SITTING LADY FALLS
There’s a wonderful west coast walk located in Metchosin, on the outskirts of Victoria. It’s called Witty’s Lagoon Trail. A groomed track, it takes you from the parking lot down a meandering trail through a very typical west coast rain forest to the open beach looking out on the Juan de Fuca Straight. I’ve done that walk many times with my daughter Melanie and her family. Always I’ve felt the presence of a painting, and once I found a painting of tranquility along the forest trail. (Witty’s Lagoon – Tranquility)
But, that image of calm and serenity doesn’t tell the whole story of this trail. There’s a waterfall on the trail that changes character almost daily. Depending on the runoff from the surrounding area, Sitting Lady Falls can be an idyllic tumble of water over an impressive rocky outcrop, or it can be a raging, foaming torrent as it charges its course to the ocean.
The winter of 2020 was a particularly wet and grey one. The heavy rains created dangerous and destructive flood conditions in many places on the west coast. And Sitting Lady Falls was the benefactor of that rage of torrential rains. I wasn’t there to witness it personally, but Melanie took a photograph one January day and sent it to me. Melanie’s an artist herself so she knew the value of the light as it played on the trees in the foreground. Though not a composition I’d usually be drawn to, I had to try my hand at painting this impressive natural display.
If ever you’re looking for a nice forest walk at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, consider Witty’s Lagoon Trail. There you’ll get to see Sitting Lady Falls for yourself. And it’ll always be impressive, no matter what mood the Sitting Lady is in.