It was a wet holiday Monday: non stop light rain. Very quiet, too, because most of the weekend visitors had already left, or were parked in the ferry line-up, returning to their working lives.

I decided to go for a walk down to the Narvaez Bay part of the Gulf Islands National Park, on Saturna Island. The first time in 5 months, but I am recuperating well, the hobbling along is improving and a 2.6+ km walk (down and up, I might add) is a good thing to do when you have overindulged during the weekend…

First, though, I had to get through the turkey traffic near the general store…

Then drive a few kilometers on Narvaez Bay Road, a former horse cart road that doesn’t go from A to B in a straight line…

Once past the park gate, the magic starts to happen.

Above, this Big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) is showing its fall colour, a bright punctuation in the very dark fir and cedar forest that lines the way down to the bay.

For those who walk slowly, there are all sorts of little treasures to discover… You just have to pay attention.

Along the old road down to the bay, I stopped and practiced focusing on wet surfaces. Above: Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), in full fall regalia.

Here is a little ecosystem of lichens, arranged on a branch near the path. It reminds me of corals, in tropical oceans.

Then my game consisted of trying to focus on water drops, at the tip of cedar boughs. Without getting the camera too wet…

Above, a Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana) flashes its hips. I am still working on finding the right depth of focus, to successfully include all the bits I want to focus on, and “fuzzy up” the background. In this case, an F/4.0 aperture is obviously not going to do it… Working on it, though.

And after wandering around, it was time to go home for supper, back up the road/path to the parking area.  Another couple of hours well spent. Breathing fresh air: highly recommended.