Living the best adventure life, since 1958
Maple Mountain Ramble on Jan 9th 2022, turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with freezing temperatures to start. From the nine we had in the group (some were from the OCV club) many had never started from the Southview trailhead.
January 8, 2022
After a flurry of early morning communications and a change in leader, five of us headed for Mt Elma on snowshoes from Raven Lodge. Although the parking lot was full, the trails were quiet. Fortunately someone had the same destination in mind and kindly broke trail for us. Conditions were ok with the temperature around minus 4, light snow, and light wind. The snow is quite deep and loose so it took some effort to get up to the summit ridge. Visibility was almost nil, but the windrifted snow and the mantled trees made the trip worthwhile.
Tangle Mountain turned out to be a fantastic day in the low alpine of Vancouver Island, September 26, 2021. Though we probably didn’t take the easiest route to get to the mountain’s base, we were all in awe of the surrounding landscape. Fall colours are spreading their drama in the hills: purples, reds, yellows, greens.
Most folks will agree that it’s more enjoyable to hike under clear skies than cloudy, but sometimes it rains. Let me make a case for the dreary day adventure. Though the views from the top of a mountain may be vast on sunny days, those sunbathed landscapes lack the drama and character that appear –like fitful apparitions– when the clouds descend. The wind ripping through the trees goes unseen unless clouds and fog come with it. And the sea of hills blends into each other unless cloud pours through the valleys, billowing around features allowing only the top of the peak to emerge from the top. And even in a whiteout, one must marvel at our own insignificance in the scope of the situation.
On September 26, we all had a chance to witness these unique –but otherwise dreary– characteristics on our short hike to the marked summit at Mount Apps.
When I posted Marmot Mountain to the club schedule, I enticed members with the promise, “Participants should be willing to participate in moderate bushwhacking to get through the lower areas of this route, and a few of the upper areas… and why not some more in the middle too?”. The trip lived up to my promise.
Some views, before the marine cloud rolled in:
September 18, 2021
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Misty Moriarty
We were a group of four, including Hemingway (now 8 years old), who braved the misty forest and cloud-drenched slopes of Mount Moriarty on September 18th. It’s been seven years since my last trip up these familiar slopes and along the rolling ridge. In that time, the route has become more defined, easier to follow.
Continue reading “Mount Moriarty”
–submitted by John Young; originally published on his blog
This is probably my favourite fall hike and this year didn’t disappoint! With light rain misting the foliage, the colours popped. So vibrant! And it sure made the kilometers (all 27.3 of them) melt away, and even after 9 hours the colours of Paradise Meadows slowed my mind when I looked at them.
I was glad, too, that we had two groups, with Bil’s group starting from Raven Lodge and our group starting at the old Forbidden ski area, thus eliminating the dreadful shuttle.
After about an hour, we were through the old ski resort and entered Strathcona Park
Continue reading “A Bounty of Colours on the Forbidden Plateau Traverse”
