Category Archives: day-trip

Hiking – Mt. Kitchener – 16 July 2025

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Activity Hiking
Destination Mt. Kitchener
Date 16 July 2025, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Norris Weimer
Contact Info 285-3710 or norris.weimer@ualberta.ca.  Please contact the coordinator by Monday evening.
Description Mt. Kitchener is located northeast of Campbell River and south of Sayward in the Prince of Wales Range. The summit is 1,457m, but fortunately the first 1,000 m can be driven up, leaving about 500 m elevation gain.  The trail begins steeply through the forest and after a short scramble emerges onto a sub-alpine ridge.  As the the ridge gains height, the views appear on all directions.  We will visit Mt. McCreight (1,419 m) with some remembrances of the military plane crash from 1950.  We will continue on to Mt. Kitchener, but not visit the crash site. About 4.5 km or more if the group wants to explore; 4+ hours, plus the drive.
Meeting Place Q Cove Ferry terminal.
Departure Time 7:00 8:00 ferry.  If the weather is very hot, we may go earlier.
Difficulty
 Challenging, but not very long
Costs Shared ferry and fuel costs
Trip limits 10
Dogs? No
Notes: This trip will require 4-wheel drive vehicles with some clearance.  We will not do this trip in poor weather.  Bring lunch and water.

Hiking – Heron Point and Mt. Sweat – 3 July 2025

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Activity Hiking
Destination Heron Pt and Mt. Sweat loop
Date 3 July, Thursday
Trip Coordinator Debbie Quigg
Contact Info dmquigg@gmail.com or 3710  Please contact the coordinator by Tuesday night.
Description This is a fairly short hike starting on Kolker Main. We will briefly follow a logging road, a short connector and a mossy bluff to Heron Point for great views of Hyacinthe Bay and the Chinese Mtn area.  From there we will take a cairned route through undulating forest trails and rocky bluffs to Mt. Sweat. We descend to Kolker Main through open, forested slope and return to the vehicles on Kolker Main.  This is a view hike and will not be done in poor weather.  About 4 km; 2½ hours.
Meeting Place Community Centre parking lot.  We will drive out in a group.
Departure Time 10:00 or earlier if it’s hot
Difficulty
 Mostly easy, except some steep places on Mt. Sweat.
Costs None
Trip limits 10
Dogs? No, some of this will be on private property.
Notes: Some of this trip is on private property and we thank Heather Kellerhals for allowing our visit to Chauntaluf Farm.  Bring gear appropriate for the weather and trail conditions, as well as lunch.

Hiking – Plumper Bay – 25 June 2025

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Activity Hiking
Destination Plumper Bay
Date 25 June 2025, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Valerie van Veen
Contact Info vvv@qisland.ca, 250 285 2329
Description This will be a moderately paced, fairly short hike along a gentle trail to Plumper Bay. We will stop for snacks, lunch then return along the same trail.
Meeting Place Morte Lake parking lot to carpool to the trailhead
Departure Time 9:30
Difficulty Easy to moderate
Costs none
Trip limits 10
Dogs? Under control, must not run through group.
Notes: NOTE MEETING PLACE…Morte Lake parking lot to carpool as needed. NOTE 9:30 am start time in case of summer heat. MUST contact coordinator by Monday evening to confirm participation. Bring snacks, lunch, dress for weather. Light rain ok, cancelled if heavy rain or above 30c. Only registered hikers will be notified.

Trip Report – Granite Bay Community Trails – 4 June 2025

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The Granite Bay locals have built a nice trail system east of Luoma Lake.  This came to light because of the recent and planned logging in the Two Mile Lake and adjacent areas.  So we had to go see it.

Seven of us drove to near the end of Saxon Main to the “Granniies at Work” sign.  From there we went around the Back Bog clockwise, over a beaver dam, then to a beautiful bench overlooking the Back Bog.  We then backtracked and went through the forest on the Two Mile Lake trail.  There are some amazing, big burnt (but live) trees there, presumably from the fire 100 years ago..  After an idyllic lunch at the Two Mile Lake, we continued on the trail along the south shore to another beautiful bench and finally up to a new logging road, which we followed back to the vehicles.   (4.2 km and 2½ hours)

Norris

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Hiking – Granite Bay Community Trails – 4 June 2025

Hiking – Mt. Seymour – 19 June 2025

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Change of date and route.

Activity Hiking
Destination Mt. Seymour
Date 19 June 2025, Thursday
Trip Coordinator Les Hand
Contact Info lhquadra@gmail.com or 285-2029
Description We will be doing this hike from the Mt. Seymour trailhead, but we will continue on to the Nugedzi Lakes and western viewpoint.
Meeting Place Community Centre parking lot
Departure Time 9:00
Difficulty
 Moderately difficult with some steep rocky areas, some elevation gain and quite long
Costs None
Trip limits 10
Dogs? No
Notes:

Hiking – Century Sam – 12 July 2025

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This hike is postponed!

Activity Hiking
Destination Century Sam Lake
Date 12 July, Saturday
Trip Coordinator Louise Squire
Contact Info lsquire@sasktel.net
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. Mosaic says on Thursday if the gate. will be unlocked.  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, altitude, elevation gain and poor quality of the trail.
Costs Ferry, shared fuel costs.
Trip limits 8
Dogs? No
Notes: We will not do this trip in poor weather.   Come prepared for mountain conditions.

Hiking – Granite Bay Community Trails – 4 June 2025

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Activity Hiking
Destination Granite Bay Community Trails
Date 4 June, Wed
Trip Coordinator Norris Weimer
Contact Info norris.weimer@ualberta.ca or 3710
Description We will explore some lovely and quite easy trails which lead to wetlands, some mature forest and a lake.  This is also the controversial area which Mosaic might log and which the Granite Bay community and others are trying to protect.  We will follow the locally-maintained trails around the Back Bog and out to Two Mile Lake.  In order to hike this as a loop we will walk on a new logging road for about 2 km.  It is quite a long drive to the trailhead on unpaved and logging roads.
Meeting Place Community Centre parking lot for carpooling
Departure Time 10:00
Difficulty
 Mostly easy, with a few hills
Costs none
Trip limits 10
Notes Bring a lunch or snack and dress for the weather.

Trip Report – Ripple Rock Trail – 13 May 2025

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Three of us and two dogs hiked out from trailhead at Highway 19 to the viewpoint overlooking former Ripple Rock. Blasted in 1958, it was the largest non nuclear blast up until that time. It was a beautiful sunny day with slight breeze so temperature was ideal for hiking. With no significant rainfall for awhile the trail was dry with no mud or slippery sections. We walked the trail at a good pace with dogs helping us along. The whole route out and back was 9 km and took 3 hours and 6 minutes, with a 15 to 20 minute break for a snack at Ripple Rock viewpoint. The last uphill stretch to parking lot was a bit exhausting, but welcome once there.

Allan
 
Thanks to Allan for the photos
 

(click on photos to enlarge)

Hiking – Ripple Rock Trail – 13 May 2025

Trip Report – Gowlland Harbour – 14 May 2025

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What could go wrong?  Well, first there were 13 people who registered to come on this trip, but only four were able to come and three of them live on Gowlland Harbour.  The day was beautifully clear and a perfect temperature.  We paddled over to Gowlland Harbour Resort, who very generously allowed us to launch from their property.  There was a slight breeze from the northwest, which was just a bit of extra work.  By the time the last person was in the water, however, it seemed as if the wind was sufficient to reconsider the planned route and so instead of paddling over to Gowlland Island, we went upwind into North Gowlland.  We got out on a beach there for a short break, even though we had not paddled for very long.  In the 15 minutes or so that we were there, the wind increased noticeably so the there were small white caps.  So we once again changed our plan to explore the upper reaches of North Gowlland Harbour and instead crossed over to Vigilant Islet.  The bay behind the island was very sheltered and the tide was rapidly ebbing so there was lots of foreshore.  A few people rambled around the Island, admiring the flowers and the views before returning to the kayaks.  We had a brisk paddle back over to the north shore of Quadra Island, but were then somewhat sheltered.  We poked into the inlet east of Gowlland Harbour Resort before heading back to the launching beach.  We had lunch on the rocks there, enjoying the sunshine, and the view.  In our fairly short paddle we saw a mink, river otter, lots of Harbour Seals, a few porpoise or dolphin (which may have been Pacific White-sided Dolphin), deer, Bald Eagles, Canada Geese, Turkey Vultures, and Great Blue Heron.  It was a lovely day, but not the day we expected.    (From east Gowlland Harbour 7.4 km; 4 hours with lunch and two stops)

Debbie

(click on photos to enlarge)

Kayaking – Gowlland Harbour – 14 May 2025

Trip Report – Trout Creek Falls – 7 May 2025

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On a sunny spring day, nine hikers drove out Menzie’s Main to the start of the trail. There is a easy place to park just before and after the bridge over Mohun Creek, which used to be called Trout Creek. It is only a short walk to the first of three waterfalls. The first is impressive, but smaller. The trail has lots of rocks and roots in it so you must be careful not to trip. The trail has been used extensively already this spring. As you hike up the trail, there are many pools and rapid areas that are very picturesque. The second waterfall is the highest and very beautiful. The trail is very steep here so you need to be careful not to slip. The third waterfall is short but very impressive as it drops over a rock face and then makes a sharp right down a rocky ravine before it drops more. We carried on and had lunch on the rock bluff above the waterfall. After lunch we hiked out to the old logging road, stopped briefly at Mary Lake and then returned to the vehicles.
7 km in about three hours

Les
 
(click on photos to enlarge)
 

Hiking – Trout Creek Falls Loop – 7 May 2025