Cascade Falls

Our first big adventure was a trip to Cascade Falls, a few miles north of Abbotsford.  We drove down off the lower slopes of Sumas Mountain where they live, and headed north across the flat farmland of the valley.  Crossing the Fraser River on the bridge to Mission, we turned right and headed into the foothills.

Cascade Falls is a fair size waterfalls, though I'd never heard of it before.  And it was totally surrounded by forest and rock.  It's found down a road north of the hamlet of Dewdney on the maps.

I'm used to a dense network of roads in southern Ontario, but here there are only a few roads up the valleys that take you into the foothills.  As you can see, it was a dark grey misty day and raining, so photography was a major challenge.

I was quickly introduced to the local rainforest, with its moss and ferns.  I think most of the ferns we saw were Sword Ferns.

 Lots of good size trees towering over the forest floor, leaving it very dark.

I was surprised and a bit saddened to see several old original stumps that showed how puny today's trees are compared to what was once there.  The larger tree beside the stump is about 18" diameter, so you can get an idea of how big that tree must have been.

There were quite a few steps up to the waterfall, but they were well built and easy to walk up, even though wet.

It was the suspension bridge that provided the views of the falls (see yesterday's post).  And it was very secure with really no bounce or swing at all - though how they got it in place in the middle of the forest I have no idea!  the falls is about 50 feet high.

But in the dark it was very hard to get the right exposure for the picture, even with the ISO cranked high.

There's a famous and very busy (and bouncy as I recall) suspension bridge at Capilano Canyon in North Vancouver, that is absolutely over-run with crowds in the summer, but I got the impression this site is almost unknown.

In any case, we crossed the bridge, and as I always do, I tried lots of pictures of the falls.  In the dark light there was far too much contrast to show the rock as well as the water, but it's a nice falls!

Back down the stairs, you can also stop and explore the river's edge downstream from the falls.  I like this picture 'slowing' down the water flow.

There was lots of moss there too, coating the deciduous trees, such a different appearance to the woods from what I'm used to.  And all new species of trees to learn too.

In fact, the forest is mostly a coniferous forest, with Western Red Cedar one of the most common trees.  It grows tall, straight and huge; it's B.C.'s official tree.  It's fundamental to west coast aboriginal culture.  Obviously the moisture from lots of rain has a huge impact on the forest.  I must do some more reading on the west coast rainforest and learn more about it.

Introducing....

If you've read this blog much, you know I don't say much personal about our family, and don't post pictures of us.  But I realized as I planned my posts on our visit that you'll end up with the impression that we went west to see moss, trails, birds and mountains, rather than people!  So I'm going to introduce you to our daughter and her family, just so you know why we were really there.

Here they are, at a Christmas Market held at Maan Farms, on the south side of Abbotsford - daughter, son-in-law, grandson, 6 and grand-daughter, 15 months

Here's J and D on the suspension bridge over the gorge at Cascade Falls, in the Coast Range foothills.

And here's that waterfall, deep in the rainforest on a dark rainy day!

It's a challenge to get clear pictures of a little girl who never stops moving, but she's out there enjoying herself!

We had lots of indoor time with them too.

J and D, his dad and I got out for 2 or 3 different walks, and generally I could hardly keep up, especially downhill where J broke into a run!

The last day J was back in school, so it was just the three of them.  We went hiking up the TeaPot Trail on Cultus Lake.

Through the rainforest, replete with giant stumps that evidence the forest of the distant past.

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time and love them all to bits!  Thanks for our wonderful time!  Now on to our adventures.

The Lower Fraser Valley

We really enjoyed our week in Abbotsford, and exploring some nearby places in the Lower Fraser Valley.  I've got lots of adventures to share from only 6 days, hope you enjoy them.  I'd like to start out by sharing a few general pictures of that valley, so different from the Beaver Valley here.

This is the view from near the top of McKee Peak, one of the foothills of the Coast Range, near where our daughter and her family live.  I went for a hike here with my son-in-law and grandson.  You can see the Cascades in the distance (mostly in the U.S.), and the extremely flat valley still mostly in farms, with the Trans-Canada Highway behind the trees. in the foreground.

B.C. created an Agricultural Land Reserve protecting all the good farmland in the province in 1973, at the time the most progressive land use planning legislation in North America.  Remarkably, only an hour east of Vancouver, the farmland is still farmland!

And did you spot Mount Baker in the distance in the photos above?  This was almost the clearest view we got of it, one of the iconic tall mountains in the northwest U.S.  November is the rainiest month out here, and it has been the rainiest fall in memory this year, so we hardly saw the sun at all during the week we were there - but the rain didn't slow us down much!

What strikes me about the valley is how the flat farmland ends abruptly at the mountains.  To the southeast of Abbotsford is the Cascade Range, and to the north is the Coast Range.  This is Sumas Moutain, an outlier of the Coast Range; our daughter and family live up on the slopes just out of sight on the right.

I was amazed at the number of berry farms - especially blueberries.  They're bare at this time of year, and the twigs bright pink.  We're definitely going to have to get there during berry season!

In order to protect the farmland, lots of the urban development marches up the lower slopes of the mountains like this.  It gives very interesting houses - our daughter's front door is in the basement, the back door is on the main floor, and the garage is nearly at the height of the second floor!  Hills everywhere, but it works, and they can buy lots of local food at the farm outlets.

The part of Sumas Mountain known as McKee Peak hides the view of Mount Baker, but from their living room window you can just glimpse the Cascade Range over the rooftops of the houses across the street.

Most of what I have to share with you is from our hikes.  We were out every day someplace, usually to places they haven't had a chance to explore yet (they've only been there 3 months).

They said it was rainforest, but I didn't understand until I saw it.  Ferns and moss everywhere!  Thick layers of green moss covered all the deciduous branches of all the trees.  It was SUCH a different place for me to explore and learn about!

We saw a surprising number of Bald Eagles.  Notice the pair sitting close together here, on the banks of the Harrison River.

There were Swans on the fields; these are Swans coming in to rest for the night.  Sorry, I don't know anything about B.C. birds yet, so I'm not sure which species they are.

The temperatures were cold enough that there was fresh snow on the mountain tops, but it was just cool and wet where we spent our time.  The snow line is really clear though; elevation makes such a difference.  Notice the unusual tall narrow tree on the right - a disguised communications tower.

A final view of Mount Baker to the south, on our last day there - my best picture of it.  Our daughter and her husband have accomplished a lot in 5 months, from their trip out in July when they ended up buying a house, to selling their own house a week later (!), through the packing to the actual move, and our son-in-law starting a new job while our grandson started at a new school.  It was a dream, but it worked!!  Lots more to come.

A Thoroughly Miserable Dec. 1st!

We're safely back from B.C., but with 800 pictures to sort and edit, and several adventures to organize a story about, I thought I'd give you one update on the 'seasons in the valley' here before we start reporting from our week in the west.

It really was a miserable day, with a cold drizzle on and off all day.  When it's just above freezing, rain isn't much fun; I'd rather have it just below freezing and snow!  As you can see, the meadow is brown except for my mowed trails, and all the leaves are gone, even the Tamarack needles - except for one stubborn maple sapling.

Along the fencerow you wouldn't even know it was a Hosta garden; there's no sign of them now at all, and no colours in the garden except for '50 shades of brown'.

But the old stone fencerow shows up really well, and the lichens on the big boulders seem to be at their best.  That flat rock in the first picture is a relief sculpture of a fern on a limestone slab.

A short walk in the woods was easy today, the leaves all wet, and the trees creeking ominously in the wind.

Farm fields are all inactive now, resting until next growing season, whether they're a hayfield like this, or a ploughed field that will be put to crops in the spring.

Farmers have been busy this fall, but I think they're finally getting a few days to work on the inside chores.

I refilled the bird feeders, and the Chickadees returned almost immediately.  I also heard a White-breasted Nuthatch, and saw a Downy Woodpecker briefly at the suet.  And after standing still outside for 15 minutes, shooting 40 photos, I did get one or two that were well focused!

But most of them were more like this, or with the bird gone entirely!

Tomorrow, western adventures!