Another road trip to the Okanagan, where it's much warmer and dryer than the BC coast. This time we hiked the popular trails in Kelowna, followed by relaxing in its many beaches.

When the U.S.-Canada land border opened back in November of last year, we were the first ones to cross it! Six months later, we fulfilled our obsession with its National Parks with the purchase of the annual pass. This time, we visited Red Rock Canyon in Nevada, Mono Lake, Death Valley as well as hidden gems like June Lake in California, Lake Tahoe which falls within both California and Nevada, and the majestic Oregon Coast. We'll follow up this tour with another trip in the fall; until then, stay tuned for a busy summer in Vancouver 🙂

Continuing with more of our spring tour to Victoria, a reminder this is a much longer spring than we've been having for the past several years. Meaning a lot more cherry blossoms to photograph :)

Spring is wonderful anywhere, but Vancouver Island is blessed with gorgeous weather, wildlife and scenery during this time. Our trip to Victoria saw less rain than in Vancouver, enough to put in a few hikes while still enjoying the cherry blossoms and gorgeous mountain views, none more epic than Washington's Mt. Baker.

As we begin the spring season with new hikes and close in on our winter snowshoeing tours, we're surrounded by cherry blossoms everywhere. New wildlife, flowers blooming, the snow capped mountains hanging on to the their last bit of ice-frostings - these are the signs of spring that bring joy to all of us! Some of the tours we did last week include the Stawamus Chief, Cypress Mountain, Lynn Canyon, Gastown, Stanley Park, Bowen Island and a visit to the Osoyoos.

We're finally caught up posting photos from our tours, as we finish the winter season with the latest snowshoeing adventures. Adding to that, we also did Lynn Canyon, Bowen Island, Granville Island, Gastown and Chinatown. We've already started our spring tours so stay tuned for more next week.

The new year brought some great adventures, and proposals (2, in fact!). So far, we're 8 for 8 :) Continuing with photos from our snowshoeing to Cypress Mountain and tours to Gastown, Chinatown and Granville Island.

We finished 2021 with a plethora of winter activities including the ever-popular snowshoeing tours. Here are some photos from Lynn Canyon, Bowen Island, Seymour and Cypress Mountains, Gastown and Granville Island.

We continue with fall tours from last year, with trips to Bowen Island, Capilano Canyon, Lynn Canyon, Granville Island, Gastown, Chinatown, Kitsilano, Stanley Park & English Bay. Next week, we'll continue with winter photos from last year and this year.

My favourite time of the year brings beautiful fall colours, less crowds, more wildlife sightings and the first dust of snowfall. Nowhere is this more apparent than the BC Okanagan & Canadian Rockies. Along with the fact that we finally got to visit these gems again after a hot, wild-fire ridden, summer.

Before fall settled in, we finished the last of our summer tours with hikes to Stawamus Chief, Bowen Island, Lynn Canyon, Lighthouse Park, Capilano Canyon, Gastown, Granville Island and Stanley Park.

In the last of our series of trips to the US West Coast, we finish with the city of angels. Venturing into mostly new beaches and neighborhoods rather than popular tourist spots, LA was the closest thing to the tropical paradises we Canadians so craved during the pandemic. One aspect that impressed us was the free pcr testing, even for non-U.S. citizens. Test stands were set up in Santa Monica/Venice beaches, incentivizing foreigners wishing to travel to the U.S. during these times.

Mark Twain is credited with the saying that the worst winter he'd ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Although we've been quite lucky with our previous visits, last summer's trip proved the weather does see extemes. We went from cloudy, windy and cold to a beautiful summer's sunny day within a few hours. If it wasn't for the fact that Vancouver's landscape and weather is so similar to San Francisco's, SF would be my favourite U.S. city - but it's a close 2nd :)

After a four year hiatus, we finally ventured into the U.S. last summer, with our popular road trip across Washington, Oregon and California. Over the next 3 albums, we'll recap our tour starting with Seattle, Oregon, Sacramento and my favourite US National Park, Yosemite.

Late summer of 2021 brought us some crazy weather - heat domes, wildfires, the delta surge - and one of the hot spots of all these was the Okanagan. We soldiered on with our tours carefully and safely planned. Here are some pics from our first trip, along with the local Whistler, St. Mark's, Lynn Canyon, Lighthouse Park, Stanley Park and English Bay ones.

We end our series on last summer's Rockies trip with Jasper National Park. The less touristy one than Banff, Jasper offers some hidden gems, especially if you're willing to go off the beaten - and onto more rugged - paths. Our annual (and popular) Rockies tours will open this year in May and continue till October, provided we're still open to visit Alberta during the pandemic. For more info and to register, please visit https://naturephotohikes.com/register/product/the-southern-rockies/.

Continuing with our photos from the summer: more of the Rockies, Bowen Island, Gastown and Capilano Canyon. This year highlighted the pandemic's challenges as well as environmental disasters especially close to home. Wildfires and floods affected many of these natural wonders along with the people and wildlife who call them home. Nature PhotoHikes' focus on helping affected people and areas continued with proceeds from our tours going towards Red Cross Canada's relief efforts.

A look back at our summer trip to the Rockies, focusing on Banff and Yoho National Parks. Still a popular destination during these pandemic times, a few hidden gems takes us away from the crowds. Having lived near the Rockies for most of my life, the beauty of this natural wonder never ceases to amaze me after all these years. However, melting glaciers and the impact of global warming on local wildlife is a strong reminder to protect this environment. Over the last year, Nature PhotoHikes played its part by investing in electric vehicles for our tours, thus lessening the impact of fossil fuels.

By far the two most popular tours in the summer, the full day hikes take you up to alpine lakes surrounded by glaciers. Already a local favourite, the pandemic has resulted in more reasonable crowds - one has to reserve spots at 7am which fills up in less than a minute! Thanks to Nature PhotoHikes' BC Parks permit, we didn't have to fight the local crowds for passes. On top of that, as a local expert on the trails, we take guests to hidden spots away from the crowds. Between July and October, we averaged five of these hikes a week, which made for a great workout 🙂

It's been a while since we posted photos, back in spring of this year. The summer was extremely busy with plenty of local Vancouver tours, in addition to trips to the Okanagan, Alberta Rockies and finally after a 6 year break - Washington, Oregon and California. Here's the first album of tours to Lynn Canyon, Lighthouse Park, Bowen Island, Stanley Park, Gastown and Garibaldi Lake. Stay tuned for further recap of the summer, fall and continuing into winter with our snowshoeing tours.

We started 2021 with renewed hope, after a challenging year. Continuing with our diligence with health and safety rules, our tours involved mostly locals who wanted to venture into new horizons, as well as gain a new appreciation for well-known hangouts. We were also approached by wildlife, this time getting extremely close to a curious bear. Just another day in BC!

"Winter" in BC is a misnomer, especially considering the harsh Canadian climate elsewhere. I like to call it a 'snow and sand' season, as one can ski the mountains and play beach volleyball later the same afternoon. Lucky to witness such diverse micro-climates, aren't we?

Fall is our favorite time of year, especially for photography. The leaves change color, the wet nights create stunning visuals, and of course the spectacular sunsets! We were lucky to witness special sunsets last fall due to wildfires raging down south. Hopefully this year's rainfall will prevent more fires, as we prepare to head outdoors more in the coming months.

The last of our 'memories' from summer 2020 takes us to Bowen Island, Gastown, Cheakamus Lake, Stawamus Chief and Brandywine Falls. Next, we'll walk down memory lane of the fall and winter months, so stay tuned!

Our local tours roared back at the end of last year's summer, when pandemic and travel restrictions eased. We continued with the favorites: Lynn Canyon, Lighthouse Park, Gastown, Granville Island, Stanley Park & English Bay, Stawamus Chief and Garibaldi Lake. We'll be re-starting these tours next month, as cases and vaccination numbers improve and restrictions ease, so get ready!

We ended summer 2020 's camping tours with the last of seven trips to the Rockies. We hiked more new trails in Banff and Jasper, taking in the sheer diversity of beauty of this Canadian gem. We'll continue with our popular Rockies tours this summer, once the pandemic restrictions ease. Until then, stay healthy, remain within your communities, get vaccinated, and practice your photography skills!

For our next camping trip last summer, we ventured into familiar territory in Banff as well as explored new areas in the Kootenays. The BC wildfires were raging on in the interior, but our trip was spared the dangers of fire and smoke. And we even got to have campfires! Our summer camping season will begin in July, and we've already started booking campsites given the pent-up demand British Columbians have for the outdoors. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to be diligent when going outdoors. Visit less crowded parks, close to home and within your neighborhood. Keep your group numbers limited, to family/familiar faces, while socially distancing. We'll get through this together!

One of our several summer camping trips took us to Mt. Robson and Wells Grey Provincial Parks in BC, as well as Jasper National Park in Alberta. Exploring new trails, mountains, glaciers, lakes and waterfalls, the trip enabled us to visit less crowded areas while still discovering amazing landscape. Yet another sign of the beauty of the Canadian outdoors!

Continuing with photos from last summer, our tours took us to Bowen Island, Lighthouse Park, Lynn Canyon, Capilano Canyon, Stanley Park, Stawamus Chief and Vancouver Island. Tours ran at limited capacity due to covid restrictions. However, Nature PhotoHikes continued its support of local charities by running a group hike for newcomers, a program which we'll develop further this summer. Stay tuned for more info and how you can help.

Last July was the perfect time to visit the Canadian Rockies! While growing up in Alberta, I have many fond memories of Banff and Jasper before they became overrun with tourist. Due to limited visitors because of COVID restrictions, we were finally able to enjoy the scenic spots that reminded me of my childhood, especially walking down Banff's main street without the traffic and crowds. We also took the opportunity to visit less popular spots and enjoy the trails in serenity. The national parks have lots to offer and with this year's continued restrictions, we'll be venturing into more off the beaten paths.

Continuing with photos from our tours from last summer - this time from Alder Flats and Vancouver Island including Nanaimo, Qualicum Beach, Port Alberni, Cowichan Valley, Duncan, Nanoose Bay, Comox, Fanny Bay and Denman Island. A lot of new discoveries on our tours, especially the Island. And to think, we barely covered 10% of it. We'll be posting photos from more trips to the Island later, after our next batch from the Rockies.

Continuing with last summer's tours, this time we're posting photos from Whytecliffe Park, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Kelowna and other hidden spots in the Thompson-Okanagan. One of the few benefits from the pandemic is to be able to explore areas within our own backyard, while following health guidelines. BC has some amazing locations within hours drive which are taken for granted. Catch a glimpse of some of the scenery and hiking trails as we discover new spots, and will continue to do so this summer.

Photos from last summer! Yes, it's been a while since we shared our trip photos. Mostly because we didn't want to bombard social media during the pandemic. Now that the situation - at least here in BC - is improving and we're finally encouraged to go outdoors, this is a good time to look back and plan ahead for this summer. Safety is still important, so strictly adhering to social distancing, mask wearing, limiting numbers, etc - which was strongly implemented all of last year during our tours - will continue for upcoming day hikes and camping trips. These photos are from our tours to Lynn Canyon, Capilano Canyon, Bowen Island, Gastown, Kennedy Falls, Granville Island, and Victoria. We'll continue to post from last year over the next few weeks (around 10 albums!) so stay tuned.

Photos from our tours to Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock, Lynn Canyon, Gastown, Stanley Park, English Bay, Pacific Spirit Park, Bowen Island, Capilano Canyon, Granville Island and Capilano Bridge.

Photos from our tours to Lynn Canyon, Gastown, Stanley Park, English Bay, Bowen Island, snowshoeing to Dog Mountain and a winter road trip to the Rockies which included Lake Louise, Athabasca Glacier, Athabasca Falls, Bow Lake, Patricia Lake, Moose Lake and Emerald Lake.

It's been a while (months, in fact!) since we've shared photos from our numerous tours spanning the past fall and winter seasons. We've been busy visiting Joffre Lakes, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock, Lynn Canyon, the Rockies, Gastown, Stanley Park, English Bay, Granville Island, Capilano Bridge, Bowen Island, and snowshoeing to Dog Mountain. In addition, we've taken on additional projects like weddings, birthdays, proposals and seminars! Last year, Nature PhotoHikes organized over 400 tours, welcoming over two thousand travelers to Vancouver and surroundings. All in all, it's been quite an end to 2019 and we're hoping 2020 will bring us more adventures and great company! Wishing all our guests and members a very prosperous and peaceful New Year!

With summer finally drawing to a close, we completed our favorite difficult hikes - including multiple Garibaldi Lake and Stawamus Chief ones. Thrown in with Lynn Canyon, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island, Granville Island, English Bay, Gastown and Stanley Park for good measure. The long hikes aren't over yet...we still have a few more Garibaldi, Joffre and Chiefs left this month before we welcome Fall. Thanks to our mostly traveler friends for attending the tours.

Another month has passed with more challenging hikes greeting travelers - some awed at the level of fitness required to complete them! As a hiker with over 20 years guiding experience, Nature PhotoHikes prides itself in patiently taking newcomers to amazing heights, reaching potentials most never thought they could achieve. Thanks to rewarding views at the top, the challenge is worth it and the photos capture them perfectly!

Some much-needed rain has finally cooled our summer, but just enough for us to continue with some amazing hiking. Tours to Garibaldi Lake, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island, Lynn Canyon, Stanley Park, English Bay, Gastown and Granville Island made for interesting and fun-filled few weeks. Thanks again to all visitors of our beautiful city, for making some memorable captures to share.

With the summer heat finally melting the alpine snow, we've been tackling the higher elevations over the last few weeks. We visited Joffrey Lakes and the Chief alongside Lynn Canyon, Quarry Rock, Lighthouse Park, Bowen Island, Stanley Park and English Bay. Thanks to all our traveling friends for another fun-filled month of tours in our beautiful city. We also surpassed 400 excellent reviews so thank you for taking the time to complete them.

The last month saw amazing weather, dry enough to tackle the strenuous Stawamus Chief and Sea to Sky hikes. In addition, we continued with our regular hikes to Lynn Canyon, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island, Lighthouse Park, Stanley Park, English Bay and Gastown. Thanks to all our traveler guests, we've surpassed 100 tours in the last 3 months!

We've been lucky with sunny weather for the last month, which is great for travelers! It also means more challenging hikes for those willing to put in the extra effort for those amazing scenery! Thanks to everyone who attended the Stawamus Chief, Mt. Seymour, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island, Lynn Canyon and Lighthouse Park, along with the easier outings to Stanley Park, English Bay and Gastown. Next month will continue with similar tours, in addition to Garibaldi Lake and Joffre Lakes.

It's been a full month with 30+ tours to Mt. Seymour, Bowen Island, Lynn Canyon, Stanley Park & English Bay, Gastown & Chinatown and Stawamus Chief. Thanks to our many traveler friends who've enjoyed Vancouver as the ever-changing weather created diverse scenery. We've also surpassed 300 excellent reviews, thanks to everyone who took the time to write them. We have another busy month ahead with similar tours minus the snow, and the photos will follow.

Another month of snow, sun and spring once again brought diverse scenery for our traveler and local friends alike. We snowshoed Dog Mountain, hiked the Sunshine Coast, captured night lights of Gastown and walked through the ever changing trails of Stanley Park, English Bay and Lynn Canyon. The busy month continues as we welcome Spring and gear up for more adventures!

The ever-changing weather and holidays made for a variety of experiences for our traveler friends, as well as our local attendees this month! We witnessed warm weeks early on, then plummeted to record snowfall, celebrated the Chinese New Year and Family Day holiday, all the while showcasing it's never the same ol' same ol' in Vancouver 🙂 Which means some great scenery for photography! Thanks to everyone for attending Elfin Lakes, Dog Mountain, Lynn Canyon, Gastown, Granville Island, English Bay and Stanley Park!

We took advantage of milder than normal temperatures - unlike the rest of Canada - to enjoy the remainder of the month! We snowshoed to Alexander Falls and Dog Mountain, hiked Lynn Canyon and walked through Gastown and Chinatown at night. Thanks to all the attendees, visitors and local, for coming out to the tours!

Locals and visitors enjoyed more snowshoeing and nature photography after a busy holiday season. We've been lucky with warm weather and plenty of snow up on the mountains. We'll continue with a couple more months of snowshoeing as we look forward to an early spring and even busier summer.

We start 2019 with trips to Dog Mountain and Lynn Canyon, as we get ready for some serious snowshoeing over the next few months. Thanks to all our traveler and local friends for making a great start to the new year!

Even though the dry fall season brought a late start to winter on the mountains, we got to experience snow for the first time. With a visit to Mt. Seymour, many of the attendees witnessed snow for the first time and it was amazing! We also spent the last few weeks on regular tours to Lynn Canyon, English Bay, Granville Island, Gastown and Chinatown. Thanks to the attendees, especially to the school group from Mexico who were an amazing bunch to hike with!

The month of November finally brought much needed rain, at least for our snow season to begin. However, we still received unusual sunshine, which extended our fall hikes a bit further. Thanks to all our visitor and local friends for attending Quarry Rock, Bowen Island, Capilano Canyon, and Lynn Canyon the last couple of weeks. We were also joined by our newcomer friends for the second of our fall youth hiking series. That brings us to the end of a very long summer and fall hiking season, thanks to rare dry weather. Now with the rain finally coming down, we're looking forward to our snowshoeing season. Stay tuned for upcoming events starting next weekend!

With an extended summer, we were lucky to get lots of sunshine early October. The best part, however, is the fall colours which did not disappoint! We ended the month with hikes to the Chief, Lynn Canyon and Quarry Rock as well as tours to Granville Island, Gastown, English Bay and Stanley Park. Thanks to all our visitors and locals for attending and making what is usually a slow month to a busy one.

We've been extremely lucky with unseasonably warm weather lately! Which means squeezing in some difficult hikes like Joffrey Lakes and Stawamus Chief in addition to the regular fall ones of Lynn Canyon, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island and Lighthouse Park. Thanks to our travelers and locals for making the last few weeks very busy. We were even treated to a very special moment - after a magical journey through beautiful forests, waterfalls and pools, one of our guests proposed to his girlfriend atop the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge! Of course she said yes 🙂 Best wishes to them and they've already booked their next tour as husband, wife and dog!

With summer officially over, we ended September with the last of our big hikes while continuing with the easier fall hikes as the weather changes. Thanks to everyone for attending Panorama Ridge, Garibaldi Lake, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock and Lynn Canyon over the last two weeks.

After a busy 4 months of summer, we head into fall with easier, shorter trails alongside the big ones. The first 10 days of September took us to Joffrey Lakes, Garibaldi Lake, Lynn Canyon, Stanley Park, English Bay, Chinatown/Gastown and Granville Island. We have a few more 'summer' hikes on the way, before fully getting into fall weather and its vivid colours. Travelers continue to take in Vancouver's beauty, as well as newcomers who've made this city their new home.

The last ten days saw some much needed rain, making the end of summer great for spectacular viewpoints! We hiked Garibaldi Lake, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island and Lynn Canyon. Thanks again to all our guests who traveled from far away to take in BC's beautiful scenery, barely escaping the hazy skies. As the fire still rages on throughout our province, let's hope for some more relief for all our firefighters!

Another busy ten days in August saw the smog from fires create some unique photo opportunities. Although we've been very lucky during our big hikes as the skies have mostly stayed clear. Thanks to everyone who attended Wedgemount Lake, Garibaldi Lake, Stawamus Chief, Bowen Island, Lighthouse Park and Lynn Canyon during the last week. Stay tuned for an amazing end to summer with lots more to go!

he first ten days of the month took us multiple times to Garibaldi Lake, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock and Lynn Canyon, with visits to Chinatown and Gastown as well. The heat's been great for those cold dips into glacier lakes and canyons, as we continue with a very dry summer. Thanks to everyone for attending the tours and look forward to lots of hikes coming up this month!

The last ten days of July was busy, thanks to hikes to Joffre Lakes, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock, Lynn Canyon and Bowen Island. Congrats to everyone for attending the sometimes difficult outdings - made even more so with record temperatures!

Last week took us to Garibaldi Lake, Quarry Rock, Lynn Canyon, Gastown & Chinatown for some beautiful scenery, while enjoying great weather! Thanks to everyone who attended the tours and for making this month fly by so fast! More tours continue so hope to see you in one of them 🙂

It's been a hectic ten days to start July - with tours to Joffrey Lakes, Garibaldi Lake, the Chief, Quarry Rock, Lynn Canyon and English Bay! Thanks to all our attendees, familiar ones and new; as well as travelers who kept us busy and will for the remainder of the month.

With 25+ tours in June, we finish a very busy month with Canada Day celebrations atop the Chief! Thanks to everyone who attended the Chief, Sea-to-Sky, Lynn Canyon, Quarry Rock, Bowen Island and English Bay tours over the last weeks. It's been a very busy tourist season, but our locals made sure to not take our country's beauty for granted!

Summer has started with a bang - with plenty of hikes and phototours to Mt. Gardner, Stawamus Chief, Quarry Rock, Lynn Canyon, Kennedy Falls, Bowen Island, Granville Island, and English Bay. Thanks to all our regular attendees as well as out-of-town visitors for a very busy June so far!

Thanks to everyone for attending the 4-Days Rockies trip last weekend! We just caught the beginning of summer as the lakes had just thawed, the weather was amazing, and crowds yet to descend into Banff. The timing was perfect! As usual, we got a mix of our regular members as well as travelers who finally got to check off one of their bucket lists by visiting one of the most popular destinations in the world!