Snowshoeing on Seymour

This morning I took Mojo up onto Mt Seymour for some fun in the snow while the sun was still out and before it all melts for the end of the season.

On route up Seymour we take in the views from the lookout to the South-East.  Here Simon Fraser University is situated on the green hill in the centre, mountains in Washington in the distance.

Zooming in on Burnaby and the dark penninsula on the far right leading out into the sea is Point Roberts – an odd piece of land attached entirely to Canada but is actually a small piece of Washington state.

Looking down the Fraser Valley, Mt Baker silhouetted against the morning sun.

Views across to Belcarra and Port Moody.

Approaching the parking lot at the top of Mt Seymour.

As we set out the ski runs are still quiet.  Mojo is very tempted to test these nice flat white runs out but there are park rangers nearby who probably wouldn’t have been supportive.  He sticks to the trails for the short distance we run parallel to the ski run and then turn into the forest.

Mojo is delighted with all the snow, having had very little at home this year this was his first opportunity to get out and really run around in it.

Mojo racing around the trails

Not long and we reach the look-out from Dog Mountain.  The view here of Downtown.

Looking at East Vancouver, Burnaby and the Second Narrows Bridge.

A wide view of the whole city.

Stanley Park and the Lions Gate Bridge with the mountains of Vancouver Island in the distance.

Grouse Mountain

Views to the North

A panorama from the South side of Dog Mountain over the city.  Incidentally, the strange ‘crunching’ sound on the video is Mojo knawing on a slab of ice he has removed from a frozen pond

And a panorama view from the North side of the peak.

More views from the top of Dog Mountain.

Mojo taking in the views.

On top of the world !

We then start heading back.  The sunlight through the forest.

One of the ponds, frozen over.

Stopping for a quick break to chew a stick he had stolen off a dog earlier.

Looking across a frozen First Lake.

Back at the end of the trail the First Aid ATV races up the ski hill, I guess someone has had an accident further up ? 

After our walk I decided it was not be right to be so close to Deep Cove without calling in to Honeys for a donut….perfect for elevenses !

Deep Cove village.

Views across the village to Indian Arm.

Kayakers enjoying the peaceful waters

Views across the inlet.

Deep Cove village from the pier/jetty

Looking across the marina

Homes on Panorama Drive straddling the terraced hillside.

This view shows the marina with Quarry Rock in the background, which I walked to in October 2008 with Charlie.

Finally a brief panorama of the village from the jetty.  A lovely walk and great to get out and enjoy some sun and snow at the same time !

Visit to Bowen

On Sunday we took a trip across to Bowen Island.  It was our first visit since Tracy & Paul moved away in 2007.

We were visiting some friends who have a border collie called Stella who loves racing around with Mojo.

It was a cold & grey day so only a couple of snaps from the outside deck of the ferry.  Views here are North up Howe Sound with a very visible snow line.

The cut-away in the trees here is from the improvements to the sea-to-sky highway to Whistler.  Although the majority of this section was always two-lane they improved the junction around the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.

The East side of Howe Sound looking about as far as Lions Bay.

We had arranged to meet our friends at the park in Snug Cove so the dogs could have a really good race around on the open green before we went for a walk around a nearby lake.

The views here from the park in Snug Cove.

We were then thoroughly distracted at the dogs trying to avoid them chasing the gaggle of geese that were sitting in the middle of the field – although Stella eventually did the honours and cleared the green ! 

After a good hour or more of chasing eachother and any other dog they met at the park we grabbed coffees and drove the short distance to Killarney Lake.

We then walked the hours or so around Killarney Lake.  There were some really good views of the lake but again we were busy walking, talking and throwing sticks for dogs so didn’t take many photos.

This is the one we have across the lake.

Conveniently at the end of the walk is a section of trail that allows easy lake access for the dogs to wash off.  Mojo here is contemplating removing this fallen tree from the lake.  Thankfully he does give up on this idea.

Stella enjoying a stick she has just stolen off of Mojo.

A brief clip of movie of the dogs splashing about in the lake.

After completely exhausting the dogs we headed to a new restaurant in Artisan Square called Artisan Eats  www.artisaneats.ca  for a terrific lunch and then headed home.

Spanish Banks Beach

On Saturday the sun was out and we had a free afternoon so we took ourselves off to Spanish Banks beach on Vancouver’s Westside.

We deliberately timed the walk so the tide was out and a very low tide to give us lots of sandy flats to walk on.

It was bright and sunny with great views of Downtown.

This was the view over West Vancouver and the North Shore mountains.

Towards the West the view of Howe Sound, with Lighthouse Park to the right and the Bowen Island ferry to the left of it.

Mojo is in dog heaven, initially racing around with all the other dogs at the busy end of the beach, then splashing in the shallow waters.  Here soaking up some sun.

Mojos other little trick is chasing birds.  He loves the chase, is fascinated when they take off into the air and thankfully is completely inept at catching them.

He had run after one or two seagulls on the beach without incident, however he then decided to chase after a particular bird which lead him to the rockpools where there must have been 30 or 40 birds feeding on the tiny sealife found in the pools.  He sent them all flying up into the air and then the next 15 minutes or so racing around attempting to prevent them landing.

Eventually we went and retrieved him as it was clear he was going to do this for the rest of the afternoon if we didn’t intervene.

This video as he races off and discovers the birds at the rockpools.

After collecting Mojo and getting back to the busier end of the beach so he could play with some other dogs rather than terrorising birds we eventually headed home.

An effect of the mild winter we have had this year are all the cherry blossom trees that are blooming right now.  Usually they don’t bloom until well into April at the earliest.

These trees were downtown on our way home.