Construction

Another new business is going in along the main street. The foundation is being build with the styrofoam forms shown in the lower right. These fit together like lego bricksand are then filled with concrete. The styrofoam remains in place as an insulating material. This business will be a craft store and is being built on the vacant lot that was once home to a giant outdoor chess set.

Where clouds are born

We often see this on cool damp days, especially on the slopes above creek canyons, where cold air from higher elevations follows the topography down towards the warmer moister air at lower elevations. Many of the larches on exposed slopes are past their yellow stages and dropping needles now.

Larch

All spring and summer you could have mistaken it for a pine or spruce. But at this time of year the larch, a deciduous conifer, suddenly casts its lot in with the angiosperm hardwoods, turns yellow and begins to drop its needles.

Scary

Scarily garish, at any rate. 

Autumn's path

The scrubby trees, bushes and undergrowth near the lakeshore aren't terribly picturesque most of the time, but on a dreary fall day they have a kind of messy beauty.

Hydrant

Barge

A half-submerged barge, probably the better part of a hundred years old. Before the road up the valley was paved, the lake was the easiest way to get stuff to and from the community reliably.

Liquor Store Ivy

Look up!

Peaks, and peak colour

Outdoor art

Sculpture by Toru Fujibayashi, an area artist. 

Development

Slocan-style development: logging huge pines and cedars, piling up the slash to burn, all a mere 100 metres from the main intersection in town. Rumours say this will be the site of a new food store. The economy around here is hurting for the most part, but there are a few signs this fall of something other than endless waning.

Mountain ash

According to some people around here the extent of the mountain ash berry production predicts the snowiness of the upcoming winter. I guess we'd better get the boots, shovels and skis ready!

Campground

The village campground, with its beautiful lakefront campsites, has almost completely emptied out now.

Two seasons

Around here we like to say that there are only two seasons: winter, and road work. The latter season is coming to end with a flurry of activity.

Sandon Cemetery

Original headstones, most of which had toppled or otherwise succumbed to the passage of time over many winters, are now in the museum. Wooden replacements mark the graves. The cemetery is hidden in the forest a mile or two from Sandon. Sandon is now a ghost town, but in the late 1890's it was a booming silver mining metropolis. Miners who died without the means to have their remains shipped back to families were buried here.

Cody

Cold, high, dark and forgotten, Cody is the ghost town beyond the ghost town. This ramshackle building is all that remains of it. 

Octahouse

It's only somewhat octagonal, full of funky angles and roof-lines, but Slocan-esquely unique and ripe with character.

Fall colour, writ small

Cell tower

The villages held out for three long years, with petitions, meetings, referendums and advocacy. But finally this fall the cell tower has been turned on. So far life as we know it hasn't ended, but you never can tell, an insidious shift in local culture may be taking shape...

Wild ginger

Paragliding

Nearby Idaho Peak, which towers 1760 meters above Slocan Lake, provides a perfect jumping off point for paragliders.

Mushroom season

The pine mushroom is king around here, driving the local economy some years. But even an unassuming brown mushroom is a lovely thing to behold in the autumn sun.

Bannock Point

Rocks and water and a single maple leaf.

Hello, good morning

At this time of year it takes longer and longer for the sun to clear the mountain ridges in the morning. When it finally does, the effect can be spectacular.

Leaving town

The last of the tourists and seasonal residents are pulling out as the leaves change and the snow creeps closer.

Lake view, early autumn

Autumn colour

Autumn colour is subtler in the boreal forest than in the temperate deciduous region I grew up in. But even on a dreary rainy mid-fall day it's there.

Early fall trees

The birches have turned, but the larches will be another couple of weeks at least. There's lots of fresh snow on the glacier, and a dusting on the ground. Winter is mustering his forces on the mountain tops.

K&S Railway at Payne Siding

This hike takes you up high above the junction of Kane, Sandon and Carpenter Creeks. The views are fantastic, but beneath your feet there are things just as interesting -- such as snow in early October, and the corduroy impression of long-removed railway ties of the K&S Railway, cast in relief by the snow.