Continue reading “Rambling along the Lower Cowichan River Trail”
Forbidden Plateau Traverse trail (Raven Lodge to Wood Mountain)
–submitted by Ross Burnett
The Forbidden Plateau Traverse Trail is a section of one of the club’s “Lifetime Hiking Objectives”. It can be done in either direction; and as a day trip or an overnight. It is about 28 kilometres long.
Three keen members took advantage of the great fall day, and did it as a day hike, in the more downhill direction from Raven Lodge to the Wood Mountain end, finishing at the bottom of the old ski hill; which also serves as the trailhead for the Mt. Becher hike.
Continue reading “Forbidden Plateau Traverse trail (Raven Lodge to Wood Mountain)”
Mount Klitsa via Brooke George Trail
–submitted by Matthew Lettington
Mount Klitsa is a somewhat uncharacteristic mountain along the Highway 4 corridor. While many of Vancouver Island’s most iconic peaks are in this area, they often come with sketchy approaches, long bushwhacks, thousands of tourists, or actual climbing. The lengthy logging-road approach to Klitsa tends to keep people at bay.
I wish I had a vehicle with more passenger space, but what can I do with only three spots for passengers? We do what we can. Thanks to the two other drivers who offered up their vehicles. In total, we managed to get 9 members out on September 20th.
Comox Glacier Overnight
–submitted by Melanie Yu
Living in the Comox Valley means never being far from the Beaufort Range. On a clear day, the mountains frame almost every drive through town, but one summit always captures your attention: Comox Glacier.
Long before I ever considered climbing it, I admired it from a distance.
An Island Mountain Ramblers’ outing to Keeha Bay and Tapaltos – June 16-20, 2026
Mount Septimus
–A personal trip report submitted by Evan Martin
Ever since my failed attempt up Mount Septimus’ X-Gully last year I’ve been eyeing the Route 2 Variation. We were so close to the summit last year. All the technical parts of the route were complete – the gully proper, the glacier crossing, and the steep snow off the glacier. Hence, I still wanted to bag the summit, but wanted to do it via a fresh route. The standard “easy” rock route is 2V, which is rated 5.6, but requires multiple pitches and Phil Stone’s description in Island Alpine Climbing is “easy climbing but poor protection”. I was intimidated by the route, so wanted a solid partner. When Trevor, my climbing mentor from Newfoundland, asked me if he could come out in early May to do some climbing, I quickly narrowed in on 2V as our objective.
Argus Mountain, Mount Harmston, and the Red Pillar
–sbumitted by Jain Alcock-White
A fire on the Malahat on Friday evening delayed our South Island participant’s arrival in Nanaimo, where we had planned to transfer gear and the canoe from my vehicle to his. This also meant we picked up our third participant slightly later than hoped on Saturday morning. Fortunately, the drive from Nanaimo to Port Alberni went smoothly. We picked up the Mosaic gate key without issue and made it to the beach at Oshinow Lake in good time – though it did take all three of us to figure out how to get the key to open the gate.
Continue reading “Argus Mountain, Mount Harmston, and the Red Pillar”
Rogers Ridge with Mount Beadnell and Mount Lupin
July 19, 2025
~ submitted by Brian Fleming
Mt Beadnell and Mt Lupin, 16km, 992m elevation gain, 8h 15m
A group of Ramblers rambled up an old trail, Roger’s Ridge Trail and up Mount Beadnell and Lupin Mountain.
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.
Continue reading “Klitsa Mountain”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.
Continue reading “A terrific trip on the Tatchu Peninsula – June 13-17, 2025”