We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am.
Last week the group was small enough to fit everyone into a single vehicle. There was interest in getting back to the starting point at the Ballpark at around 2:00pm so I decided we should make use of the impressive new forest trail at Shingle Beach in the morning and then after lunch take a short tour of the campground. As it happened we ran into a problem with fallen trees blocking part of the trail and it took us quite some time to circumvent the problem and find our way back onto the proper flagged route. We ate a late lunch on a grassy bluff overlooking the sea and missed seeing the rest of the campground.
An important feature of the new trail which starts on the left just before you reach the new welcome sign at the entrance to the campground are the many very large old growth trees in that part of the forest. Just a word of warning for less able hikers because there are several parts of the trail where the route runs along fallen tree trunks and up and down some steep banks without steps. Ropes have been provided in a few places.
My photo this week is of the giant Western Red Cedar tree on the northern part of the trail, but there are also quite a number of giant old growth Douglas Fir towards the southern end at the upper campground sites.
JD.
The massive base of perhaps the biggest and oldest Western Red Cedar tree on Texada? An ancient giant on the new trail at Shingle Beach
No comments:
Post a Comment