Next Hike from Van Anda.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 1st August.

We meet in the parking area at the Royal Canadian Legion in Van Anda.

Last week we drove south and parked at the spot where the Cook Bay Rd starts its long descent to the sea. The hike destination was the top of nearby Mount Davies, but along the way we branched off on the side trail to Bloody Mt. viewpoint.  Returning then to the main south trail it was interesting to see as we headed higher that the water in the beaver ponds the trail skirts was drying up.  I've never before seen the big green leaves of the yellow flowered water lily quite so brown and withered as they are this year.   The view from the summit was as great as usual and the very slight cooling breeze made eating lunch in the sun very pleasant.

My photo this time was taken on a recent hike to a bluff high above Cook Bay and it was the curious shape of the moss hugging the tops of some rocky outcrops that caught my eye.  The bright green low growing Juniper is a mature shrub with quite a good number of the distinctive grey berries typical of this genus of shrubs and trees. 

JD.

It was something that really caught the eye — grey-green moss so oddly shaped growing on rocks in a 'sea' of bright green Juniper.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 25th July.

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

My photo this week was taken on our recent hike into Dragonfly Lake.  The beaver dam is at the south end of the lake and I have never had a good look at it so I don't know if there is anything special about it. However, the beaver must be doing a good job of maintaining it as I noticed the water level had dropped very little after a long spell of quite dry weather. As we walked towards our lunch spot at the north end we passed betwen several fair sized trees that had been largely stripped of their bark as high as the beaver could reach.  They had not attempted to fall any of the trees but they may well do so if they want to feed on the needles and bark of the smaller branches higher up.

JD.

The work of a hungry beaver close to the edge of Dragonfly Lake.  

Next Hike,

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

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay.

Last week the weather was overcast when we met at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay and it was raining to some extent for most of the time we were driving and hiking.  We parked on the road that heads down towards Russ creek and the White Pine rust disease study area walking part way before turning off on the side road to Dragonfly Lake.  Although it was damp hiking through the narrow trail alongside the lake and it rained a little more than earlier as we ate lunch on the bluff at the north end everyone seemed quite happy.  The fact that we were having some rain at last after quite a long hot dry spell was enough reason to be cheerfull. 

My photo was one I took a few days later when the air was dry again and I was doing a botanical excursion to the Eagle Creek and Mouat Bluffs area with a visitor form the Lower Mainland. She had never been on Texada before and was especially interested in some of our rare ferns and related species of plants and I was able to show her some  fine specimens for her to photograph.  The butterfly is a kind of Fritilary, but as there are quite a few species that are similar I'm not sure exactly which one this might be. 

JD.

 

A Fritillary butterfly feeding on a roadside daisy flower near Eagle Creek.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we drove a long way sout, right down past Angel Lake and the Twin Peaks Trail and parked at the Fiveway Junction.  Taking the old Cook Bay cut-off road we walked down hill and took the second logging road on the left, south side, of the road.  This climbs fairly steeply uphill in nice forest shade for some distance and then drops a little before levelling off.  There used to be a good viewpoint on the right on this section of the road, but the trees are growing so rapidly here that the view is spoilt now.  After a short seach we found a new spot with an even better view with shade trees as a bonus.  The smoke that has bothered the entire coast for the last few days had not arrived last Saturday and we had clear views to the south west of the Sabine Channel, Lasqueti Island and the mountains on Vacouver Island.

JD.

http://texadatrekkers.blogspot.ca/ 

        

        The view of the Sabine Channel, part of Lasqueti Island with Mt. Arrowsmith in the far distance.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we drove down the Davie Bay Rd as far as Eagle Creek, then turned left and parked just after the old sand pit.  From there we had welcome shade right from the start and it was pleasant and rather surprising after a long spell of hot dry weather to be walking on short green grass. The old logging road climbs quite steeply for a while and only eases off after it passes a small swamp on the right. Reaching Thompson Road at a T junction we turned right and headed south, still in the forest shade, but now on a quite level stretch of road.  Our lunch spot destination was to be Balanced Rock Lake and this is at the end of narrow winding rather overgrown trail that climbs steadily from the end of a short spur road on the left of the main road. 

It was great to find an adult Nighthawk on the ground in the very same area where we have seen this species nesting in the past. We were careful about not stepping on the eggs which are laid on the bare ground where there are small patches of open forest, but saw no eggs or young this year. 

JD.

Hiking in the cool dappled shade along the northern part of Thompson Road.       Stu Broderick photo.