yesterday I was invited to watch as the fish hatchery on Bowen Island, operated by the volunteers of the Bowen Island Fish & Wildlife Club, released 32,000 coho salmon into local creeks. They will live in these fresh water creeks and ponds for a year before heading out on their long ocean voyage.

Spring has arrived on Bowen Island

For me, I know that spring is really here when I see that the Skunk Cabbage is blooming in the wet places on Bowen Island.

Two Hundred Thousand New Residents Arrive on Bowen Island

It has been a good year for the return of the chum salmon. As a result 200,000 eggs have been allocated to the Bowen Island Hatchery. They arrived today, December 14, 2012.

For more information contact the Bowen Island Fish & Wildlife Club http://www.bowenhatchery.org/

Edited to add: I was curious about the incubation trays that you can see being used by the Bowen Island Hatchery. This video, by the manufacturer, describes them as Marisource Vertical Incubators. A demonstration, describing how they are used, is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHDTRWJH2ug

New snow in the hills

Probably  all the images on this blog that show snow makes for some boring reading, but some of us are beginning to use this site as something of an anecdotal record of the snowpack and conditions in past years. For me living at 300 feet above sea level, any snow is always a bit of a novelty. So, yesterday — Saturday — was my first time this season in the local hills playing in the snow. Thinking that there would be very little snow, I borrowed a pair of snowshoes — it was my first time on snowshoes. I enjoyed the experience, but I am glad that when I decided to hike in the local snow (mid 90s) most people used skis… so that is what I learned.

We parked close to the Hollyburn Mountain Hiker’s trail at 2980 feet. The snow is not deep, but there would have been enough to ski

At 3300 Feet we left the trail and headed west into the beautiful high altitude forest. There was lots of snow

Sometimes, as we climbed the hill, the soft sun shone through the clouds. My friend had loaned me his modern hi-tech snowshoes. He was on old military spec titanium tennis-racket shoes

Creek-gully — creek not fully covered with snow

Walk to St. Marks Summit — Howe Sound Crest Trail

Saint Marks Summit is a great day-destination on the Howe Sound Crest Trail. The viewpoint near the summit is about half the distance from the ski slopes in Cypress Bowl to The Lions. This is the hike that provides the most spectacular views of my home, Bowen Island, yet I hadn’t walked here in over a decade. Since the Olympics at Cypress Mountain (name of the ski resort — there is no hill or slope nearby with the name Cypress) in Cypress Provincial Park, there have been many changes to this trail. It wasn’t until a couple of days ago when I spoke to BC Parks Area Supervisor, Larry Fyroishko, that I learned what was happening to this trail.

The mouth of the fjord called Howe Sound; Bowen Island; in the distance Georgia Strait and Vancouver Island. Bowyer Island is in the foreground. The point on the right is the Sunshine Coast and the town of Gibsons. Below is the Sea-To-Sky highway and a glimpse of West Vancouver on the left. This is from The Balcony on St. Marks Summit

(If you don’t see the rest of this story, click Continue Reading)

Homage to Esther

Bowen Island is in the mouth of Howe Sound — North America’s most southerly true fjord. Its size is roughly 7-1/2 by 3-1/2 miles. There are three mountains; the highest is Mt Gardner at almost 2500 feet.
goo.gl/maps/LLpxZ
Dear Esther is a computer program that plays like a computer game, but is really a form of narrative.
dear-esther.com/
If you were to ask me, I might even tell you where there are mine shafts that burrow hundreds of feet into Bowen Island. They were carved in the living rock by hand over a century ago.

“I will drag my leg behind me: I will drag it like a crumpled hatchback, tyres blown and sparking across the dimming lights of my vision. I am running out of painkillers… I have run out of places to climb. I will abandon this body and take to the air.” From Dear Esther

Bowfest 2012

In previous years I’ve posted some of the images from Bowfest — Bowen Island’s late summer festival. This year I was working with the Rotary Club of Bowen Island. I shot and edited a couple of short videos about the the club’s preparation for participation in the events of the day. The clips appear at bowenrotary.wordpress.com, and are reproduced here:

Ground-breaking for Outdoor Learning Classroom

I've just posted a short video of the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Outdoor Learning Classroom at the Bowen Island Community School. Please click this picture to see the video on the Bowen Rotary Blog.

Spring Snow – Red Heather Meadows

This is late March, and in Vancouver, spring is in bloom; but in the mountains north of Vancouver the snow is still arriving in surprising quantities. Here is the promise of an outstanding spring season of skiing. As I write, it is raining here on Bowen Island. This afternoon the temperature rose to 9º so the precipitation arriving at the treeline is probably just turning to rain. Higher, it is new snow. BTW, these images are thumbs, so please click to see the full image.

Last Saturday the sky was clear, and the weather was just below freezing. We were heading for Red Heather Meadows, and drove up the 16 km mountain road out of Squamish BC. Just after we installed chains on all 4 corners of the car, someone from the Garibaldi Provincial Park staff, driving down, told us the Diamond Head parking lot was full, and to park at the pull-out just above Scary Hill. It was good advice. The icy road bed was hard, and clean, so we could ski from the car to the trailhead.  This is the first use of those chains since I bought them (story about the new chains). We would not have made it up this icy roads without chains.

Yes, the parking lot was full, and many people had parked along the road leading into the lot. Fortunately, this trail leads to such an enormous backcountry that, even with all those people, we never felt crowded.

Later in the season we may be carrying our skis to find snow higher up. On this day we were thrilled to find so much excellent snow.

After skiing up for the first couple of kilometers, the snow was much deeper and the old-growth high-altitude forest was quiet and powerful. I love traveling in this place.

It was just cold enough so that the new snow was real powder.

At the bottom of the glades called Red Heather Meadows, there is a warming hut. Since people arriving here have been skiing, snowshoeing, or walking for 4-1/2 km from  the parking lot, most find this an excellent place to stop. Inside there is a wood stove and some gas hot plates for cooking and picnic tables. Although it is not for overnight visitors, some people, and school groups, use it as a base and camp in the adjacent meadows. This day, no one was inside. The hut was almost buried in snow.

We continued up to a snowy dome to ski. Within moments another group followed us up to the same spot. Fortunately, there was enough fresh snow for everyone.

The view to the west is of the Tantalus Range across the Squamish River valley.

Good day, eh?

Edited to add: if you want to know exactly where we were, here is the location of the trail and the Red Heather Hut on Google Maps. Click >> http://g.co/maps/v6zda

Why I am blogging, and not skiing

Last night, as the sun was setting in the west, a few shafts illuminated the fresh snow on the mile-high hills that make up the eastern wall of Howe Sound. Phone calls were made, and we planned to go up there, today, to ski in the backcountry.

Sun on the fresh snow of Cypress Provincial Park - from Bowen Island

This morning we were heading up the road from West Vancouver to Cypress Provincial Park (we were not going to the commercial ski area) when the car made a strangled noise and the engine stopped. Phooey.

View of snow on the hills to the north of Howe Sound - Leaving Horseshoe Bay, bound for Bowen Island

The second picture, earlier today, is from the deck of the Queen of Capilano… the ferry taking me back to Bowen Island (as a pedestrian) on the noon sailing. I was looking enviously at all the fresh snow that has fallen in the hills to the north.

Here is something I learned today. The tow-truck driver pointed to a police cruiser on the Cypress Bowl Road — the police had just stopped a speeder. The speed limit on that highway is 60 km/hour. Most people drive faster than that. If the police tag someone for going faster than 100 km/hour, the car is automatically impounded. On a day like today, that tow-truck will take away about a dozen impounded cars. Imagine.