Vancouver Island

Photos from the Vancouver Island region of British Columbia including Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Qualicum

Petroglyphs in Port Alberni

Petroglyphs carved in a rock face on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

petroglyphs

Petroglyphs at Sproat Lake(Purchase)

These petroglyphs were the first I’d ever seen on Vancouver Island during my trip this spring. Not much is known about these apparently, though as whole they are called “K’ak’awin” by the Hupacasath First Nations people. Not always clear what sort of creatures some of these were depicting, but they were very interesting to look at.

I photographed one other petroglyph in Port Alberni – this one looks a bit like a sea turtle to me.

Upper Little Qualicum Falls in Spring

Spring runoff at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada.

upper little qualicum falls in spring

Upper Little Qualicum Falls at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park (Purchase)

Earlier this year I visited Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. The falls and area surrounding the river were much greener than they were the previous autumn which gives these photos a much different look. You can see the difference between the photo above and the Little Qualicum Falls photos I made last year. This time there were people at a wedding scrambling up the trail in light coloured, long dresses (not good on a muddy trail), suits and ties, and high heels. None of these seemed to have worked out very well for them – I saw lots of fancy, muddy shoes and at least one muddy dress. Not ideal clothing if you are intending to visit the falls btw. 😉

You can see other photos from Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park in my image library.

Martin Mars (Hawaii Mars) Water bomber

Martin Mars (Hawaii Mars) water bomber floating on Sproat Lake in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada.

martin mars hawaii water bomber in sproat lake near port alberni british columbia

Hawaii Mars Martin Mars water bomber on Sproat Lake(Purchase)

The Martin JRM Mars water bombers are former U.S. Navy planes now re-purposed for civilian use. This is the Hawaii Mars (built in 1946) on Sproat lake near Port Alberni, British Columbia.

Cameron Lake Storm Clouds

A storm rolls in at sunset over Cameron Lake near Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada

storm clouds over cameron lake at sunset - near port alberni bc

Cameron Lake near Port Alberni, BC (Purchase)

A few months ago during my trip to Vancouver Island I had a lot of perfectly clear, sunny skies that were not always photogenic. I was lucky on one of my last days there to get a cloudy evening to photograph Cathedral Grove and a few other areas near Port Alberni. I quite enjoyed this scene as a storm rolled in over Cameron Lake near Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. Not that colourful, but it was a nice spot to sit by the lake and photograph back in early June. The wind on the lake helped create some interesting images of the waves and branches on the nearby trees as well.

storm blowing on trees at cameron lake beach

Storm blows around tree branches at Cameron Lake near Port Alberni (Purchase)

More of my images from Vancouver Island can be found in my Vancouver Island Gallery.

Nanaimo Harbour Sunset

The Freighter Geiranger in Nanaimo Harbour at sunset – Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

sunset at nanaimo harbour with the freighter Geiranger

Freighter Geiranger anchored in Nanaimo Harbour at Sunset

I made this photo from Biggs Park (near Jack Point) in Nanaimo, British Columbia a few months ago. I hadn’t really intended on photographing a freighter, but it dominated many of my intended compositions at the time. So I embraced what was there, and made the above sunset photo.

When processing this photo I was curious what sort of cargo this freighter might be carrying. It seems this boat is a “general cargo” carrier, but I found something even more interesting when looking for this information. Apparently a lot of marine vessels can be tracked online and the Geiranger is no different. When I discovered this site it had left Nanaimo and was in China, but now it seems to be up in Kitimat, BC. This is all probably more interesting if you know someone on the crew, however.

Invasive Species: Yellow Flag Iris

Not all pretty photos show pretty things: an invasive Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) growing by the Millstone River at Bowen Park in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

yellow flag iris flowers by millstone river at bowen park in nanaimo

Yellow Flag Iris and the Millstone River (Purchase)

Many regions have invasive plant species that have been “released” purposely by people or have escaped from gardens. These invasives often spread into areas where they force out native species and otherwise change the ecology of the area. Many are familiar with the spread of English Ivy through Metro Vancouver forests and Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) on Vancouver Island.

The Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) is also an invasive species, and is native to Europe, western Asia, and northwest Africa. This photo shows a flowering Yellow Flag Iris on the banks of the Millstone River in Nanaimo, British Columbia. While this is one individual plant the species can spread and cover entire wetlands and completely displace native species. Due to continued popularity in garden centres Yellow Flag Iris has spread widely on Vancouver Island, Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, and even into the Okanagan and Kootenay regions of British Columbia.

If you grow some of these in your backyard, it may be a good idea to destroy them to avoid further environmental damage.

Chase River Falls in Colliery Dam Park

Chase River Falls in Colliery Dam Park in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

chase river falls at colliery dam park in nanaimo

Chase River Falls in Nanaimo (Purchase)

I had already walked around Colliery Dam Park in Nanaimo on two separate occasions before someone asked me if I had seen the waterfall. I had thought they meant the two spillway waterfalls from each of the two dams in the park, but apparently there was a natural waterfall just a minute or two walk from where I stood. I am rather fortunate that this was pointed out to me, as research of the area and my own exploration had failed to discover Chase River Falls.

moss covered fallen trees at colliery dam park in nanaimo

Fallen Trees Covered in Moss at Colliery Dam Park in Nanaimo (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

Another reason I feel I was fortunate to be pointed to these falls at that time is that Colliery Dam Park itself will largely cease to exist due to removal of the two small dams. This will create large holes where the two small lakes now sit. I do not know if access to the Chase River Falls will change, but either way, strolling through a nice forest next to a lake is certainly more picturesque when compared to a construction site or open pit.

See more of my photos from this area in my Nanaimo gallery.

Cathedral Grove Fallen Trees

Fallen trees at Cathedral Grove in Macmillan Provincial Park near Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada.

fallen trees in cathedral grove at macmillan provincial park near port alberni

Cathedral Grove Rainforest Trees (Purchase)

Macmillan Provincial Park lies to the east of Port Alberni on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. This photo was made in the Cathedral Grove area of the park, and a shows two fallen, large trees (windstorm casualties) along the trail. While there are many large trees there, it was a challenge to show any of the larger ones in the context of their natural environment (this photo does not fulfill that challenge, obviously). First it is often difficult to give a sense of scale with trees, especially those not surrounded by recognizable foreground elements (or people hugging the trunk). Second, many of the larger trees were rather highly visited by the tourists in the area and were not longer really sitting in a natural setting.

tree trunks in cathedral grove at macmillan provincial park on Vancouver Island

Cathedral Grove Rainforest Tree Trunks (Purchase)

That said, Cathedral Grove is a great place to stop and stretch your legs (or photograph for 2 hours like I did). It is not the best example of an “old growth” forest that many purport it to be, however. Still, this park receives a lot of visitors each year, indicating that at least some people do have some manner of interest in this kind of nature. Even though this is a bit of a pseudo forest in a way, high interest from the public is a good thing. Genuine old growth forest would likely cease to be as diverse as it should be upon becoming a highly visited tourist destination, so with Cathedral Grove I think a decent balance is found.

rainforest at cathedral grove in macmillan provincial park near port alberni

Cathedral Grove Rainforest on Vancouver Island (Purchase)

More of my photos from this park can be found in the Macmillan Provincial Park Gallery.