Living the best adventure life, since 1958
September 11, 2019
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
That moment when you stand on the end of a cliff, a rope both ahead of you and dangling over the cliff, when you make the conscious decision to step over the edge is the hardest. If it’s your first time or the 100th time rappelling down a rock face, it’s a thrilling feeling.
I’m a prisoner to my work schedule, and my summer vacation kicks off in the final weekend of June. However, since meeting Phil, I’ve come to participate in an annual pre-summer trip known as the Birthday Hike. This annual prelude-to-summer trip has brought us to some of the best places on Vancouver Island.
For two days, starting June 22, 2019, we set our sights on the three peaks which rise high along the ridge, on the west side of the Elk River Trail. The ridge is among the best Island Alpine I’ve had the pleasure of hiking; its near-pristine nature is protected by the awful bushwhack of Butterwort Creek on one end and a gnarly few steps on the other. It’s the type of terrain that is only visited by the crazy few who would seek out these diminutive objectives over the many giants of the Elk River Valley.
Total Distance 28.6 km
Starting Elevation: 312 m
Maximum Elevation: 1826 m
Total Elevation Gain: 2421 m
August 16-18, 2019
~ submitted by Rick King
Friday, Aug 16: At 8 am, nine of us met at the resort at Great Central Lake to catch the Della Falls water taxi. Due to our numbers Doug, owner of the water taxi, had arranged for two boats so we could all arrive at the same time.
June 29-30, 2019
~ submitted by Jamai Schile
The party of six Ramblers set off from the well marked parking area on Western Mine Road. From there the group started the trail that climbs and weaves its way into the alpine. The relatively gentle gradient that gains 1,100 meters to the ridge crests at kilometre 8. The trail is dispersed with a few rolling treed areas that offer some relief from the grade as well as an impressive view point over looking the Myra Falls mine site.
July 7th, 2019
~ submitted by Ken Warren
After a comfortable night camping at the Sayward municipal campground, seven of us gathered at Bill’s Trail head at the base of mount H’kusam.
The weather was overcast with the cloud rising up to give us occasional views then dropping into the tree tops. The ascent was unremarkable except for the unrelenting climb. Trail conditions were very good.
We made it to the col in just under four hours and four of us dropped down to look for the route to the summit. Despite the best effort of eight eyes we could neither find the upper route nor the lower route. We returned to the col and clambered around the rocks for some nice views.
We returned the way we came, which made for a difficult descent. When I do this hike again I will do a car shuttle so we can descend the same way as the racers do. It was a very good day with excellent company. Thanks.
July 21st, 2019
~ submitted by Phil Jackson
With clear skies, cool breeze, and warm –yet not scorching– weather we had high hopes of reaching the summit of The Cats Ear. We had intended to approach via Highway 4 but when we arrived at the head of the “road”, we had a good laugh at the dense bush and changed our plan.
July 9 – 15, 2019
~ submitted by Carmen Zitek
A lifetime objective for a group of five hopeful hikers.
We set off from Port Hardy hostel on the morning of July 10th. Babe the NCT shuttle operator had us leaving for Shushartie Bay at 0700hrs via water taxi.
The weather was not very promising but we decided to forge ahead anyways, us and three German men; Marco, Robert and Uwe.
We arrived after a really lovely boat ride at 0800 hrs….our hearts light and our packs heavy!
Continue reading “North Coast Trail”
June 22, 2019
~ submitted by David Shadbolt
Three of the five people on this hike had never participated in a club trip before. Kerry drove from Nanaimo, Dave (Mitch) and I from Qualicum Beach, Sarah drove from Tahsis via Campbell River to pick up Elliott.
We started trudging up the unpleasant remnants of the ski resort around 10:30 and after a few brief pauses arrived at the top at 12:30 where we had lunch.
It grew more overcast during the ascent and clouds obscured the views at the top. We were surprised by the number of folks on the trip, particularly those families with small children. Many dogs also.
Descending the resort caused a few butts to unexpectedly kiss the earth. Would I do the hike again? No, except possibly in winter on snowshoes– should we have a good snow year.
June 15 – 21, 2019
~ submitted by Sherry Durnford
We lucked out with weather for our June West Coast Trail hike. What is usually a wet month turned out to be ideal conditions for hiking the WCT!
Our group spanned 6 decades from a vicenarian (person in 20’s) to a septuagenarian (person in 70’s) For a group that hadn’t hiked together previously, our trip went famously.
Sept 7 – Phil picked up 3 of us in Parksville Saturday morning at 7:15 – we jumped in with him and headed off to Sutton Pass and the logging road up to the trailhead. The logging road up was quite a trip in itself – apparently the logging company deactivating the road had gone relatively crazy with the waterbars in the last 2 years since Phil and Debbie had been up there. I got a lesson on what my Jeep may be capable of with a competent driver 
