venturing4th: Hiking along Buttle Lake in Strathcona National Park

Friday, September 23, 2016

Hiking along Buttle Lake in Strathcona National Park

Blog for September 22, 2016

Strathcona Provincial Park takes up a good chunk of the central part of Vancouver Island and Buttle Lake runs down the center of the Park. There are several entrances to Strathcona; yesterday we entered the park from the east to get to Forbidden Plateau. Today we entered from the north, along the shore of Buttle Lake and drove to the end of the Lake, stopping a various short hikes along the way. Waterfalls were featured on many of the hikes and the culmination of the day was a hike to Myra Falls, the most spectacular one.

Last evening Frederick took this picture of Brown's Bay, the view we have from our bedroom window. I think lights on the water are magical.

We drove out of Campbell River, west, along a windy and hilly road.

The road travelled through deep forests with surrounding mountains.

One of the little hikes took us down to lake's edge. If you look carefully (enlarging the picture helps), you might notice the moon to the right of Frederick.

Here's a close-up.

At the north end of Buttle Lake with Mt. Tom Taylor at the south end.

Hiking through the rain forest. These trees are magnificent.

Lupin Falls along Lupin Falls Loop Trail.

Another lakeside visit, at Auger Point, to Buttle Lake.

Karst Creek trail took us to this waterfall.

Hiking downstream of the falls. We had to rock-hop to complete the loop trail; in the spring, during run-off, this creek is too dangerous to cross and the trail is closed.