Allanlynne.wordpress.com Website Review

Pacific Rim National Park sports a trail on boards walks through an unusual acidic bog area: The Shorepine Bog Trail. The board-walk takes the visitor through an acidic bog with stunted Shorepines dominating the view. It was an overcast morning along the boardwalk loop with relatively few people around. The Shorepines showed stunted growth and many were twisted into gnarled shapes giving the whole walk a very atmospheric feeling. Signs reminded us we were in wolf and bear country. This unusual habitat has been made home by a range of unusual plants. Insectivorous Sundews were abundant, their white flowers were at bud stage on stems lifting 4-6inches from the suface. Salal bushes were everywhere, they are also a common understorey plant around many of the forests we saw. As well as tree-filled areas there are sections of the bog which are more open and provide a range of habitats for other plants: Sphagnum In addition Skunk Cabbage was present in many places, apparently the bears eat the roots after waking from hibernation to detox the body. The boardwalk itself is raised about a foot above the ground level and has an edge rail to prevent feet going over. This provides a reasonable platform for photographers to work on plants that are close by. Several times I rested my knee on the protruding ends of nails holding the structure together. This is not last long. It was a challenge to capture some of the smaller flowers sometimes We were up at five, the sun was blazing. We scurried through the final items before leaping (almost) into the car and away to the airport. Plenty of time. Gazing out over the airfield mas*ed ranks of parked cars in the distance glinted back at us, the sun showering its We flew over the Wash and out into the North Sea before long the clouds built up and sea disappeared by the time we landed in Schipol the rain had started, we could do with some of this for the garden thought I. It was a long long walk to gate G4. Soon enough though we