Preparation and planning go a long way toward strengthening your psychological state and arming you with the tools you need to make it through a crisis alive and well. And for all the planning and preparation you will do in advance of your wilderness adventure, nothing seems so necessary in those dire moments as having a well-equipped survival kit. Most outdoorspeople take the time to have the basic equipment when they head into the backcountry, such as a tent, a […] The post Survival Kits appeared first on British Columbia Magazine ..read more

For me, spotting a great blue heron has always evoked a sense of connection with nature, even more so than seeing, say, a blue jay, a cardinal or a Canada goose. Maybe it’s because, while certainly not rare, it’s also not common to see a great blue heron in every pond and wetland you pass.   According to birdwatchinghq.com, there are eight types of herons that reside in BC: the great blue heron, the American bittern, the black-crowned night-heron, the green heron, the great egret, the cattle egret, the snowy egret and the little blue heron.   In British Columbia, great blue herons ca ..read more

Photo by iStock There are only a handful of steam clocks around the world, and you’ll find one in Vancouver’s Gastown.   If you didn’t already know, there are steam pipes that run underneath the city of Vancouver and connect to a generating plant located at Georgia and Beatty streets. These pipes bring heat to the downtown core, and they also bring the steam that powers the whistle of the steam clock.   Built in 1977 by horologist (also known as a clockmaker) Raymond Saunders and metalwork specialist Doug Smith, the steam clock was commissioned by Gastown merchants to serve as a mon ..read more

Vancouver’s iconic Marine Building, located at 355 Burrard Street, is an art deco marvel. The building was completed in 1930 and, at the time, was the tallest skyscraper in the city. The Marine Building is renowned for its architecture and is known as one of the best art deco buildings in the world. Photo by iStock Lt. Commander JW Hobbs, an entrepreneur from Toronto, believed Vancouver needed a grand building to set it apart and he enlisted McCarter & Nairne to design and construct the building. The name, Marine Building, came because the look of the skyscraper was intended to mimic “som ..read more

When it comes to camping, the idea of “roughing it,” of enduring uncomfortable nights just to be closer to nature, is a thing of the past.   Sure, campers today still want to be able to enjoy all the things the great outdoors has to offer, but they want to be warm, comfortable and protected while they’re doing it.   “We are seeing a lot more people getting out, but they may not have a lot of backcountry camping experience,” said Mark Knight, manager of advanced concepts with Mountain Equipment Company (MEC.) “This has led us to develop new frontcountry camping products that are easie ..read more

When the Pacific Rim Highway connected Port Alberni to Vancouver Island’s west coast in 1959, it transformed an area previously only reachable by boat or air into an easy-to-access destination. The 126-kilometre crinkly logging road—now paved—opened all the Ukluth Peninsula’s broad beaches, intertidal zones and superb trails to worldwide visitors eager to experience the clean air and foaming waves crashing in from the open Pacific. The first groups of visitors joining the traditional Nuu-chah-nulth and the later Norwegian, Scot and English settlers, were the hippies arriving in the 1960s. They ..read more

I first started experimenting with shrubs several years ago, when I was looking for different ways to use wild berries that we had harvested. A shrub, in this context, is not referring to a plant – a drinking shrub is combination of fruit/berry/plant, sugar and vinegar. Non-alcoholic, shrubs are often used to add flavour in mocktails; at home, I like to mix them with sparkling water over a big glass of ice. They are an incredibly refreshing mix of sweet and acidic, and the perfect treat after a hot summer day. Bonus part? There are many different combinations to try, depending on what is in se ..read more

“How many people can say they have something wild that comes home from 500 miles away? I dropped the wife off at the store a few blocks away and haven’t seen her in 30 years,” says Jeff Mawbey with the Mid Island Racing Pigeon Association. That’s one reason why he races pigeons—they always come home. And Hardeep Sahota, president of the Capital City Racing Pigeon Club (CCRPC) in Victoria, says his wife always knows where he is—in the backyard with his squab squadron. Mawbey (aka The Birdman of Duncan) proudly shows me the loft just steps from his home where his racing pigeons reside. He op ..read more

As the rain clouds part and the sun comes, people from all across Canada look forward to the various summer music festivals here in beautiful British Columbia. While it’s impossible to give an objective top 5 list, we wanted to give you some of our favourite picks that you should know about! Whether you’re a fan of folk, rock, jazz, pop, reggae or EDM there is a music festival for you in BC this summer. Credit: @vicskareggaefest Victoria Ska Fest June 19–23 On their 25th Anniversary Victoria Ska Fest is a fun and lively event with a mix of Reggae, Dancehall and Rock music. Headlining for the ..read more

The spirit bear, also known as a Kermode bear, is a colour phase of black bear with cream-coloured fur and they’re only found in British Columbia. A spirit bear hunts for salmon in the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia. The name ‘black bear’ can be a bit deceiving, because black bears can come in other colours besides black – including brown, cinnamon, blond, blue-grey and white, as in the Kermode. Kermode bears are white due to recessive genes that are carried by both parents and only about one in 10 black bears have this pale colouring. Their entire coat is white, root to tip, but t ..read more