Next Hike

The next hike is on Saturday, 26th November.

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

Last week we had a dry morning for a change, but with somewhat lower temperatures this time.  Again we decided to avoid the hunters as far as possible and drove south to the Cook Bay gate parking spot. To start with we hiked down the Cook Bay road retracing our route on the last part of our hike the previous week.  Leaving the main road just before a white gate we headed uphill on an old logging road running east to a fork where we took the right side branch and headed south-east into never before visited territory.  It proved to be a good road for hiking for quite a long way until near the end where it was overgrown and quite difficult.  That was OK as the bluff on our right was so close we were able to scramble up to a high point with a view south of the Mt. Shepherd flank, Mt. Dick and the southern part of the Sabine Channel.  However, it was very windy above the forest and we needed a more sheltered spot for lunch.  That we soon found not far away and it meant we could have a pleasant rest and time to enjoy a very new view to the west towards Vancouver Island in the far distance.

JD 

Lunch with a view on a steep bluff east of Cook Bay.  The small islands are at the north end of the Sabine Channel, between Texada and Lasqueti.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday 19th November.

We meet at the Ball Park in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

Last week were again reluctant to hike anywhere except in a part of the island we knew would be free from roaming hunters. As we did the previous week we again parked just outside the Cook Bay gate, but this time istead of hiking west and down to the beach we set off towards the east to check out the condition of some of the old logging roads in that area to the north-east of Cook Bay.  I came as a pleasant surprise that the oldest logging roads were still in very good condition with almost no overgrown sections at all. The weather was not so good and we found ourselves once again eating lunch in showery conditions.  

It looks as if Saturday will be rainy once more, but without sunshine there can be no rainbows.  On the other hand the two species of salmon that return to spawn in our creeks every year have been doing very.  All this extra rainfall has kept the flow of fresh water quite high and the numbers of Chum going up our main river, Mouat Creek, has been far higher than usual. 

JD.

 

Rainbows have been scarce for weeks so it was nice to see a few days ago a rare double rainbow in Gillies Bay during a short sunny period.  

Next Hike.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 12th November.

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

For the hike last week we had another day with showers at times, but it was very mild for this time of year and there was no wind so really not too bad for hiking.  We thought it best to try to avoid the many hunters who roam the island at the peak of the hunting season and set off to the far end of the public road to Cook Bay where we parked just outside the gate.  From here our hike route soon took us around the locked gate on the old road down to the beach with the waterfront cottage.  We knew the gate cannot be bypassed even by ATV's and sure enough we never saw or heard a hunter on the entire hike.  We ate lunch in light rain sitting on the logs beside the sea with nothing louder than a couple of loons calling from a short distance offshore.

On my way to the Ballpark a week earlier I had a chance to get very close to a visiting pair of Snowgeese feeding on the grass near the RCMP building in Gillies Bay.  There has been many large flocks of geese passing overhead this fall and I suspect the majority of them have been snowgeese — they sound different to the Canada Geese you know. It's odd with so many thousands passing overhead, but we very seldom have them landing and hanging around for a few hours or a couple of days.  The pair in my photo looked OK, not injured or sick, and afer a couple of days they were gone again.

JD.

   

A pair of Snowgeese feeding on the grass near the RCMP office in Gillies Bay at the end of October this year.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 5th November.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay.

Last week the weather was a little drier after some days with both wind and rain and we headed first  for the Stromberg Falls near Davie Bay to see if they were putting on a display for us.  There was lots of water and more than enough  to have two of the three distint sections almost full.   Then we drove on towards Shingle Beach and parked to give us a fair distance for exercise.  Just before reaching the park entrance we spotted a new trail that looked to be worth exploring and were lucky to find we could get to a grassy bluff overlooking the sea, just nice for our lunch spot.

My photo this week was taken on a recent hike to Mt Pocahontas.  This is a beautiful but poisonous species of mushroom that has several different colour forms that range from bright red as in this specimen through yellow and grey to almost white.  In each case the distinctive warty lumps are usually present and help with identification.  The species name, muscaria, is latin for fly and the connection to this insect is due to the fact that the flesh was used to kill flies that are attracted to it.

JD.

Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, must be the most striking mushroom you may find in our forests.