Category: Hiking

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Upper Cowichan River (Part 3) – Lifetime Hiking Objective

–submitted by Su Castle
 
Part 3 Cowichan River Trail. ✅
 
By previous accounts, I thought parts of this trail was going to be really gnarly with bad bushwacking. We did follow a previous hiker’s track to keep us in line when the ‘trail’ was more elk than human. Most of the hike was lovely and obvious. The frozen ground helped to keep feet dry. Some areas typically would be pretty mushy. My shins bear the tale of walking into hidden branches along the ‘make your own adventure’ sections!
 

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Gemini Mountain

November 2, 2024

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

We had a glorious trip planned up Sadie Peak from the west (Nitnat) side. A week earlier, Phil and I explored this approach and discovered that the old road was drivable to nearly 1000 metres, provided that one doesn’t care a lick about their paint. I was primed to do this peak again without the long, busier approach from the Nitnat-Nanaimo Lakes pass. Things didn’t go as expected. 

Just 2 kilometres from my house, my water pump decided to give up, drenching the Jeep’s cooling system and killing my power steering. It was a challenging journey back home, with the vehicle on the brink of overheating. But I was not alone in this. I called Chris, who kindly agreed to pick me up, showing the true spirit of friendship. With our camaraderie, we set out to create a new plan, undeterred by the unexpected turn of events. 

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Maple Mountain – Pink Route

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.

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Mount Prevost

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. 

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Mount Klitsa via Brooke Geroge Trail — Lifetime Objective

–submitted by Matthew Lettington

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!

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Sadie Peak

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. 

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