Strathcona and MacMillian Provincial Parks

The Strathcona Provincial Park is situated on the slopes of Mount Washington which overlooks the Comox Valley.  In winter it is a popular ski area and in summer the well maintained footpaths make for lovely walking.  The forest here is a mix of temperate rain forest and shorter alpine forest with open meadows in between.  10 years earlier Geoff had illegally hiked the back-country of the Forbidden Plateau from Courtney into this reserve dodging forestry vehicles, soaring temperatures, fire restrictions and a moderate assemblage of black bears with the ambition of climbing one of the taller peaks on the island.

Now we returned with David Alford, his daughter Sarah and her son Emmet to walk the easier trails. Much of the undergrowth was dressed in its autumn colours and so was really beautiful.  We did an 8km loop up to some lakes and the wide easy-to-walk paths made for light going.

Lovely autumn colours

A happy boy out in the mountains

One of the little lakes along the way surrounded by 'meadow'.

Many sections of the path were boardwalked as the ground looked pretty boggy, and this is the dry time of the year.  This area gets covered with up to 10m (30ft) of snow in winter.

Our hike took us up to Lake Helen MacKenzie, and tempting as it was, we resisted the urge to have a dip in the lake as the weather started closing in.....

Long and thin, Battleship Lake kept presenting beautiful views as we rounded each corner.

We were glad to be in the more closed forest by the time the rain became heavy.  Two of us enjoyed the big trees and lush forest while the 3rd in our party was oblivious to everything....

 David and Sarah had done a shorter walk and they were glad to see us still cheerful despite being pretty damp!

All too soon it was time to leave our hosts in Comox and head back to the mainland.  We'd had a fantastic break away!

David and Gil Alford with Geoff and Christopher

On our way down to catch the ferry in Nanaimo, we detoured to MacMillian Provincial Park for lunch.  Previously known as Cathedral Grove, it is home to some very big Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar trees.

Lovely paths wind through this old forest where many of the trees are over 600 years old.

We couldn't get enough of the green lichen-covered forest.

We can confirm that somebody has a motorbike obsession! As soon as he could straddle any object he would start revving "Vroom, Vroom" and try to make it move!

There was a big storm in 1972 with hurricane force winds and many of the big trees blew over.  Some have been opened up for playing on and make fantastic jungle gyms!

Its amazing to see the old storm damage where huge trees lie like match sticks.  The wood is so hard and rot-resistant, that it takes many decades before they start decaying properly. 

An impressive Douglas Fir tree

Some of the trees in this area had been logged in the late 1800's and you often see young trees growing in the rotting stumps.  The notches in this tree are from the loggers who inserted 'springboard planks' into the notches so that they could cut the tree down higher up where it starts straightening out and is narrower.

This big Douglas Fir has a sapling growing on some of its bark that was damaged by lightening (most probably) many years ago.

The biggest Douglas Fir at Cathedral Grove.  It is 78m tall and has a diameter of 9m.  I think they call him Douglas....

Interestingly enough the experts indicate that forests seem to go through dynasties in which the trees best suited to the prevailing conditions will dominate. Presently the Douglas Firs remain the dominant species, however they are not ideally suited to the stronger winds, warmer temperatures and increased CO2 levels we are experiencing due to climate change. The Western Hemlock is much better suited to these new conditions and is expected to take over - though the transition could take up to 250 years.

The most interesting tree to us was the beautiful Western Red Cedar. It has a fine almost sinewy grey bark with a pest resistant wood that can take up to a century to start decaying. This amongst other reasons made it a very valuable resource to the First Nations peoples, and is now also commemorated as the Provincial Tree of BC. 

Heading back to the main highway to Nanaimo we had to stop at the terribly touristy Coombs to see the famous Goats on the Roof.... We then continued to take the late afternoon ferry across to Vancouver in inclement weather.

Taking green roofs to a new level.....