Category Archives: moderate

Trip Report – Newton Lake and Small Inlet – 23 July 2025

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A small group of four hikers undertook our “annual” midsummer trek to Newton Lake and Small Inlet. Being a hotter day we passed on the Waiatt Bay leg and allowed more swimming time.  It was shady and cool to start the hike so we arrived at Newton Lake in pretty good time. There was a solitary Common Loon to check on while we had a short drink break and then we headed to the Inlet.

Just under an hour later we were on the tidal flat of Small Inlet. The tide was flooding but still low enough to allow us to trek across to the spring and the trail to Waiatt Bay. The group decided to take the first turn off and headed back towards the lake. We crossed paths with a few boaters on their way to and/or from Newton Lake as we made the slow climb up the switchbacks with visions of lunch and a swim motivating a pretty steady pace.

We had the swim rock to ourselves and enjoyed a great swim on a beautiful summer day! The water was clear and not cold, the air warming towards mid-20s.  The shady trail down from the Lake made for an enjoyable walk out to the trailhead. (We were spared any attacks by wasps despite the warning sign posted by a hiker earlier this week).  (Length: 12.6 km, Time: 4 hrs 41 minutes)

Vic Gladish

Thanks to Jim, Louise and Vic for the photos

(Click to enlarge)

Hiking – Newton Lake and Small Inlet – 23 July 2025

Hiking – Manzanita Bluff – 8 Aug 2025

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Change of date to 8 Aug due to weather.

Activity Hiking
Destination Manzanita Bluff
Date 8 6 Aug, Friday
Trip Coordinator Louise Squire
Contact Info lsquire@sasktel.net or 306-539-3813
Description Manzanita Bluff is an amazing viewpoint toward the north end of Discovery Passage. It’s quite a long drive on logging roads and about 250m uphill without a trail, but the view is worth it. The best route is through relatively open forest with some mature Douglas fir. We will make the side trip to Darkwater Lake after the hike and swimming is an option. About 5.6 km; 4¾ hours.
Meeting Place Quadra Legion parking lot
Departure Time 8:30
Difficulty
 Moderate
Costs None
Trip limits 10
Dogs? No
Notes: It is quite a long drive up to the trailhead on logging roads. Best to carpool to limit number of vehicles. Swimming opportunity at the end at Darkwater Lake.

Hiking – Main Lake and Yeatman Bay – 30 July 2025

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The start time has been changed to 8:30!  

Activity Hiking
Destination Main Lake and Yeatman Bay from Surge Narrows Rd
Date 30 July 2025
Trip Coordinator Debbie Quigg
Contact Info dmquigg@gmail.com or 3710; Please contact the coordinator by Monday night.
Description This moderate hike starts from Surge Narrows Road through a beautiful old forest, passing by a lake and along a creek, to the east end of Main Lake. Those that want to will continue on the portage track to Yeatman Bay or wait at Main Lake.  The campground will be busy in mid-summer.  About 10 km, 4 hours on a good trail.
Meeting Place Community Centre Parking lot or by arrangement
Departure Time Meet at 9:30  8:30
Difficulty Moderate
Costs none
Trip limits 12
Dogs? Must not run through group.
Notes: Come prepared for the weather

Trip Report – Heron Pt. and Mt. Sweat – 3 July 2025

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Ten of us had a lovely day for this short hike with great views.  We started from Kolker Main and walked up an old logging spur.  We were amazed at how the brush had grown up this spring, obscuring fairly well used paths.  We quickly arrived at Heron Point for our first viewpoint extending from Hyacinthe Bay to the Chinese Mountains.  We continued on into Chauntaluf farm and followed  their trails up to the Mt. Sweat access.  We climbed steeply up to the first bluff and followed the cairns over the undulating bluffs and up to the Mt. Sweat viewpoint for lunch.  The 180° view takes in Quadra and the Salish Sea, with the mainland and Vancouver Island mountains.  We descended to the north, following flagging back to Kolker Main and from there to the vehicles.  Thanks to Heather Kellerhals for letting the Outdoor Club use the Chauntaluf farm trails to make this loop.  3.7 km, 2½ hours, 180m ascent.

Debbie
 
Thanks to Carrie and Norris for the photos
 

(click on photos to enlarge)

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

Hiking – Nighthawk Lake – 9 July 2025

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This trip has been postponed indefinitely.

Activity Hiking
Destination Nighthawk Lake
Date 9 July 2025, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Valerie van Veen
Contact Info vvv@qisland.ca, 250 285 2329, 778 242 5774
Description For those not going on the July 8-10 camp. This will be a moderately paced hike, making a loop on moderate trails with one uphill of note. Bring a snack. With the early start we will be finished before lunch. This will be cancelled for extreme temperatures or deluging. Contact coordinator by Monday evening.
Meeting Place Pull off on Walcan Road across from Mud Lake
Departure Time 9:00
Difficulty
 Moderate
Costs None
Trip limits 10
Dogs? Under control
Notes:

Hiking – Newton Lake-Small Inlet-Waiatt Bay – 23 July 2025

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Activity Hiking / swiming
Destination Newton Lake, Small Inlet and Waiatt Bay
Date 23 July 2025, Wednesday
Trip Coordinator Vic Gladish
Contact Info vicgladish@gmail.com; 250-287-0459
Description We will hike up to Newton Lake, down to Small Inlet, take the portage trail to Waiatt Bay and then back to the Newton Lake. Distance about 15 kilometres – will take approximately 6-7 hours (including lunch and short swim stops at Newton Lake)
If there is sufficient interest, there will be a shorter option, for those who want to go to Small Inlet, but not continue on to Waiatt Bay.
Meeting Place Quadra Community Centre
Departure Time 9:00
Difficulty
 A rocky, rutty initial kilometer, and a steep section at Small Inlet, plus overall distance makes this a moderate – not easy – hike.
Costs Share fuel costs
Trip limits 10
Dogs? No
Notes: Bring plenty of water, lunch and snacks, and swimming stuff if you want to swim.
The trip is best on a good summer’s day so will be postponed if the forecast is for rain.

Trip Report – Mt. Seymour – 19 June 2025

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We had moved this hike from Wednesday to Thursday due to the heavy rainfall forecast, which didn’t come until afternoon, but it really poured so we were glad that we had.

Five hikers left at 9:30 in the morning from the Granite Bay Road to hike to Mount Seymour. The large ferns on the start of the trail were very wet from the rainfall the night before, but the trail was in good shape. It was a cool pleasant morning with clouds and sunshine that made the moss very photogenic. We briefly stopped to admire the Nugedzi Lakes and could see huge thunder heads to the west toward Gold River. We continued our ascent and stopped on top by the large rock cairn to enjoy lunch and the views. There was a small breeze, but the sunshine had warmed up the rocks, so it was a very pleasant time on top of the highest point on Quadra Island. After this, we went to the viewpoint looking out over Browns Bay and then to the second peak with the view to the north.

We then descended down, following the same path, to the fork that goes to Nugedzi Lake. Because it looked like the thunder heads were coming toward us we decided not to carry on to the Nugedzi view point and we went back down the same route to the vehicles.
8 km, 4 1/2 hours and 500 m total ascent to 612 m elevation.

Les

Thanks to Les and Norris for the photos.

(click on photos to enlarge)    

 

Hiking – Mt. Seymour – 19 June 2025

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.

Trip Report – Cortes Island – 27-29 May 2025

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The first part of the adventure was just getting to Cortes, due to overloads and low tides.  Seven of us went on four different ferry sailings and arrived more or less as planned.

Tuesday: We started at Manson’s Landing Provincial Park to explore the forest and the beach.  The timing was arranged to coincide with a very slightly minus tide around 12:30.  We hiked through the forest to the community of Manson’s Landing and then down along Hague Lake before circling back to walk along the nearly dry Lagoon and out across the sand to the island for lunch.  There were wild roses, death camas and sedums around us as we sheltered out of the wind.  We walked around the end of the peninsula before going to the campground at Smelt Bay Provincial Park before our hike to Easter Bluff.  (Manson Lagoon walk: 5.0 km, 2½ hours, 115m)  The hike to the bluffs is short, but steep and rough in some places.  The morning overcast was just retreating as we arrived on the bluff for the great views over Desolation Sound, Baker Passage and toward the mainland.  (Easter Bluff hike: 2.0 km, 1½ hours, 130m)  We wanted a bit more, so we explored the trail out to Red Granite Point, which we had not visited before.  We found this a wonderful viewpoint for the effort to get there. (Red Granite Point hike: 1.1 km, 1¾ hour, 70m)

Back at the campground, we enjoyed a group happy hour, some of us walked on the beach, and after dinner we sat around a campfire.

(Click on the photos to enlarge)

Wednesday: We were off by 9:30 for the hike to Green Mountain.  The climb went more quickly than we remembered and we were up to the loop on the bluff in half an hour.  The day was very clear and the views in every direction were great.  (Green Mountain hike: 4.1 km, 1¾ hour, 200m)  We returned to the campsite for lunch and then headed out on the beach again with a slightly minus tide at around 13:20.  We walked out toward the end of Sutil Point, but did not go the entire way.  It was a wonderful, if a bit wet, walk.  The extensive flats, the intertidal life, the views and the clouds were excellent.  (Sutil Point beach exploration: 4.8 km, 2 hours)  For a bit more variety, most of us visited the gardens at Hollyhock in the late afternoon.  The garden with flowers, vegetables and herbs is very impressive and photogenic.  The variety of iris in bloom was lovely.  We visited their east-facing beach before returning to camp for dinner and some early packing up, in light of the forecast rain overnight.

Thursday: It definitely rained overnight, but what was more inconvenient was the deluge at 8:30 in the morning, which was not forecast.  If definitely put a damper on enthusiasm for walking.  While some headed home, two headed out to visit the very popular free-store on Cortes, while two others went for the initial planned walk to the south end of Kw’as Park.  We had not used this approach before.  After reaching the park we followed two short loops with a connector.  From the really huge Douglas fir tree, we climbed to the cedar ridge and back down to the bridge over the inlet between Hague and Gunflint Lakes.  We circled back and then climbed up to the short Pierre de trail loop.  It was a lovely, quiet, wet walk.  (South Kw’as hike: 3.5 km, 1 hour, 120m)

We returned to Quadra on three different ferry sailings and by noon the sun was out and the wind was up.  This was a wonderful visit to Cortes with great destinations and mostly great weather.

Debbie

Thanks to Vic, Les and Norris for the photos

Multi-day Hiking, Camping – Cortes Island – 27-29 May 2025

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