Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 27th August.

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

Last week with a very small number of hikers for a change we drove in just one vehicle up to the High Road and parked where the Hydro line heads up from the road to the top of Pocahontas Mountain.  Walking north quite a distance we eventually turned off on the left onto the remains of a logging road that took us to the lovely picnic spot at the south end of Cap Sheaf Lake.  No sign of the turtles out of the water as usual, but lots of evidence that the females had been busy egg-laying.  

My photo this time is one I took on the recent mid-week day long outing to the south end of Texada, Anderson Bay, Point Upwood and Mt. Dick.  This was my first visit to this peak which is much lower than Mt. Shepherd and has very different views west and north towards Lasqueti Island and Cook Bay.  The hike through the old growth forest was very pleasant, the trail in good shape and now we know where it starts from perhaps one we will revisit another time.  

JD,

The view from just below the top of Mt. Dick looking west with the south end of Lasqueti Island at the top of the picture and 

some of the smaller island in the Sabine Channel.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 20th August.

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

Last week we drove up Bell Road past Sienna Road and parked in the shade at the start of Hydro East Road. From there we hiked past Bell Farm on the main road and turned off on the forest road that starts at the gas pipeline cathodic protection installation.   Then it was a fairly gentle shady route through the forest that took us across the Hydro East Road then onto the side road that ends at the recent clearcut with a wonderful view over Malaspina Strait. 

My photo is of one of the more common butterflies on Texada and in the Pacific North-west.  It happens to be feeding on the invasive weed the Tansy Ragwort that is considered toxic to domestic  livestock.

JD.

A Common Wood Nymph on the bright yellow flowers of Tansy Ragwort.

Next hike.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 13th August.
We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

Last week we drove down to Shingle Beach and started our hike from there hoping to use the old logging road route to the abandoned cabins on the beach south of Shingle Beach. We started the uphill section at the top of the campground area and made good progress until we reached the recent clearcut that has obliterated the old road. I knew we needed to work ou way along the edge of the clearcut and look for where the old road doubles back and heads downhill. We spent some time looking, but failed to find it so changed plans and headed north back towards the Shingle Beach Road taking the brand new logging road this time. What I had forgotten is that there are now two similar clearcuts that have both wiped out all trace of the old road and therefore we should have continued uphill until we reached the second clearcut. Had we done that we would have quickly found the old logging road again where it heads down to the cabins on the beach.

Never mind, we ended up have having lunch on a clifftop on the new coastal hiking trail. On the way there we viewed some of the beautiful Arbutus and the much older Western Yew trees that grow in and around Yewtree Bay. At the lunch spot we enjoyed the company of a very trusting Northern Alligator Lizard that kept still for photos for a short time. If you look at the end of it's tail you can see that the last part is black instead of brown and this is because at some time it lost that end part and has since then regrown the part it lost!
JD.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we had a lovely clear sunny day, dry and not too hot although with quite a strong gusty wind that meant it would be best to stay out of the forest as much as possible.  We drove south on the Davie Bay Rd. to Eagle Creek then turned left and headed up towards Thompson Rd.  Part way up the road becomes quite steep and this gradient proved to be a bit too steep for one of the three vehicles in use that day. Not in the least perturbed the owner quickly turned it around and speedily completed the narrow steep section — in reverse.  Nice work, Brian!  The walk along Thompson Rd. was very pleasant and we were glad to have some shade trees on top of Thompson Bluffs where we ate lunch.

My photo this week was taken on a recent hike along the shore north of the Sandbanks and shows an unusual boulder that caught my eye next to the logs at the edge of the trees. This kind of rock is created deep below the surface of the earth when a molten magma, light in colour in this case, forces it's way into a solid rock quite dark in colour.  Some broken fragments of the dark rock got caught up and carried upwards by the liquid rock which eventually slowly cooled.  The resultant rock can be called a breccia as the smaller peices are angular and not rounded as they have to be to give a rock the name conglomerate. 

JD.    

This unusual beach boulder is an example of a light coloured magma with fragments of dark brecciated host rock.

Next Hike — extra notice.

This notice from Terry Hollo:—

Summer 2016 Texada Trekkers Additional Hike (Mid Week)

John Dove has kindly volunteered to lead an additional summer hike, to South Texada Island including Anderson Bay and Mount Dick. In 2015 the Trekkers did this area and attempted to hike up Mount Dick. The trailhead at that time was not located so an alternative hike was taken with a grand view point to the east. Since then the trailhead location has been found, the trail checked out and for 2016 the plan is to repeat some of the beautiful areas covered in 2015, PLUS new options, and a hike up Mount Dick! (Although Mount Dick sits in the shadow of Mount Shepherd, it offers spectacular views as well as a much shorter, and very scenic forest trail to the peak.)

SPECIFICS:

• A minimum of two - 4x4 high clearance vehicles.  

• Meeting location:   8:00am at the Gillies Bay Ball Field

• Duration will be a long day.  Driving time to Anderson Bay is over 1-1/2 hours (depending on potholes and rough 4x4 portions). Due to unforeseen circumstances the hike may be longer than expected so specific dinner meal time plans should be avoided.  Best to plan to be back early evening.

• This will not be an overly strenuous hike, but it will be long day.  The longest hike will be up Mount Dick in the morning – aprox 2+ hours return, up a forest trail, some sections are quite steep.  We will also be walking short trails in South Texada Park that reach the coastline to the south of Anderson Bay.

• Chain saw and gas -  we may need a chain saw to clear the road.  

Possible Dates

Tues-Wed-Thur August  16,17,18

Tues-Wed-Thur August 23,24,25

Tues-Wed-Thur August 30, 31, September 1

Tues-Wed-Thur Sept 6,7,8

At this point Vehicles and Driver availability will determine the dates.  

Solicit and be nice to 4x4 drivers so we can go!

TREKKERS:

Please let me know asap what dates you are available 

4x4 DRIVERS:   

Please let me know asap what dates you are available to drive and how many PASSENGER seat belts you have.

Contact

Dates you can come, 4x4Drivers Dates can drive

Terry: jthollo@twincomm.ca

For specific hike/trail conditions and expectations,

John Dove —  kjohndove@yahoo.com