Category Archives: day-trip

Trip Report – Eagle Crag Loop – 31 July 2024

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Five of us hiked the trail to Eagle Crag, then the steep path to the top of the bluff.  Here we rested, had a bite to eat, and enjoyed the fantastic view.  There were clouds over the Vancouver Island mountains, but other than that the visibility was very good, especially considering how much fire smoke there is elsewhere.  We enjoyed the perfect temperature, the sunshine, and the gentle breeze for quite a while.  We were visited by a hummingbird and a grouse.

After that, we continued up an old path, originally for climbing access to a higher bluff, surprising a garter snake.  At the top of this path, we again sat and enjoyed the beautiful day.  Then we took the trail down from Beech’s Mountain, back to the vehicles.  (4.9 km; 3.5 hours)

Norris

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Hiking – Eagle Crag Loop – 31 July 2024

Trip Report – Newton Lake, Small Inlet and Waiatt Bay – 24 July 2024

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A large group of 11 hikers (including 1 guest and 1 new member) undertook our “annual” midsummer trek to Newton Lake, Small Inlet, and Waiatt Bay. It was a cooler day after some rainy days, but a swim was still happily anticipated by some. After regrouping and adjusting the pace at the Small Inlet Park Boundary, we had a soggy go through the thick patches of salal, thanks to recent rain, and then arrived at Newton Lake for a short rest.

Our long line of hikers became longer as we descended the switchbacks down the steep slope to Small Inlet. We walked out onto the mudflat and shortly realized that we were in one of the inlet’s many clam gardens. The tide seemed exceptionally low and revealed the long arc of piled boulders that enclosed the clam bed.

A few minutes later we crossed the mudflat to the Waiatt Bay trail head, stopped to marvel at the freshwater spring a few strides later and then made the short hop to Waiatt Bay. By this point we had only met up with a few pairs of hikers coming from the anchorage. At the bay on Quadra’s east coast, dozens of “yachts” were visible. Perhaps the very big tide flat was discouraging them from coming ashore?

After a leisurely lunch the group was again on the move and ready to tackle the uphill leg back to Newton Lake. We ascended slowly, and with it being a cooler, overcast day, everyone arrived at the top in good shape. Arriving at the lake with a light rain shower starting made a dip in Newton Lake’s inviting waters even less appealing. So, after a brief rest, we tackled the final leg of this classic hike. (12.8 km; 5 hours 48 min)

Vic

Thanks to Carl and Norris for the photos

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Hiking – Newton Lake-Small Inlet-Waiatt Bay – 24 July 2024

Trip Report – Century Sam Lake – 13 July 2024

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Five of us hiked to the picture postcard called Century Sam Lake.  It’s named after a character that Sid Williams played.  Must have been quite a character to have a lake like this named after him.  We wanted to hike to it when it was in full sunshine, to show off the deep blue-green.  The trade off was that it was very hot.  But the crowd that was there was fully into swimming and diving off cliffs, so it was perfect weather – cloudless, a bit of breeze.  The Lake is located below the Comox Glacier.  This contributes to the other attraction of this hike which is the ice cave.  It wasn’t as good as on a previous trip, maybe too early in the season, but still very interesting.  And the wildflowers were excellent.

The Lake is in Strathcona Park, but the approach is not.  Trail maintenance is ambiguous, but someone had just clipped the aggressive brush, including Devil’s Club, so that was good.  The route is rough everywhere and steep in the headwall up to the Lake.  The access to this trail is on a logging road through Mosaic lands and the gate is only unlocked on weekends and only when Mosaic is not logging and the fire danger is low.  We timed it well, so all was good.  (11.3 km; 7.5 hours; 423 m elevation gain)

Norris 

Thanks to Louise, Jim and Norris for the photos

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Hiking -Century Sam Lake – 13 July 2024

Trip Report – Gowlland Harbour – 10 July 2024

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Ten people gathered on a beautiful, calm, sunny day for a paddle and social. The Stuart’s place is a bit difficult to launch from as there is a steep driveway with a switch back and only one vehicle can come down at a time. Then you have to pack the kayak around the pond. This was made easier by the fact that I live here, two members paddled over from their place, and another member brought his kayak in by boat to the dock. All in all it worked out well and we managed to leave a little ahead of schedule. We paddled south around the south end of Gowlland Harbour to start. After passing the old sunken barge, we stopped where the two abandoned boats have sunk to talk about how bad the government is managing abandoned boats on our coastline. We then paddled on flat water up the east side of Gowlland Island and stopped to stretch our legs on the north end. As we proceeded toward Gowlland Resort there was a colony of seals on some of the small islets. At Seascape Resort, now called Jade Resort, we stopped to look and discuss the falling apart of the old barge hotel. This is a total disaster of waste and garbage being emptied into our beautiful harbour because of the inability of government and courts to deal with a problem.
We then had an easy paddle back to our entry point. Here we had a great social on the deck, complete with chips and salsa, smoked oysters and meats with cheese and crackers, veggie platter, and Smokies and buns from the barbecue.  Plus drinks and desserts.  (7 km; 2 hour paddle)

Les

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Kayaking – Gowlland Harbour – 10 July 2024

Hiking – Thompson Trail-Hopespring Loop – 7 Aug 2024

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Activity Hiking
Destination Thompson Trail-Hopespring Loop
Date 7 Aug 2024, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Les Hand
Contact Info lhquadra@gmail.com or 285-2029
Description We will start at the end of Thompson Road and do the circle counter clockwise. Bring a snack or small lunch and we will stop at the top of Heriot Ridge before we come down to Hopespring Road.
Meeting Place End of Thompson Road
Departure Time 9:00
Difficulty
 Easy
Costs None
Trip limits 10
Dogs? Okay, but under control
Notes: We are starting earlier than normal to beat some of the heat. Bring hiking poles if you’d like to use them.

Trip Report – Mt. Kitchener – 3 July 2024

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Quite a few people wanted to go on the Mt. Kitchener hike then couldn’t make it for a wide variety of reasons.  So at the last moment, the trip went ahead with only three.  We can report that the road up does not have waterbars, so any vehicles with four-wheel drive, good clearance, and good tires should be able to make it.  On the way up we had a special treat of seeing a herd of elk, seven with three young ones and another, smaller group higher up.  The trail is in good condition, although there is a section of large windfall to go around at the start.

There was some morning cloud, especially in the north, and we parked just above the clouds, which went away as the day warmed up.  After the first steep ascent on to the ridge, we  hiked along the ridge to the Mt. Kitchener summit, where the communication infrastructure had been removed since our last visit.  We had excellent views all around, looking over Johnstone Strait and up Loughborough Inlet to Mt. Waddington.  We stopped for lunch before descending and then made the short climb to Mt. McCreight, with more views to the south.  We had excellent weather and took our time to enjoy the hike.  (4.3 km; 4.25 hours; 475 m elevation gain)

Norris 

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Hiking – Mt. Kitchener – 3 July 2024

Trip Report – Kay Dubois Loop – 19 June 2024

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Our hike on the Kay Dubois trail was a lovely, cool forest-bathing-ish treat on a warm summer morning.  We started at the Fox Road entrance and walked on the woodlot road to the trail head at the end of Sutil Road.  When we got to the bottom of the hill, we made a few beach-viewing stops to enjoy the view. The understory growth was phenomenal from all the rain we have had.  We continued on to the giant witchy spruce tree, headed up the hill on the Hansel and Gretel walk and made it back to our starting point with no nibbled body parts.  (5.7 km; 1¾ hours)

Kathy
 
 
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Hiking – Eagle Crag Loop – 31 July 2024

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The meeting location has changed! The “Difficulty” has been updated.

Activity Hiking
Destination Eagle Crag Loop
Date 31 July 2024, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Norris Weimer
Contact Info norris.weimer@ualberta.ca; 3710
Description Starting at the Chinese Mtn parking lot, we will follow the south side trails and then the climbing access trails to Eagle Crag.  This ascends quite steeply and has amazing views.  From there, we will follow a flagged route which connects with the Beech’s Mtn trail, bringing us back to the parking lot.
Meeting Place Meet at the coordinator’s driveway
Departure Time 10:00; we will start earlier if it is hot
Difficulty Challenging for a few sections of scrambling.  This is not very long and not a lot of elevation gain, but the trail is rough and the route involves steep places and no path.
Costs None
Trip limits 10
Dogs? No
Notes: We will not do this trip in poor weather

Hiking – Century Sam – 13 July 2024

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Updated!

Activity Hiking
Destination Century Sam Lake
Date 13 July Saturday; this date is still somewhat tentative for weather and for Mosaic’s announcement on Thursday about the gate opening.
Trip Coordinator Norris Weimer
Contact Info norris.weimer@ualberta.ca; 250-285-3710.  Please let the coordinator know if you are interested by Wednesday, 10 July.
Description This trip is hard to schedule because it needs good weather and the access is through a gate which is only unlocked for 12 hours on Saturday and on Sunday.  Once passed the gate, the access is via a logging road which eventually has water bars.  The hike itself is on a heavily used, but not really maintained trail.  The creek crossings are on logs.  To the lake is about 8.3 km (return) and 400m elevation gain; to the ice caves is about 13.6 km (return) and 570m elevation gain. The hiking time may be about 7 hours. The trail will likely be very busy.
Meeting Place QCove ferry terminal
Departure Time 7:00  am ferry
Difficulty
 Challenging for the length of the day, elevation and altitude gain.
Costs Ferry, shared fuel costs.
Trip limits Limits may depend on the vehicles going.
Dogs? No
Notes: We will not do this trip in poor weather.  This is a long day.  Come prepared for mountain conditions.

Kayaking – Gowlland Harbour – 10 July 2024

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Activity Kayaking and social
Destination Gowlland Harbour
Date: 10 July 2024, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Les Hand
Contact Info lhquadra@gmail.com or 250-285-2029
Description This will only be a one and a half to two hour paddle followed by a social hour on the deck at my house. I will provide appetizers.
Depending on current and weather we may go around Gowland Island otherwise we will just stay around the southern part of Gowland Harbor. Because of this please bring a spray skirt and all necessary equipment mandated by the Coast Guard.
If it is more than showers the date will be changed.
Meeting Place 1157 West Rd
Departure Time Meet at 10:00; Leave at 10:30
Difficulty
 Moderate
Costs None
Trip limits 12
Dogs? No
Notes: Only one vehicle at a time can come down the hill so be on time. I have permission to park vehicles at the landlords house. From there it is a steep concrete driveway with a switch back involved. You will need to be able to back up with your mirrors to get down close to the water. Otherwise you will park up above and we will use two people to carry the kayaks down. When you sign up I will explain more as it will not be that hard.