April 16, 2022
~ submitted by Mary Hof
Saturday April 16th the weather forecast was 70% rain, but we had a beautiful day, with great views.
Mount Baldy, Shawnigan Lake
Bald Mountain
March 30, 2022
~ submitted by Mary Hof
5 of us enjoyed a wonderful day hiking Bald Mountain. 11km, 650m elevation gain.
We started off hiking near the lake shore above the new housing on Marble Bay Rd. Oh, man – the scotch broom is 6 feet high and covers the whole trail for a section. I believe this part might be on private property, the only way to get around it would be by boat.
Continue reading “Bald Mountain”Mount Tzouhalem
–submitted by Mary Hof
December 20th turned out to be an awesome day for a hike. Thanks to those that ventured from Nanaimo and Victoria to join in.
We started at Kaspa Rd trailhead and hiked some trails then got onto the AWESOME trail, and that it was, with great views and a bench to sit on. We then took Field of Dreams to the far end and came on the Ridge trail, with great views. We had lunch in the sun and ventured our way back coming along side the Flower Reserve where only in a few months the flowers will be blooming.
Thank you for the wonderful people that joined in this hike. The hike was 10.5 km with 700m elevation gain
Maple Mountain
—submitted by Mary Hof
Seven of us hiked from Chico Rd, Saturday, Feb. 5th. We started on the Blue, then yellow, then went up the cliffs to the Old Blue trail. We then headed Mary’s way (come follow me) and had lunch at Rainsford Lake. from there we headed back to the car, 11km and 700m elevation gain.
Lower Cowichan River, October 31, 2021
–submitted by John Young; oroginally published on his blog
October 31, 2021
An Island Mountain Ramblers Excursion. What a beautiful Hike! We covered the almost 20 k in just over 5 hours, and we all loaded up our phones with great photos.
Great views right from the start below Skutz Falls
Maple Mountain Ramble 
–submitted by Mary Hof
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.
Maple Mountain Ramble
October 4, 2021
~ submitted by Mary Hof
Three eager hikers, two I have never met, joined me for a 10km hike on Maple Mountain. Starting from the trailhead of Southview Terrace we went up a route I used to do 20 years ago. None of the others had been on that route before until we reached one of the bike trails.
A Bounty of Colours on the Forbidden Plateau Traverse
–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”
Maple Mountain Ramble
August 16, 2021
~ submitted by Mary Hof
Maple Mountain Ramble was 12.8km and 850m elevation gain. I had 3 Ramblers, and 3 Outdoor Club members. We went to some parts of the mountain where others had not been.
Mount Prevost (Swuq’us)
July 19th, 2021
~ submitted by Mary Hof
July 19th, another warm day to slog up Mt Prevost (Swuq’us).
There were seven of us between the Ramblers and OCV. At 9:00 am I left even though we were missing one but like I always say, 5 minutes early is on time, on time is late, and late is not acceptable.
