Living the best adventure life, since 1958
January 1, 2025
~ submitted by Su Castle
New Years Day 2025 promised a little rain and cloud. Our hike was planned for 8 am; it was no surprise we lost most “will attend” members when January 1st arrived.
We started off at a good clip up the Peden Lake trail up from parking lot #2 at Sooke Potholes. Misty and chilly, we were soon warmed by our efforts.
Continue reading “Sooke Hills – Emperor Loop”
December 15, 2024
~ submitted by Mary Hof
The weather was perfect on this December day. I decided to lead the New Pink Trail on Maple mountain having just done is few days before. This hike does take you through a high cliff area, with a couple of tricky parts.
We started on this route all going well until one person just did not feel she could do it. It was decided we would all head down and bush walk to find the other pink. Finding it was no problem, we then continued our route to the top and down to Darell Bench and ridge and headed to a couple cars we had place on Arbutus Drive.
A fun day and enjoyed by all.
November 3, 2024
~ submitted by Mary Hof
It was a beautiful November day to hike to the summit of Mt. Prevost. We made the two peaks, where we could see the fresh snow to Mt. Whymper, El Capitan, Landale and Mt. Service.
We stopped at the War Memorial Cairn for 2 minutes of silence. Coming down we met a group of 4 hikers that had heavy packs, they were going to hang glide down. It was a great day, with a wonderful group of hikers.
October 6, 2024
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
While the trip was open to more people, only nine members joined us on the hike up Green Mountain (around 15 people dropped off just days before the trip). Regardless, the group was amazing!
What an amazing day on Mount Klitsa! Nine of us hiked the Brooke George trail and reached the summit on this beautiful day. We drove on the rough road to the trailhead, which made returning to the vehicles even more satisfying. Many thanks to the AVOC volunteers for creating the turnaround!
Continue reading “Mount Klitsa via Brooke Geroge Trail — Lifetime Objective”
July 20, 2024
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Why not many things change in the Alpine over the years, the same cannot be said for cut blocks. When I did Sadie Peak the first time, I do remember the block being a little bit of a challenge, but this time it was very bushy.
We stuck to the route I used on my first trip to this mountain 10 years earlier. The first half mostly went as expected. We followed the original route pretty closely. The navigation and bush on the first quarter of the route was made even more challenging by the very warm weather. By the time we made it halfway along the route, we discovered a well booted in game trail. It was a welcome sight because it greatly sped up those portions of the trip.
July 27, 2024
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
McKenzie peak is the High Point to the McKenzie range. On my first attempt, I reached the summit block via the climbers trail built in the 70s by Island Mountain ramblers members. For this trip we went up by the Canoe Creek micro dam. The trails been flagged and blazed quite heavily. There’s lots of evidence of the dozens of climbers that have been visiting the range over the past few years. It made for a quick travel with little need for complex navigation.
August 3, 2024
~ submitted by Evan Martin
I met Christine, Dean, and Sarah at the start of Marion Creek FSR at 10:00. After quick introductions we proceeded to drive to the trail head. We took two vehicles – a small truck and an SUV – neither of which had any trouble on the FSR. It was in very good condition. We parked at the large pullout on the right hand side at the top of the hill near the 10km mark. After gathering our gear we proceed to walk another 400m up the road to the trail head. It was 10:30 by the time we left the trail head. Not quite the alpine start Dean was hoping for, but coming from Victoria I was happy to have a good night sleep.
June 27, 2024
~ submitted by Ken Warren
Well the weather was better than forecast for our mountain adventure. Five of us headed up Benson from Morrell at a respectable speed.
By the time we got to the viewpoints the fog obscured our views. We ground on with only a few wrong turns and made the summit by noon. We sat around as the fog got thicker and the temperature dropped. Our wildlife sightings were limited to frogs and grey jays.
We made good time on the descent and arrived at the parking lot tired, stiff, and quite happy.
Thanks all for your company.
June 20, 2024
~ submitted by Ken Warren
The weather was good. Mostly sunny with some clouds, but nice and cool.
I mean what can I say about Mount Cokely via the CPR Trail other than it’s longer and steeper every time I do it … oh, and there are killer views. Dean joined us for the first part of the hike before moving on ahead. Trail conditions were good until the snow on the final approach, and really the snow was aesthetically pleasing.
Three of us summited and lunched at the top and enjoyed the view – Arrowsmith is beautiful from Cokely. The descent was uneventful. We all enjoyed the day.