Gateways and Journeys: An afternoon at Fort Rodd Hill

which way to the Java Sea?

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Oh very young by Cat Stevens (Jusuf Islam)

This is a beautiful song by Cat Stevens and as I watched the girls explore every nook and cranny, the tunnels and the hills with such enthusiasm I remembered what it was like when everything was an adventure. Then we become older and bogged down with the mundane, the cares of struggling to keep an identity in a technological age and in the burdens of our own self importance, forgetting who we once were - pure beings dancing through the music of our encounters.. I may not be able to run up the hill with quite as much wild abandon but I pray I haven't been so tamed that my mind has not lost the wonder of reaching the summit in triumphant wave of the deed to those below..

So "very young" thank you for letting us dance awhile with you through this historic landmark of Fort Rodd!!

Fort Rodd was established in 1896 as part of the Esquimalt Naval Base located at the mouth of Esquimalt harbour. The Fisgard Lighthouse had been already standing since 1860 and it became the beacon for the Royal Navy as well as many a sailing ship in it's day.
The west coast of Vancouver Island had treacherous rocks and tides and many ships went down in what was known to sailors of the day as "the graveyard of the Pacific." A book was written about it by local author and former cable station operator, the late R.B. Scott called "Breakers Ahead."
In World War II it was active as one of the armed look out stations (also at Macaulay Point) in case of a Japanese attack.

Gateway to the grounds

The grounds are beautiful with the Olympic mountains across the strait and lots of wildlife in the surrounding woodlands and lagoons

dancing at the lagoon

is it loaded?

Life in the old fort
activated recordings tell us the stories of those who lived here

Infinity lies beyond but how to get there!!?
Old tunnels and magazines with rows of disarmed artillery shells lie under the hill
and wonderful hide and seek

The lighthouse inside is cosy with lots of charts lying around and a tea kettle on the old wood stove as though the lighthouse keeper just stepped out to check the wind vane. Here I got an interesting effect through the window with a ghostly reflection of the opposite coastline.