In the Spirit

April 15, 2008

My favourite place to walk is Pacific Spirit Park. Bordering the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, it's a natural park that covers 760 hectares. Depending upon which trail you take, you'll see everything from old growth forest to ancient bogs, estuary marshes to natural beaches. It came by its name through a competition, the winning entry explaining the name thus: "The gateway to the Pacific and a spiritual ground to becoming one with nature." I've clocked countless hours there walking my dog, Kaya, and it's in that park that I conceived of the idea for Modern Dog magazine. It is a very special place to me, somewhere I go to find serenity or simply regroup with the side benefit of feeling rejuvenated from a hike in the fresh air. Walking along the earthen trails in the quiet of the early morning, you can hear the birds waken and call to each other as the sun warms the canopy of foliage in the tree tops high above. Here you see life in all stages, the new saplings striving for light amidst the moss and lichen covered trees towering above, the ancient giant crashed to the forest floor providing sustenance for birds, insects, animal, and plant life. The circle of life is easily witnessed here. As I walk along I see how the spring sun awakens dormant shrubs, plants and trees, although in the more heavily wooded areas the process takes a little longer. I took some photos. I hope you enjoy them. I'd love to hear about your favourite walking places. Namaste.

It won't be long before these huckleberry bushes with their new, pinkish growth are dotted with delicious orangey-pink berries:

Magenta Salmon Berry blossoms soon make way for delicious orange, yellow, and/or red berries. The riper the berries, the deeper the colour:

These beds of trillium will soon be covered with a mantle of creamy white, tri-petalled flowers:

New life grows out of the old:

A great place for dogs:

Click here to learn more about Pacific Spirit Park.