The scented shore
August 15, 2025, 7:00 pm , by Richard Lutz
It’s early morning- writes RICHARD LUTZ- and low light pierces the red cedar on the western coast of Canada in the rainforests of Vancouver Island
The sea moisture, salt spray and the regenerative warmth all release sharp scents, fragrances from the trees and the deep green bed of undergrowth such as sword and deer fern.
It’s a hard task to describe fragrance. You can’t see it. You can’t hear it like the heave of an ocean. You can’t taste it. But, nevertheless, it can stop you in your tracks. The cedar’s morning aroma is arrestingly sharp and fresh. And the scent of a lot of the unidentified shrubs (it may be salal…more on that later) reminds me of the perfume of Scottish beach rose. It’s entrancing. Especially as the day wakes.
With every curve and corner, on the Wild Pacific Trail where the shore meets the treeline, the ocean’s salt merges with the forests.
Here, western hemlock, Douglas fir and sitka mingle with the red cedar to frame the endless ocean as it curves round a lighthouse promontory…
….an end to an edge of a shore long known as the Shipwreck Coastline. And for good reason too. It is a hazardous borderland of water and land during a storm.
Look down past the seaside asters:
And then through a dense wood of heavily scented cedars:
and underfoot there’s a definite clue you still have to tread carefully. It’s black bear country:
and it leaves its scat..its droppings…. scattered on the trail. I won’t deny you the pleasure of a picture:
The purplish contents are from the salal bushes that border the trails. Along with other summer fruit, especially wild blueberries, black bears love the wild crop. And fortunately, I hear, more or less leave us mere mortals alone. Though cautionary signs are always there:
It concentrates the mind, so it does, as you watch the endless summer sky meet the roiling sea that meets the green earth. You tend to quickly look over a shoulder now and then or peek round a curve of a path after encountering another mound of fresh scat. It’s bear country. As well as wolf and cougar country too. Anyway, here’s one last seductive image… sans shipwreck, sans cautionary warnings, sans wolf, sans bear:
Lighthouse/bear pic credit: wikicommons
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Robert
That captures it
MB
Looks fun
Hannah M
❤️
Alan Holland
Beautiful. Thanks Richard.
Mary Hill
Looks fab
Ewan Mantle
I almost feel I’m back there! A very special place,
Al Jamieson
Great shots
Deke Koven
Nice that Pacific NW agrees with You
Willy Kerr
I’m so pleased that we don’t have bears, wolves or cougars in Scotland…yet!
Peg Amir
There are alternative scented shores on Scottish shores
Bella Houston
Looks like Vancouver Island is a wonderful spot to be, albeit black bear country.
GB
Black bears in Ayrshire would be fun
Tina Mara
Sounds amazing
Corey Hecht
Scent and aroma- hard to capture in words
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