view from Sapperton

This past Sunday I went for a walk to check out a new grocery store near home. These are just a few photos that I took along the way. Above is a view to the northeast of Eagle Mountain where I had done three hikes this summer. You can see the microwave tower (red and white) just to the right of centre. There is a great lookout there with an awesome view below.
The second photo show the Fraser River as seen from near the top of the Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton. The image below shows the view of the mountains to the northeast from the same location.
Then there are photos of a mighty oak tree in the cemetery, one of the crown, one just looking up near the base of the tree and another looking at the moss on the bark of the trunk of that tree.
There is also a Monkey Puzzle Tree in the Fraser Cemetery. The photos below show the tree and a close-up of the crown. I hope you've enjoyed the photos.

monkey puzzle

On my way to Burnaby Mountain on Sunday afternoon, I decided to walk to the SkyTrain station. This took me past an excellent specimen of a monkey puzzle tree a few city blocks away from home. You're looking at the crown (top) of the tree which is native to the Andean Mountains of South America. The tree's Latin name is Araucaria araucana. You can clearly see the cones (brown). There are several interesting specimens in the lower mainland. This one in Sapperton (New Westminster) is but one of them. There is another in the Fraser Cemetery, at least one on Capital Hill (Burnaby) and some near the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver. There are others as well. - V

Snow in the Mountains

Well, the lower Fraser Valley may be green, as the above photo of Hastings Park in Vancouver will attest, but the mountains certainly have snow. The image below is of Grouse Mountain on the north side of Burrard Inlet. There is certainly enough snow to make the skiers happy! These photos were taken a week ago today (Monday). It was sunny, above freezing temperature-wise but there was a cold wind blowing which made it feel much colder than the thermometer would suggest.

In the Heights, a suburb of north Burnaby founded in 1909, I found a beautiful Monkey Puzzle tree back in October and couldn't resist taking a few more photos. The first image is of the crown and the second is of the whole tree on a side street. It's not the largest specimen I've seen (there are much larger ones in the area) but it will give you an idea what the tree looks like. There will be more photos later since I plan a trip to Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver where large trees are found.