Captivated by Rathtrevor

We admit it! We have been entranced by Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park this week. If you don’t know where the park is located, click here to find the map.

I always wondered how this awkward-to-pronounce name came about. It turns out that Rathtrevor takes its name from the Rath family who homesteaded on the land in the late 19th century. The family eventually established a private campground on the site and added “trevor” to give it a more romantic (?) name. In 1967 the campground became a provincial park.

Now that we have those mundane details out of the way, let’s move on to what has captivated us.

It is hard to describe in words the immense beauty of the park; so I will just have to show you in pictures some of the features that captured us. They include:

• well-maintained paths that entice you to explore the forest
• flora and fauna that delight you at every turn
• the two-kilometre long stretch of sandy beach
• water that encroaches on the shoreline and then recedes as the tide comes and goes
• amazing sunrises and sunsets over the Strait of Georgia

Since it is June, we found wild roses everywhere along the paths as well as other flowers and interesting vegetation.

Nature certainly creates some interesting sculptures!

We noticed some signs that said dogs are not allowed on the beach in one area of the park in early spring, and this sign below explained the reason. Every spring thousands of Brant geese come through here on their migration route to their northern nesting grounds. This area provides masses of herring roe which is an important source of protein-rich food for them. The birds spend two-thirds of their day feeding. If dogs were on the beach, the geese wouldn’t be able to feed.

As for the fauna we encountered, there were a couple of creatures in the bushes (see photo below), and an eagle sitting up in a tree on the beach totally unconcerned about the sunset watchers wandering past him far below. As is typical in these BC forests, a group of raucous ravens came by regularly and a woodpecker checked out a couple of trees on our campsite looking for dinner. I also caught a brief glimpse of a garter snake near a water tap one day. Thank goodness he wasn’t anywhere near our tent!

In th evenings we looked forward to one of our favourite activities – watching the sun set. And David got up early one morning to capture the sunrise. It’s hard to choose which of these pictures I want to show you, but I’ll give it a try. The first three are of the sunrise and the others are from various evenings.

Then there was the evening that a Great Blue Heron arrived to join the party. He stayed for awhile and then flew off when the bystanders got too close.

We have enjoyed our time at Rathtrevor watching the colourful display that nature provides and taking photos to share with you. David does some occasional work on his computer while I spend time writing blog posts. It’s refreshing and energizing to spend time in the lap of Mother Nature which is one reason we love camping. Creativity abounds out here!