journal
The days around the shots
Tech job, dad, and the camera comes on every hike. This is where the road trips, the camping and the family days go.
Road trip
Fall Colours on the Duffey Lake Road: A One-Day 600 km Loop from Surrey
A single big autumn day: leave Surrey at 6am, run the Fraser Canyon to Lytton and Lillooet, stop at the Seton Lake Lookout, cross the Duffey Lake Road while the cottonwoods are yellow, and come home down the Sea to Sky past four waterfalls. About 600 km and 15 hours, with an hour-by-hour schedule and when colour peaks.
Road trip
Nanaimo to Cape Scott: Comox Valley, Port Hardy, and San Josef Bay
Three days up the north Island: ferry to Nanaimo, Nymph Falls and Elk Falls, the Comox Valley, Port Hardy, then 64 km of logging road to San Josef Bay. About 1,100 km of driving including the gravel. The beach walk is easy. The road is the trip.
Road trip
Nanaimo to Tofino: Highway 4, Ucluelet, Shorepine Bog, and Long Beach
Three days on the west coast of Vancouver Island: ferry to Nanaimo, Englishman River Falls, the long drive on Highway 4, Ucluelet, Shorepine Bog and Long Beach, then Little Qualicum on the way home. About 650 km of Island driving. Pacific Rim is a park fee. Recreational drones are prohibited in the park.
Road trip
Sooke Potholes from Swartz Bay: A South-Island River Day
Ferry to Swartz Bay, through Victoria, up Sooke River Road to the potholes viewpoint. A short riverside walk, CRD summer parking fees, and a gorge you photograph from the official deck, not from the water. About 140 km return on the Island.
Road trip
Victoria in One Day: Parliament, Downtown Streets, and a South-Island Beach
Ferry to Swartz Bay, the Inner Harbour and the parliament buildings in daylight and after dark, a walk through downtown Victoria, and a pebble beach on the south Island before you sail home. About 80 km of driving on the Island, and the sailing is the real time cost.
Camping
Twin One Creek Recreation Site, Lillooet Lake - the campground most people call Twin Two
A first-come BC rec site on the jade-green east shore of Lillooet Lake, about 10 km down the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road from Pemberton. Roughly 15 numbered sites, a few right on the beach, cash in an envelope, no water. The road reality, the fee, and why the name confuses people.