POTTERY - CERAMICS AND SURROUNDINGS: CHILLIWACK LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK

Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park – Strenuous hike - Radium Lake

I decided to join a hiking group and started out on my first hike this week.

Its a wonderful way to see and experience the forests around here. (never under estimate Hikers though... when they say its an 6 hour hike is more likely to be 8 to 9 depending on the gradient. but when I watched the on-line videos, it's more like 4 to 5. So it all made no sense and I had to experience it myself which I did:).

We stopped for lunch after 5 hours hiking up and up and up. My legs were jelly by then, I no longer feared suspension bridges, logs over rivers, mosquitoes were having party-time on my uncovered arms and I was grateful to have a hiking stick and good shoes. The company was great and the surrounded beauty made our nearly 9 hours hike worth while. Needless to say, my next hike will be 4 hours return. Mmmmmmm (or will it) I checked the maps and it seems to be, mostly going over logging roads. We`ll see.

The group I joined takes time for each other and time to photograph plants, mushrooms and other unusual flowers and suggested that I memorize only 2 with each new hike.

So here are the first two:

The Indian Hellebore Plant : poisonous – the leaves, stems, berries and roots all contain toxic compounds.

The Trillium Plant: Blooms in Spring.

Oh and I learned that the The Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) is the Provincial Flower of British Columbia. This small to medium-sized deciduous tree grows six to eight meters high and flowers in April and May. I saw it in bloom in the forest near Hope, white and pink blooms and wondered about it, as the recent Chelsea Flower Show in the UK was all in ore of this tree. Most Nurseries were stocking it as it became the all favourite to Garden Designers in Europe last year.

- BC has 1,030 Provincial Parks and protected areas.