This hike had been postponed for better weather and we were rewarded with a beautiful, warm day for this short walk with great views. Four of us started from Kolker Main and walked up an old logging spur.  After pushing through a bit of brush we walked the short distance on open bluffs to Heron Point for our first viewpoint extending from Hyacinthe Bay to the Chinese Mountains.  We followed the path into Chauntaluf farm and continued on their roads and 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.  On this day, Mt. Sweat seemed aptly named as the climb was quite warm. We cooled down taking in the 180° views of 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, 3 hours, 180m ascent.

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Hiking – Heron Point and Mt. Sweat – 13 Sept 2026

Debbie

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Hiking – Morte Lake Classic Loop – 16July2026

Well, the day didn’t go as planned as the weather was uncooperative. Five hikers met up, but we were trying to second-guess the rain that had already started. Two decided not to go, but the other three had hopes that the rain would only be temporary. As it turned out, it rained during the whole trip sometimes heavy, sometimes light. On the bright side, it was quite mild and even though we got very wet, we stayed warm due to the long uphill climb to Nugedzi Lake. The rain did add a whole different feel to the trip as your view was confined to a much shorter distance, and you were very aware of your close surroundings. The moss and vegetation seemed considerably greener. As we neared the lake the temperature dropped a bit, and the fog settled in. This changed the whole feeling of your surroundings again and was actually quite eerie but beautiful as you can see in the pictures that were taken.

At this point, we decided not to go out to the viewpoint as you wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway. Instead, we headed back down the trail toward the Cedar Grove Canyon. There we took a connector trail back to the trail going up to Mt. Seymour, which is quite steep in some areas. This is a newer flagged trail that goes through some magnificent large trees and open mossy landscape. Back on the Seymour Trail, it was downhill all the way to the vehicles. (7 km, 320m ascent and 3 hours)

Les

Thanks to Les and Norris for the photos

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We had a lovely spring day for this rarely visited peak. We shortened the hike a bit by parking in the clear-cut and making our way quickly to the Maud Island trail. This trail is in very good condition. After the small creek we turned off onto an even older logging road, which has also had some trail work done on it. However, we soon turned uphill through the open forest and followed a gradual ascent to views over Discovery Passage. We followed the ridge south to the end, where we had lunch on the mossy rocks with views to the south. We ignored the good historical tracks we had for the descent, and chose a route descending through the cliffy bluffs which required some careful route finding and negotiating deadfall and steep rocks. We came out to the Maud Lake trail a bit south of our starting point and returned to the vehicles. We really enjoyed revisiting this area. (About 5.3km, 4 hours, 270m elevation gain)

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Hiking – Mt. Lolo – 10 June 2026