Next Hike - from the Community Hall in Gillies Bay

The next hike will be on Saturday, 8th August.

As the Blues Music Festival is being held at the Gillies Bay Ball Park this weekend we will meet at the Community Hall this time.  

Last week we met in Van Anda and drove to the south end of Crescent Bay.  This is reached by turning off the Cresent Bay Road onto Woodhead Rd which is on the right not very far past the Golf Course.  At the end of Woodhead a narrow and uneven gravel road heads downhill to a flat grassy area and a short trail to the beach starts at a gap in the bushes.  This beach access is fully legal and is the only usable public beach access I know of on the Texada coastline between Blubber Bay and Gillies Bay.This long curved beach is quite narrow most of the time, but at this time of the year when the annual Texada Sandcastle competion takes place the low tides are very low indeed and happen at a convenient time for hiking. My photo shows just how extensive the beach becomes and how varied and interesting it is for anyone interested in a variety of things that can be found on beaches like this.  It has lots of tidepools, some small areas with just sand and lots of rocks of all shapes and sizes. It's not the easiest beach to walk on and care has to be taken not to fall as some rocks are slick with algae and wet seaweed.  Look carefully and you will see traces of ancient native fish weirs mainly in the more northern section of the beach. 

JD.

 

The wide expanse of Crescent Bay Beach when the tide is especially low.