If we’re on the north shore in Vancouver and have a bit of time, we love the quick and easy Rice Lake loop. It’s a fairly short, flat trail, yet the lake and the towering trees refresh the soul.

This female mallard was almost overly friendly — very conditioned to humans. No handouts from us!

We didn’t see any water life until Yumi spotted this caddisfly larva crawling along the bottom. These creatures are so cool — they build “shells” out of bark, leaf litter, sand, tiny stones, etc.

Merganser

That’s some excavating! Perhaps the work of a Pileated Woodpecker?