Iain Leitch Photography

I wanted to get one more large hike in before winter, so I went back to Frontenac Provincial Park. I had been once already this year, back in September. That time I went solo, as my wife was away on a trip. This time, I was able to bring my wife on the hike. We got a day pass from the Ottawa Public Library (check out your local library — they have so much stuff!) and booked our DVP over the phone, as I couldn’t figure out how to book one with the library pass online. We left Ottawa around 8:45am and got to the parking lot in the park just before 11. We parked at the Salmon Lake parking lot. From there, we hiked down the Corridor Trail until it met up with the Dedication Trail, which we went South on. At the end of that trail, we turned right and continued down towards Doe Lake. From there, we went around Doe Lake and met up with the Corridor Trail again, which took us back to the Salmon Lake parking lot. In total, it was 13.25 km in length and took us 3 hours and 36 minutes to comple...

This past weekend I went camping at Silent Lake Provincial Park. It was a good camping trip, but there was a lot of biting bugs out. Even with those, I was still able to get out on a hike, and a paddle in my new to me canoe.  Garter Snake on some rocks by the water. Swamp Laurel, I saw paddling. Birch tree with some intense peeling bark. Threeleaf Goldthread among some moss. Mushroom in a stump of a tree. On the way back from the park I detoured to Morrow Creek again to get an event better waterfall photo.

My latest trip took me out to British Columbia, then on a train from Vancouver to Toronto. This is part 1 out of a three part series showing the trip. This post is about Peachland and the Okanagan Lake region. Remembrance memorial on the waterfront in Peachland. Rotary Club clock in Peachland. Public access docks. A hazy morning over the lake. Rock cutout from the former Kettle Valley Railway. View looking to a trestle on the former Kettle Valley Railway. Trestles. Trestles. Trestles. Tunnel entrance. Tunnel exit. Mist rolling in on the trestles. More mist rolling in. Mission Hill vineyard. Mission Hill vineyard. Mission Hill Vineyard. Northern pacific Rattlesnake Osoyoos dessert shrub land Muledeer Osoyoos dessert shrub land Hardy Falls Goderich from the air. We got a free upgrade on Porter. An endangered species.  

The Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), located in Hamilton, Ontario, is designated a National Historic Site of Canada. I live only an hour and a half away from the RBG but yet I had never been until today. Today I took the trip down to the RBG and was wowed by the gardens. I went to three of the gardens today and each experience was a pleasant one. I started out exploring the Hendrie Park Gardens, which comprises a rose garden, statue garden (closed at the moment due to COVID-19) and a native plant garden among other themes gardens. The first two photos here are showing the rose garden in all its glory with full blooms and beautiful colours. The tall purple flowers seen in both photos are actually a type of onion that is planted among the roses to help them fight disease and pests. Moving on from the rose garden and into the native plant garden, I saw this beautiful yellow flower that I thought was perfect. Adding the overcast day, this made for an amazing photo in my opinion with the righ...