Next Hike

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

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

Last week most of our usual trail routes must have been snow-covered as the recent cold weather had greatly slowed the melting of the earlier snowfalls. To avoid the snow as much as possible we figured we should include some beach walking with a lunch stop at or near the Sandbanks.  We drove the short distance to the sandpit on Airport Rd. and walked north and then around the end of the runway and down the access road to the beach.  It was a fairly mild day and it was nice to have the light wind at our backs. There is a slight headland just before Sandbanks beach and as we turned that corner we were lucky to find the cold wind could not reach us there, and it was a great pleasure to bask in the warm sun as we ate lunch.

JD.

Basking in the warm sunshine at Sandbanks.  Much of the island was still snow-covered that day, but there was none to be seen along this shoreline.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we had quite a nice day weatherwise, but with low cloud and lots of snow on the ground at higher levels we decided to hike close to the seashore and drove south past Shingle Beach to the south end of the recent big logging area where road building still continues.  Last year we had flagged a new trail route down to the south end of Shingle Beach not far from the old abandoned cabins.  It took a while to find that trail again, but we did manage to make slow progress and eventually headed south along some steep mossy bluffs towards the location of a private cottage that we have hiked past many times over the years.  Usually we would reach this part of the coastline by an old road that is gated at the top not far from the Cook Bay access road gate.  My photo shows the hikers just up from a tiny beach not far from the private cottage.

JD.

  

Hiking the rugged coastline at the far south end of Shingle Beach. This is on the route of a new trail section near a waterfront cottage.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we had near perfect winter weather at the start of the hike as we began the climb up the steep north side trail to the summit of Mt. Grant. However, it was quite a surprise when we reached a good spot to stop for lunch to find that part of our view was covered in fog that seemed to be moving slowly towards us.  As it happened the fog started to retreat after a little while and only then were we able to see Bobs Lake and beyond it Twin Peaks with the Mt. Shepherd ridge beyond that. In the afternoon on the way down the south trail it was interesting to see that many of the Ponderosa Pine trees that Forestry had planted as an experiment two or three decades ago had finally died and had begun to disintegrate.

JD

Trekkers enjoying the sunshine at a viewpoint on Mt. Grant.  Actually there was thick fog to the east of us, but good views to the south and west.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we were lucky with the weather and had a welcome gap in the rain which has been falling on and off more often than usual at this time of year.  Instead of starting off by jumping into vehicles and driving sometimes quite long distances we started our hike from our meeting place, the Gillies Bay Ballpark.  We have quite a good selection of hikes to chose from when we do cut out the driving and they tend to be longer than average, so more exercise and no doubt very good for us.  To reach our chosen lunch spot on Turkey Vulture Bluff we headed up School Road and up the steep hill heading towards Cap Sheaf Lake instead of using the new bike trail route through the forest.  One reason we picked the local hike route that day was because there was low cloud over Gillies Bay that looked as if it probably covered much of the higher ground on our part of the island. Again we were lucky and the cloud was not quite low enough at the bluff to block our view to the west, the sea and even in the far distance the mountains on Vancouver Island.

JD.

Lunch on Turkey Vulture Bluff overlooking Gillies Bay.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week we drove down towards Shingle Beach and were surprised along the way to find the area around and beyond Davie Bay was completely snow free. There had been in recent days so much rainfall, with lots of snow higher up, we figured there would be plenty of water coming over Stromberg Falls and that they would be well worth a visit. Indeed there was and a couple of visitors with the group were duly impressed. As a special treat our hike was for some of us the very first time walking along a couple of brand new trails that wind through the old growth forest just to the north of the Shingle Beach campground. There are some very large Douglas Fir here that must be among the largest specimens on Texada plus some fine old Red Cedar giants as well.  

There are not many mushrooms of any kind to be seen in mid winter, but on the last hike we did come across a very small black species that seems to be quite rare.  It's hard for me to put a name to it, but I believe there are some black species of both Cortinarious and Entoloma, but I could find photos of none that look quite the same.

JD.

A very small black mushroom, perhaps a Cortinarious species, near Shingle Beach.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 27th January.

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

For the second hike in a row we found ourselves eating lunch on a mountain top quite surrounded with a clammy fog.  The week before last we did get a brief glimpse of a nearby peak, but the fog soon closed in again and we just had our memories of how the view looked the previous summer.  Last week the conditions were far worse with a strong cold wind swirling the fog around through the trees, but never a chance of it clearing enough to give us even the chance of any view at all.  The best we could do was hunker down on the lee side of a small cliff and just put up with the large water drops falling on us from the tree branches above! Judging by the weather forecast for the coming weekend we will need to be well prepared for another  cool damp hike again this Saturday.  

JD.

 

Lunch in the forest on top of Black Mountain on a cold, wet and windy day in January.

The Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 13th January.

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

Earlier this week my ophthalmologist gave me permission to return to my normal activities and I'm looking forward to getting back to hiking again on Saturday. I took this photo of one of our common woodpeckers a couple of days ago.  There are actually two species that look to be almost identical, but one is quite a bit smaller than the other.  This is a female Hairy Woodpecker and is larger and has a longer beak than it's cousin the Downy Woodpecker. Both species tend to be quite quiet little birds and when searching for insects on tree bark they tap quite gently compared with the much more noisy larger species.  

JD.

 

A Hairy Woodpecker near Sandbanks, much too busy finding food in the tree bark to notice me watching it.