After spending the holidays in the Okanagan, we kept driving west on New Year’s Day. The temperature got considerably warmer as we reached the coast. It was a rough crossing over to Vancouver Island and after a quick stop for essential groceries we made it to our destination on Sproat Lake. Stopping by in October for supper with friends that live here, spurred the idea of spending time at the lake in the winter. We are very grateful for this opportunity!! It was just the place we needed to be and a great start to the new year for us! It felt like a personal/business retreat. From our first visit to Sproat Lake in the spring of 2014 there was something peaceful and lovely about this place.
Snow was on the ground when we arrived and a few days later we woke up to at least a foot of fresh snow!! So we didn’t escape winter but even though there was snow, the weather is much more mild than home in January. We enjoyed our morning walks, even went snowshoeing and on several hikes. I set up my desktop computer with a nice view of the lake. It was a great change of scenery for my office! We really noticed when the sun came out but it didn’t feel too grey or rainy for us thankfully. Most of our time was spent around Sproat Lake and Port Alberni. But we did go over towards Nanaimo several times too. We’re glad for the new friends we made on the island! The month of January really went by fairly quickly and we always enjoy spending time on Vancouver Island!!
There is this wall of petroglyphs in Sproat Lake Provincial Park with a viewing platform on the lake.
The beautiful reflections always caught my eye and this afternoon was exceptional! If you are interested to spend time at Sproat Lake here’s the link to a vacation home we highly recommend you stay at!!
We went kayaking a few times and one day went across Stirling Arm to Fossli Provincial Park. It was very lush and green by the creek. How the light came through the mossy trees was mystical!
Our friend, Braden, took us to Stamp River Park. Of course the salmon weren’t moving in January but it would be neat to see them spawning and using the fish ladder here to get up the waterfall when they are.
On our way to celebrate a family that got their Canadian citizenship, we stopped at Cathedral Grove. It’s always amazing walking through the giant cedars! The forest smells and seeing how massive the trees can grow.
On our way back we photographed a gorgeous, secret elopement in Canmore. So here are snowy mountain photos from when we were scouting locations for the wedding photos. It was a memorable month!
Some images were shot on medium format film that was processed and scanned by Canadian Film Lab.
