November 5th, 2022
~ submitted by Mary Hof
It was a beautiful day for a hike today (Saturday) that I led for Island Mountain Ramblers on Maple Mountain. For the hikers that showed up, we had an awesome day.
Maple Mountain Ramble
Buffalo Hump and Whiskey Jack Creek
–submitted by John Robertson
The weather was perfect for a day’s hiking. We made swift work if the 5 kms on roads to the base of Buffalo Hump mountain. A slightly novel approach at the start led to heavier-than-expected bushwhacking, some extemporized scrambling, and a bit of profanity. After a steep climb and a bit more scrambling, the sub-alpine was reached, and the going was much easier. Views were viewed, and lunch was eaten. The descent was done quickly. From that point, the second objective was the falls on Whiskey Jack creek. Falls were easily found. We assessed the possibility of descent into the ravine and plunge pool, but decided that, despite the temptation of the creek below, there was no safe means of reaching it at that point. We had our creek time at a more accessible point upstream from the falls, and then, refreshed, headed back to the cars.
Mount Prevost
April 27, 2022
~ submitted by Mary Hof
A day up Mt. Prevost to see how the Glacier lilies were doing didn’t disappoint. (Well, there was some disappointment, which I will explain further down this report).
Mount Baldy, Shawnigan Lake
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.
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.
