Category Archives: trip photos

Trip Report – Blenkin Park Loop – 2 April 2026

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This walk around Blenkin Park was postponed one day and we were rewarded for it. It turned out to be a calm, sunny, warm day for a casual walk in the woods. We did a zigzag path so as to cover all trails in the park without having to do one twice except in two short areas. The sun was glorious shining through the trees, and especially through the long hanging moss. We took a short side trip out to the edge of the low wetlands before we headed up to the big old Maple at the Homestead. After this we wandered to the fire hall and back before continuing on our zigzag path. We wandered down Homestead Trail, and then took a side trip on Swale Trail before going back to the tennis courts. Many trees had come down in this area from the heavy snowfall and high winds. They have all been cut back now, though, and the trail is open. (7.4 km and 2 hours)

Les

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Hiking – Blenkin Park Loop – 1 April 2026

Trip Report – Beaches and Waterfalls – 25-27 Mar 2026

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It didn’t go exactly as planned, but this experiment in early season camping and hiking went well, none the less.  The official days were spared serious rain after postponing the event by one day.  Two campers came a day or two early, but most arrived on Wednesday.  Nine participated all together, on differing days.

Wednesday – We began with a visit to the Englishman River falls in the provincial park.  There was lots of water in the River and the trails were in good condition.  The sun poked out for us.  We started at the upper bridge where the broad river squeezes into the narrow crevasse gradually broadening out.  We took the trail down to the lower bridge to see this change and then hiked back up in a loop.  We took advantage of the covered picnic shelter for lunch.

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After lunch we headed toward Nanoose for a hike up Notch Hill.  This was a lovely walk through stands of arbutus and Garry Oak. As we climbed we had views of Nanoose Bay and the Vancouver Island mountains, though the clouds were down on the mountains.  We stopped at the Rusted Rake Brewery on the way back to the campsite.  After dinner we enjoyed Allan’s campfire.

Thursday – The weather forecast had improved by morning so we added Little Mountain to the itinerary, not knowing a great deal about it.  We started out on fairly predictable bike trails, which also welcomed hikers and horses.  As we went further, the forest was filled with impressive boulders.  After climbing to the shoulder of Little Mountain we followed a trail below the cliffs with fascinating sculpted rocks.  We made our way to the lookout next to the communication towers for the view toward the Vancouver Island mountains, which were still covered by clouds.

We next went to Little Qualicum Provincial Park to see those waterfalls.  We made a loop, heading upstream to the upper falls, crossing the river and walking downstream for the remaining views.  The trails and viewpoints are very well done and the waterfalls were impressive.  From there we returned to the vehicles and visited the Mount Arrowsmith Brewery on the way back to camp.  Allan once again had a great campfire.

Everyone explored Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park on their own.  The trail along the shore, the mature forest, the expansive beach at low tide, the views of the Salish Sea, and the brants were all very photogenic.

Friday – Everyone broke camp and headed out on Friday morning.  Most of us drove to Rosewall Creek Provincial Park and from there hiked up along the river to the falls.  This is a lovely walk through a mature rainforest with lots of moss and some very large trees.  The falls were very impressive.

 

We saw three great waterfalls, two view hikes to interesting geological and ecological areas, and one exceptional beach.  It was really quite cold in the morning and evening though and we were very lucky to avoid serious rain.

Debbie

Thanks to Les and Norris for the photos

Multi-day Hiking – Beaches and Waterfalls – 25-27 Mar 2026

Trip Report – Plumper Bay and Point – 4 Mar 2026

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It was a lovely, mild day for our hike out to Plumper Point.  Starting at the trailhead to Maud Island, it was interesting to see the magnitude of the recently trail work, cutting down danger trees near the trail.  Some of that clearing continued after the left turn on the Maud Island trail. At the creek we cut off on a very old logging road which has been flagged and somewhat cleared.  We descended to the beach on Plumper Bay where the camping shelter has been set up.  Some of the construction is quite good.  There was ample beach for us to walk along the shore out toward the point.  It was the day after a full moon, so the tides were big and the currents active.  We were surprised that there was a three hour difference in the low tide between Campbell River and Brown’s Bay. 

The climb up from the beach back to the old, flagged logging road was quite steep.  It was only a very short distance from there to the beautiful, mossy bluff with the great views of Plumper Bay and north in Discovery Passage.   We stopped for lunch and then made our way out to the bluffs on the Discovery Passage side with views toward the west and south.  We returned through the forest with lots deadfall at first, then a better forest.  We picked up the flagged road again and made our way back.    (8 km; 182m; 4 hours)

Norris
 

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Hiking – Plumper Bay and Point – 4 Mar 2026

Trip Report – Mt. Menzies Lookout – 23 Feb 2026

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This snowshoe trip was rescheduled from the original date due to no snow in the mountains.  It looked bad for the new date too, but then we had a huge snowstorm.  We weren’t sure if chains were required on the Mt. Washington road or if their snowshoe trails would be broken for us, so we opted for Mt. Menzies first lookout instead.  It was a good decision.  Mt. Washington was a zoo, with the resort trying to deal with snow removal and grooming.  There was a lack of parking space for the demand.  On Menzies, we had fresh snow, no crowds and a beautiful spring day.  We made it to the first lookout, enjoyed the view, then decided to do just a bit more before heading back down.  6.4 km, 340m, 3.75 hours.

Norris

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 23 Feb 2026

Trip Report – Heriot Ridge Bluffs Loop – 10 Feb 2026

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Four of us had a leisurely ramble on the south Heriot Ridge bluffs on a gentle, partly sunny winter day.  We started at the Hopespring trailhead and climbed to the two principal Heriot Ridge viewpoints, one facing east and one facing west.  We turned off the main trail and made our way to the communication tower, through some salal, wet places and undulating rock.  We used the handy platform as a place to stop for lunch.  We descended the sometimes steep, mossy bluffs until we reached the forest and the trail to the High Bluff.  After enjoying that view and returning to the trail, we found that the trail down to the North Gowlland trail was so wet that it was not appealing, so we climbed back up to the south-facing, open, mossy bluffs for more views.  In places there are paths, but often the route was quite steep up and down.  We rambled west back to the Hopespring trail and returned to the vehicles. (4.1 km, 3.5 hours)

Debbie

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Hiking – Heriot Ridge Bluffs Loop – 10 Feb 2026

Trip Report – Back Seat Driver-Lower Nugedzi Loop – 15 Jan 2026

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There were eight of us for this exploration of an area which is planned for logging on two sections of cut block 12-148.  This was the first day we had hiked in sunshine for a very long time and we accessed a few locations we had never visited on Club hikes.   We began on the steep ascent up Back Seat Driver, a little used mountain bike trail.  Some of the rocky, mossy bluffs were very steep before it levelled out a bit more through the forest.  We more or less followed an unnamed creek up to an old, disused logging road which we followed to the north until we arrived at the trail to Nugedzi Lakes.  There were some “historic” artifacts along the way.  These first two legs of the hike took us around, but not terribly close to, the southern section of the proposed cut block 12-148.

We stopped for lunch at the bridge across the creek which runs beside the Nugedzi trail and then headed into the second section of the proposed cut block on paths that vary from well used to deer tracks.  This is a lovely area which borders on the unnamed creek where we had stopped for lunch.  The open forest, the moss, and the creek in the dabbled sunlight made an excellent ramble.  The waterfall, with its big-log walk approach, was a highlight.  We continued gradually descending through the forest and along the creek and then followed a very old, moss covered logging road back to the Nugedzi trail.  We closed the loop by walking through the parking lot and along Hyachinthe Bay road back to the vehicles.  (6.2 km, 3¼ hours, 165m elevation gain)

Debbie

Thanks to Carrie, Les and Norris for the photos

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Hiking – Back Seat Driver-Lower Nugedzi Loop – 15 Jan 2026

Trip Report – Morte Lake Loop – 7 Jan 2026

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Nine hikers were eager to head to Morte Lake in the rain.  As we made our way along the classic Morte Lake approach trail, the rain turned to sleet and then to variable snow.  We enjoyed the unusual view from the east beach of Morte Lake with snow falling.  We then went up the switchback trail on the north side of the lake toward the open bluffs, but decided to shorten the trip.  So we turned around and went back to the Lake.  On the return we crossed over to Lower Deadfish and on to the parking lot.  A number of us learned something about the limitations of our rain gear. (7.4 km, 2¼ hours, 180m elevation gain)

Julie

Thanks to Louise and Norris for the photos

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Hiking – Morte Lake Loop – 7Jan2026

Trip Report – Little Black Dress-Silk Stocking Loop – 17 Dec 2025

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Eight brave hikers took a chance on the weather and were rewarded with clear skies and no rain. We hiked the Little Black Dress, Back Door, Silk Stockings loop (counter-clockwise) after many days of heavy rain. The trail was slippery in few sections but nothing unmanageable. The moss was bright green and the bluffs sunny, which provided a wonderful lunch stop. We enjoyed the old copper mining artifacts. Near the end of the loop, we took a side trip to the beaver damn that failed a few years ago but has since been build up again. Unfortunately, there were no sign of any beavers on this trip. (7.3 km which included the beaver damn side trip; 3¼ hours)

Louise

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Hiking – Little Black Dress-Silk Stocking Loop – 17 Dec 2025

Trip Report – Thompson – Hopespring Loop – 10 Dec 2025

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Five of us hiked the loop starting at Thompson trail head and in a counterclockwise direction came out at Hopespring Rd.  It was a short walk on the road back to our vehicles on Thompson Rd. We had steady rain with most sections of trail having running water and large puddles.  We trudged along not stopping for lunch but still enjoying the hike. The Three Sisters (three old growth Douglas Fir) with blackened bark from last major fire on Quadra Island are amazing to see. Another interesting feature was a rock face covered in thick moss and with all the rainfall a waterfall of moisture coming down it. Because of the wet and misty weather we did not go to any of the viewpoints, which there are several on this hike. (5.8 km,180 m, 3 hrs) 

Allan
 
Thanks to Allan and Norris for the photos
 

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Hiking – Thompson – Hopespring Loop – 10 Dec 2025

Trip Report – Plumper and Deepwater Bays – 3 Dec 2025

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Seven of us hiked the old road to Plumper Bay.  The trail is flat and easy.  We arrived a bit too early for lunch, so we continued on to Deepwater Bay, a short, flagged trail to the gravel beach.  We arrived a bit before high tide so there was only a narrow strip of pebble beach available (at lower tides you can walk the beach a long way).  But there was a nice log to sit on for lunch.  The tide was still rising so we didn’t linger.  We went back to Plumper Bay and toured the meadow and old log dump there, and then we returned to the vehicles, getting back before the rain started.  (7.4 km; 110 m elevation gain, 2¾ hours)

Norris

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Hiking – Plumper and Deepwater Bays – 3 Dec 2025