On an overcast morning 10 ambitious hikers started off on the recently renamed trail, Rob’s Ride. We proceeded up to the south east end of Nighthawk Lake to take a look at the old beaver dam. From there we backtracked slightly to Dick’s Ride, where we started a clockwise circuit. From that trail, we did Cash Only, then Back Door where we stopped on a lovely Mossy Bluff for lunch in the warm sunshine.   After lunch, we continued on Back Door, then on to Silk-Stocking and travelled south down that for a little way to check out the old copper mining area complete with a mining cart. We then backtrack slightly, and went north west on Silk-Stocking, then onto Navel, and Straight as a Dime. This brought us out to the Walcan Road where we were able to head down Rob’s Ride. This is a lovely walk down McKercher Creek and then back over to Nighthawk Lake. At the marsh area above Nighthawk lake we were treated to a lovely choir of thousands of frogs. It was truly amazing how loud they were. After travelling along the lake, we return to the vehicles.  (10.4 km; 4 hours)

Les

Thanks to Les and Norris for the photos

Frog Chorus at 70 decibels from 20 metres away:

Hiking -Bike Trail South of Walcan Rd – 19 Mar 2024

Our Shellaligan hike began with an unexpected twist. Given the wet, drizzly conditions the plan was to take the eastern forest loop. However, our group of seven hikers first spent a few minutes on the rocky out-croppings overlooking the Hoskyn Channel so our out-of-town guest could see the lovely ocean view. There we encountered three people, obviously very well-equipped for some sort of adventure. We learnt that this was an international crew who film nature videos around the world, Shellaligan was their Canadian destination. Mexico was next! We were undecided if we were pleased that Shellaligan was indeed as unique as we feel it is, or concerned that this would encourage even more visitors to Quadra! (https://lovenature.com/)

We then drove to the trailhead at the first parking lot and began our hike on the western loop in a clockwise direction. After working our way through the logging roads, now well-signed, we began on the gradual incline to the crest of the ravine, then down its steep bank to the shoreline. The trail is in good condition, surprisingly no blowdowns, and bridges all intact. The creek was flowing quite noisily, good to see water in the creeks again! By the time we reached the beach, the drizzle had stopped and we enjoyed a pleasant break on the logs, the oyster farm still visible in the bay. On the steep trail out of the ravine we found two rough-skinned newts, identified by their orange bellies, (https://canadianherpetology.ca/species/species_page.html?cname=Rough-skinned%20Newt)
thanks to the sharp eyes of our guest. At the sign-posted junction we headed back to the second parking lot. The trees along that part of the trail have grown considerably, a pleasant surprise. A short walk back up the logging road brought us to our cars.
Two hours hiking the loop with break; 5.1 km.

Valerie

Hiking -Shellaligan Loop – 21 Feb 2024