May 30 – Lighthouse Park

If there is a lighthouse then we must go see it, particularly on this trip when we won’t see very many.

Point Atkinson Light Station is in Lighthouse Park at the north entrance to Burrard Inlet.

From the parking lot we first went to Juniper Point, then followed the Shore Pine Trail to its viewpoints. Then it was on to the Lighthouse Viewpoint. When we realized how bad the view was we backtracked to the West Beach Trail for a much better look. Then back to the car.

 

The Juniper Loop portion of the trail to Juniper Point was wide and easy. It had this strange still living stump.

A sign we saw later said that it is fed by the roots of the nearby fir tree.

The bottom section of the Juniper Point Trail was basically a very steep creek bed, that at least right now was dry.

Our first real look at the ocean.

Looking south.

Doing this photosphere.

Looking north.

We saw this guy fishing from his pedal craft.

The steep part of the climb back up, on the top of the Juniper Point Trail, had some more civilized stairs and boardwalk.

Jennie was taking a picture of this Columbia Lily.

Another strange stump.

The Shore Pine trail went back to being rather rough.

A couple of logs carved into benches long ago.

A very drippy tree.

Out on Shore Pine Point, looking north. Juniper Point is just above Jennie’s head.

Looking south.

The photosphere.

At the entrance there were some very fragrant Nootka wild roses.

There was an interesting pile of logs in this small bay.

Getting swallowed by the salal bushes.

A salmonberry and its flower.

We made our way to the marked Lighthouse Viewpoint and were not impressed.

Looking at the map I guessed that if we backtracked to the West Beach Trail we might get a better look.

Much better.

We saw that an eagle had landed on the weather vane at the top of the lighthouse.

It later moved to a nearby tree. I was not fast enough to catch it in flight.

It was a great place to have lunch.

The photosphere.

Some driftwood to check out.

Continuing on, there is a path down on the other side of the lighthouse that overlooked some of the old keepers buildings.

Someone was living in one of the buildings and had a great garden.

Someone on the trail mentioned that we should look up at the rainbow ring around the sun. I just now noticed it in all the photospheres.

The central trail back to the car was wide and smooth but it was a steep climb.

Tonight we went out to dinner with a friend and his wife. I worked with him around 30 years ago when they lived in Toronto at a company called Develcon.