A View of Little Qualicum River Through Moss-Covered Trees! (Set 2 of 2) (+6 insets)

(+6 insets!)

Trip Talk: Big Qualicum River, Qualicum River, Little Qualicum River…WHAT?!
When I put our itinerary together for this area of Vancouver Island, I knew that Little Qualicum Falls was a spot we must not miss. Wow, what an understatement…it was GORGEOUS! And with all of the fuss over Little Qualicum Falls, I expected to see lots of information about Big Qualicum Falls too. I do remember being a bit confused about the deal with Qualicum River while we were in the area and now I've finally figured it all out!

It turns out that the indigenous Qualicum people had two rivers named after them in that area--the Qualicum River and the Little Qualicum River. To make matters confusing, the Qualicum River is usually called the Big Qualicum River. The location of these two beautiful rivers is within 10 miles of each other. Little Qualicum originates from Cameron Lake and empties out into the ocean just north of Qualicum Beach at the southern end of Qualicum Bay. (Big) Qualicum River originates in the hills beyond Horne Lake, spills out the other side and empties out into the ocean at the north end of Qualicum Bay. To make this clear, I have included a topographical map inset which shows the two lakes and the paths leading to the ocean. It's nice to have this straight in my head! :)

Today's Pictures
I originally planned to show another magnificent view of Little Qualicum Falls as my main image. However, the image that gets first billing is a glimpse of the river through a quartet of glowing, moss-covered trees, surrounded by verdant greenery. It gives an very nice understanding of how rich and lovely it was in the forests of Vancouver Island.

The first inset is the image of Little Qualicum Falls dumping down into a log-wreathed pool in tones of teal and aqua. It was incredible to stand at the edge of the chasm and appreciate that awesome sight. It's also no wonder there is fencing erected all along this area…too many irresponsible selfie-junkies out there and they kept falling of the ledges!

The second inset shows a tree-accented view of the colorful water as we headed up to the falls. Inset three shows a log panorama covered with carefully-stacked prayer stones. At that particular spot there were piled prayer stones all over the ground, in small and big groups--they were everywhere! Unfortunately the many grey piles of stones blended together, so the pictures really weren't showing how cool they looked. Until I saw this rock-covered log! I knew it would be just right to show that spot and it turned out as I'd hoped!

My other insets include tree shadows on a pool of water and an abstract, blurry image of a fellow jumping off a ledge into a deep pool--his girlfriend had just jumped and though he was visibly nervous, he threw caution to the wind and followed suit. Neither of them were hurt but I couldn't stop thinking about my older brother who once jumped off a rope swing into a river and didn't realize the water level was too low…he broke his left femur and was in a cast for three months!

Pam, what is the health like of the forests where you live? Dry and ailing like ours? It's really incredible to visit a place where the forests are simply glowing with good health. We do have plenty of healthy forests here in southern Oregon--the ones that border rivers and streams are fine--but areas without a constant source of water are definitely not doing as well with the slow increase of heat over the years we've lived here. It didn't hit home until we spent a lot of time on Vancouver Island. Oddly enough--distressing to learn as well--the amount of moisture on Vancouver Island has decreased over the years as well. Lower rivers, less rain, more stress-related tree problems…even though it seems like their forests are in perfect shape, climate change has been affecting them too. We are happy that we've gotten to visit this place before the damage has become obvious. *sigh* Well, I hope that your day is going well…here it started off chilly with twinkling frost and bright sunshine and promises to warm up and continue to be fabulous and beautiful! *many HUGSSSSS and happy tidings!*

Explored on 2/26/20; highest placement #5.