Nanaimo Regional District Archives - Page 6 of 11

January 2, 2020January 2, 2020

Mount Benson from Westwood

December 19, 2019

~ submitted by Bill Jackson

We met at the Arbot Rd parking area at the leisurely time of 9:30 and got back almost exactly 5 hrs later, with no rest breaks.

We followed the mix of trails and roads from the northwest end of the lake. Weather was just wet enough to justify rain clothes, and stayed pretty much the same on the way up. No distant views, but a couple of nice foggy scenes over the valley. There isn’t much snow on the ground right now. The same as it was a month or so ago; just starting at the junction before Te’tuxw’tun Trail.

Right at the summit a stiff cold wind limited time to a couple of quick cell pics and chased us back into the trees. Coming down was wetter and cooler than going up, so our total of rest breaks for the day was about 3 or 4 minutes standing for lunch.

A better day than staying home! And a good day for gear testing. 1) I need new rain clothes 2) the rest of my clothing worked well, not excessively cold when damp. Thanks for the pleasant company, Goody!

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019

Westwood Ridges Before the Club Meeting

October 27, 2019

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

It was a horrible day for a club meeting. The sun was shining, birds singing, and a light breeze chilled the air to keep us from overheating.

Our group of seven spent a little over three hours exploring the first two ridges. By the time we arrived back at the parking lot, we had completed a 10.5 km loop with just about 400 meters elevation gain.

It was a perfect pre-meeting hike!

October 30, 2019December 19, 2019

Mount Benson Project — Trail Work

–submitted by Matthew Lettington

The Mount Benson Project continues to roll along. During the summer, we spent our time diverting water and shoring up the eroding bank. Since then, we have been reluctant to do any work that relies on the integrity of the work previously done. When the fall rains arrived, we examined the results of the work, and it appears that most of the water is being diverted off the trail. Though there is still more work to be done in this area, we are ready to move into some other areas of work.

Dustin, using the hammer drill to create a socket for rebar.

On Wednesday, October 30, Dustin and Matthew loaded their backpacks and set out with adhesive, rebar, and hammer drill do work that added steps in a few key places within our section.

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October 12, 2019October 29, 2019

Green Mountain – Fall 2020

–submitted by Matthew Lettington
The hike to Green Mountain is always popular. Before the trip, I was turning way interested members as I already had 18 participants and a healthy waitlist. But as the forecast turned, participants started cancelling. By the time the day arrived, we were left with just seven hikers.

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July 13, 2019July 13, 2019

Mount Benson Project –July 6 Work Party

July 6th was going to be a busy day for our work party. There were 8 volunteers signed up but as the forecast worsened the cancellations started arriving. By the time we hit the trail, there were three souls that braved the misty conditions to do a day’s work on the trail.

For the day we focussed on installing an extra step in the eroding bank, stabilizing the bank by installing extra width on one of the steps, hauling more debris into the off route sections, and trimming wood obstacles that could hook a hiker’s foot. A big part of the project is doing sustainable work that withstand the test of time, and that means controling the flow of water. Much of the trail erosion has been made worse by the waterfall that forms on the trail and flows down a large portion of our section.

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June 19, 2019June 19, 2019

Rappel Workshop

June 4, 2019

~submitted by Matthew Lettington

Five members hit the rock wall at Piper’s Lagoon, on Tuesday night.

We spent three hours covering the basics of safe rappelling.

By evening’s end, each was shooting down the ropes to the pebble beach while the sun set behind us.

June 3, 2019June 3, 2019

Mount Benson Project Work Party –Eroding Bank

On June 1st, a five-member crew hiked spent a little over five hours on the Mount Benson Project. We scheduled a short day to allow for members to join in the club BBQ, later that day.

With a seemingly endless amount of work to be done the crew focused first on moving materials from the lower road to the eroding bank. Once positioned we spent the remainder of the day working at the eroding bank.

After watching a few groups walk through the site we picked a route that is now the one route up through this section.

Before Pictures

The start of the day, this eroding slop sees traffic going every which way.

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May 30, 2019May 30, 2019

Mount Benson Project Work Party– raised walk

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

May 25th, 2019

Our first work party for the Mount Benson project was a huge success! Six people made the hour-long hike up to the project site. As a large group we cleared the old logs out of the normally boggy section and dug a few holes for the concrete footings used for the walkway.

March 30, 2019December 19, 2019

Mount Benson Trail Project — Area Survey

On Saturday, March 30th a small group of Ramblers and guests took a few hours to hike the Mount Benson trail. Our goal was to survey the area that we are designated to work in, describe the type of work that needs to be done, and examine what the winter rage has wrought.

Happily, the snow has receded, revealing the ground and making it easy to see the work we still need to do. The work falls into four categories, requiring three different types of skills to complete.
On Saturday, March 30th a small group of Ramblers and guests took a few hours to hike the Mount Benson trail. Our goal was to survey the area that we are designated to work in, describe the type of work that needs to be done, and look at what the winter has wrought.

Continue reading “Mount Benson Trail Project — Area Survey”

February 25, 2019March 1, 2019

Mt. Benson – Feb. 24, 2019

We started off just after 9 a.m. under clear skies, with just a couple other vehicles in the parking lot. After crossing Witchcraft Lake, we headed up the far right trail to the waterfall, or what would be a waterfall in warmer temps. We crossed McGarrigle Creek and as there’d been more snow since I’d been up this way the previous Wednesday, we broke trail for the next 2 hours. With the fresh snow blanketing the ground and the trees, it was truly a winter wonderland! After we reached the old road, we made new tracks as far as Gordie’s Trail, and even then, no one had recently been that way. It wasn’t until we came to the junction with the other trails, Fossil and Rafe’s Way, that the snow was tracked. I had thought, that with the new snow, the way to the top wouldn’t be as slippery as it could be, but I was wrong! It was treacherous, and once we reached the summit we put on our traction devices, and for the descent we were glad we did! Three other people (and their dog) were on the summit when we arrived, and others soon joined us, and we saw several more as we went down. It took us just over 3 hours to ascend; 2 hours down. A wonderful outing with a great group!