Blog: I Think It's This Way » Saturday Morning… I Take Many Photos

Saturday Morning… I Take Many Photos

Kris — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:06:53 +0000

Grabbed the camera this morning and headed to various locations in this thriving metropolis of Victoria. You may question the ‘thriving’ claim since it will be hard to find evidence of people in any of the photos below. First stop was Gonzales Hill observatory – a nice spot overlooking some of the Victoria waterfront. Next stop was the Gorge Waterway near the Selkirk Trestle (part of the Galloping Goose Trail. The final stop was Beacon Hill Park. I managed to take almost 500 photos in about two hours… thankfully I’m not so good at photography that I have a high ratio of keepers, which makes it easier on me during my photo processing efforts. I ended up trashing all but about 40 pics. Most of the trashers were pics of ducks on burst mode; I was hoping to accidentally capture some interesting duck action.

Morning sun at the Gonzales Hill observatory.

Looking towards Washington State from Gonzales Hill.

Gonzales Bay viewed from Gonzales Hill.

Gonzales Bay with Clover Point and the south end of Vancouver Island in the distance.

Gonzales Hill observatory.

A robin at Gonzales Hill.

Gorge Waterway and the Selkirk Trestle.

Gorge row boat of the slow variety.

Heading back to the car from a dock on the Gorge Waterway.

Beacon Hill Park peacock.

Beacon Hill flowers are starting to come out.

More Beacon Hill Park flowers.

A crow in Beacon Hill Park.

The tour buses are starting to run again.

Beacon Hill petting zoo chickens.

Gulls participating in the Saturday morning feeding frenzy at Beacon Hill Park.

I am your master.

Duck feeding frenzy at Beacon Hill Park.

Beacon Hill ducks on their way to the closest person with bird feed.

Legs and beaks at Beacon Hill Park on a Saturday morning.

Peacock feathers.

Assorted peacock feathers.

I don't really understand the appeal of bird feeding, but the birds don't seem to mind.

Wednesday Hike – Beacon Hill / Holland Point – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:40:42 +0000

Saturday… ice cream, Sunday… ice cream, Tuesday… ice cream, Wednesday… ice cream… I am a pig. I must have been under the influence of some unidentified force, because I don’t think I’ve consumed this much ice cream over the entire five years leading up to this week. Acting on a suggestion from one of my Wednesday hike cohorts I planned our outing for Beacon Hill Park and Holland Point Park. I even went so far as to suggest a stop at the Beacon Hill Drive-In, which did in fact happen, thus the Wednesday ice cream.

We started out at the goat barn near the childrens’ petting zoo and headed up to the top of Beacon Hill. From there we went down to the greenway near the water and west to Holland Point Park. There are paved pathways in the area, which we made some use of, but by my reckoning, the best part was along the rocks just above the water. As already described, we did in fact end up at the Beacon Hill Drive-In at the end for some food and ice cream… good, but bad. I forgot my GPS device this week so unfortunately I don’t have a map for you, just some pictures.

Peacock (obviously) at the goat barn in Beacon Hill Park.

Near the top of Beacon Hill heading south towards Juan de Fuca Strait. It's been a while since it last rained here.

One of the sets of stairs down to the water from the greenway along Dallas Road.

Water's edge flora near Holland Point Park.

Tide puddle flora / slime near Holland Point Park.

Some of the rockiness along the water required a bit of caution, but I liked it.

Holland Point log piles on the beach.

From an earlier ice cream outing... a Beacon Hill Drive-In Raspberry soft serve unit.

Apparently, it's alright to park your big, white, feathery ass on someone's car hoping for ice cream handouts.

Wednesday Hike – Beacon Hill Park / Holland Point Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:42:41 +0000

Bad weather was in the forecast for tonight, but it was all good for an hour and a bit while we hiked around parts of Beacon Hill Park and Holland Point Park. It’s been a while since I did a hike in jeans with a soy chai latte in hand, so I guess maybe this outing should be described as more walk than hike. Either way it was fun.

Peacocks, trails through grassy fields, hilltop views of the ocean, futzing around on the beach… I like it.

GPS Data: 4.4km – 1h08m – GPS route

A 4km hike around Beacon Hill Park and Holland Point Park in Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

Peacock #1 in Beacon Hill Park.

Peacock #2, 3, and 4 at the Beacon Hill childrens' petting zoo. #2 and 3 were particularly scrappy - fighting when we left and fighting when we came back an hour later.

Grassy field action on the way through part of Beacon Hill Park.

Nice view across the water to Port Angeles from Beacon Hill.

Heading west along the water front near Dallas Road and Holland Point Park.

Logs on the beach in Holland Point Park. I like it... oh wait, I already said that... ummm, okay logs rule.

On the way back to Beacon Hill we meandered along various mowed pathways.

Really small boats and ducks are known to frequent this pond; tonight only ducks.

Ermmm, some sort of beast skull adorning a tree in Beacon Hill Park. Initially, I was thinking domestic cat, but after some Google image searching I'm now leaning towards raccoon.

A wee (as in short) trail in the southwest corner of Beacon Hill Park skirting a rather unimpressive expanse of gravel that sometimes serves as a soccer pitch.

Wednesday Hike – Victoria, BC – Beacon Hill / Clover Point

Kris — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:59:15 +0000

Went out for the Wednesday hike yesterday with some folks from work (7 of us in total) at Beacon Hill and Clover Point. As it is now the middle of October I guess I should expect the kind of weather we had for most of today – rainy, windy, etc. In fact it was looking downright crappy about an hour before things got underway. As luck would have it, it cleared up and was kind of nice for the duration of the hike. As has been pointed out by some of the group, I might be a lucky charm for the weather as we have now done 19 consecutive outings with basically no bad weather.

I’m not sure what is up with my wildlife fetish, but this week, like many previous weeks, had some good animal moments: seagulls fighting over a mangy, but still living crab; a Bald Eagle perched on top of a totem pole; three Blue Herons; a bunch of ducks; and numerous dogs tearing around the dog park along Dallas Road.

GPS Data: Hike – Victoria, BC – Beacon Hill and Clover Point

Clover Point looking west towards Metchosin and Sooke.

Totem pole in Beacon Hill Park with Bald Eagle perched on top.