Next Hike

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

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

Last week we drove south past Shingle Beach to park at the Cook Bay gate.  Hiking south from there we used logging roads and recently flagged trail over open bluffs and through areas with forest cover until we arrived at the base of a massive rock face that towered high above us.  Working our way along the foot of the wall of rock brought us to the lower end of a trail that curves upwards on a narrow ledge and this eventually took us above the tree tops.  Still climbing, at first on the grassy slope of a high ridge and then finally to the highest point where we were rewarded for our efforts and reached the viewpoint in my photo below. What a perfect day and what a wonderful view and it was the very first time for me to step foot on the South Wall Bluff.

JD.

The view of the southern part of Lasqueti Island from the top of South Wall Bluff which was our lunch spot south of Cook Bay.

Texada Trekkers website:   http://texadatrekkers.blogspot.com/2019/

Next hike.

The next hike will be on Saturday, 20th April.

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

Last week we had another one of those damp and windy days that seem to have been happening a little more often than usual this year.  The snow has gone now from the highest roads on the island so we headed south towards the high ground and parked on the gas line not far from the Hydro Reactor Station.  By heading west under the wires and using the access road that zig-zags down the right of way we eventually reached Thompson Road and then left the wires behind walking north as far as the first side road on the right.  This climbs quite steeply up through a large area that was logged and replanted quite a few years ago.  It was a bit cool and damp where we stopped for lunch, but I was happy to discover a neat little patch of the common Monkey Flower.   Erythranthe guttata is the scientific name for it now as it used to be in a different genus called Mimulus.  It is native over a surprisingly wide area of western North America and I understand it can be found on high mountain ranges as well as along the coastline.  Locally it's very common on the coastal bluffs of Texada often giving them vivid splashes of bright yellow in springtime.

JD.

The bright yellow blossoms of Monkeyflower on a small bluff above Thompson Road.

Next Hike

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

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

Last week the weather was not great, with very strong winds that had the ferries tied up for a good part of the day and with frequent and variable intensity rain showers from time to time. The only helpful thing about it was  that the cloud base was not so low that it cut out the view from our lunch spot on Mount Manzanita.  Most of the time we were hiking the sky was overcast, but just by chance the sun came out as we reached the lunch spot, and the extra warmth was very welcome. 

Some of the hikers have been wondering if it might be possible to do a beach potluck picnic sometime soon, with Secret Beach at the mouth of Stromberg Creek as a possible location.  Nothing has been settled so far, but I will let you know if and when it is.

JD.

Hiking the steep trail down from the viewpoint on Mount Manzanita.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 6th April.

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

Last week we drove south past Shingle Beach and on through the long stretch of clearcuts to the junction with Cook Bay Road.  Turning left there instead of going right to the gate we headed uphill a short distance and parked. This section of logging road climbs quite steeply and it gave us a good workout walking up to the next road junction where turning right got us onto an old grassy uphill road that passes an ancient logging truck abandoned there many decades ago.  At the highest point just where the road starts to go downhill we took to the forest knowing we would soon reach a bluff we had only visited once before and at that time, a very cold winter day with snow on the ground, we sat for lunch there in a dense low cloud.  My photo this week shows just what a fantastic view we had missed seeing on our previous visit.  And what a glorious day we had enjoying our lunches in the clear calm spring weather. 

JD.

 

A lovely view to the west from Foggy Bluff high above the Shingle Beach clearcuts.  Mount Arrowsmith is the peak on Vancouver Island with part of Lasquiti Island in the foreground.

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Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday 30th March.

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

Last week our hike was a little shorter than usual as we needed to finish in time to attend a meeting about a shellfish project at North-east Bay.  We started off on School Road at the Ballpark and headed uphill along the old logging road that passes Cape Sheaf Lake, turning off before that to reach a nice grassy bluff with a view towards Gillies Bay. The return route to the starting point used some of the new mountain bike trails that criss-cross the forest on the slopes below the bluffs.

My photo this time was taken earlier in the month when I noticed some caterpillar tents on a conifer, in this case a hemlock tree.  For many years we have had regular tent caterpillar invasions that mainly affect deciduous trees and most often our common Red Alder which are sometimes totally stripped of foliage.  This time the food was the tough needles of a conifer and the tent had a much darker appearance as can be seen in my photo.  Also these are a different species of moth with long brown hairs and are not smooth, but I don't have a name for them yet.  I also noticed they were not being killed by late overnight frosts.

JD.

A different kind of tent caterpillar that had established a fairly large tent on the branch of a hemlock tree.

Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 23rd March.

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

Last week we did a modified version of a hike the Trekkers used to do sometimes many years ago that started from Van Anda and reached by lunchtime a bluff on the east end of Spectacle Lake.  Even though there are now several houses on that shoreline the lunch spot still seems quite remote from any local human activity. The route we used in the morning was through a very large clearcut area to the south of the main Blubber Bay Road and then in the afternoon we returned on a very new trail through the forest below the Van Anda TV Tower.

JD.

On a bluff overlooking Spectacle Lake I'm sharing some information about climate change with the other hikers.