It’s hard to believe that another month has passed already and with it, the turning of another year. The longest night has come and gone and we’re looking forward to the lengthening days as we head in 2024. But that’s for the future: this post is about the past!
If we were being outdoors today, I’d obviously talk about the hikes we did, but lament the lack of snow to get out and play in. Sure, we did get out in the snow while it lasted but the weather since then has been far too mild and dry and most of the snow that fell in November and early December has been washed away. We started the month with a fun snowshoe to Hollyburn where we yomped around in heavy, knee-deep snow. Every step off the trail took considerable effort as our snowshoes sank into the fresh snow, requiring us to lift each foot knee-high to plunge into the snow again. But it was fun, even without any of the usual views. A few days later, we made the long drive to Joffre Lakes to enjoy an easy hike in the snow (which had already started melting away) on a bluebird day. Alas, that was the last we saw of the snow and we completed the month’s hiking with an easy hike around Buntzen Lake and later – on New Year’s Eve – a loop on Burnaby Mountain, a place we’d never hiked before. It was a good way to end the year with our friends, and we enjoyed some home-made mulled plum wine and chocolate as we sheltered from the rain.
If we were being outdoors today, I’d probably rant a bit about the consequences of people feeding wildlife. We’ve all done it, standing there with a crumb or two in our hands waiting for a bird to swoop in to pose for a photo, or throwing a nut or two in the direction of a squirrel or chipmunk in the hope of getting a good photo. And many of us have probably also experienced the nuisance of a bird or other animal trying to get food that wasn’t on offer. Mostly it’s just that: a nuisance but our visit to Joffre Lakes showed us just how bad it can get when animals – even small animals – come to expect food from human visitors. In this case we were mobbed by about half-a-dozen whisky jacks that took turns to fly directly onto our hands to grab some of the food we were holding (and holding close to ourselves, not offering for a photo-op). Not only that but they flew in from behind us and swooped in abruptly to try and gain some food from our hands. Even shielding our food was ineffective and it took considerable effort on our part to avoid the persistent birds. That alone was bad enough, but we weren’t prepared for the squirrel…
Douglas squirrels are small squirrels of the forest that usually avoid humans. If you’ve heard a loud scolding chatter from a nearby tree, that was probably a Douglas squirrel expressing its displeasure at your presence. So imagine our surprise when one of them jumped from a nearby rock – a distance of about a metre – onto my hand to try and take my lunch. I shook my hand vigorously to remove it but it only dug its claws in and only after I whacked it with my gloves did it jump off, leaving me with a number of small scratches. Thankfully, most of them were superficial but two broke the skin, prompting me to get a (long overdue) tetanus vaccination the following day. But the squirrel wasn’t done and it tried to jump back onto my hand again and again, and I was forced to wield my gloves in self-defence. Then it turned its attention to the Tupperware holding the rest of our lunch and made an attempt to get inside. Well that was the last straw and we were forced to bat it away with said Tupperware. With the exception of biting insects, that’s the first time I’ve ever had to resort to physical contact to dissuade a wild animal from getting too close.
And all the time we were dealing with the squirrel, the whisky jacks were still trying to steal a bite. It was madness. To say I was annoyed is an understatement. I already know how bad it is to feed wild animals but this was really an eye-opening demonstration of just how bad it’s become at popular hiking destinations. (And that’s in addition to having a raven steal food from a friend’s backpack in October.)
So, please, please, please – do not feed the wildlife. It goes against the principles of Leave No Trace and quite frankly it makes visiting such places extremely unpleasant for everyone. Just don’t do it.
If we were being outdoors today, I’d suggest visiting Coal Harbour to watch the sea lions that have taken up residence there for the past few weeks. I’d seen some photos on Instagram which made me keen to check them out myself. We arranged a walk in Stanley Park with a friend and spent a good while watching the dozen or so sea lions swim back and forth, barking occasionally. In addition to the sea lions there were almost as many harbour seals swimming around, more than we’ve seen in one place. On another walk in Stanley Park later in December, we noticed the sea lions (and seals!) were still hanging out, so it was nice to see them again! Check out the video below for a couple of clips and some photos.
If we were being outdoors today, I’d say how nice it was to celebrate the winter solstice and to have the days begin lengthening again. Winter can definitely be a bit of a struggle mentally, especially in Vancouver which is infamous for its dreary weather at this time of year. Getting outside is our primary coping mechanism. I continued cycling to work for a bit of outside time while we got out on walks on those days we didn’t hike. (Disclosure: I did take the bus on one day that was just too wet to consider cycling – my first bus commute in over three-and-a-half years!) The Vancouver beaches are our forever go-to destination for winter fresh air, but I also like to visit Boundary Bay in search of birdlife, and I was fortunate enough to have a spare hour to spend near the Capilano fish hatchery on a misty day.
Ever since our first winter in Vancouver (way back in 2004), we’ve celebrated the winter solstice by taking part in the festivities put on by the Secret Lantern Society either at the Roundhouse or on Granville Island, especially while Maria danced with one of the local Morris dancing teams. It’s a great opportunity to mark this celestial event and look forward – with hope – to the year ahead. This year we headed to Granville Island for an early dinner followed by a procession and a welcoming (torchlit) wassail song from the Vancouver Morris Men.
That’s all for December, so I’ll end by saying that I hope you all had a peaceful holiday season and wish you a happy, healthy, and fulfilling 2024.
Being. Outdoors. 
We’ve experienced “too-tame” animals in our travels too!
We ran into some overly-pushy marmots at Rocky Mountain National Park. To the point where I helped “save” a little girl from one. She happily jumped into my arms (a stranger) to avoid the marmot that was bothering her (her mom was nearby but not as close as me).
We also experienced pushy chipmunks at the Grand Canyon. We were sitting on a bench, recovering from our hike and a chipmunk literally came up and stuck its head into my husband’s shirt (between the shirt billowing in the breeze and his back). That was a little unnerving!