Category Archives: trip photos

Trip Report – Stramberg Old Growth Grove – 2 April 2019

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Nine of us hiked by Vic’s Marsh then on to the Stramberg big trees in Main Lakes Provincial Park.  The weather was a perfect and the trail was in good condition and well flagged. The journey offers lots of variety including open marsh, a homestead site, old corrals and a barn, undulating forest trail with rocky bluffs and fern wetlands, and old logging roads.  There has been some erosion this past year of dirt bridges over creeks, but conditions were very dry for early April.  We ate lunch in the swale leading into the grove and then wandered among the trees.   The trees are impressively big  — and old.  There was frequent wolf scat on the trail.  12 km; 5 hours.

Norris

Thanks to Norris, Les and Cyndy for the photos, and to Stephen and Carrie for the trail camera photo taken earlier.

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Hiking – Stramberg Old Growth Grove – 2 April 2019

Trip Report – Maud Island – 27 Mar 2019

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After cancelling this trip in February due to icy conditions, the weather could not have been better. Fifteen hikers, including five guests, enjoyed the cool of the forest and then the warmth of the sun at the lookouts. Some chose to go up and take in the views from Mt. Lolo, giving themselves a wonderful, varied hiking loop, and others chose to do the lower route to the lookout over Seymour Narrows both ways. 

We met up at the Maud Island lookout where we were treated to a number of eagles flying below us and a least one sea lion frolicking in the eddies. Some hikers took the opportunity to lie back in the sun – pretty amazing for March 27.

A dock has been built just before the causeway which allows boats to get in and pick up debris that has washed up in the storms. The bay was extremely clean – many thanks to all who arranged that cleanup.

We had listed this as taking 5 hours with travel, but with such a large group, and many who were new to the hike, we were gone about 6 hours. 10.0 km; 4¼ hours (from trail head and back to trail head).  The drive is 12.8 km and ½ hour each way.

Sandra

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Hiking – Maud Island – 27 March 2019

Trip Report – Mt. Washington – 20 Mar 2019

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This was our last scheduled trip to Mt. Washington for the season.  On this first day of spring, the weather was very warm, up to 14°C on the hill.  Five of us snowshoed under absolutely clear skies and the snow was better than expected considering the heat.  Terry lead us up the Great Big View trail and on to Finger Glades, with wonderful views of the Vancouver Island mountains.  We stopped for lunch near the high point of the trail before making our way back down to the vehicles.  184m elevation gain;  5.6 km; about 3½ hours.  

Debbie

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 20 Mar 2019

Trip Report – Haskin’s Farm Loop – 13 Mar 2019

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Eight hikers arrived on such a magnificent day for the Haskin’s Farm hike.  We did a short hike through the woods to join the main trail and headed down to the beach. We enjoyed time to sit in the warm sunshine and take in the magnificent views of Sutil Channel and other islands. After leaving the beach we took the trail to the north, to view some old growth trees. Returned to the main trail and up the hill, kept right walking on a wood lot road to eventually reach the abandoned orchard of Haskin’s Farm. Continued on the trail arriving at Fir Road. Back tracked down the trail and returned to our starting point. We took two dogs with us and they loved the attention. It was a joy to hear the birds singing and chatting to each other. We were certainly blessed with a gorgeous day and a lovely, leisurely walk in the park. 4.7 km; 2 hours.

Margot Wood.

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Hiking – Haskin’s Farm Loop – 13 March 2019

Trip Report – Blenkin Park – 6 March 2019

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Five hikers and two dogs enjoyed a one and a half hour hike through Blenkin Park. Starting on the Homestead Trail, we explored two side trails, one called the Swale Trail, and the other a new trail to Smokey’s place on Heriot Bay Road. At the junction of that new trail with the old trail to Smokey’s, we stopped to wonder at the “trinket” tree. Backtracking to Homestead, we continued to Daisy Trail, then west on the Community Trail to Sheppard Trail. Reconnecting to Homestead Trail for a short distance, we turned off onto Blackjack Trail, ending the hike at the east end of the baseball diamond. The weather was dry and partly sunny. Trail conditions were mainly dry with a few snow patches in open areas, but not icy. Along the route we admired many large Douglas fir and beautiful White Pine, large and small, and thick moss draping parts of the forest as the sun shone through the branches. Despite the good trail condition and weather, we saw no other trail users.

Janis

Hiking – Blenkin Park – 6 March 2019

Trip Report – Kay Dubois Loop – 27 Feb 2019

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Since the snow on the local trails has compacted into slippery ice, we moved this trip to a low altitude sunny trail.  Six of us and two dogs hiked the Kay Dubois trail then came back on the logging road between Sutil Road and Fox Drive.  That part still had ice patches.  Then we took the trail down the hill to join the Kay Dubois trail at the strange old sitka spruce tree.  5.2 km; 1½ hours.

Norris

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Hiking – Kay Dubois Loop – 27 Feb 2019

Trip Report – Mt. Washington – 25 Feb 2019

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For our third trip to Mt. Washington area in less than two weeks, seven of us went x-country skiing at the nordic area.   We had yet another day of beautiful weather and snow.  We broke into three groups, with two people skiing the Lake Trail, three skiing out through Paradise Meadows to Far East, and two skiing through the Meadows to Jack Rabbit.  Linda was getting her ski legs back after many years and she was amazing. Five of us had lunch on the balcony at Raven Lodge.  After lunch, one of the five had a “Merry Monday” (mocha and Baileys), two skied out Jutland and back, and two skied out Jutland and up Legacy View before turning back.  The longest day was 20.7 km; about 5 hours.  

Debbie

Thanks to Norris and Stephen for the photos

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 25 Feb 2019

Trip Report – Mt. Washington – 20 Feb 2019

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Six of us had another spectacular snowshoe outing to Rampart Hill.  The snow and sunshine have persisted with the arctic high.  There was a cool breeze, but it was warm in the sun.  We had a few clues about the location of a hut from previous outings, and we thought we would go look for it.  We climbed steeply up the open bluffs above the parking area and enjoyed the great views.  We followed the broken trail, undulating and meandering through the knolls in the open.  We stopped for lunch in a sunny, sheltered spot where we were joined by at least six Canada Jays.  We noticed a number of people visiting the next knoll south of us and decided that must be where the hut was.  So we found it perhaps by luck.  After checking out the hut, we descended to a snow-covered logging road and made a loop back to the vehicles.   4.6 km; 2¼ hours.

Debbie

Thanks to Norris and Les for the photos

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 20 Feb 2019

Trip Report – Mt. Washington – 13 Feb 2019

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Four of us and a dog snowshoed at Ramparts Hill in deep powder.  For the coast, the quality of the snow was exceptional and the sun was glorious.  There were quite a lot of others out enjoying the day and we had our choice of broken or unbroken routes.  We wandered along the open bluffs facing east with views of Sutil Channel and the mainland mountains.  We tried out some steep descents, ascents and had lunch at the top of a knoll before heading back to the car.   6.1 km; 3 hours.

Debbie

Thanks to Norris for the photos

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 13 Feb 2019

Trip Report – Snowden Forest – 6 Feb 2019

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Four club members and two guests, one two-legged and one four-legged, enjoyed a beautiful hike through the Snowden Forest on Feb 6, taking some main trails and several mountain bike trails. Starting out the temperature was about -5 but warmed up to just above freezing later in the morning, full sunshine all day. There was a very light skiff of snow in patches and on exposed areas, frequent frost heaves along the trails, ponds were frozen and Riley Lake nearly so, as determined by our four-footed guest.

We were able to access Snowden Forest via the recently re-opened dam road, considerably reducing the driving time. We parked at the Lost Lake parking lot, headed north on Trimac, then around the east side of Lost Lake, cutting off onto Scotty’s which meandered over the bluffs to the north and west of Lost Lake. We then followed Oggie’s, passing by the west side of Riley Lake. Lunch break was on a small open bluff in the snow. We returned via Trimac again. 2.5 hrs walking, 6 km. We noted the trails to the south and west of Riley Lake for further exploration; with the dam road open, access to this extensive and well-maintained trail network is once again quick and easy.

Valerie van Veen

Thanks to  Les and Val for the photos

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Hiking – Snowden Forest – 6 Feb 2019