Light gray clouds hung low in the Saturday morning sky as four Island Mountain Ramblers set out on the day’s journey : summit Mount Tzouhalem from Genoa Bay. Matthew carried 3-year-old Hemingway on his back as he led the two newest Island Mountain Ramblers on their hike across the south facing slopes, toward the beautiful summit ridge.
The outing started out as a rather soggy affair, but before long the rain ceased and the sun came out, albeit only for a short time. So, we had no views, but the fall colours were wonderful and a good time was had by all. The trail up to Boston Ridge is wellmarked, for the most part, although finding the trail down to Boston Creek from the road at the trailhead took a little doing.
On September 11th I joined three friends on an unsuccessful attempt at Mount Sarai, a peak in the Genesis Range. We were hastened by fine weather, and though we didn’t make our primary objective, we eventually summited an unnamed bump and enjoyed stellar views.
The clock ticked past 8:00 am as we turned off the Island Highway and onto the logging road. It was another 45 minutes of easy driving before we were forced to stop the Jeep, not far from the end of the road. A huge old-growth log crossed the entire road; it must have slid from high up on the steep slope. It’s here that we prepared for our adventure and proceeded on foot.
hiking route and GPS track
Total Distance: 4.4 km
Starting Elevation: 770 m
Maximum Elevation: 1482 m
Total Elevation Gain: 716 m
Total Time: 3h 45m
Along with the Island Mountain Ramblers hiking club we explored Rodger’s Ridge on the north east edge of Strathcona Provincial Park. This was a great hike and a beautiful day! As we do not do much alpine hiking this was a great opportunity to climb up on a ridge and see what alpine has to offer. I loved the wide open vistas, views, and alpine ecology.
Rodgers Ridge is among my favourite easy alpine hiking routes. It’s a non-technical route with a lightly booted trail that ambles through the light alpine bush, past a secret hut, and along rolling slab rock. Once high on the ridge you can see views of Buttle Lake and many of the peaks in Strathcona Park. I’ve posted numerous reports from the area but my favourite is the time my car stuck on the logging road— 37 kilometres up the Argonaught and Granite Mainlines! I added it to the schedule and as one of the objectives for the Island Mountain Ramblers Ridge Rambler Challenge because this region is among my favourite ridge hikes.
Ladies hike! We had a lovely time. When we reached our camp spot at Cobalt lake, there was a mist over the mountains. However, when we woke in the morning to hike we had lovely views as the clouds moved amongst the mountains. Amazing views of Triple Peak! There was a bit of snow to traverse, a bit of scrambling to make it fun and challenging. Overall, a lovely hike!
5040 Vancouver Island and Island Mountain Ramblers
Eight of us set out on a Maple Mountain loop from Chilco Road on Saturday. Maple Mountain is the best marked and mapped trail system I’ve found on the Island, in that trail marking is frequently updated and the actual trails correspond exactly with the mapped trails. We set out along the blue trail and switched to the yellow, walking parallel to the water to our first break at Grave Point and the opening of Sansum narrows.