New Edition Available!

These well-researched guidebooks lead gold prospectors and rockhounds to hundreds of mines and collecting areas throughout southwestern British Columbia. Includes mining history and prospecting techniques, directions, maps, site drawings, glossary and local contacts.

A guide to mineral and fossil locations in 10 BC regions, including maps, photos, locale descriptions, and collecting tips for novices and experts alike. Gem Trails of British Columbia is certain to get you to pick up a shovel and pan and get out to the backcountry and up to your knees in sand and rocks looking for gems, minerals and fossils. Covering ten regions, this updated and expanded guide will appeal to both novice and experienced rockhounds. It includes detailed descriptions including what to look for in each area, color photos, maps and collecting tips. Author Cam Bacon calls upon years of experience to offer readers invaluable information, easy-to-follow directions and many helpful hints, including a complete list of rock clubs and contacts, which will assist in planning week or weekend trips. Thorough, yet concise, this slim volume is an outstanding source of old and new sites, and is perfect for the backpack of outdoor lovers ready to unearth treasures and adventure throughout the province's beautiful back roads.

A guide to the ancient life of Vancouver Island.

The BC publishing event of the decade! 30,000 copies in print!

This full-colour, laminated field guide is your introduction to the beauty and wonder of the gemstones found in the Pacific Northwest, a region famous for its variety and quality of earth treasures. From purple amethyst, carnelian, chalcedony, black and white onyx and emeralds to sodalite, sapphire and many more valuable stones--discover what lies in the rich geology just below your feet. This convenient brochure will help you to develop a keen eye for spotting gems in the rough and become more knowledgeable about local gemstones that are the equal of any in the world.

Sturgeon, salmonids, minnows, sticklebacks, sculpins.

"You are not going to want to drive anywhere in southern BCwithout it! Fabulous content-rich in roadside detail along with Jim Monger's big-picture context." —Jim Ryan, newsletter of the Cordilleran Section of the Geological Association of Canada Roadside Geology of Southern British Columbia explains the province's tumultuous geologic history in simple terms. Thirty-one descriptive road guides, complete with maps, photographs and diagrams, help you locate and interpret the rocks and landforms visible from the province's highways and ferry routes. Discover a lava flow that chilled beneath ice. Learn how Ripple Rock claimed24 ships before engineers finally blew it up. Drive across a slow-moving earthflow that has played havoc with roads since the gold-rush days. This book covers the geological features in the lower third of British Columbia—from just north of 100 Mile House down to the Canada-United States border.

The spectacular landscapes in and surrounding the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island have long shaped the lives of the valley's diverse inhabitants. From expansive shorelines to snowy mountain peaks, the region contains a wide variety of attractions to lure people over their thresholds for sustenance, recreation and survival, including such landmarks as Forbidden Plateau, Paradise Meadows, Comox Glacier, Mt. Washington and Miracle Beach. Step into Wilderness features never-before-seen photos from the Courtenay and District Museum collection, showcasing the growing community's varied interactions with the wilderness they inhabit, from early hiking and skiing expeditions to encounters with wildlife, afternoon tea in the wilderness, beach races and early outdoor activity clubs. The collection also explores the ways in which inhabitants have altered the landscape, including K'omoks Bay fish traps and stump blasting to clear fields. These unique and arresting photos are complemented by equally engaging accounts of individuals surviving and thriving in the midst of natural beauty and great devastation, including survivors of the great fire of 1922 and pioneer skiers on Forbidden Plateau during the Great Depression. More than a volume of beautiful photos, this collection illustrates a community's evolving relationship with the natural wonders surrounding it, as well as the emergence of outdoor exploration on Vancouver Island.