Just wondering. No answers.

I look at a beach and I wonder. What shaped it like this? How? And how long did it take?

Sometimes there are answers. Sometimes (usually?) they include words like "maybe", "possibly", "it has been suggested".

Wind, water, ice, (moving or still). Gravity, friction, chemistry, heat, life. And time, lots of time. Or not.

These are photos from one hour on one small stretch of beach. 

At the bottom of the intertidal zone. Soft rock, shaped by waves, currents, colonized by barnacles and oysters.The tip is probably exposed at high tide. This rock is marked on the boating map, labelled "awash rock".

Glacial erratics. Oysters, barnacles, seaweeds. Quadra Island in the background. The current in this channel runs fast and strong and sometimes chaotic.

Wide stripes, running out to the water: rocks, then flat stone or sand, then rocks, then ...

Upper beach, almost flat. Water draining from pools around rocks as the tide goes out carves lines in the sand. (Land to the right here, ocean to the left.)

A bit higher up. The tide is far out, and the sand is almost dry, but water still trickles down from the land above the tidal zone, seeping through the sand.

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Miro una playa y me pregunto: ¿Qué le dió esta configuración? ¿Cómo? ¿Y cuánto tiempo fue necesario?

A veces hay respuestas. A veces —¿Casi siempre? — las respuestas incluyen palabras como "tal vez", "posiblemente", "se ha sugerido".

El viento, el agua, hielo, tranquilos o en movimiento. La gravedad, la química, la fricción, las temperaturas, la vida. Y tiempo. Mucho tiempo. O no.

estas son fotos que saqué en un tramo pequeño de playa. 

1. Donde termina la zona intermareal. Rocas suaves, esculpidas por las olas, las corrientes, y colonizadas por bálanos y ostiones. La cima probablemente sigue descubierta con la marea alta.  Esta roca está señalada en el mapa para navegantes.
2. Bloques erráticos, dejados por los glaciares.  Ostiones, bálanos, algas marinas. Al otro lado del estrecho se ve la isla Quadra. La corriente en este sitio corre rápido y fuertemente, a veces en forma caótica.
3. Franjas amplias, corriendo en dirección hacia el agua. Piedras, luego roca aplanada o arena, luego rocas, luego ... se repite.
4. En la zona superior de la playa, casi horizontal. Agua que drena desde pozas alrededor de las rocas al salir la marea dibuja lineas en la arena. (Tierra firma queda a la derecha.)
5. Esto está en la parte más alta de la zona intermareal. La marea ha dejado casi seca la arena, pero agua sigue escurriendo, bajando de la tierra firma.

Blink and you missed it.

10 AM. The sun was shining, the sky was blue. It wouldn't last; I hurried to collect jacket and cameras. By 11 I was driving around residential areas north of town, looking for a high point with a view over the water, with bare branches against the sky and Quadra Island on the far shore.

11:45. Found it. Fog was already settling in over Quadra, but the sky overhead was still blue.

Orange Point. Gowlland Island, 2km away.

Twisty branches of red alder.

Below me in the water; a metal float and bull kelp with their live, brown floats (pneumatocysts).

There should be good views from Race Point, 5 km. further north; Seymour Narrows, Menzies Bay, maybe some boats or a float plane ... By the time I got there, the fog had settled in; Quadra, 2 km. away, was invisible.

12:15. That darker grey streak is Quadra Island.

There was a trail heading up into the forest; dim, wet, almost gloomy. Good enough. Giving up on the sky, I climbed the hill. (Mushrooms, moss, more; left for tomorrow.)  20 minutes later, as I was ready to leave, the sun tried to break through the mist again.

12:30 Drifting mists and sunshine through mossy branches.

A Skywatch post.

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Las 10 de la mañana. El sol brillaba, el cielo estaba azul. No iba a durar; me apuré a juntar chaqueta y cámaras. Dando las 11, daba vueltas en una zona residencial al norte de la ciudad; buscaba un sitio en alto con vista sobre el agua y con ramas desnudas contra el cielo, además de la isla Quadra al otro lado del estrecho.

11:45. Lo encontré. Una neblina ya se asentaba sobre las islas, pero el cielo seguía azul.

    1. La isla Gowlland, a 2 km de distancia, desde Punto Orange.

    2. Ramas torcidas de aliso rojo.

    3. En el agua al pie del acantilado, un flotador metálico, con algas quelpo y sus flotadores vivos (pneumatocistos).

Debería haber buenas vistas desde Punto Race (Corriente? Carrera?) a 5 km. más al norte; el Estrecho Seymour, la bahía Menzies, tal vez algunos barcos o una hidroavioneta ... Pero cuando llegué, la niebla cubría todo. La isla Quadra, a apenas 2 km. estaba totalmente invisible.

    4. Las 12:15. Esa linea gris tantito más oscura es la isla Quadra.

Había un sendero al otro lado de la calle, entrando al bosque; todo oscuro, mojado, casi triste. Invitaba. Olvidándome de cielos azules, subí el cerrito.. (Hongos, musgos, y más; esto lo dejo para mañana.) 20  minutos más tarde, cuando había regresado al coche para irme a casa, el sol hizo otro intento de penetrar la niebla.

    5. 12:30. Neblinas vagantes, y los rayos del sol alumbrando ramas cubiertas de musgo.

Un post de Skywatch.

Doogie?

Some things are so easy nowadays! No more leafing through heavy books, squinting at faded black-and-white photos, deciphering descriptions in fine print! No more spreading out awkward maps that slip and slide and roll themselves up just as you think you've found your place! (Remember those days?) Oh, Google!

I'm always trying to find the names of things; birds, mushrooms, trees, spiders, places ... And mountain peaks. I just discovered that a Google Image search can locate a mountain peak for me. Of course, it helps when they have a distinctive shape.

This one is known locally as the Cowboy's Hat. It turns out to be Mount Doogie Dowler, named after a Quadra Island resident who watched it "every day from the front porch" of his store and post office on the far side of Quadra Island a half-century ago. I took the photo from Tyee Spit in Campbell River, looking northeast over Quadra Island towards the mainland.

50.467263N -124.88281W, 2076 metres, Dec. 3, 2024.

Google maps image. 50 km. from Campbell River to Mount DD.

The mountain (and all those snowy peaks) is on the mainland. Looking at the map, the islands are so tightly packed in the Strait, you could almost imagine swimming and hiking all the way over. Almost.

A Skywatch post.

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¡Hoy en dia algunas cosas son tan, tan fáciles! Ya no hay que hojear librotes pesados, ni examinar fotos borrosas en blanco y negro, ni tratar de descifrar descripciones en letras pequeñitas. Ya no tenemos que extender mapas de papel viejo, despintadas, mapas que se te escapan y se vuelven a enrollar justo cuando crees que encontraste el sitio que buscabas. (¿Te acuerdas de esos dias?) Ah, Google!

Siempre estoy tratando de encontrar los nombres de las cosas; pájaros, hongos, árboles, arañas, lugares ... Y las cumbres de las montañas. Y acabo de darme cuenta que Google Images me puede buscar una montaña definida.

Esta, se conoce por el rumbo como el Sombrero del Vaquero. Resulta que es el monte Doogie Dowler, así llamado por un residente de la isla Quadra, quien la miraba "a diario desde la puerta" de su tienda y oficina postal en el lado opuesto de la isla Quadra hace medio siglo. Yo saqué la foto desde Tyee Spit en Campbell River, mirando hacia el noroeste hacia el continente tras de la isla Quadra.

1. La montaña. 50.467263N -124.88281W, 2076 metres, el 3 de diciembre, 2024.
2. Visto en mapas Google. Son 50 km desde Campbell River hasta el monte DD.

La montaña (y todas esas cumbres cubiertas de nieve) se encuentran en el continente. Mirando el mapa, las islas parecen estar tan cercas la una de la próxima, que hasta puedes imaginar, casi, que se podría ir nadando y caminando por turnos de esta isla al continente. Casi, casi.

Un poste Skywatch.

View from my hill

 A view from near the top of the hill behind my house, looking more or less east-northeast, over the Strait of Georgia and its islands, and ultimately to the mountains of the Mainland.

Ferry to Quadra Island, a 10 minute crossing.

Excuse the wires; the price paid for living a step from "downtown".

The mountains here and in the next photo are all on the mainland, with the closest peak about 60  km. away, The islands in between are mostly flat.

More towards the north. There's always snow on the mainland peaks.

Google relief map, showing how the land rises across the way. And behind me, towards the centre of the island. I'm in a long, half-drowned valley.

Yellow tug passing Quadra Island.

A Skywatch post.

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Unas vistas desde el cerrito atrás de mi casa, viendo más o menos este-noreste, hacia las islas del estrecho de Georgia, y más allá, las montañas del continente.

1. El trasbordador que lleva a la isla Quadra, una travesía de 10 minutos. Perdonen los alambres: el precio que se paga por vivir a unos pasos del centro de la ciudad. Las montañas que se ven en esta y la próxima foto están situadas en el continente, con la más cercana a unos 60 km. de distancia. Las islas en el estrecho son por su mayor parte, tierras bajas.
2. Viendo un poco más hacia el norte. Siempre hay nieve en sus cumbres.
3. Mapa en relieve de Google, mostrando como la ciudad (donde está el corazoncito) y las islas forman parte de un valle medio lleno de agua.
4. Un barco remolcador amarillo, cerca de la isla Quadra.

The colours of flame

It's the tail end of October. The skies are grey and usually drizzling. But on the ground, the colours are the colours of flame.

Big-leaf maple leaves and moss-covered rock. Campbell River museum grounds.

More leaves and rocks.

In a shady corner, the hosta glows after the rain.

Random shot of the garden. Hydrangea, volunteer parsley, stonecrop.

Last spring, I came across a patch of stonecrops beside an abandoned road through the bush. I brought home two stalks and set them in water to root, then planted them. They weren't doing well, so I moved them to the garden, where they sat sulking. Later, I transplanted the hydrangea beside them, too close, but I wasn't expecting the stonecrop to survive. Now, checking out the garden and clearing away dead leaves, I discovered them again, thriving under the shelter of the hydrangea. You never can tell.

Even on a cold and rainy day, a shaft of sunlight reveals warm colours. Quadra Island from the museum grounds with a totem pole looking over the channel from the park across the street.

A few minutes later. The sun has gone, but the shoreline trees still retain the heat of dying bonfire coals.

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Estamos a fines de octubre. Los cielos están nublados, gris, casi siempre produciendo lluvia. Pero en el suelo, tenemos los colores de fuego.

1. Hojas caídas de arce de hoja grande, con una piedra y musgo.
2. Más hojas, más piedras cubiertas de musgo.
3. En un rincón sombreado, las hostas resplandecen despues de una llovizna.
4. Limpiando el jardín, encontré esto. Una hoja de hortensia, ya pintada de rosa y amarillo, hojas de perejil voluntario, y unas ramitas de sedum que traje a casa en mayo del año pasado. Las puse en agua en la casa, y luego las sembré en una maceta. No andaban bien, así que les mudé al jardín, donde no más se quedaron alli, como de mala gana. Más tarde sembré allí la hortensia, sin fijarme en los sedum, que parecían estar al borde de la muerte en todo caso. Y ahora, ¡ahi están, felices! Nunca se sabe.
5. Aun cuando llueve y las nubes cubren todo, un rayito de sol ilumina los colores de otoño. Esto es la isla Quadra, vista desde los jardines del museo, con un totem que vigila el estrecho desde el parque.
6. Y desaparece el sol. Pero las hojas que todavía se cuelgan de sus árboles siguen mostrando los colores de fuego, éstos, de las brasas de una fogata que se extingue lentamente.

Sea and sky

Coming out from the dim, busy woods of Miracle Beach Provincial Park, the view opens up. On a calm afternoon, at high tide, it's an easy on the eyes composition in blues. The shore from here to Campbell River lies in a line roughly north northwest.

Looking north from Storries' Beach. Straight ahead to the north is Quadra Island, with the lighthouse just visible, 15 km away. The white-capped mountains are on the mainland.

And looking south. The man in the canoe was gleaning logs just brought in by the tide. He has two chained up behind the canoe.

A Skywatch post.

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Saliendo del bosque, denso y oscuro, del parque provincial Miracle Beach, se abre la vista a mar y cielo, un descanso para los ojos en tonos de azul. La costa de aquí a Campbell River se orienta en una dirección noroeste/sudeste.

En la primera foto, mirando al norte desde Storries' Beach, se ve la isla Quadra, con su faro apenas visible; está a 15 km. de aquí. Las montañas nevadas están en la tierra firme.

En la seguna, mirando al sur, el hombre en la canoa estaba recogiendo troncos recién traídos por la marea. Trae dos encadenados atrás de la canoa.

Big sky

 Sometimes it seems that the mainland mountains have backed away, far away.

Even Quadra Island is shunning us.

The long view, from the edge of the forest, over the log-strewn sand.

This is the view looking almost directly north from Oyster Bay. Quadra Island is about 11 km. from here; the mainland mountains some 100 km. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A veces parece que las montañas del continente se han alejado de repente. Aún nuestro vecino, la isla de Quadra, parece lejos. Queda como a 11 km. de este punto en la costa en Oyster Bay;  las montañas del continente están más o menos a 100 km. Estamos viendo casi directamente hacia el norte.

A Skywatch post

Ancient Vikings and eye seat belts.

Looking for the sasquatch, we took a trail through a dark forest of old Douglas firs, tall monsters with their tops blocking the sunlight; away from the edge of the forest, the rest of the trunks were bare, with deeply grooved, broken, and lumpy bark.  Any branches remaining below the greenery above were dead, black, wildly convoluted.

Bark, bits of burls, woodpecker holes (two sizes).

This tree has fallen, but got hung up on two others high above us by its tangle of dead branches.

Stump. With a face. An ancient Viking, maybe?

It's woodpecker habitat. At the edge of the forest, we came across a busy pileated woodpecker, pounding away at fallen wood.

He* sees me hiding behind a tree, but continues with his search for grubs.

*He's a male: the males have the red crest, and a red "mustache", as well.

Pileated woodpeckers need a large territory of old growth forest; one pair occupies about a square kilometer. Rebecca  Spit, where we met this one, is about 2 kilometres long, but only about an average of 150 metres across; it's his back yard only.

He pounded away at the broken logs on the ground; before he left, he'd made visible square holes in it:

His fresh holes are a paler brown.

Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?

Woodpeckers hit their heads up to 20 times a second. But muscles, bones and an extra eyelid protect their small bird brains.
Strong, dense muscles in the bird's neck give it strength to repeatedly thump its head. But it is extra muscles in the skull that keep the bird from getting hurt. These muscles act like a protective helmet for the brain.
Unlike the human brain, the woodpecker's brain is tightly confined by muscles in the skull and a compressible bone. This keeps the woodpecker brain from jiggling around when the bird is stabbing away at a tree trunk.
A millisecond before making impact, a woodpecker contracts its neck muscles. Then, it closes its thick inner eyelid.
 The eyelid acts like a seat belt for the eye, said University of California Davis ophthalmologist Ivan Schwab, whose 2007 study on this phenomenon was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Without an extra eyelid, the retina could tear, and worse, the eye could pop out of its socket. (From LiveScience.com)

I almost got a headache, watching him.

Sasquatch site and woodpecker forest.

Mayhew the Sasquatch

Yes, we found the sasquatch! And we weren't eaten!

His name is Mayhew.

He's 8 feet tall, and on the move! Watch out!

Heading for the shore.

He's another sculpture by Alex, of Drifted Creations, like the cougar I found on Tyee Spit not long ago. Mayhew is on the far side of Quadra Island. We took a ferry over, then walked and walked, the wrong way, it turned out. But our trail took us through an enchanted forest; more on that, later.

Under the dock

Hurrying from the sailboat to the inn for supper, I paused, just a moment, to look down. Everything under that dock is covered with critters.

Plumose anemones, Metridium senile, and a bright red tubeworm.

Hanging on a chain, swaying in the current, a mass of mussels, a starfish eating them, and what looks like legs of at least one crab on the far side.

At the Campbell River docks, in the last few years they have been replacing the old log pilings with metal ones. I used to find many animals down along the logs; anemones, shrimp, crabs, mussels, nudibranchs, sponges, tubeworms, scallops, barnacles, unidentified blobs. And seaweeds, green algae, kelp, red algae, yellow fuzz. On the metal ones, nothing grows. I have peered down the cracks around most of them; they're a bit fatter, and leave less space around them in the dock opening. Nothing moves, nothing attaches itself. They're clean.

On old metal found on the beach, even metal not so old, barnacles and mussels find a home. On the chain above, all metal, only the part that is usually out of the water is clean. I'm wondering: are those new metal pilings coated with some wildlife-deterrent chemical agent?

Bit of old ship, Oyster Bay, in a high current area. Seaweeds, barnacles.

The pilings at the Heriot Bay wharf are logs. And they're home to thriving communities. I hope they don't decide to "improve" them.

Lazy day

Watching the islands float by, from the middle of the channel. Just a bit of green and blue scenery.

Cloud shadows on the mountain.

Mostly blues. Looking towards Cortes Island, I think.

Those rocks ahead, underwater at high tide, are where we saw the seals.

Ferry to Whaletown, Cortes Island. The Tachek, named for the Babine Lake community in central BC. She carries up to 26 cars.

Trail left by our ferry, heading home from Quadra Is. to Campbell River. She's the Powell River Queen, twice the size of the Tachek, but still a small boat.

We circled around, between the islands approximately in that pinkish circle.

A Skywatch post.

Half a panorama

There's a shortcut down the hill that I sometimes take on my way home. A little awkward at both ends, top and bottom, and a narrow road where you don't want to meet a truck, but it has one attraction: it curves down the edge of the hill above the downtown area, and from a couple of spots, the whole of the channel from the docks to the Seymour Narrows spreads out before me.

I stopped there this afternoon to take a photo.

Two overlapping photos, and still only half the panorama. The populated area of Quadra Island is directly across from here and the mainland mountains raise their peaks beyond. The ferry is just coming into its berth.

No matter how tired I am after a walk or an afternoon shopping for something I never seem to find, this view always sends me home smiling.

View from the north highway.

Looks like summer. But there is still ice on the puddles.

View over Discovery Passage towards April Point, on Quadra Island. With log boom and two tugs. And winter-blasted blackberry canes.

And the trees are stretching naked branches up towards the sun.

From the same location, looking south towards Duncan Bay.

But in my garden at home, the first hyacinth buds are swelling out. Spring is coming.

Damp afternoon

Ferry to Quadra Island. In between rain squalls.

Left to right, in the distance: boat masts at the dock, Campbell River Aquarium, Discovery Pier with snack shack, the ferry, Quadra Island. The crossing takes only 10 minutes.

Remembering blue

Raining again. Whitecaps on the water. Grey skies, grey water, grey mountains, grey-green leaves. And just a week ago, this:

View from two blocks up the hill, looking over to Quadra Island. Leftover pumpkins to firmly place this in mid-November.

From a bit further down the street. The lighthouse on Quadra Island.

Blues, greens, warm light. Oh, the changeable, fickle BC weather!

Montreal is thataway.

Sometimes, here in the north country, we pretend we're in the tropics.

Montreal, 5111 km. Quadra, 6.

(Evening coffee at a beach shack, near the 50th parallel.)