June 28 – Beaches on Quadra Island

From all waterfalls yesterday to all beaches today. We took the short ferry ride over to Quadra Island. This is the island we cans see from our RV front window.

We did a short hike out to the end of Rebecca Spit, then went to checkout a lighthouse and finally went to another unnamed beach to fill the time until we could catch the ferry.

 

I wonder why the tunnels on these ferries are so tall (18 feet). I don’t know what the highway height limit is.

I hiked up to the top of the two passenger decks. This ferry must have been once used on a longer run because the passenger area is huge. This run is 10 minutes and people in cars almost never get out.

We can see the ferry from the RV so I reversed it.

Once off the ferry, we drove across and up the island a short distance to Rebecca Spit Provincial Park. You could hike the entire spit but we were in semi take it easy mode so we drove to the parking lot almost at the end. From there is was only 1 km to the tip by trail.

The trail starts at the end of this large field. Even here you can see water on both sides.

We took the trail up the eastern shore.

Normally we would walk on the beach but it was a jumble of wood and large stones.

There were great views of some of the other islands in the foreground and the mountains on the coast in the background.

I guess someone was practising their totem carving skills.

 

The trails on each side come together at a narrow section of the spit.

As soon as Jennie saw that the more protected beach on the western side has less logs and gravel instead of boulders, down she went.

There weren’t many shells to look at but there were lots of colourful rocks. They look so much better underwater.

We couldn’t figure out what the green bands were on some of the rocks. It looked like seaweed but I couldn’t scratch it off.

We noticed this different looking jelly.

It was being attacked and probably eaten by an army of little crabs. There even seemed to be bubbles inside it with a crab as well.

The water is so clear.

Once we rounded the tip of the spit, the rocks started getting bigger and bigger.

We took the real trail back to the narrow spot. By now some yachts had anchored in the bay. It must drop off quickly because they were not that far off shore.

We had lunch at a bench on the southern end of the narrow area.

The ferry from Quadra to Cortez Island was heading off.

Jennie couldn’t resist going to a least carefully check out the eastern beach.

 

Back near the car we stopped to stare at the coast mountains.

The clouds made it look like the double peaked one over Jennies head, below, was smoking.

We moved on to the southern end of the island to explore around the Cape Mudge Lighthouse.

The hill across the way in Campbell River must be where everyone builds, that wants a view.

Jennie quickly hit the beach again.

The top part of the beach was easy to walk on gravel but there was not much interesting there.

The bottom part was the big stones.

We carefully checked them out anyway. A few more crabs and some interestingly coloured rocks but not much else.

Before we left I took a final shot back at the lighthouse because I really like them and we have not seen that many this year.

The ferry back normally runs on the hour but today the 4 o’clock ferry was being used for dangerous goods and no one else is allowed on board. To kill some time before the 5 o’clock ferry we went to another beach back on the eastern side of the island.

It was another one with large stones.

But at least it had lots of shells for Jennie to examine and stack.

In the background, above, you can see the Cortez ferry still under way.

We had had enough of rocky beaches so we drove back to get in line for the ferry.

This very beat up RV is right beside the road and is one of the first things you will see as you get off the ferry. It is not a great intro to the island.

We still had a lot of time so we left the car in line and climbed up the hill to look at the shops. We said we would just look at the shops but we both knew that we would end up getting ice cream.

They were building an amazing looking circular staircase.

Once the temporary braces are taken away, it looks like the steps will only be supported by tree branches.

I think tomorrow with be a rest and chores day. We are heading farther north on Thursday.

June 27 – Waterfalls in Strathcona Provincial Park

It was a long day today. We went to four different waterfalls accessible via the north entrance to Strathcona Provincial Park. The only way we could do four was that the hike to each of them was very short, usually around 1 km.

The drive in along Highway 28 is very twisty as you can see from the map. As we got towards the middle of the island the mountains started showing up, Some snow capped, some not. We took this picture on one of the few straight sections.

We wiggled our way along the shore of Upper Campbell Lake

First up was Lady Falls. The info board said we only go 0.9 km and climb 60 feet. The GPS said it was even less at only 1/2 km.

 

You could only look at the falls from a viewing platform on the opposite cliff.

There was a lot of mist being sprayed up. We couldn’t stay out there very long and had to keep cleaning the camera lens.

I did a kind of choppy photosphere from the edge of the deck.

Lady Falls Photosphere

Jennie likes the closeups. The top of the falls.

The rapids at the bottom.

On the way to Lupin Falls we drove along side long, thin Buttle Lake. It has high mountains on each side that come right down to the shore.

An interesting little island.

It was somewhat hazy but the mountain views were still pretty good.

The short 1 km loop trail to Lupin Falls was as good as the falls, as far as beautiful scenery goes.

Little sun spotlights.

The falls themselves were a narrow ribbon falling into a pool and then a small cascade into another pool. They were really hard to photograph. Most of it was in dark shadow but the top of each section was being blasted with bright sunlight.

The park had also installed this nice fence right in front so that you couldn’t get a wider view without part of the falls being blocks by the fence.

 

Onward around the loop below the falls.

Moving on down Buttle Lake.

There was actually a car ahead of us for a while and when they quickly pulled over I saw this out of the corner of my eye.

It was a up a bit in what looked like an old gravel pit. It was only there a minute before it wandered off up the hill.

We stopped at a viewpoint for another look. This moth was blocking our path.

Up the lake.

Down

And across.

And a photosphere.

Buttle Lake Photosphere

The Karst Creek Trailhead had a small picnic area but we just went out and found a log on the stony shoreline for lunch.

The water is really clear, shallow and warm.

Another short loop trail up Karst Creek.  I don’t think this trail is used as much because it was narrow and quite overgrown in spots.

There was a sign saying that a bridge was out and that fording the creek might not be possible if the water was high. This was the spot. We managed to find enough non moving rocks to make it across.

The creek is quite steep and is really just one long cascade over the rocks and trees.

The actual falls were very pretty to the eye but tough on the camera. They were brilliantly lit but everything in front was in deep shadow.

This was the best I could do. You’ll just have to go and see it for yourself.

Rock hopping around the creek to try different vantage points.

The rest of the loop was supposed to take us to a creek that appeared out of a hole in the ground and then downhill a ways, it disappeared down a sinkhole. Both spots were so overgrown that you couldn’t see anything. We should have just gone back down the creek.

On the way to Lower Myra Falls there was a viewpoint where you could see it from across the lake.

Going around the bottom of the lake we got this view.

The trail to the falls goes steeply downhill. We stopped at the upper falls viewpoint.

Then down out onto the rocks in the middle section. We can only see just a little of the upper section now.

I scrambled down a few more steps.

Looking back up.

And then down towards the lake.

Climbing back up to look down on the log that was jammed in the slot that all the water had to go through.

And a couple of photospheres

Lower Myra Falls Photosphere 1

Lower Myra Falls Photosphere 2

We probably would have stayed much longer but by now we were pretty tired especially sitting in the bright sun. Reluctantly we headed home but what a day.

I guess this part of the park doesn’t ever get busy. All of the parking lots were quite small and we almost never saw a car on the highway. We only saw 6 people at Lady Falls, 1 biker at Lupin Falls, 2 girls at Karst Creek and about 8 at Lower Myra Falls.