Living the best adventure life, since 1958
~ submitted by John Young
May 19-20, 2018
Susann and I and seven lucky women (or is that lucky me and seven women?!) journeyed over to Flores Island from Tofino on the May long weekend. And my seventh time on this wonderful trail didn’t disappoint!
–submitted by Matthew Lettington, originally published on explorington.com
On June 23rd & 24th 2018, I was one of five Island Mountain Ramblers who summitted Nine Peaks, located on the southern boundary of Strathcona Park. It earns its name from the nine distinct peaks that rise out of the Beauty Glacier, forming a line that runs along a northwest axis. Our trip was planned as an annual birthday getaway – one of Rick and Phil’s long-standing traditions – and was a reprisal of a failed daytrip to Nine Peaks, on the same weekend in 2017. Having been beaten back on the first attempt, we came with the intention of completing the trip as an overnighter.
Our route originated at the Bedwell Lake trailhead, and by the time we were back at the car we had covered 38 kilometres and more than 3500 metres of elevation gain. The trip involves route-finding challenges that change with the season, terrain difficulties that may require scrambling, and the need for self-arrest skills. On top of the physicality of the route, it’s also mentally challenging. There are many sections where you gain elevation, lose it, and then regain it. It includes either two summits of Big Interior Mountain, an airy traverse from the saddle or, at least, an airy traverse around the base of the summit massif.
Total Distance: 34 km
Starting Elevation: 515 m
Maximum Elevation: 1849 m
Elevation Gain: 3068 m
June 13, 2018
The club had three people come out for the Wednesday night Rappel Workshop. We had one guest join at the last minute because two people cancelled that morning. This workshop was originally scheduled for Friday, but was postponed due to rain. On Wednesday, we had showers through the morning, but the evening was warm and dry.
We reviewed knot tying, ATC, harnesses and ropes. We covered tying in, setting backups and rappelling techniques and ended the night with three rappels each down the highest face, at Pipers Lagoon.
Photos by Ruby, Barry & Samantha
June 3, 2018
Seven hikers set out at 9:30 am Sunday June 3rd from Burnt Bridge past Shawnigan Lake. The weather was calling for showers but we had none, which made for a nice hike.
Continue reading “Eagle Heights Ramble – Eagle Heights Ridge and Horse Monument”
–submitted by Matthew Lettington, originally published on explorington.com
It’s great having a regular group of friends to hike with. From week to week, the members of the group may change, but each person comes to be someone on whom I can rely. It’s more important that they are consistent and always improving than that they are the best at any given task. When the bush gets thick or the slopes get slick, looking over and seeing someone else suffering alongside me, or seeing them surmount a problem, inspires me to keep going. Of course, sometimes it’s the group that makes the tough choice to turn around, as we did on our June 3rd excursion to Mount Abraham.
Yes, another adventure in the Genesis Range. Mount Abraham was the goal, and we arrived expecting a gruelling day of fighting bush, fording rivers, and grunting up steep slopes through blueberry, willow, and huckleberry. We were only half right.
Total Distance: 13 km
Starting Elevation: 840 m
Elevation Gain: 950
Maximum Elevation: 1639 m
Total Time: 6 h
Continue reading “Hiking Between the Peaks in the Genesis Range: A Failed Attempt at Mount Abraham”
May 27, 2018
May 27th was a good day for a hike. Seven of us started off at Charters Creek (Sooke) and headed up to Grassy Lake. The lake was beautiful, after a snack we headed up to Mary’s Peak. The views were beautiful. After a lunch break we came down, headed toward Grassy Lake again, then turned off and headed to Monument. Reaching Monument we came down the slippery trail from bikers and headed back to Charters Creek. Total km 16.5k and 752m elevation gain. Hike took just under 6 hours. A wonderful day, with wonderful people.
May 27, 2018
Eight of us gathered at the end of Arroyo Road just south of Ladysmith to make introductions and swap out flip-flops for boots before starting up the logging road at 09:00, right on time. The grind of logging road walking was offset by laughter and stories as we wandered along to the trail that leads up to the old cabin and on to Christie Falls, or in Mike’s words it’s “Christie Hill” for lack of water.
Continue reading “Christie Falls – Thistle Mine – Camas Ridge”
Another May long weekend has come and gone, and with it another “first of the summer” camping trip. I don’t put much stock into the idea of the shoulder season — it’s a myth made up by The Man — but this trip felt more like a summer getaway than any other of the season, except for the rain, fog, and snow up to our knees. But thank goodness that the shoulder season is over, right?
The trip started with a hoot an’ a holler. We anticipated a longish slog along a deactivated logging road, more of an alder farm complete with cross-ditches, but today we found that the former jungle has been replaced by a new logging road. We cheered the removal of this most dreaded obstacle, the one that would take the most amount of effort with the least amount of reward. Driving to the end of the logging road allowed us to park just meters from the old-growth, and probably saved us a few hours of travel in each direction. What a boon! We grabbed our gear and headed up into the dense West Coast forest.
Total Distance: 33 km
Starting Elevation: 844 meters
Maximum Elevation: 1645 meters
Total Elevation Gain: 3155 metres
Continue reading “Hiking Mount Derby & Mount Peel: Uphill Both Ways”
May 13, 2018
Five intrepid Ramblers and one guest (Karen’s son Nick) met early on Mother’s Day at a popular [redacted by request of Department of National Defence ] before heading to [redacted by request of Department of National Defence ] to gain the shoulder of Mount Benson and follow the SE route to the top. The less than pleasant bit of road walking between exiting [redacted by request of Department of National Defence ] and gaining the tree line on Benson itself foreshadowed the afternoons return trip but all was soon forgotten as the terrain steepened and we worked in and out of small bluffy areas that afforded increasingly pretty views and, at one, a place for a quick bite to eat.
The day started warm and grew warmer as we progressed upward and we were thankful for a light breeze and the shade of the forest. Gaining the summit, we settled in for a proper lunch, a nice view, and enjoyed soulless whine of a drone flying about the summit.
May 12, 2018
A beautiful May weekend for a climb up Mt Arrowsmith and the timing for the Ramblers club day trip couldn’t have been better. We all met at 8am at Creekmore Coffee just off the Alberni Highway and carpooled for the trip up the mountain. The 6 of us split between the two vehicles and headed on our way. The first destination was the end of the spur road for Judges route which would be where we dropped a vehicle for the descent route. We all hopped into one truck and then headed back down to the lower spur on pass main to the end of that road where the Lost Gully trailhead is.