Walking Through the Rain Forest

My posts about Cape Scott wouldn't be complete without telling you about the rain forest that we had to hike through in order to get to the wonderful deserted beach at San Josef Bay. The hike through the rain forest took about 45 to 60 minutes and was easy.

It was also beautiful. The rain forest is never silent. There are birds singing, water dripping, mosquitoes buzzing. Your own sweat collecting at your neck and slowly running down your back - yes, it's humid in there. The humidity, however, causes this incredible growth we found in this rain forest.

The rain forest starts right at the beach - one moment you're still out in the sand, the next you are in the cool and shady forest. Quite a sudden transition.

The trees are huge and really impressive looking. Many of them are covered with moss, especially the further away from the beach you get.

Everything is so fascinating here - the trees, the plants and the little animals - that I wasn't the only one who got carried way by taking pictures.

What fascinated me most were the beautiful mushrooms - difficult to photograph since I didn't want to lay flat on the ground here. So I just put my camera on the ground and did some "blind shots", hoping it would work out.

This last photo is my contribution to this week's Texture Tuesday, layered with Kim Klassen's texture "kk_littlethings".

The Texture of Sand

After a little excursion we are back to San Josef Bay in Cape Scott Provincial Park at the very northern end of Vancouver Island. While we were hanging out at this beautiful, deserted beach I noticed how different the texture of the sand was in different locations - quite fascinating!

You can already see it here in all the ripples in the sand. But there was more.

This looks like the wind is  blasting across the sand, but it actually was rather still here.

Look at this interesting pattern - when the tide went out, the small pebbles that were still floating in the water painted these zig-zag lines into the sand until they just stopped where the water would drop them.

I love this landscape - just a different perspective of the sand in the top photo.

Here you can clearly see where the water was flowing before it retreated and left these canyons.

A peaceful pattern, one you think can go on for miles and miles. Again, just a different perspective of the second photo.

And this is how the sand looks like in the water - gorgeous. I feel like picking up a brush (or using my fingers) and make beautiful textures with heavy bodied paint.

Where Solitude Meets the Ocean

Remember my post about the road to Cape Scott? So, here we are in the parking lot at the end of the 63 km long gravel road. We put on our hiking boots, take some water, our cameras and whatever else we need with us and walk 2.5 km through the rain forest to get to this deserted, empty and wide beach at San Josef Bay in the very north of Vancouver Island.

It's as if you have stepped into another world. Except for a few other people there is no one there, it is absolutely quiet with the exception of the wind and the sound of the relatively small waves crashing onshore. A tame Pacific, enclosed by the beautiful bay with its hilly forests.

The beach is not all sand - there are quite some plants that peek through as well as some driftwood.

please notice the flip flops...

Each of us enjoyed this heavenly place in his or her own way. Kaefer sat in the sand, drawing the bay and some little animal that she had discovered in the sand.

All of us at some point or other took pictures - each of us with their very own point of view. Kaefer was fascinated by the little waves, the Geek by some pattern in the sand and I just took pictures of both of them (beside all the other photos, of course).

I loved the solitude at this beach. You can actually camp here if you bring everything you need and are willing to carry it through the rain forest. There is a pit toilet here, but no drinking water; however, there is a waterfall at the far end of the beach which you can use if you bring a water filter. The Geek and I are already talking of coming here again and staying for two nights in our tent. There were just a few people camping here, it's not for everyone hauling all your stuff out here. The price is quietness and peacefulness amongst natural beauty.

If you want to know what the hike through the rain forest was like - that will be a future post.

The Road to Cape Scott

During our trip to British Columbia we also visited beautiful Vancouver Island, the very north in particular. We had read about Cape Scott Provincial Park and had planned to hike out to San Josef Bay (that will be another post). But first you actually have to get close to Cape Scott which is only possible via a 63 km long gravel road from Port Hardy. It is a road through complete wilderness - a lumber road in the first place.

The shoe tree is what we first saw after we had started out.

It's right at the side of the road and marks all the hikers through Cape Scott. There is a trail through the park, mainly along its coast on the north side, that takes several days to hike.

The next we saw was this - it set the tone for the drive!

Yellow signs warned us of the dangers of the road - with an optimistic "Good luck" which I appreciated.

Friendly signs reminded us to share the road with whoever was out there - unfortunately we didn't meet any dwarfs or elves or fairies.

But we came upon this "little" guy whom you have already seen in an earlier post.

That was quite exciting. However, the bear wasn't too impressed with our presence and jumped quickly into the bushes and disappeared.

At the end of the road we arrived in the Cape Scott parking lot where all the other cars were just as dirty as ours. From here, it is another 2.5 km hike through the rain forest - but as I mentioned above, that will be a post for another time.