Clearsilver

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have returned from the wilderness unscathed!  Well, semi-scathed, but a few bumps and bruises are to be expected.

The weatherman had been varying his predictions throughout the week leading up to our voyage, so we really had to idea what to expect.  The weather when we got in was looking a tad grim:

That's a shot from the balcony of our room at the Sportsman on Friday night.  Now let us never speak of it again.

The forecast was calling for a little rain on Saturday and then clearing Sunday and downright beautiful on Monday.  This was a welcome prediction as the plan was for us to hike Silverpeak on Sunday and we were really hoping for some clear skies to aid in our photographic expedition.

We started out on Saturday morning with a breakfast at a little bakery called The Gateway.  It was a great place to have a meal, and a good breakfast we very welcome.  Dad had been fairly sick the previous evening since the Sportsman attempted to poison him with the "steak" they offered up.  Fortunately a proper meal got Dad on the proper footing for a voyage and we set out for the park.  We started our trip on Johnnie Lake under cover of cloud and expecting a bit of rain.

We had a brisk wind coming out of the North, and a substantial cloud cover, but no rain as we set out.  Continuing on the weather held for us, and we even got a few breaks in the clouds:

The paddle through Johnnie Lake was spectacular.  The wind didn't get strong enough to pose a serious issue, and while the cloud cover muted the colours a bit, the views were still stunning:

There had been significant rain before we got into the park, and it was causing impromptu streams and waterfalls to crop up.  As we got close to the portage into Clearsilver Lake we came across on of these little waterfalls running into Johnnie that stirred up this really interesting pattern in the water:

The portage was a fairly straightforward affair.  It had a slight rise at the beginning and end, but was largely flat and ran uninterrupted for about 830 meters.  That's half a mile for my American pals.  Even the portage was pretty, with the damp weather causing all manner of mushroom species to show themselves along the trail.  I was snapping macro shots all over the place, but I won't burden you with the reams of fungi photos I took.  Still, lots of mushrooms:

Also, the little streams and waterfalls flanked the portage trail almost the whole way:

It was still cloudy when we got our first view of Clearsilver Lake, but at least it wasn't raining.

There's only one campsite on Clearsilver Lake, and it's a great one.  There were a couple of really flat spots clearly marked off where we could set up our tents, and plenty of trees to suspend our tarp from.  It didn't take us long to establish a really comfortable camp:

The weather forecast wasn't calling for rain past the afternoon, but we're big believers of the old adage about not believing everything you hear on TV, so we got the new tarp setup early.  This proved to be the course of wisdom as the rains started fairly substantially after the sun set.  Dad had put some fresh waterproofing on both of our tents before we came up here, and it held up beautifully!  The rains came down but we stayed dry the whole evening.

Unfortunately, while I did stay dry, I didn't stay warm.  It was a VERY cold night, with high, cold winds.  I've never had problems with my gear before, but I think the big issue was that I'm used to sharing my tent with Gray, which adds a lot of extra body heat to the tent.  Alone in my tent with my old (very old) sleeping bag I just didn't have the heat or the insulation to keep warm and I FROZE.  Oh well, it's a learning experience.  Now I understand the limitations of the gear that I have.

In the morning we made a quick breakfast of oatmeal and then got out on the lake.  It was a very quick paddle to the trailhead to Silverpeak.  The trail was very we after all of the rain they've been having, so it ended up being a bit treacherous.  Lots of standing water and mud made for a slippery walk, and there were times when we just had to walk through to bush to avoid the sections of the trail that had become small streams:

A lot of mud and one wrong turn later we found our way up to Silverpeak.  At 539 meters it doesn't quite compare to the mighty peaks of the Rocky Mountains, but it's still the highest point in the entire La Cloche Range and offers an incredibly impressive view out over the park:

I may have maligned the La Cloche Range a bit there.  They're only shorter than the Rockies because they're much, much older.  Wind and erosion have taken their toll, and given us a view of what the Rockies may look like in half a billion years... give or take.

Despite the clairvoyant assurances of that wretched liar The Weatherman, there was a persistent cloud cover the entire time we climbed.  It made for some slightly muted colours in our photos, but I still think that the end results turned out to be beautiful:

Surprisingly there were actually A LOT of people up on the peak!  I think that there may have been a tour group up there because there were huge numbers of howling chimpanz teenagers cavorting amongst the rocks.  It's sad that the tour guides couldn't properly explain that certain proprieties are expected in a park setting, and as such we had to listen to the frequent inarticulate screams of the adolescent humans.

Fearing that we would end up stuck behind a slow-moving caravan of larva we took our photos and made a hasty retreat back down the mountain.

We got back to camp with a few hours left of daylight, and the weather was kind enough to actually provide us with day LIGHT.  Just as we were preparing dinner the clouds began to break up and we had our first view of blue sky:

Fearing that the sunlight would become a thing of purely oral tradition I decided to photograph it:

I think it may have been the sudden addition of warmth from the sun that caused it, but just as the last rays of sunlight were disappearing over the horizon we got treated to a real treat as the mist started to swirl and dance on the surface of the water.  It was hard to photograph accurately, but it was an incredible display:

While it was frustrating to see the sunlight so soon after we got back from Silverpeak, it was still a welcome sight and we ended the day in high spirits.  The winds had died down, and the air had warmed, and we spent a pleasant night sitting by the campfire.  With a little extra warmth, and some slightly heavier socks I had a much better night's sleep and woke up feeling refreshed.

We had a good breakfast broke camp quickly and easily this morning and were on the water by 10:45.  Despite earlier predictions the sky was still full of clouds this morning.  However there was no trace of a breeze as we set out and the water was like a sheet of glass.  This made for some spectacular photographic opportunities:

I love catching the reflection of the trees on the water.

With no rain or wind to impede us we had a quick paddle back to the Johnnie Lake access point.  In the end while the weather threatened a bit, we got really lucky with how everything turned out.  It was a great trip, we had a lot of fun, and took a ton of photos.  Still, it was really nice getting to the Lodge and having a hot shower.

We had a really nice dinner tonight and now I'm in the bar where I can a Wi-Fi signal so that I can update all of you good people on my progress.  It's just about time for me to call it a night, and tomorrow we'll head back home.  Since I'll be on the road I may have to forgo the usual Tuesday blog posting, I sincerely hope that you'll forgive me for the injustice.  I'll be back to my usual routine next week.  Until then, be well my friends.

Mobile Post #20100924

Greetings minions!

I'm afraid that I don't have much to say this evening, but I wanted you all to know that I'm safe and sound in Killarney with my dad.

Our usual haunt at the Killarney Mountain Lodge was booked up for a wedding this weekend, so we've decided to try the newly renovated Sportsman Inn. It's an ancient inn that has been given a complete facelift, transforming it into a hip, modern accommodation while still managing to hold onto its distinct exterior silhouette. The room is really stunning, and I think we'll have a good night's sleep here. The only drawback is, sadly, a major one: there is no trace of organization to be found in this building. I have lost track of the number of times I've heard "I'm sorry" directed at myself, my dad, or some other guest. This manifests itself most clearly in all aspects of the dining experience, and dinner was a long, unpleasant experience that I will refrain from going into any great detail on. Needless to say, while the room itself is considerably more luxurious than anything that can be found at the KML, the Lodge still wins hands-down for it's hospitality, efficiency, and phenomenal food. That's setting aside any bonus points that it gets for good ol' homey charm. I'm incredibly pleased that we were able to secure a room there on Monday for our return from the park.

The Sportsman has attempted to provide free Wi-Fi throughout the building, but I'm sadly at the opposite end of the hall from the wireless router. (I know this because I saw it on the wall in the hallway.) This means that my signal strength is poor. Combine that with a strange SSL error from Blogger and I seem to be incapable of posting to my blog from my netbook. Hence I am using my phone to write the post. Hence the lack of details surrounding dinner. Suffice it to say that they managed to put a steak in front of Dad that he was completely unwilling to eat. Just picture the piece of steak that would dismay my father, I dare you.

At any rate, we head into the park tomorrow morning. We're faced this evening with high winds, and the forecast, while not threatening, is far from welcoming. Please wish us the best my friends. I will, of course, be out of touch until Monday. If all goes according to plan I'll be nicely settled at KML and documenting our adventures by Monday afternoon.

Until then my friends.

What Is This "Toronto" You Speak Of?

Hello again my friends!

I arrived, safe and sound, back in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, and since then I've been just settling back into my normal life.  It's been a strange adjustment this time out.  I normally return from vacation and just pick right back up where I left off, but this time I'm feeling a bit disoriented.  I woke up this morning and it took me quite awhile to figure out what day it was and why I'd been so foolish as to set an alarm.  Total confusion.  Oh well, probably just a bit of jet lag, and a whole lot of me missing the West coast.

Fortunately I've got a few more days to get adjusted before I'm heading up to Killarney.  Hopefully I'm back in fighting form for that trip since it, as a canoe/camping trip, will be somewhat physically demanding, and I should probably be awake and alert for that.  The timing is a bit poor on this trip, since I don't even have a full week back at work to catch up before I'll be gone again.  Still, we planned this camping trip in May, and my trip West was just squeezed in where I could fit it, so I'll just have to put up with the inconvenience of work being a bit stressful these next few days.  Believe me, I'm not complaining, I wish all of my problems could fall under the category of my vacations being too close together.

I'd like to segue (gracelessly) into a discussion on cameras (again) if you'll all allow it.  No complaints?  Smashing.

I went fairly wild with the photography this trip, and I received quite a few comments from all of you suggesting that I've produced some quality pictures with my little point-and-shoot.  That inspires me to make an attempt at raising the bar and improving on whatever skill with a camera I may have come by naturally.  I know that my local community college offers a course on the fundamentals of photography which I think could really help.  I believe that any natural talent in probably just a good artistic sense of composition, which is probably why I've got a few compliments on my photos.  However, the fact that I got a few good ones is just down to the fact that I took hundreds of pictures, whether or not the photo actually turns out is still pure chance with me because I don't understand the technical side of photography.

So, in theory, a course on photography could be of immense benefit.  There's still a problem with that concept though.  You don't get in to the world of precise, controlled photography with a point-and-shoot camera.  The course that I was looking at requires each student to bring their own SLR camera.  No auto-focus allowed.  So now I come back to the same circular discussion that I inevitably find myself in.  I want to to take better pictures, but I love the fact that my camera fits in my pocket, and is very nearly impervious to harm.  I'm just not sure I would enjoy lugging around one of these big, fragile SLR cameras.  So I'm constantly torn between better pictures, and portability.  I'm honestly not sure which way I'm leaning at this point.

We had an interesting discussion on this at work yesterday, as it just so happens.  Chris suggested to me that perhaps there's a compromise to be made... well, actually it's not really a compromise at all, he's just saying that I should own two cameras.  His notion was that there are certain trips where you need to be light and mobile and you're only going to be happy with a snappy little point-and-shoot, and so you should have one available.  Then, when you're going on that different sort of vacation where the game plan involves long hikes through scenic terrain you can break out the big guns and carry the SLR, essentially dedicating that particular trip to the fine art of photography.  Like I said, not technically a compromise, but possibly the best solution.

I'll leave you all now to ponder the best approach to camera ownership, as I must make my way to work.  As I mentioned previously my next adventure starts this very Friday, so I'll be back soon.  I'll be in the woods Saturday and not emerging until Monday afternoon, so it'll be all silence for that portion of the trip, but I'll still get the netbook up there so that I can report on the trip during the portions of it that we spend in town.  Until then, have a fantastic week my friends.

A Final Day In Beautiful Victoria

Well my friends, the last day of my vacation draws to a close.  Tomorrow I will arise, disgustingly early, and board a plane back to Toronto.  Needless to say, I am substantially less than thrilled by this concept.  Still, there are certain comforts that only home can provide, so my spirits are still high.  I've had a fantastic trip, and I'll soon be home to the warm, loving... hmmm.... well, at least I'll be able to sleep in my own bed.

I spent today just trying to soak up the atmosphere of Victoria.  I went downtown with Aunt Jeanette and just meandered about, popping into interesting looking stores, and taking photos at every available moment.  One of the first stores that I came across was this gem:

I just loved "TOBACCONIST" in big letters on the front of this cool looking building, so I popped in.  Apparently there was a huge controversy surrounding this very old building when the government demanded that the sign be taken down because it was illegal to publicly advertise tobacco.  Fortunately this lovely old building was saved from being defaced when it was declared a historic site.

As we made our way closer to Victoria's inner harbour we came across the Empress Hotel, which demands to be photographed.

It's a stunning old building, and I spent a fair bit of time wandering around inside.  Close by the hotel is another exceptional piece of architecture: the British Columbia Parliament Building:

That's another building that I got to explore of a fairly limited basis.  Oddly enough it's not very impressive inside.  Actually, that may be misleading; the building is impressive in terms of pure size, and the importance it plays in the governing of the province... it's just a bit ugly and utilitarian is all.  Still, check out that exterior!

After leaving the government to take care of itself we continued shopping for awhile before retiring to Aunt Jeanette's place for a bit of lunch.  Having eaten we continued on our whirlwind sight-seeing tour.  We drove down to the beach which fronts the lagoon behind Hatley Castle.  It's a beautiful beach, but what was most striking about it was... drum roll... the sun came out!

After a week of questioning its existence, I finally saw the sun.  What's particularly funny about that is that the weatherman assured us that today was going to be the worst of it, a guaranteed festival to the rain gods.  Sometimes it's really lovely when he's wrong.  I wandered around pointing my camera at anything that would hold still for a moment, and some things that wouldn't.

I've always been amazed by bull kelp, and so I took a photo of some:

That piece is probably about 12 feet in length.  I don't know why that surprises me; trees get much larger than that, but for some reason I expect aquatic plant life to be smaller.  Don't know where that mindset is coming from, but there you have it.  Kelp blows my mind.  Moving on.

After all this sunshine-and-kelp-induced excitement I had to chill out for a bit:

It's so nice when driftwood is accommodating.

From the beach we returned to the downtown area of Victoria and resumed looking around.  We came to my Dad's favourite store: Ocean River Sports:

In addition to a spectacular array of outdoor wear, the bulk of which I was tempted to purchase, they also have a couple of kayaks:

Might be why Dad likes the place.  I'm not sure.

After continuing with our mission to meander we made our way back to the inner harbour.  We walked, taking our time, around the harbour in the general direction of dinner.  However, I still stopped on numerous occasions to make war on my camera's battery.  There were a lot of sea planes coming and going, which I thought was pretty cool:

Also the weather, if not fantastic, at least continued to be less threatening than it had be the bulk of the week:

We eventually managed to reach our destination: Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub.

We spent a great deal of time here eating of their food and drinking of their beer.  I'm a huge fan of restaurants that are making their own beer.  It means that even the drinks are an exciting, new, and unique part of the dinning experience.  Also, it seems like these places feel the need to prove that they aren't JUST a brewery, and so they go out of their way to make the food exceptional.

On a completely unrelated note, I think I may have put on some weight this trip.

By the time we left the restaurant it was getting dark and the rain, after a lazy afternoon, had decided to get back to work.  Still, undeterred by the weather we made our way back to the Parliament Buildings for one last photo op:

After that we began to make our way home.  One final note on Victoria though: they have double-decker buses!

So cool!  The journey back to Aunt Jeanette's was also my first trip on the second story of a bus!  (At least that I remember, none of this "well, when you were 2 years old..." nonsense.)

Following that exciting ride I've found myself back here and ready to wrap up my day.  I'm going to do my best to get to bed promptly as I will be up at 3:45 a.m. local time in order to catch my flight home.  I'm sure I'll manage to comment on the return voyage at some point, and at the very least you can count on me to chime in on Tuesday as usual, but I'd still like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading.  I hope you've enjoyed reading about this trip as much as I've enjoyed writing about it.

Be well, and I'll talk to you all again soon.

Why Is My Camera Battery Running Low?

Good evening everyone!

I'm writing now from my Aunt's house in Victoria where I will be staying until my triumphant return to Toronto Saturday morning.

I left Saltair with my Grandparents this morning and we made our way down to Victoria.  Aunt Jeanette had gone ahead of us earlier and was waiting for us when we got into town.  Since getting ready and driving to Victoria took the better part of the morning we decided to begin the adventure with lunch.  We headed to the Four Mile Pub which, like many of the pubs I've seen on the island, was in a stunning old house:

Sadly the skies were a bit grey, so you can't see the exceptional stained glass in the upper-story windows.

After a nice lunch we drove up to Butchart Gardens, a massive series of floral displays that has been in operation since 1904.  In honour of the incredible amount of work that went into establishing these gardens, and has continued to go into maintaining them, I present to you this sombre piece, which I call "Hamming It Up."

And now for something completely different.

Actually, the gardens were an absolute playground for my camera and I.  I love taking landscape shots, and delight in the beautiful, sweeping vistas, mountain ranges, calm lakes... anything that makes for a scenic shot, and this place provided me with opportunity after opportunity.  I have actually succeeded in the course of this one day to double the number of photographs I've taken since arriving in British Columbia.  I will spare you all the excesses of my effort, and just give you a handful of photos.

I actually took this next shot more for Graydyn than anyone.  I'd never before seen an entirely black plant, but I was certain my esteemed brother would want a yard full of them:

I looked it up, it's called Capsicum.  Just in case anyone is interested...

We also came across this fountain, which was constantly shifting and would have made for an excellent video if I'd had enough wherewithal to bring my video camera:

Oh, something that not all of you will be aware of, but I have been known

on occasion to enjoy taking

macro mode close-up shots

of cool looking flowers.  I'll have to show you all sometime.  (Tip of the iceberg there, but I'm sparing you all...)

At any rate, as we continued to move through the gardens, only moderately hampered by my insistence on pointing my camera at anything bright or shiny, we came to a small harbour.  Apparently you can access the gardens by boat, which is how Grandma and Grandpa had got there in the past.

I thought that sounded like a great way to arrive, and if you ever find yourself in Victoria with a boat, I'd highly recommend it.

The harbour was attached to the Japanese Garden, which was really nice.  I'm particularly fond of the Japanese gardening aesthetic, and even though I've visited Japanese gardens that were actually in Japan, I found this one no less beautiful.

Just look at that.  You can feel yourself getting more serene just looking at it, can't you?  CAN'T YOU?  Ahem... excuse me.

Just as were were making our way towards the exit it started to rain quite heavily, so I'll say that the day was timed perfectly.  We made our way back to Aunt Jeanette's place where, unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa had to take leave of us to return to Saltair.  It was sad to see them go, and I hope it won't be nearly as long between visits this time.  They flew me out here, put me up for the week, fed me, and drove me around.  A huge thanks to my dear Grandparents for making this trip happen.

Aunt Jeanette and I still had some afternoon left, and we decided to go for a short walk to see Hatley Castle. This huge house was originally the property of someone with entirely too much money, until it eventually became a military college, and is now part of a university campus.  The walk up to the castle starts with a hill which offers a stunning view all the way to the Olympic Mountains in Washington State, and is my Aunt's all time favourite view.  Sadly we'll all have to just take her word for that:

Yes, unwilling to break with the tradition that it has set, the sky has remained grey and rainy for the evening.

Still, we were able to get a good look at the castle:

It's a castle with a long history, but what caught my attention was it's recent staring role in the X-Men movies as Professor Xavier's school.  Here's a shot from the back:

Please excuse the strange flare above the tent, I was doing the best to keep the rain off my lens, but I must have missed that one.

On our way back we swung by a nearby sushi restaurant.  Apparently my Aunt had never tried sushi, so I was quick to remedy that.  As expected, I think we have another convert.  Who doesn't love sushi?

Well, the hour grows late, and I (as usual) have no idea what tomorrow holds, so I'd better wrap this up.  I shall talk to you all again soon.

The Saltair Wrap-Up

Well, my final day in Saltair is drawing to a close.  We finished this leg of my journey with a walk around Westwood Lake.  This was actually a new setting for me, and although it was great getting to re-visit many of the sights from my childhood, this new location was equally excellent.  Westwood Lake seems like it would be a terrific spot for a swim in warmer weather, but we were there for the 6km path that loops around the lake.  This was really ideal since I think that 6km is a great distance for a casual morning walk.  As usual the weather looked like it really wanted to rain on us, but it was polite enough to refrain from doing so.  We even got a few sunny patches in there!

Here's a view of the lake itself:

Before departing Westwood Lake I did snap this photo:

My Grandpa was actually the first to pick up on the strange juxtaposition of these two rules, which seem to imply that not only must you leash your dog, but you must also never give your dog any booze.  I thought that was a little unfair, why can't a dog enjoy a beer?

Well, after we left the lake we headed into Nanaimo for some lunch.  We went to a pub that Grandma and Grandpa had heard of, but hadn't tried yet called the Fox and Hounds.  It was another great pub meal!  This is the second pub that we've been to that I've had confirmed as being PROPERLY British in style, and in comparing it to the pubs I've been to in Toronto I'm beginning to wonder if we have anything that even comes close.  I think I need to get out to England to make some comparisons ASAP!

Close to the pub was a store that specialized in foods imported from England, so we stopped in there to complete the British Experience of the day.  I got to try Jaffa Cakes, and I'm bringing home some Branston Pickle.  I'm a happy guy!

We were all feeling a bit sleepy this afternoon, so we passed the time in a leisurely fashion; watching old home videos and going through vacation photos.

Tomorrow morning we're all getting up and heading down to Victoria to check out the gardens there.  The forecast is calling for cloudy skies, but not much rain, so it will be my last chance to get in an outdoor activity before Friday where they're calling for significant amounts of rain.  I haven't quite decided how I want to spend a rainy day in Victoria, but I'll figure something out.  Until tomorrow everyone.

Jack Point

Greetings loyal followers!

Today, as a nice change of pace, we decided to wake up to a bright sunny day.  I think this was an exceptionally good idea, and we should probably do it more often.  Look at that sky!

We went out for some breakfast, and then proceeded to Jack Point, which is a small point of land opposite Nanaimo with some nice walking trails.  By the time we made the short drive to Jack Point, the sky had completely clouded over.

I'm beginning to think that clouds are actually formed as a side-effect of my attempts at tourism in this region.  Still, we weren't getting rained on, so we marched along the trail.  The first part of the path is lined with blackberry bushes... no, not the kind that grow mobile phones, the ones that make these:

Of course, given the presence of ripe berries on the vine I wouldn't DREAM of picking and eating any.

I really shouldn't have done that, it's not like there were meters upon meters of berry-bearing vines:

Once I'd sampled of the local flora we continued along the path out towards the rocky point at the end of the peninsula.  It really is a lovely walk along the coast and through the forest.

One of the highlights of Jack Point for me as a kid was the tide pools, and little has changed in the years since.  The end of Jack Point is a long stretch of rocky shore, and as the tide goes out it leaves little pockets of sea life trapped in isolated pools.

In the past I've seen starfish here, but was not so lucky on this outing.  Still, it's interesting to see all the anemones and barnacles on the rocks.

Unfortunately you don't get a great look at the anemones here since the curl up when the water recedes.  In places the rocks were absolutely covered in barnacles, which apparently don't mind the fact that this stretch of the sea bottom is only temporarily aquatic.

As we were out on the point we got to see several ferries passing by.  One of these was actually the big ferry that goes between Vancouver and the new dock they've put up just to the South of Jack Point.  It's pretty impressive to see something that big rolling in to port.

Once we got back from the walk around Jack Point, sensing that I was no longer sight-seeing, the weather cleared back up.  It did make for a nice, sunny afternoon at the driving range with my Grandpa though.  It's been forever since I held a golf club, and the effects of that long inactivity showed themselves pretty quickly.  Still, I was surprised to find that a bit of practice and a few expert tips from Grandpa rapidly improved my shot.  By the end of my practice session I'd almost think that you could take me out on a golf course without me being a danger to myself and everyone around me.

On our way back from the driving range we stopped in at the local tanning salon.  Apparently Grandpa has been doing regular sessions to build up a bit of base-tan before their trip to Maui in January.  I'd never been in one of these Human Blast Furnaces before, so I decided to give it a go.  They have a high-powered standing oven tanning bed that only takes 5 minutes, so I hopped in there.  I'm not sure that one 5-minute session is going to leave me bronzed, but it was still interesting.  The girl at the counter said that she gets lots of people in who have been told by their doctor to get a tanning treatment to boost their Vitamin D levels and stave off seasonal depression in the winter.  Not sure if it was the golf, the tanning, or my naturally cheerful disposition, but I felt pretty good when I got home.

After dinner we went for a walk around the neighbourhood.  Just off the balcony here we could get a clear view all the way to Mt. Baker in Washington State, which was pretty impressive.  It's a bit faded in this picture, but you should be able to see its snow-covered peak slightly to the right of centre:

Something that is a common sight on Vancouver Island, but I hadn't yet photographed is the mighty Banana Slug.  We saw an excellent specimen on the road today, so I finally stopped and got my camera out.  Lovely plumage:

For a sense of scale on these, the most majestic of nature's creations, observe below:

No, I'm not actually touching the slug, but it really does look like it in this photo.  My hand is just slightly off the ground.

At any rate, it's about time for me to be calling it a night.  Tomorrow it looks like we may be taking a ferry over to one of the nearby islands for a hike.  It's also, if all goes according to plan, going to be my last day in the Saltair region, as Thursday we're intending to head down to Victoria so that I can spend a couple of days checking out the sights around there.

Until tomorrow everyone.