Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 2nd September.

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

Last Saturday we drove north towards Van Anda then turning off on Priest Lake Hill we took the winding road that eventuially reaches Kirk Lake.  This deep lake which sits in quite a steep sided valley between two heavily wooded hills is surrounded by private land with no public access, but our destination was the high ridge to the north of the lake which can be reached on logging roads that run through crown land. The roads are in very good condition and provide pleasant walking for more than half an hour until the start of the forest trail is reached.  This meanders from one open area to another as the hiker climbs towards the top of the ridge.  On a couple of steep sections the bone dry arbutus leaves make it hard to avoid slipping, so care has to be taken. A viewpoint not long before the high point offers views east to Malaspina Strait, the coastline south of Powell River and the mainland mountains.  On top of the ridge the open areas provide easy walking heading west until the lunch spot is reached where the bluff drops off steeply and provides a great view of the Georgia Strait, the cliffs below Comox Airport and the snow capped Vancouver Island Mountains. If the recently announced plans to establish a park reserve north and south of Favada Point work out then most of the forested area with rocky outcrops in the centre of my photo will one day become parkland with unrestricted public access.

JD.

An archive of my hike emails may be visited at:—  http://texadatrekkers.blogspot.ca/   Clicking the photos will often bring up larger versions which can be saved if you wish.

 The view west from Kirk Lake Bluffs towards Comox and the Vancouver Island Mountains.      

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 25thAugust.

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

Last week we hiked from the Airport Road to Sandbanks then along the beach and back past the Airport  to the parking place.  The sea was calm and visibility very good, but I was disappointed to find there were no Harbour Porpoise to be seen and hardly a single sea bird.  The tide was quite low and as we walked across the eelgrass beds at Cox Lagoon it was a bit of a surprise to see a good sized Garter Snake working it's way between the barnacle encrusted rocks.  This species does swim well so there was danger of it drowning when the tide came in.  It was curious to see that it had captured a small frog and I think it unusual for frogs to be seen on a beach, certainly not what I would expect at all.

JD.

A Garter Snake with captured frog well out on the beach near the airport.

Next hike.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 18th August.

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

On a recent hike to Balanced Rock Lake and the Thompson Road area we explored a line of bluffs on the south side of Mystery Lake.  On one of the bluffs we visited I spotted a lone specimen of the species of juniper that grows in open areas on the higher parts of the island. It was probably a fairly young shrub, but because it had been regularly browsed by deer it was small and very compact in shape.  It looked as if it had been tended by a meticulous japanese gardener so I call it a 'bonsai' juniper. An interesting fact about this species, Juniperus communis, is that it's the most widespread woody shrub in the world.  It's found in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere not only in North America and Europe, but right across Asia to the Pacific.  

JD.

A 'bonzai' juniper on a bluff near Mystery Lake. 

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 11th August.

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

Last Saturday morning the weather seemed to be warmer than ever and I had requests for a hike that would not include much walking in the full sun.  I choose our popular Black Mountain hike judging, correctly as it turned out, that much of the route would be in shade from the forest both along the logging roads and on the off road trail. Trouble was even in the shade it was pretty hot and the bugs were unusually troublesome especially the deerfly.  As we climbed up the steep trail towards the top of the mountain we sweated and wished a nice cool breeze would greet us at the top.  Sure enough, at the shady lunchspot overlooking Malaspina Strait there was a gentle breeze making it quite pleasant to sit and eat lunch in comfort. 

 

 I think my photo is appropriate for this hot weather as it shows a very smug looking Bullfrog sitting half submerged on a Priest Lake water lily pad. 

     

      A non native Bullfrog keeping cool and wet on a water lily leaf at Priest Lake.    

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 4th August.

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

There was no hike last week.  Towards the end of a hike earlier in the month we had almost got back to the vehicles when we noticed a female grouse with some chicks in the dry grass at the roadside.  The chicks ran off in different directions as we approached and the mother felt we were too much of a threat to be ignored.  She took to the air and launched an airborne attack almost hitting one of us before eventually landing on a branch where she could keep an eye on us.  Meanwhile the chicks had disappeared into the underbrush and the mother soon became calm making it quite easy for me to get this nice shot from below. 

I always wondered why our only species of grouse is called Blue Grouse when there appeared to me to be nothing blue about the bird at all.  The neck skin patches that I once saw on a male during mating season were orange coloured, but it seems that the males of this species living east of the rockies have purple coloured neck patches. 

JD.    

The female Blue Grouse that stoutly defended her chicks from the attacking hikers.