When Wednesday dawned grey and drizzly we decided to postpone the trip to Mt. Washington and go for a walk instead. We set out on a loop on the Cape Mudge Reserve of logging roads, streets and trails. We started on an old road off of the road to the Lighthouse, hopped across the wetlands and continued into the village. We followed the trail along the shore, which has been much eroded from the recent storm surge, continued past the campground, Lighthouse, Tsa Kwa Luten and into the forest trail which returned to the road. There were lots of flowers to admire along the way. 9km; 2½ hours.

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Four hikers and one dog set off on the first sunny day we have had after weeks of heavy rain and gloomy skies. The trail was less sloppy than we had feared, which was welcome surprise. The sun filtered through the trees and the moss was a glowing neon green – almost too bright to look at! We made a loop down “Dick’s Ride” to check out the beaver pond with a collection of Mallard and Greater Scaup bobbing about on the calm water. Then we climbed back up the hill to get out on the mossy bluffs and into the glorious sunshine. Our lunch spot was a rocky outcrop with a view back toward Gowlland Harbour. As we ate, a group of wolves started to howl on the ridge to the south-west of us, and they continued their chorus for about twenty minutes as we started our descent – lovely!!

This section of Silk Stocking skirts the old copper mining area, now inactive for 60 to 70 years. There are bits of machinery still around and in some spots the rock has the classic bright green colour of copper ore. It is impressive how much the land has recovered from the scarring of mining activity – moss and young growth now covers the seams where ore had been taken out. It is a gorgeous section of the trail and hopefully will not be devastated by mining activity again.

Our last treat was a view of two Hooded Mergansers on the body of water at the base of the ridge. Then a twisty section of trail along Little Black Dress returned us to our starting point with almost dry feet.

Bird list for the day:
Harlequin Duck
Greater Scaup
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
Sooty Grouse
Bald Eagle
Pileated Woodpecker
Common Raven
Northwestern Crow
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Chestnut-sided Chickadee
Pacific Wren
American Robin
Spotted Towhee
Dark-eye Junco
Song Sparrow

Kathryn

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Hiking – Bike Trails – 17 Feb 2016

In spite of a rainy morning, six intrepid hikers set forth for Deepwater Bay. The route goes west from the Granite Bay Road, through a low section north of Mount Seymour. Given the brooding sky, we elected to attempt the drive up the logging road for the first part of the hike. This will not be possible for too much longer due to erosion and encroaching growth along the road. We stopped to view the remains of the old rail trestle which was once part of a logging railway from the north end of the island. There is quite a lot of evidence of the section bridging the canyon by the side of the road. Where the railbed ran before and after that is left to speculation.

After about 2.5 km we parked the cars and walked the last half of the road down to the shore. Beyond the logging, it’s a beautiful, steep valley with lots of water in the creeks. There are a number of buildings strewn around the shore site, in varying states of decay – remains of a fish hatchery that has been closed for over 20 years now. Previous to that, the site was a log dump. Sometimes the bay is busy with boats waiting for slack tide to go through Seymour Narrows, but there was not much action on the water other than a couple of seiners huddled against the shore. Once the herring start to run, sea lions are sometimes spotted here, and I have watched a huge school of dolphin cavorting off the point. But all was quiet today and it was a soggy, grey view across the water.

After a hurried lunch in the rain we trudged back up the hill to the vehicles, electing to save exploration of some of the tracks that ran off from the main logging road for a drier day. After less than three hours, we were back on the Granite Bay Road heading for dry clothes and a warm beverage. 4.4 km.

Kathryn

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Hiking – Deepwater Bay – 17 February 2016

The trip to Mt. Washington was cancelled because conditions were too wet, warm and windy, so four of us braved the forecast rain for a hike. We started at the Morte Lake parking lot and Janis lead us along Lower and Upper Dead Fish through lovely open forest to the rocky bluffs. We continued down Seven Sins and Ridge Trails to the Mud Lake Trail. We crossed the WalCan road and followed Yellow Mud and Jack Rabbit for the return to the parking lot. There was lots of water in the streams and a bit on the trails. The weather was more atmospheric than serious rain and we were glad we went.  6.7 km; 2 hours.

Debbie

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