Living the best adventure life, since 1958
April 21, 2018
The hike to Mt Prevost April 21 was great. I combined this hike with the Outdoor Club of Victoria, when I saw that so many were signing up, (but I didn’t want to say no to anyone). I asked Ray Billings to help out and it worked out great.
We had 19 people and we split the group.
April 14, 2018
What a day for a hike, 4 us started from the Muni trail off Neville drive for( Mt Tzouhalem). I am not familiar from that area, so I bet we took in trails that took us all over the place, but I did make it to the Awesome trail but came out much lower down then the bench. We then did Field of Dreams then the summit of Tzouhalem then to the cross and made our way to the Muni trail and back to the cars. 4 hours, 14km. Great views and great people. I know this hike was late notice, only on the schedule couple days. FB page is also nice as some saw it there.
–submitted by Matthew Lettington, originally published on his blog
I imagine you might be asking yourself, Why the benign title? If you’re a regular reader, you’re familiar with my Island Alpine Quest: to summit all of the peaks listed in Philip Stone’s book Island Alpine (1999). The goal is lofty, and many of the peaks will require multiday adventures through some of the least-frequented areas on Vancouver Island (I’m looking at you, Mount Doom). But the sad reality is that not every peak is a stunning romp through the backcountry – my trip up Mount Brenton certainly wasn’t!
February 4th, 2018
Total Distance: 10.5 km
Starting Elevation: 707 m
Maximum Elevation: 1216 m
Total Elevation Gain: 508 m
Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes
Jan 14, was a nice weather day to hike Maple Mountain. Before our 9:30 departure, I had arranged two cars to be left on Chilco Rd. 11 of us started at the Osbourne Bay trailhead, we started on main bike trails and soon left for the off trails that not many people use. The views toward Mt Brenton, and Mt Benson were beautiful with the fog below, and the blue sky above. We stopped at Mary view, 2004, (sign still there) for a wonderful view of Mt Prevost. We made our way to the lake, some ice still on it, and the sun was beautiful so we had our snack there. We then may our way to the tower using bike and hiking trails. At the summit we had nice sunshine. Ray took a group photo. We made our way down the pink trail, and then turned off using the old Chilco road trail. The hike was 5 hours, 13k. Everyone enjoyed it and it was a wonderful group all keeping the same pace.
Mary Hof, leader
–submitted by Jamai Schile
Perfect weather for a wonder! A little breezy at the Cross, but trail generally sheltered as we navigated our way from the Ecological Reserve, Cross look out to Mad Dog Bench look out. From the Bench, the group decided the weather was to fine to miss and the housework would wait. We decided to extend the hike by following Cyclops until it linked up with Field of Dreams and the return trail Old M/L bringing us out again onto T-Road and the parking area.
–submitted by John Robertson
The moon was shining, and the pre-dawn night was just beginning to brighten when we set out under the light of headlamps on the White Pine trail, just south of the Nanaimo River. Within 20 minutes, the twilight had brightened enough that headlamps were unnecessary, despite the disappearance of the moon behind a bank of cloud.
–submitted by John Robertson
Under cloudless skies, 2 of us set out from Ladysmith at 7 am, to find a waterfall high on Banon Creek. Our route started on some of the more popular trails above town, allowing us to enjoy views at the lookout, Heart Lake, and Stocking Lake.
From Stocking Lake, we cut through the bush to the Banon logging road, then up a side road. From there, we were into heavy bush and steep terrain. We let our ears guide us to the roar of the creek. We found that it was cascading down a steep canyon, visible, but not approachable.
–submitted by Rod Szasz
As part of a little micro-adventure to explore and document more alpine peaks closer to home and explore the ski-touring potential of the peaks, Matt Lettington and myself decided to ski traverse two 1350 metre peaks behind Ladysmith – Mt Coronation and Mt. Hall. I had summited both of these as running and day hiking destinations before – last year in March I led a snowshoe hike to the summit of Mt. Hall.
–submitted by Matthew Lettington, Read the report on his blog
When I’m stuck inside, it sometimes feels like I won’t ever break free and get outside! If you’re passionate like I am, you probably feel the same. Now that I’ve added two kids to the equation, it’s even more difficult to balance the time between my family obligations and my passion. Not that the two are mutually exclusive; as often as I can, I try to merge the two together. But it’s not as simple as stuffing a child into a carrier. There are the known issues to deal with– diaper changes, toys, and extra snacks– but heading into the backcountry adds extra challenges. Changing a bare bottom in the wind is no cup of tea, and neither is a cup of tea, for that matter! Fortunately, at three and a half years old, my son has emerged from the long cold winter that has been his era of wearing diapers.
Continue reading “Snowshoe to Boston Falls Lookout: A Sunny Day below Mount Becher’s Summit”