Cross Canada Trekking - Part 20 [Chilling in the Cathedral Grove, Baby 👼 ]

One thing I learned years ago is it's one thing to create simply one good picture, it's an entirely different ballgame when it comes down to creating a body of work.My format with the series has been each post dedicated to a specific day of the trip, with an exception or two. The next few posts will be a bit different organized. Which admittedly is still really random a lot of the time with these posts. Which, as a sidenote, are a fun way to play around with gallery aesthetics and how individual pictures work together as a whole as well as what the role of the editing plays editing.

The first few pictures are from the first day. My dad wanted to see 'THE ISLAND' at all costs and we just sort of ventured out with no real aim in mind. I think we were all feeling a bit tired but knowing that we were on a trip and the prospect of just sitting around in some trailer park with kids running around and screaming was like yeah let's get out of here.

We rolled off the beaten path as they say and rode down some logging type roads to where we came to some gate and a guy was all guarding it and saying we couldn't go further. But my dad talked to him for a while and eventually he let us through. We drove some forest service road and left me wondering, are we supposed to be here or not? My dad says we drove 4000km and the guard said he felt bad for making us turn around but it's like I was just as confused as you guys where we were going or what this all was.

We came to the site of an old pay-campground but as old as it was it seemed to be still in use. I'm used to doing the 'free' camping with no one around to bother you. Seems like this was long ago a provincial park and was now a private camp site operated by some logging company? Not sure how all of this 'politics' works in the Canadian industry, like why the guard but then you have people camping here but I remember seeing a bit of a glimpse of that stuff before when I was a treeplanter for a while. Regardless, I only managed to get a picture of some old concrete park bench and a few others that day. The next day we would be off to Cathedral Grove and Port Alberni.

Cathedral grove wasn't what I was expecting, I mean it was majestic but so many people. When we got there our jaws dropped a bit. Of course I got out all my photo equipment It feels like when you have the 'high end' looking gear i.e. not just a cell phone, people are so polite and friendly here, as soon as they see you they quicken up their pace and shuffle along faster to get out of the way. I just sort of laugh and chuckle and "thanks, you didn't have to" while also being grateful of this type of behavior I am not expectant of it of course, it's just sort of funny how people think they are interfering when really I am just there enjoying it regardless and if they happen to be passing through will gladly just take the time to observe moreso fully the surroundings. But of course I do the same thing too, and I don't want to interfere for them either, they are there to enjoy the place just as much as I and just because I have a big photographic device doesn't preclude their enjoyment of the environment we are in, I try and assure the passerby I really don't mind and to be at ease. But languishing provides a slightly different viewpoint on the whole situation.

Sitting and taking pictures, especially with a tripod is an interesting opportunity to observe people. As much as people are in a place to see a specific place for a specific attraction, especially for people in groups, there seems to be difficulty observing silence. Observing what is, just taking in nature. Of course people are also there to have shared experiences with their friends, family and whatnot so of course people will engage in sharing stories and random miscellaneous conversation, and people are almost always on some sort of schedule or time budget when out seeing things. But it's just funny to observe these tourist destinations and how tourists (including ourselves) operate within them. Like sometimes people are so caught up with themselves and their own story, the majesty of what they are taking in takes a back seat. And I suppose as well, just how much "taking in" of the environment can one accomplish? Also I feel like having that many "tourist types" around lends in itself to a lessened experience. Because cathedral grove is admittedly a magical place and these images don't really show how busy it was, was very much so with a full parking lot and a very 'tourist' vibe with everything walkway ed off like a sort of amusement park lineup queue. Although the walkways are a way for disabled people to get to see stuff not to mention the erosion from thousands of people daily would be unsustainable for such an ecosystem, especially with it being a rain forest type climate. Cathedral Grove, is also right there with the highway running through it and while most people slow down to a reasonable pace, you could feel the impatience of the drivers when dealing with the busiest periods. People trying to cross the highway that bifurcate place, people trying to get to the other side to see or back to their cars, and cars trying to back out, other people trying to find parking, while not impeding traffic... it was a bit of chaos. And it seemed like some drivers would slow down a little bit "less than recommended" if they were able to and this had it's own sort of anxious vibe to it with people either racing through or holding up traffic or fighting to cross. Maybe it was just a bad time of year or day to go but yeah, it was not as amazing as another place I was at nearby a few years ago. The problem that other time, in 2015 was that I had more of a temper problem and this is something that one tends to learn growing up. But all in all, it was a nice day even though it was pretty overcast mostly. I was still loving this BC trip even though it was more or less non stop start-stop-start-stop action the whole time and prone to wearing me out.

At one point I actually managed to slip and fall, it was super-muddy leading up to the bank of the river there. I wanted to see all that I could and bam! next thing I knew I was on the ground, I had not taken into account just how extremely slippery it was. My camera, lens and myself got a bit muddy and I had to spend some time taking everything apart and cleaning mud out of the nooks carefully in the river with the help of a micro fiber cloth one tends to carry around. It took a bit of time to wash, but thankfully everything was in good shape, even if I was a bit muddy and wet afterwards. We probably spent about an hour walking around Cathedral Grove, we weren't allowed to have dogs there so it was just us walking around but we still got a good chunk of time in to see the ancient trees and cool plants growing everywhere. As well I spoke to a few people very briefly and it's was fun in that respect.

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^{Clicking on a pic will load a separate high resolution copy}

^{This bench had seen better days}

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^{However Mother Nature was Loving it}

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^{Tiny Growths on the table}

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^{My dad wanted to see "the real" BC, thing is, a lot of it's been logged}

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^{Finally no trailer}

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^{Roads and more roads, but where do they go}

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^{Yet another moment with the doges}

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^{These flowers are YELLA}

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^{The infinite stick festi}

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^{Stalkers and Walkers}

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^{MM Wonderful}

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^ONCOMING

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^{Hey look everyone, it's the Trans!}

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^mossuloid

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^{the walkways keep you from climbing your way through the crazy jungle, maybe even getting lost in the jungle}

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^{Swing around like a Tarzan}

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^{Silent Sticks Stick Out as the Trees Sing Sweet songsssj™}

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^{bark it up, nibble some wood}

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^{lost in the jungleoid}

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^{your broken bits were showing}

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^{juicy luicy up on the stick}

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^{observe the forest while it envelops you}

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^{they need some vendors along here to spice it up for the real tourist experience}

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^{this tree decided to give up one day}

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^{THE ELEPHANTS FOOT}

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^{ShuttleZone'D Around}

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^{Some Sorta MOSS STUFF}

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^{Let the trees auric field blend with your own}

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^Corridors

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^{E C O Z O N E S}

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^{M A S S I V E}

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^{Bark So Thick you want to Climb It}

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^{How many trees did they kill to make the walkway}

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^{Examine the way the moss grows and with enough time you will learn ... something}

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^{Echoes of Time}

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^Perspective

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^{Walking the path, as countless others have}

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^{Tree within a tree}

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^Emerging

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^{R H I Z O M O R P H I C}

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^{In the industry, they called this a deadhead}

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^{Why had you fallen?}

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^{And soon it was time to be conveyed to a different place}

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^{T H E}

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^{B I G}

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^{T R E E}

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^{thank you for stoppin' in!}