When my Aunt visited last month and I asked her where she would like to go for a walk, she said she’d like to walk in the spot where I’m always posting photos from. But we have so many walks that we do, so I figured out one that had the ocean but also forest, some flat parts, a bit of a hill, but still postcard worthy shots all along the trail. I say it all the time – we live in a postcard, it’s so beautiful out here.

Her request got me thinking about which walks to recommend. Which made me think of all the walks we’ve done since moving to the Island in 2014. Which lead to a list. Which leads into this post.

We drove all the way up to Port Hardy the first November we were on the Island. From Campbell River to Port Hardy it is a pretty boring drive – a lot like parts of the Rockies in Alberta where it’s just trees trees trees trees. If I ever go up there again, I’d like to see about taking a ferry instead. We tromped around the marina, we tromped around the waterfront, we tromped around Bear Cove Park, we tromped around Coal Harbour and Port Alice as well. And there is the best store there – coffee shop, book store, art gallery/shop. If ever I was to open a store, I would want it to be exactly like this store. Cafe | Cafe Guido & Company | Port Hardy

One of the best spots was a turn off by a river close to the estuary. It was the salmon run and there were dozens of eagles. There’s nothing quite like the sound of their wings as they fly overhead. I managed to get a few photos of a young eagle through a bunch of trees, but honestly the majority of my shots were blurry as heck, or obscured by branches. When we drove over the bridge out of town, we were escorted by a juvenile eagle, flying right beside our car – it was pretty stunning.

They say art imitates life … or is it life imitates art? Whatever, I forget. I’m always taking photos, picking up rocks & sticks & plant life and thinking it’s all so very pretty & amazing & how I can make art out of it. I find it all very inspirational, even if what I end up with looks nothing like what I took photos of in the first place. I’ve included a small bear painting I did as part of my 365 Project (yes, I did a painting a day way back when). I figured it fit with Bear Cove Park, even though we just saw eagles and (thankfully!) no bears.

So there we have it – the walk furthest from our home but still on Vancouver Island.