Daisies - Somewhere Saturday

Little more than a month ago I snapped these daisies growing in a friend's garden in the Similkameen Valley but except for the sagebrush mountains in the background they might equally well be growing around here . They seem to thrive as well on the roadsides as in carefully tended gardens. I've not attempted to identify these more specifically since there are several similar genera and many species. Whatever their name they are one of summer's pleasures.

Summer Dreams

I'm indulging myself this week with a lazy browse through the archives. Today's photo is not Victoria but is from a trip I took to the interior of the province a couple of years ago. I can almost feel summertime heat radiating from this photo.

Similkameen River

I am a bit engaged in another project today so I am sharing another photo from the holiday I took earlier in the year to the Similkameen River Valley. There's nothing dramatic about this photo but there is something about horses standing in a river that is very peaceful. Hope you enjoy this.

Richter Pass

Here's a view from my recent holiday that never fails to please my eyes, the Richter Pass. The Similkameen Valley runs mostly east and west, roughly parallel and not very distant from the international border with the USA. The nearby Okanagan Valley runs north and south. The Richter Pass connects the two valleys. It is not often this spectacular yellow shade nor are the hills usually so green, effects of an unusually wet spring. These pastures are part of a large cattle ranch, another important agricultural aspect of this area.

Bears (Ursus americanus)

Shortly after we began the descent to the valley floor along the switchback road pictured above, the bear and cub to the left were sighted. Mother bears with cubs are notoriously dangerous so while I was tempted to get closer I was also more than conscious of how fast bears can run. When we first saw them they were already on the move up the slope. Then the mother paused and looked back at us while waiting for the cub to catch up. When he had bounced up the hill past her she moved into cover off to the left. I didn't attempt to follow her. (Reader Carolyn from Haida Gwaii kindly posted a video link of a similar encounter with bears in British Columbia north of here, though the bears in the video are the rather more aggressive Grizzly Bears. Click HERE to see the video.) I suspect the bears I saw were American Black Bears (Ursus americanus), though the distinctions between Black and Brown Bears are quite subtle. The valley in the above photo is the Similkameen Valley near Hedley, British Columbia.

Yellow Bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris)

Here's a close relative of the ground squirrel featured in a recent post, the Yellow Bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris). This one was living on a rock slope with numerous family and friends and there were several Columbian Ground Squirrels living there too. This photograph was taken on a spectacular trip above the Similkameen Valley near the Apex Mountain Ski Resort. I have now returned to Victoria but will share a few more of my holiday pictures over the next few days.

My Summer Vacation IV - The Okanagan

One of the reasons we wanted to visit the interior of the province was to get some real summer HEAT. Here Rosie found a neat device to cool off with while traveling. After an overnight stop in the Similkameen Valley in sagebrush country we drove through the Richter Pass (below).As we descended from the Richter pass the town of Osoyoos came into view. The Okanagan Valley is a long string of emerald lakes surrounded by lush orchards and vineyards on the valley floor and sagebrush and pine trees on the dry mountainsides.After a cooling swim in Lake Osoyoos......we traveled northward up the valley to the small city of Penticton, where this vacation report will close with a shot of the steamer Sicamous in the sunset on the shore of Lake Okanagan.Thanks for joining me on my vacation. Tomorrow I promise to return to Victoria!