Monday morning dawned clear, crisp and a bit cooler than it’s been for a while. When I walked the dogs early in the morning it was just 42F – that’s definitely the coldest it’s been here this fall. Time to get a light jacket out that’s for sure.
2 more weeks and the Goldstream River will be teeming with salmon
Paulette and I spent most of the morning just lazing around the house. We each caught up on reading blogs, quilting for her and RV’ing for me. Just before noon, it had warmed up quite a bit so we thought it would be a great time to take Molly and Rylie over to the Dog Park for a run with all their furry friends. There were about 7 other mutts there today, so they had a good time.
Paulette, Molly & Rylie standing by a huge Western Red Cedar
Afterwards, we decided to drive down to Goldstream Provincial Park which is about 30 minutes south of us right on the outskirts of Victoria. The Island highway goes right through the middle of the park so we drive through it every time we travel to Victoria. The park was quite busy, but we managed to get a parking spot, leashed up the pups, and headed down to the river.
A Swampy Lagoon in the Goldstream Estuary
The Goldstream River is a world-class salmon spawning stream with thousands of Chum, Chinook and Coho salmon returning to spawn each year. The annual salmon run starts from late October through December, when the salmon begin making their difficult journey from the Pacific Ocean to Finlayson Arm, then turn into the Goldstream River and swim upstream to the spawning grounds located right in the middle of the Provincial Park.
Looking into the Goldstream “Rain Forest”
There were no salmon in the river yesterday as it is still about 2 weeks away from the start of the spawning run. By November though, the waters will be teeming with salmon fighting their way upstream. This spectacle draws thousands of visitors every day, and the riverside trails in the park offer an extraordinary opportunity to view this annual event. Paulette and I will be sure to go back in a few weeks so we can take some pictures of this to share with everyone.
Not only do the salmon run attract human visitors, it also attracts hundreds of Bald Eagles who swoop down from their perches in the tall trees to devour the bodies of the spawned out salmon.
The park is also home to 600 year-old Douglas fir trees and western red cedar, mixed with western yew and hemlock, red alder, big leaf maple and black cottonwood. On the drier ridges visitors can find flowering dogwood, lodgepole pine and arbutus. The arbutus, with its thick leathery evergreen leaves, red-dish trunk and peeling bark, is Canada's only broad-leafed evergreen and is found exclusively on Vancouver Island and the southwest coast of BC.
A tree growing out of the trunk of another tree
After about an hour of walking the trails by the river, and through the forest, we headed back to the car and drove home. Paulette headed upstairs to her sewing room while I settled into the family room to watch a bit of the Phillies and Rockies baseball game.
Guess what we had for dinner last night? You’re right – leftover turkey! It was almost as good as it was on Sunday night too – the pumpkin pie and apple/raspberry crisp was still delicious, but unfortunately, it’s all gone now. I wonder who ate it all anyway?
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