Two silver penguins go camping

We’ve noticed that mushrooms are appearing - the conditions and time of year appear to be perfect for shelf (bracket) mushrooms. We saw huge ones in Pacific Rim and today found one that is brand new - must have grown in the night. A few others were scattered in the woods - a happy discovery for me. 

 We are home. Decided to leave the smoke behind and head home. Victoria's skies are brighter than Campbell River and it looks like it might clear even more this weekend.  We did very little in Campbell River other than sit in the beautiful Elk Falls Provincial Park. It really was a relief to return to the park the few times we ventured out. The trees must filter the air because we could almost forget about the smoke while sitting there,  Yesterday morning we headed to the falls and suspension bridge we knew about.  The walk down to the bridge and back up confirmed affected my breathing and we headed home soon after.  But at least we sampled the forest and saw the beautiful falls. The falls are downstream from a dam. The surrounding forest and walkway to the bridge were logged in the 20’s but some old growth trees remain. 

  So, probably like the rest of the island, we’ve been hunkered down for the past few days (not under the bed although that felt like an option). We stayed an extra day in the Courtney region because we had internet access to give us something to do but finally decided to head up to Elk Falls in Campbell RIver. The provincial park is beautiful and we even sat outside reading for a while. The lovely tall trees in this lush forest seem to be absorbing some of the smoke.  Today a ray of sunshine shone through the trees as we poked our noses out of the trailer and the sky is lightening up so we are siting outside the TI in town and hope to walk in the park later today.  We need this reminder to realize that we must get active about our climate. Spending time in our beautiful temperate rainforests reinforces what we are losing.  Our campground setting Signs of fall - the big leaf maple are turning Sure sign of rainforest - moss-dripped Seuss-like critters

 So we are sitting in the smoke like the rest of the people of western North America. A horrible reminder of the real world after our five days in a bubble.  We watched the sunset on Long Beach on our last night as the surfers tried to get that last wave before dark. Then in the am said goodbye to the campground and headed out. The road to Port Alberni is windy but really not too bad except for the last 50 km or so. From Kennedy Lake, where half the road washed out and is now undergoing major repair, to the junction at Pacific Rim, frost heaves are the norm. The trip in a car might not be too bad but with a trailer the reverberations are dramatic. Signs forewarn drivers that a 30 minute wait is to be expected at the construction site. We sat for about 15 minutes both ways. But after looking at the washout, we are just relieved you can get past this area at all.  Tomorrow we leave the campground on the Puntledge River with internet appetites satisfied, laundry done and a f...