Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 6th February.

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

Last week the weather was not that great, but even so a good number of hikers were keen to head off somewhere interesting.  We drove up to a parking place on the gas pipeline near First Lake and headed off walking on the old logging road that runs east through the forest towards Hydro East Road.  With no wind and no rain either it was quite pleasant for walking although there seemed to be a few more fallen tress to get past along the way. Reaching the well maintained Hydro East road we made good speed going south until the side road we needed to take to reach the lunch spot slowed us down.  At one time this short logging side road was easy walking right to the lovely forest lake, but then it was dug up and planted over with sapling trees by forestry.  Years later its totally overgrown with bushy firs and pines and could do with a little trail clearing. 

The lake is shaped like a horseshoe with dry land in the middle that makes a comfortable spot for lunch. The bark on the lower part of each of the trees close to the water was long ago eaten off by beaver and are unlikely to remain standing for many years more.

JD. 

The still beauty of a forest lake in winter — Horseshoe Lake a short distance off Hydro East Road.