On sunday we started from the fish hatchery on sooke river road and headed for the two lakes, Grass and Shields. The trail uses a access road past the new interpretive centre and heads under the galloping goose along Charters Creek. It follows the valley so it is mostly second growth firs with very few rock outcrops, deep forest most of the way. Hermit Thrushes and pacific slope flycatchers singing along the route. a few odd plants we found along the way were Candy Stick, Pinesap, vancouver ground cone, and western coral root.
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| Western Coral Root | | | |
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Ian found this Candy Stick buried under some Salal on the side of the trail. Pretty hard to see as it looks quite abit like a young salal shoot.
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| Vancouver Ground Cone |
On the way up Charters Creek there was this chimney sitting in the middle of nowhere. turns out there is a foundation there but not much else, a burned down cabin... Maybe the Charter's Cabin.
The first lake we came to was Grass Lake or some places it is called Grassy Lake. a half hour later were at Sheilds Lake.
There were some none native Lily pads patches on Grassy Lake
Pink lily pads and white lily pads, and a brilliant magenta patch also.
At the end of our trip on the edge of Sheilds lake, we were taking photos of dragonflies, Chalk-fronted Corporals. And one was being very co-operative for our cameras when we noticed something was terribly wrong. An ant was chewing on its brain
