The Next Hike

Check here every week for details on the next Trekker hike!

Friday, September 23, 2016

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 24th September. 
We meet at the Ball Park in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.

Last week we had just a small group of hikers and used a single vehicle to drive down to and past Pocahontas Bay to park about a kilometre south of the bay on the old Pocahontas Main haul road.  From there it was pleasant walking south and east on the Main and then on a side road that almost reaches the sea at Water Tower Beach.  The tower is on the mainland where the Lois Lake penstock, the giant water pipe from the dam, reaches the old hydro power station on the shore of Malaspina Strait.   

Our native squirrel species is Tamiasciurus duglasii, the Douglas Squirrel.  They mostly eat seeds of coniferous trees such as Douglas Fir and Shore Pine or Jack Pine  (Pinus contorta).  They were only introduced to Texada about thirty-five years ago and have quickly become quite common throughout the island.  They are usually quite difficult to approach being both noisy and nervous about potential dangers so I was happy to find one today close to Angel Lake that was too busy getting seeds from fir cones to bother much about me.
JD.

A Douglas Squirrel near Angel Lake.

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