Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 27th February.
We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

Last week we hiked up the steep way to the top of Mt. Pocahontas. It was sunny and mild, but for most of the day Gillies Bay remained in the marine fog which extended across to Vancouver Island, and both north and south as far as we could see.

My photo this week is a follow up on the the hike we did on the 6th of February. This was the time we hiked up towards Eagle Mountain and Thompson Road and came upon a couple of sink holes close to the old logging road we were following. In both cases there were small creeks flowing down into them and soaking into the ground and I explained that this happens to be a curious feature of areas of limestone outcrops. Since then I have been back to the sink holes with a couple of cavers and at one of them we discovered a small cave. My photo shows a caver from Hornby Island emerging from this cave which seems to be quite a small one.

Next Hike

The next hike is on Saturday, 20th February.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

Last week we wandered around in the forest at Blubber Bay, not entirely sure where we were going to end up, and cut the hike short to have plenty of time to visit the museum there and in Van Anda, both open specially to mark Heritage Day As we were close by we decided to have lunch in the warmth and comfort of the ferry waiting room. To offer a suitable contribution to celebrate Heritage Day, better late than never, I thought for my photo this week I should use an old photo I took back in 1969. I must have stood not very far from where the waiting room stands now facing across the bay to the company houses of BC Cement. All that is left of that row of very smart buildings are the concrete foundations partially covered by bushes and trees. That year the old government dock was being replaced as the ferry berth by a new one that could handle the brand new "Texada Queen". You can find a good photo and a full history of this 30 car ferry, which has sailed under the new name "Tachek" since 1980, at this web site:—

http://westcoastferries.ca/ferries/bcferries/tachek.html

JD.

Blubber Bay in 1969 with the ferry dock under construction. The old ferry "Atrevida" on the old government float at the left.

Hike Notice extra - after hike event.

The hikers on Saturday will meet in Van Anda.  This is the event:— 

The Texada Heritage Society invites the Texada Trekkers to an Open House:

 

Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Date: Saturday, February 13, 2010

 

New Exhibit of clothes and uniforms at Blubber Bay Museum ONLY

 

Tea & Sweets at Van Anda Museum ONLY (No admission, by donation)

JD.

Next hike from Van Anda

The next hike will be on Saturday, 13th February.

We meet at the Legion parking at 10:00am

Last week we decided to check out an old logging road up from the Davie Bay road almost as high as Thompson Road. I had seen it on Google Earth and it looked interesting because it ran between a series of rocky bluffs. It turned out that there were actually two old logging roads running parallel to each other, and one of them was hidden by alders on the images I had looked at. Naturally I lead everyone up the wrong one which ended near a tiny mossy clearing in the forest. So no views, but we did discover a couple of quite impressive sink holes where surface streams simply disappeared into large depressions in the ground.

JD.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 6th February.
We meet at Gillies Bay Ballpark at 10:00am

Last week we met in Gillies Bay in quite dense fog and decided to
head up to the high ground in search of some sunshine. With no snow
on even the highest parts of Texada we knew we would have no problem
going as high as we wanted so off we went. Up, up and up some more
and past the Reactor Station turnoff and it did seem to be a bit
brighter. but still no sunshine. We parked at the next road junction
after driving under the power lines and set off up towards Bob's
Lake. Even there it was still foggy so on up the Flicker Mountain
trail we headed, but to no avail. We ran out of time and of mountain
to climb and sat down to eat lunch on the damp rocky mountain top over
2,000ft above the sea as a light rain began. Good exercise though,
and with mild temperature and no wind not at all uncomfortable. Pity
we missed the view!