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.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 31st August.

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

Last week we drove south along Bell Road and turned off onto the Masyk Farm Road driving north to the usual parking spot at the gravel pit. It's not a long hike from there to the top of Black Mountain, but the climb up through the forest after we leave the old logging roads is really quite steep in places.  Not far below the high point on the hike there are gaps in the forest that allow for views south towards Twin Peaks and I was a bit surprised to have nothing visible except a grey fog of low cloud and figured we would not have our usual fantastic view at the lunch spot.  Pure luck really, but as we stepped out of the forest the fog started to break up and very quickly the panoramic view of Malaspina Strait below and Nelson Island and the Coast Mountains in the distance was there again.

Thanks Mich for the excellent time delay group photo. I was quite worried for a minute or two that your unattended camera might roll down the cliff next to the lunch spot!

JD.

A group photo of the trekkers last week at the viewpoint near the summit of Black Mountain.  

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 24th August.

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

Last week drove up to the high ground and parked at the road junction at the bottom of Mt. Davies.  The route of the hike started on the old loop trail that passes near Bloody Mountain and the large beaver pond where we sometimes stop for lunch. From there we had a brand new trail recently cut and flagged by some of the trekkers that took us down the south slope of the mountain through open forest until we reached a row of three small bluffs that each offer spectacular views to the west over Lasqueti and with Vancouver Island in the far distance.  

My photo from the hike is of a very colourful fungus with several common names including strawberries and cream.  It's not toxic but it has a very bitter taste which does not seem to have prevented some animal from trying to eat this small one!  

JD.

Hydnellum peckii, the strawberries and cream fungus that is not poisonous, but very bitter.

Next Hike - extra notice.

 [ sent Friday afternoon at 4:00pm ]

Some people did not receive my earlier email notice of the Saturday hike so this is a repeat email to everyone on my list.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 17th August.

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

JD.

Next Hike — from Van Anda Legion again.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 10th August.

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

Last week we met in Van Anda and drove north to a parking place on the gas line about a kilometre from Blubber Bay.  This is the start of the Marshall Point circular hike that was my choice for the very first Saturday hike that I guided more than 25 years ago.  For many years we used to do it at least once a year, but recently not so often and it was no surprise to find the trail was quite badly overgrown in some places.  However, the tide was extra low and we spent more time walking on the beaches and enjoying the many tide pools and interesting rock formations. As usual there were lots of seals on and around the islets to the south of the point and they enjoyed watching us while we ate lunch on the low cliff. Other wildlife we saw included a couple of humpback whales and a fast moving mink that was out of sight before I had a chance to get a photograph of it. 

JD.    

Marshall Point and Limekiln Bay have many tide-pools that can prove interesting to both young and old. [TH photo]

Next Hike — from Van Anda Legion.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 3rd August.

We meet at the Canadian Legion parking at 10:00am.

Last week there were several visitors wanting to join us for the weekly hike and with near perfect weather for hiking we always try to pick one of our very best hiking routes.  With it's two impressive viewpoints, one on each peak, Twin Peaks near Five Way Junction on the road to Anderson Bay, is one that never fails to impress.  There are two starting points for Twin Peaks and we used the southern one this time as recently there have been more than the usual number of tree frogs roaming around in that area this year and it's not just the kids that find them really quite fascinating.  We did find quite a few along the gas pipeline and I think it was the first time I was able to explain that recent research has discovered that this species of frog is able to change it's body colour during it's lifetime.  On Texada when we see a tree frog it's usually green, but not at all too unusual to find ones that are more or less brown in colour.  The change is slow and may take a week of more, sometimes months. 

 

The photo this week shows we had quite a crowd and it does include the photographer for a total of seventeen hikers.  

JD.

   

The latest Texada Trekkers group photo taken Saturday 27th July 2019 at the lunch spot on the south summit of Twin Peaks.  [MM photo]