Eternal Summer

I've got nothing fresh here today so here's one from the archives - 5 years ago I posted this photo taken at the Sooke Potholes, just west of Victoria.

Sooke Inlet

Fern posted a photo last week of Whiffen Spit, a long narrow spit of land that protects the entrance to Sooke Inlet, an extensive bay only a small part of which is pictured above.

Puget Sound Gumweed (Grindelia integrifolia)

In yesterday's photo of Whiffen Spit you can see some yellow flowers scattered here and there on both sides of the trail. Above is a close-up of this hardy wild flower, Puget Sound Gumweed (Grindelia integrifolia). If you look closely at the buds just below the flower you can see some gooey, milky, sticky latex. I suspect the plant exudes this substance for protection from pests and predators. In any case it is the reason the numerous species of this plant are called Gumweed. Though everything else is dried up and brown this "weed" provides a welcome bit of color.

Whiffen Spit Park

Just up the coast, past the busy little town of Sooke lies a lovely park, although very long and skinny! A spit of land that runs 1.1 km, it shelters the Sooke Inlet from the open waters of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. A well spent afternoon. - Fern

Sooke

I just bought some new wheels - a nice little Yamaha BWS Scooter - and took it on a test run out to Sooke a few days ago. Sooke is one of what are called the "Western Communities", a series of small communities strung out along the coast of the Vancouver Island west of Victoria. They are linked by a highway that swerves and swoops along the coast above the ocean. Sooke is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Victoria. This photo was taken from "downtown" Sooke overlooking Sooke Harbour. Although many of the residents commute each day to Victoria the community has its own rich and diverse social and cultural life.

Whiffen Spit

About 40 kilometers (25 miles) along the coast west of Victoria lies the small oceanside community of Sooke. And providing shelter to a fleet of fishing boats in Sooke Harbour is a long (about 1 mile), narrow spit across the entrance to the harbor called Whiffen Spit. Whiffen Spit is also a park and a great place to take a walk. While the beach tends to be pretty rocky, there is a path that runs down the middle of the spit. On the left you see the fishing boat Laura Michelle leaving the harbor. Below is the view south through the entrance of the harbour looking across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula in the USA.