Next Hike — from Van Anda.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 28th September.

We meet in Van Anda at the Canadian Legion at 10:00am.

Last week we had a rather dull cool day, but the rain held off and we did not regret heading up to the high ground for a hike taking us mostly through forest although sometimes we were walking old trails in a different direction and that somehow made them more interesting.  It was not quite planned that way, but we stopped for lunch at the north end of Bobs Lake and as you can see from my photo if you were ever there earlier the recent renovations have made it much more attractive than it used to be.  On the way back to the vehicles which were parked near Mt. Davies we used the winding trail along the east shore of the lake and I would say the beauty of the forest and the water plus the chance to walk on the mounds of green and red Sphagnum Moss made this short trail the high point of the whole route. 

JD.

Trekkers eating luncch at the recently renovated North Campground, Bobs Lake. 

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Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 21st September.

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

Last week we were expecting to have quite a wet day for our hike and were quite surprised when it turned out to be just a dull day with very low clouds even below the treetops in places and hardly any rain at all during the hike. With no point at all of hiking to a viewpoint we headed instead to Dragonfly Lake not far to the north of Black Mountain. Walking on the way to the lake we passed a cut tree trunk that the loggers had left behind when the area was clearcut.  The cut end lying at the edge of the road had been weathered over the years in a curious pattern of contorted ridges and hollows and it seemed so unusual it warranted a photo. The lake has an open bluff at the north end that makes for a very pleasant lunch spot that might even be suitable for a swim in summer as the water seems quite deep at that end.

Judging by the latest weather forecast we may be less lucky this weekend!

JD. 

The intricate patterns created by weathering on one end of a cut tree trunk.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 14th September.

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

Last week the weather was still quite warm and humid when we drove south to the Cook Bay gate parking spot.  The bluffs to the west of Cook Bay cover an extensive area and in recent years we have explored and flagged several long trails over the bluffs and we followed a couple of them stopping for lunch on a medium elevation viewpoint for lunch and then climbed steadily to the highest viewpoint in the area. To finish up without back-tracking we headed steeply down until reaching the main old logging road coming up from the cabin at the beach at the south end of very long Shingle Beach, and used that to return to the vehicles.

Earlier in the summer the Trekkers were exploring and trail building in the area to the west of Angel Lake and visited for the first time three small lakes one of which had some unusual plants in a few places close to the water's edge. None had any flowers, but they did look as if they might produce flowers towards the end of summer.  Curiosity led me to return to the lake a few days ago and it was a very pleasant surprise to find many more plants around the shoreline, in fact dozens of them, with spikes of large blue flowers.  It's a native blue gentian that's only found in a few places along the coast as far north as Prince Rupert and I had seen just a few plants in the old meadows at the Bell Farm a few years ago.

JD.

    

A King Gentian, Gentiana sceptrum, at recently discovered Other Lake.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 7th September.

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

Last week we had a smaller group of hikers than usual and were able to car-pool in a single vehicle for a change. The plan was to do some exploration with the hope we might be able to reduce the length of a hiking trail near Masyk Farm and also to check the condition of an old logging road that runs quite steeply down the east side of the island.  The shortcut trail through some mature open forest took longer than anticipated and was flagged, but will need some cleaning before being comfortable for walkers.  We did find a high point near the old logging road, but the hoped for view towards the mainland just does not exist there. We hope to try again another day.

My photo this week is one taken a few weeks ago when we hiked part way down the south side of Mt. Davies to a new lunch spot at the top of a very steep cliff overlooking Shingle Beach. In the bottom right corner of the picture you can just see the very new and useful logging road that extends south from the Shingle Beach road towards Cook Bay.

JD. 

The view of Lasqueti Island from a very high bluff above Shingle Beach.