Category: Activity

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Forbidden Plateau Exploration

August 16 – 19, 2025

~ submitted by Wendy L & Julianna W

Plan A was Augerpoint Traverse over 4 days, but when the forecast changed to rain and at least one -2C night, 3 of our 6 dropped out.  Our original plan was no longer viable, as the shuttle cost would be too high for 3 people. Julianna reached out to see if anyone still wanted to go into Strathcona for a few days so 3 of us headed in.  Plan B morphed slightly into Plan C to avoid potential heavier rain on the last day.

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Stowe Mountain, Mount H’kusam, Springer Peak Trifecta

July 18, 2025

~ submitted by Sarah Duncan

This trip was out plan B trip as our original trip to  Flower and Shepherds ridge was cancelled due to weather. 

Two of the four of us decided to check out these three mountains instead. 

We met in Nanaimo and drove up to Sayward Friday morning. I had been up Stowe last year but wasn’t able to summit due to weather so was excited to go back and to tap on Springer and Hkusam as well. 

We started up the logging road from the Hwy just south of Sayward gas station (which has great ice cream by the way) and started the ascent. I knew there was logging that was coming in the area and was hoping that it had not started yet… to our surprise, no logging (I heard that who ever is working in there is on strike right now) but the road which had previously ended 8.4 ish Km up from the hwy leaving just under 3KM to walk on an old grown in road before entering into the Beautiful Stowe valley now is punched through right to (and past) the trailhead buffing off almost an hour of walking. 

We were on the col between Stowe and Hkusam in no time, having also discovered the trail split off towards Hkusam for the next day (or so we thought was going to be our way up). 

We summited Stowe with a wee scramble to amazing views up there of the water and islands between van isl and mainland… 

Then back down to the col and the short (112M) decent to the lake where we set camp and had dinner and a swim before heading up the easy and fun scramble to Springer Peak. Also providing beautiful views of Victoria and Warden peak (and surrounding peaks) as well as open views of Sayward village, the dynamic water ways, islands and mainland. 

After spending some time up there admiring and chatting about other climbs we would like to do, we headed back down to one of the quietest sleeping spots I have ever experienced.  I have named the lake spot Silent Lake due to the lack of sound there. It was amazing. One lone thrush in the morning, that was it. 

We packed up and left Silent lake around 830 to ascend back to the col. The previous day we had decided to head up Hkusam Via Lyles trail instead of the bowl which we had originally planned (smart as the snow gully would not have been possible to go up due to the snow conditions)

This is a wonderful way to the top with some great scrambling, a wee bit of slight exposure spots where you wouldn’t want to slip and stunning views of the island mountain ranges. 

We summited and read through the summit book (neither Stowe nor Springer had summit books that we could find). It was fun to see so many familiar names. 

We descended the same way returning to the col where we had left our overnight stuff in about 4 hours and we rambled back down the Stowe Creek trail and drove out. Had a great cool down dip in the Salmon River, grabbed a very generous ice cream at the gas station and headed back down island. 

You could summit these three beauties in a day but it sure was nice to stay up there and take our time. 

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Klitsa Mountain

July 13, 2025

~ submitted by Evan Martin

My wife and son left Saturday to visit their family, so I was looking to get out of the house for the weekend.  With so many mountains on the island, I sometimes run into decision paralysis in trying to decide where to go. This is when I often turn to lists like the Lifetime Climbing Objectives for inspiration. Although most of these objectives are larger objectives that take a bit of planning, Klitsa Mountain seemed like a bit of an outlier and a low hanging fruit.  Noting that there were no other day hikes happening, I made a last minute decision to add it to the schedule.

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Nine Peaks

June 21, 2025

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

The Trip: Nine Peaks

I’ve been to Nine Peaks before. It’s a relatively straightforward third-class scramble — if you’re on route and the environment cooperates. But when I picked this location months ago, I had no idea what conditions we’d face. I chose the longest day of the year and planned a four-day itinerary to give everyone a fair shot at summiting. In the days leading up to departure, I nervously checked four different forecast models twice a day, trying to build a reliable picture of what we’d face. Even as we departed, I was still holding my breath.

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Mount Joan, Squarehead Mountain, Mount Curran Loop

June 29, 2025

~ submitted by Evan Martin

I was a little disappointed when I failed to bag Mount Joan this winter.  My first attempt was in March this year.  We turned around after 5 hours prior to making the ridge.  I was expecting this to be a big day, and was waiting for an opportunity to give it another attempt.  So when a free weekend came up early this summer, it became an obvious objective.  

I posted the trip with little expectations.  Although not officially a long weekend, I figured many people would be taking the Monday off and taking summer trips.  However, I ended up with two Ramblers joining me.  

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Mount Geoffrey (Hornby Island)

June 10, 2025

~ submitted by Dorothy Benneke

7 of us had one of those perfect Gulf Island days for Mount Geoffrey on Hornby Island…it was a new hike for a few of the group.  We enjoyed the Middle Bench and Ridge Trails with spectacular views over Lambert Channel.  

For the lunch spot, a local biker directed us to a bench which offered great views (but also added on a few extra kms!). On the return trip, the busy Denman ferry was running shuttle sailing mode, but an ice cream stand made the wait time a bit sweeter.

My track showed 17.5km with 585m accumulated elevation.

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Septimus X-Gully

May 31, 2025

~ submitted by Evan Martin

Three Ramblers headed out from Bedwell Lake trailhead towards mount Septimus.  We drove through torrential rain from Victoria, feeling pretty pessimistic about the forecast.  However, the forecast was true to its word, and we departed the trailhead at 12:30 with clear sky’s.  We began to encounter snow just prior to Baby Bedwell.  It was patchy and generally supportive, but we had to be extra careful getting on and off staircases, crossing small streams, etc.  the snow disappeared again as we crested and started descending into Bedwell Lake, but we reentered it again prior to arriving at the Bedwell Lake campsite at 3:30.

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A terrific trip on the Tatchu Peninsula – June 13-17, 2025

–submitted by John Young

After a five-hour drive from Nanaimo on Friday, with the last two hours on a sometimes narrow, winding logging road, we embarked from Fair Harbour aboard the Voyager with Leo Jack at the helm.

Where is Fair Harbour anyway?

The turn-off is just past Woss on Hwy 19, through Zebalos, and it’s out on the coast near Kyuquot, where Leo Jack lives.

Untitled photo

June 13

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