The next hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 28th August.

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

On Thursday we had a special day long hike to the upper part of the South Texada Provincial Park. The weather was excellent, not too hot, but quite dry and sunny and we were able to do some important trail maintenance on our way up to Cathedral Lake. We also did some branch trimming on the side trail to the viewpoint at Pentstemon Point, but we decided to save the Dome Rock and Mt. Shepherd trail maintenance for another day. For several of the hikers this was their first visit to this exceptionally rugged and beautiful part of Texada.

Last week we hiked along the gas line to the west of Bobs Lake and then around the south side of the lake and up to the top of Mt. Flicker on the east side of the lake. My photo this week is of a small fireweed plant growing beside the road not far from Bobs Lake. It's not often a fireweed plant in flower is seen on Texada as the local deer are so fond of it the seedlings seldom survive long enough to reach flowering size. When tall flowering fireweed plants are seen they are invariably on top of old tree stumps or on cliffs where the deer are unable to browse them.

JD.

A young fireweed in flower beside a road near Bobs Lake.

Special Hike to Mt. Shepherd & South Texada Provincial Park.

There was a good response for the special hike to Anderson Bay last week and I'm hoping to do a second one this week. The destination is Mt. Shepherd including Dome Rock, Pentstemon viewpoint and Cathedral Lake. The highest sections of trail are within the upper part of the South Texada Provincial Park.

Along the trail there may be a few problem sections with fresh windfalls and it would be nice to take some time on the way up to clear these as much as time allows. Light hand tools and gloves should be fine for this. The driving time from Gillies Bay to the trailhead is just over 1 hour.

I need to plan the vehicles and seating ahead of time. Only 4x4 vehicles are suitable and we need to be prepared for possible mechanical problems - so jumper cables, air pumps and perhaps puncture repair cans. Last week we had to change a tire on one vehicle.

Please let me know who wants to go, if you have a suitable vehicle and how many passengers you can take.

The day is Thursday, 26th but I will postpone till the following week if rain is likely. We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 9:00am with return time probably between 5:00 and 6:00pm. The trail rises 1,000ft in elevation to the Dome Rock viewpoint and another 500ft above that to the top of the mountain.

My photo was taken last week and shows the rugged coastline at the south end of Texada not far from Point Upwood. This small cove is in the larger of the two provincial parks and the distant shoreline beyond is the south end of Lasqueti Island.

JD.

The rocky coastline of the southern part of Texada Island near Point Upwood.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 21st August.

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

Last week we hiked up the hill behind Gillies Bay to a lunch spot overlooking the tiny Cap Sheaf Lake. It was a very warm, sunny day but there was no sign of the resident Western Painted Turtle basking beside the open water, but there were quite a few recently dug egg holes in the usual area.

On Thursday this week a group of Trekkers headed right down to the southern tip of Texada to explore parts of our two provincial parks. Parking at the end of the public forest road about five kilometres beyond Anderson Bay we hiked the winding trail through open forest to the old Dougan homestead at the head of a tiny cove. We ate lunch on the open grassy bluff above the beach and enjoyed the panoramic view from Thormanby Island on the left to the south tip of Lasqueti on the right with Vancouver Island in the haze beyond. This stretch of rugged coastline is now part of the South Texada Provincial Park. Then we headed back up the main trail to the side trail that took us up a sturday ladder and over low bluffs to the Cox homestead where we chatted for a while with Jim Dougan and his son. After a quick visit to see the pink crinoidal marble quarry the next stop was the head of the narrow bay that is now the Anderson Bay Provincial Park.

My photo is of the rustic Dougan homestead that is so close to the beach I think the spray from the waves must sometimes wash the windows.

JD.

The rustic Dougan cottage at the head of a tiny cove not far from Point Upwood, South Texada Provincial Park.

Extra Hikes to south end of Texada.

I'm trying to find out if there is enough interest in hiking to Mt.
Shepherd and the Anderson Bay area to plan a couple of middle of the
week hikes. There are two options:—

A) Anderson Bay and the shoreline of the park near Point Upwood.
This includes the lower part of the South Texada Provincial Park and the separate Anderson Bay Provincial Park.

B) Mt. Shepherd including Dome Rock and Cathedral Lake. This is in the upper part of South Texada Provincial Park.

Option A is an easy hike but a very long drive. I don't know what the last section of road is like so we need to be prepared with a chain saw and hand tools. The trail is short and a few windfalls will not be a problem as we can likely get around them.

Option B is a very different matter. I understand there are a few problem sections with fresh windfalls and it would be nice to take some time on the way up to clear these as much as time allows. Light hand tools and gloves should be fine for this. The driving time from Gillies Bay to the trailhead is just over 1 hour.

For both trips I need to plan the vehicles and seating ahead of time.
Only 4x4 vehicles are suitable and we need to be prepared for possible mechanical problems - so jumper cables and perhaps puncture repair cans. I would like to do option A this Thursday and then schedule option B for next week or later.

My photo shows the view north towards Mt. Davies and Mt. Grant from the Shepherd ridge. Cathedral Lake is great for swimming and Dome Rock has spectacular views if the weather is clear.

JD.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 14th August, 2010.

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

Last week we had a smaller group of hikers than usual, perhaps because the weather forecast had been a bit depressing. It It had rained during the night, the first significant precipitation for many days, but for the hike it was dry. We decided to just visit the Sand Banks near Gillies Bay as the tide was quite low and there was no point in doing a hike with a view as the hills were still shrouded in cloud after the rain. My photo I call "Patterns in the sand at Sand Banks" has a nice blend of bright green sea lettuce with a cluster of sea anemones closed up and waiting for the tide to come in again so they can resume feeding. How curious the way they use fragments of shells as camouflage!

JD.

Seaweed and sea anemones at the Sand Banks near Gillies Bay.

Next Hike

The next hike is on Saturday, 7th Auguast.
We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

Last week we hiked along Thompson Road and then up onto the bluffs for lunch. This area seems to be a good one for butterflies and there were quite a lot active with the sunshine and the multitude of flowers keeping them happy. One species that is often seen in August is the Common Wood Nymph and I did manage to get a nice photo of one, but only the underside of the wings. They tend to keep their wings closed when they land to feed or rest unlike the fritillaries that always seem to love showing off the intricate patterns on the upper surface of their wings.
JD.