View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: The return of clear skies.
Under most circumstances, the title of the blog post would be a good thing, but when it comes to running, clouds are usually better than sun.
But today was an exception and the sun was actually fine, probably because it was relatively cool and humidity was a bit lower, which made a difference I could actually feel (I also sweated much less copiously than last week’s runs).
My plan was to adopt a slower pace for the start of the week and as usual, when my first pace came in a bit too casual at 5:59/km, I picked the pace up a bit, closing the run with a lap of 5:29/km and an overall pace of 5:46/km. This was slower than Friday (5:41/km), so I guess mission accomplished!
Although it didn’t bother me, I could feel the lump on the back of my right knee, named after Baker and rhymes with the game Myst. I suppose running regularly is not helping it to go away, but I will keep running and elevating my leg at night unless things gets worse. It does make me wonder when I might next try doing a 10K. I feel I have the stamina for it now.
And in another sign of the changing seasons, the tennis courts near the sport fields has put back its marshmallow (inflated) roof, where it will remain until late spring 2026. I must ponder what to wear for cooler fall running.
Still Creek still mostly still.
Stats:
Run 965 Average pace: 5:46/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 9:53 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:02 Weather: Sunny Temp: 15-16°C Humidity: 82-79% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 150 Weight: 163.8 pounds Total distance to date: 6,655 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (250/562/812)
Where: Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Deering Island Park (Vancouver), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Clouds in morning, clearing in afternoon, 17-24°C
Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
I think this is Livingstone Lake, the main body of water at the gardens.
It was cloudy in the morning, so light was sometimes tricksy, especially in the more woody areas, but the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens provided a nice change of pace. There were many exotic plants and birds and rocks and things. There was a waterfall that looked nice and was being sketched/painted by multiple people. You could even climb to the top of it, where the illusion was shattered by a very conspicuous pipe feeding the water to the falls. Oh well.
Birds were not as plentiful, but I did get a good workout on using manual focus on several spiders hanging around (a theme that would prevail throughout the day). We did see some chickadees, flickers and a few others, so it was not a total bust or anything.
We also saw busts–of historical botanists!
Nic defied the odds and managed to find our way out of the hedge maze before the maniac with an axe could get us (seasonal, winter-only). We went to the Heron Pond, but it only had two fake herons. We did not see any real ones the entire day, a sharp contrast to All Herons All The Time last week.
Overall, it was enjoyable to finally check out the place (I’ve lived in the Lower Mainland since 1986 and have never been), even if the birb count was low.
Deering Island Park
View from the bridge to Deering Island Park, a small patch of land peons like us are allowed to visit.
After shooting all the spiders, Nic suggested we check out a quaint little place called Deering Island Park. It looks like this in Apple Maps:
Deering Island Park: Spiders, spiders, spiders! But no birds.
Technically we saw a bird or birds, but it was mostly more spiders. But by this time, the sky was clearing up and that meant two things: Better light for when we saw (hopefully) saw birds and sunburn, because neither of us wore sunblock.
The area is a curious mix of horse stables and swanky homes. The sign for the non-official trail near the actual park basically said, “We rich folks will let you, the poors, use this short trail, but don’t do anything funny or unseemly while here because we are just barely tolerating your presence as it is.”
If you keep going past the end of the trail, there is an even more unofficial one that connects to what seems to be a service road to the nearby golf course. In Kerrisdale, there is always a nearby golf course.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Land (mass) ho at Burnaby Lake, along with shorebirds and dwindling lily pads.
We ended our afternoon at Piper Spit, where we saw actual birds in multiples! Seasonal migrants are still a bit slow to arrive (The weather? Alignment of the planets?) and in some cases we only saw a single representative of a particular species, like what was probably the same coot we saw last time. There was also a single blackbird.
But the lack of new migrants was offset by oodles of dowitchers, who were even closer than normal to the pier, thanks to the ever-more shallow water and a landmass that is now the size of a small town. There were even a few killdeer splashing about. Neat!
In all, it was a pleasant wrap-up to a summer of birding. We’ll see how many more migrants fly in over the next few weeks.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots:
A black-capped chickadee on a sunflower at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.A long-billed dowitcher preening at Piper Spit.
View from Cariboo Dam, prew-run. Even more humid, the blue sky was fleeting.
At first, I was going to take it easy on today’s run, as the suggested workout was a “recovery” run. Indeed, my first km was 5:50/km, which is a more relaxed pace.
But then I kept getting faster and by the end my final lap was a zippy 5:26/km and my overall pace ended up being 5:41/km.
I didn’t experience any issues, and even though humidity was an even higher 92% and only dipped slightly, the cooler temperature and clouds meant I did not sweat as much.
The trail felt lightly populated and I didn’t see any of the other jogging regulars–maybe I got in too early. The sun threatened to show between the 2nd and 3rd km and in those brief moments I could actually feel the air getting warmer, so I’m kind of glad the clouds moved back in.
Overall, it was a nice run and a good way to wrap up the week.
Kind of a silver/gunmetal thing happening here, looking east across the lake, post-run.
Stats:
Run 964 Average pace: 5:41/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 9:09 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 28:33 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 15°C Humidity: 92-90% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 148 Weight: 164.3 pounds Total distance to date: 6,650 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (245/549/794)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Cloudy but so very humid.
I did not pass by another person on my run until about 4.75 km in, and the guy was the only person I passed before completing the run. For most of the time I was on the trail by myself and on a cloudy day, it felt almost a little spooky. But also nice. Nice and spooky.
My Garmin Forerunner 255 had a plan for today: Rest Day.
I defied it and headed to the lake. When I chose to start the run, it implored me to rest but if I insisted, to keep it short and lower intensity, due to fatigue. I did not keep it short, as I still ran 5K, but I did a short loop, which cut out 5 km of walking afterward. As for intensity, I eased up a bit (slowing to 6:00/km for the second lap, even), but kind of forgot toward the end and finished with a final lap of 5:37/km.
Partway through, I did actually feel a bit tired. It never felt like a slog, but it was very humid again. Fortunately, the sweatiness was the only real issue and the overall pace of 5:52/km is perfectly cromulent for a more relaxed start to the week.
View from the dam looking in the opposite direction, with bonus heron.
Stats:
Run 963 Average pace: 5:52/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop) Start: 9:30 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:28 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 17-18°C Humidity: 91-88% Wind: light BPM: 148 Weight: 164.1 pounds Total distance to date: 6,645 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (240/536/776)
A field speckled in yellow.Brunette River, looking east. The lounge chair is gone. What lounge chair? See below!Same view, two days ago, with orange lounge chair.Brunette River, looking west.
Today’s run promised to be mostly cloudy, and it was. Yay! It was even more humid than before at 88%, but the cooler temperatures meant I sweated less than on Friday.
I also got in one of my earliest starts, beginning the actual run at 9:05 a.m. It was quieter on the trail, too, which was nice.
I was curious how my pace would be after the first km and was mildly alarmed when the watch reported 5:51/km, as this seemed kind of slow. The second km improved by a second, which may not seem like much, but is actually significant, because I normally slow on the second lap. From there I transformed from the slower Dr. Jekyll to the zippy Mr. Hyde. I’m probably not using the right metaphor here, but the point is I got faster as the run progressed, getting all the way down to 5:24/km for the final lap and an overall pace of 5:41/km. I even managed a lower BPM, at only 148.
With no issues, other than a slowish start, this was a good run to start the week.
Still Creek, looking east, in a reflective mood.
Stats:
Run 962 Average pace: 5:41/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 9:05 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 28:35 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 17-18°C Humidity: 88-85% Wind: light BPM: 148 Weight: 164.8 Total distance to date: 6,640 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (235/528/763)
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Richmond Nature House, Terra Nova (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Hazy sun, 19-23°C
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Hazy cloud on the horizon, past the still lush marshland.
For the second visit in a row, the gate was open at Reifel, meaning bookings were so low they opened the sanctuary to walk-ins. Er, drive-ins, I guess.
For the first half it was very quiet, apart from hardcore birders and their immense lenses, but more people filtered in later. As for birds, we did not see any coots here, or any other new migrants. Boo. But soon™.
We did a few more shovellers, so they are slowly coming out from wherever they hide in the off-season. The geese were plentiful, but were generally in an odd state of serenity, some of them looking downright relaxed, or even content. Very un-goose. Down on the bill was the fashion accessory of note.
Sadly absent were the Sandhill cranes. Hopefully we just missed them and they haven’t just flow off.
In place of the cranes were herons. Herons on the ground. Herons in the water. Herons in the air. Herons in trees. Herons on logs. Everywhere you looked, there was a heron.
The visibility of songbirds is increasing as we move close to the fall, and chickadees in particular are making themselves more known, though they continue to be manic and hard to photograph. We also saw some bushtits (heh heh), which we don’t spot too often here.
Everything is still looking lush and summer-like, but some of the leaves are coming down in a distinctly fall-like manner, and this may be one of our last t-shirt visits for the year. Still, it was perfectly pleasant, as always.
Richmond Nature House
Nic wanted to gamble on the Nature House, but other than the hummingbird feeders, the others are still bereft of seed, so birds were scarce. We did see a hummingbird, though! Then we walked the Bog Trail and Time Trail, but I observed neither a bog nor experienced any time travel. Disappointing!
Terra Nova
The main pond, home of at least one pied-billed grebe (not seen from this angle).
Other than pollinators and fixed-wing birds, we didn’t see much avian action here, other than some waterfowl way off on the shoreline and a grebe hanging out in the pond, which is their usual haunt (and also too far away to get shots without an arm-breakingly huge lens). The views are always worth checking, though. And we were encouraged to go walking and exploring to get away from an ice cream truck that had “Happy Birthday” playing on a loop near the entrance.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Visible haze looking across the lake to the east.
The weather rapidly began turning after we got to Piper Spit and by the time we left, the sky was quite dark for late afternoon as fat shower clouds rolled in. Several groups of Bad People were again feeding the birds. Boo and hiss. I opted not to shoot any of the birds gorging themselves on the illicit seed. They don’t know, but I do!
Apart from that, the land mass is now quite gigantic and is encroaching farther toward the pier. The increasingly shallow water meant some yellowlegs were poking about a bit closer than usual, which was fun. Multiple wood ducks are now in their full breeding colours and demonstrating that they are the prettiest boys around, with male mallards not too far behind in getting their iridescent green back.
We did see a green-winged teal, so the slow arrival of migrants continues. The one coot was still present, swimming about drama-free for now.
Shortly after leaving, the sky opened up, and we got a big, if brief, dump of rain. The day of birding remained dry and with mild temperatures, however, and the sporadic arrival of migrants bodes well for more sightings in the near-future.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
A few shots:
A spotted towhee striking a dramatic pose in very yellow light.A Canada goose trying on facial hair.
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Smoke haze turning the blue sky white.
With smoke haze blotting out most of the sun, I set out for my first run since Monday (I missed Wednesday due to a morning appointment and other errands) under conditions that were remarkably similar in terms of temperature and humidity.
The haze may have actually helped, because it kept the sun veiled, but was high enough that the air down at jogging level wasn’t smoky and awful.
I decided to start by the drinking fountain, after getting a drink, instead of at the 0K marker, which saved me having to start the run by going up a big hill. This may have put some extra pep in my step, as the first km was 5:38/km, quite speedy for me. I only dropped a little in the second km and maintained a zippy pace overall for an average 5:39/km, the first time I’ve hit under 5:40 in a good while. My BPM was up to 152, but given the higher humidity and effort, this was not surprising.
I experienced a few moments when the right shin said hello, but it was fleeting and other than that, no issues at all.
In all, a good way to end the week, despite the presence of the smoke haze.
Posat-run, the lake is still, the sky is kind of ailen-looking.
Stats:
Run 961 Average pace: 5:39/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 9:39 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 28:27 Weather: Sun, smoke haze Temp: 19-20°C Humidity: 87-84% Wind: light BPM: 152 Weight: 164.6 Total distance to date: 6,635 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (230/515/745)
While the river is still low, I’m continuing to poke around to get views that are not normally accessible without getting very wet. Here’s another one of them.
I’ll post something of more substance soon, promise!
Or to be more precise, the air quality currently stinks, due to smoke.
This morning, the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 3, which is a bit higher than normal. It is now 9, and shows thusly on my iPhone:
High Health Risk! Yikes. Also, it was very warm and muggy, which is probably contributing. The AQ map looks very angry:
I do not live in a Magic 8 ball, despite appearances.
I went for a walk and it smelled just like that map:
The smoke is coming from wildfires, so in a way, we’re lucky that it didn’t get here until relatively late in the season. It’s likely to persist until we see a significant change in the weather (showers, etc.) All part of the magic of climate change!
