Adams River Salmon Run

To celebrate my birthday we drove to Chase for the Adam's River Salmon Run.  Four years ago Leo and I took in the run to celebrate my 60th birthday.  The dominant run occurs every 4 years so we thought we'd have a do over.  And since we had discussed a get together this earlier this year with our friends Ann-Marie and Andy and then did nothing about it, I invited them along.

We stayed at the Overlander Motel, a cute mom-and-pop motel in downtown Chase.

With a giant willow tree

It was busy! Lots of fishermen and construction workers from the widening of the Trans Canada Highway which has closed off the west entrance to the town.

We checked out Chase Creek Falls which you access by crossing under Highway 1. It was billed as a 20 minute hike but turned out to be about 5 minutes.

Nice falls though.

Ann-Marie and I think so:

Later we had snacks in the model's gazebo, then tried to find a spot for dinner.  Most restaurants were only open Wednesday to Sunday!  Or they closed by 7:30!  We wound up finding the neighborhood pub despite it have no lit signage and snacking on various deep fried appies.  They kicked us out at 9 pm.  Chase outside of the summer season is not a happening place.

The next morning we had breakfast at Craig's bakery downtown then headed out to Tsútswecw Provincial Park where the Adam's River Salmonfest was in full swing.

Lots of school groups visiting

This was supposed to be a real big year for salmon returning but as the summer wore on the numbers just weren't there.  Also with the extended hotspell into the fall the river temperatures were too warm so the salmon were just waiting for better conditions.  However they were finally coming up the river so we were able to see lots of salmon.

Interspersed with the red sockeye were a few dark Chinook salmon.

We also saw a few of these guys in the river:

Counting fish? Making movies?

Evidence of a beaver hard at work:

And a culturally modified cedar along the river:

In the evening we had a great sushi dinner to celebrate my birthday.

Lately

 It snowed this morning briefly, before it turned to rain, just a shower.

We went up to Smithers for Thanksgiving. Sybille and Dave were getting over Covid so we just had Thanksgiving with my Mom, a rotisserie chicken from Safeway with packaged gravy, real mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and my mom's squash stuffing.

We did get out for a few socially distanced walks with Syb and Dave.

At the municipal campsite on the Bulkley River

Our friend Mark found a crossbill with a broken wing on the Fox Mountain trail so we looked after Mr. Bill for a few days until a wildlife rehabbed picked him up to take him to Prince George.

He seemed active and healthy except for the wing and we fed him with Douglas fir Co nes from our backyard.

Hard to get a photo of a caged bird

I harvested my beets, carrots and parsnips.

Big parsnips!

The potatoes will stay in the ground till the tops die off.

Leo and I had our 5th Covid shot yesterday and will get our flu shot next week if it's available.

Senior's Games

Coming in second in the 100 m race.

 The rest of the week Leo participated in track and field in the BC Senior's Games (now officially called the 55+ Games).

Meanwhile I was able to paddle with Dorothea's outrigger canoe team again.

The tides were favorable so we were able to paddle down to the Inner Harbour this trip.

Leo was very happy to be competing again after two years off with a knee injury and the pandemic.

The North Central Team was too small to field any relay teams this year so Leo teamed up with other zones.

Here he is debriefing with his teammates in the mixed 4x100m relay,

Running with Vancouver Island North

The 4x400 relay,

An impromptu team put together to race against the 75+ age group team trying to break a world record

And the men's power walking relay.

With Zone 11 - Bulkley Valley  Lakes Nechako

We gave two members of the Williams Lake carpet bowling team a ride to  Victoria, so went to their venue and watched them in action.  Here they are beating the team from Kitimat, my hometown (I did not know any of them).

Chris and Alice in the red vests.

We spotted a restaurant on the Inner Harbour while we were paddling, the Tug Eatery,

So one evening we checked it out. It has a large outdoor seating area on the waterfront, but we were too cold so we ate inside.

Afterwards we walked across the Johnson Street Bridge

Just as the sun was setting.

Viewpoint Parks Hike

Dorothea took us on a tour of viewpoint parks in the Cadboro Bay area.  We parked by the water, then walked up Arbutus Road to the first park.

No photos of the view from Viewpoint Park, just one of me enjoying the view.

There's been a prolonged drought on the Island so the vegetation was pretty crunchy.

We moved on to

With its observation deck,

And then downhill and over to

Where we walked through the forest.

From there we walked back to the car on city streets, stopping at various waterfront views and beaches.

Some views:

Trip to Victoria

 We were barely back from Mahood and we headed off to Victoria for a week.  Syb and Dave were also staying at Dorothea's house so we slept the first night in Dorothea's tent in the back yard. Glamping!

Above we posed for a selfie at the community garden in Oaklands Park near Dorothea's house.

We were all in town to attend my nephew Stephen and his bride Heidi's reception at their home in Nanaimo.  They got married the week before via a helicopter trip to an alpine lake up one of the inlets on the coast.

Here's the 3 sisters in our finery:

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And here's the whole family:

Heidi and Stephen are 4th from left (with dog) and 5th from left.

The next day we went hiking with Dorothea's hiking group to the Cowichan River.

Fish ladder on Cowichan River

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Looking out over the rapids

Big Leaf Maple

The next day we visited Gowlland Tod Provincial Park (another park added to my life list), situated on the very attractive Tod Inlet.

You can swim at the beach here, but we prefer fresh water so we stopped at Pease Lake, also within the park boundaries, and took a dip.

Here we were delighted to see

Crayfish!

I've never seen them in the wild before (though I've eaten them boiled on Tybee Island in Georgia).  They looked huge magnified by the water but they were probably about 4 inches long.