Living the best adventure life, since 1958
Four members of the Island Mountain Ramblers headed out on a winter camping trip to Lake Helen Mackenzie. The goal of the trip was to gain experience camping in sub-zero temperatures. And sub-zero temperatures we had!
On a foggy damp Sunday morning, the six of us met at the Witchcraft Trail Head, made introductions, tidied up the necessary paperwork, and offered our hopes to the weather gods before getting underway at 08:10. Veering right away from the “tourist route” at the first trail junction we climbed upwards to cross McGarrigle Creek at 460 meters, more or less, to follow the Outer Route. A brisk uphill from there led us to a brief stop at the first bluffy viewpoint just above the climbing wall. From here on the trail gets a bit bushy and there may have been a word or two about the use of hiking partners as dewatering tools for the salal.
–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
As parents, my wife Kim and I fall into all-too-familiar parent-child relationships with Hemingway and Octavia. My behaviour exemplifies the old platitude: When you love your kids, you want the best for them. You’ll go out of your way to make sure their lives are better than how you perceived your own to be. I take my children on backcountry adventures to give them formative experiences at a young age, experiences I don’t remember having when I was their age. Of course, believing that these adventures are making their lives better is a romantic notion; I wonder if Hemingway feels the same way.
Continue reading “A family snowshoe loop: Featuring another family!”
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
A small but eager group gathered on the second beach at Westwood Lake. Objective? Remind ourselves of what to do if we are in the unfortunate situation of needing to do a companion avalanche rescue.
Continue reading “Avalanche rescue skill refresher & beacon hunt”
— submitted by Matthew Lettington
We had high hopes for the day, but not all plans come to fruition. Canoe Peak was a lofty goal for any day, but we were adding to the challenge by attempting a winter ascent. On our way through Sutton Pass (230 m) snow was falling fast and accumulating so fast that vehicle tracks were being obscured within minutes and within 15 minutes there was an inch of fresh snow on the road.
–submitted by Ken Warren
Well the weather forecast was accurate, but six of us zipped up our rain gear for our ramble north of Ladysmith. There was a bit of snow on the ground so we missed the trail into Camas Ridges but had no trouble finding the Old Thistle mine. We had a good look through the 1904 mine workings, but couldn’t see the ore seam as it was too wet. Bush Creek was in full flow and both lower and upper Christie Falls were quite impressive. A great day for this hike and thanks to all for your company.
Read the full report and see more photographs on Explorington.com
Dear Hemingway,
You’re four-and-a-half years old now–time sure flies. I made only two resolutions for 2018, and the first and most important one was to get my whole family out on a mountain adventure (Paradise Meadows doesn’t count). You’ve been my adventure companion on many trips, but it wasn’t until our January 6th trip that we summited our first mountain together: Mount Elma. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort to see your smile when we crested the hill and walked out onto Mount Elma’s summit plateau.
Total Distance: 12 km
Starting Elevation: 166m
Maximum Elevation: 1418 m
Total Elevation Gain: 446 m
Total Time: 5h 30m
Mount Arrowsmith (Judge’s-Route) was stunning, on January 1st. The largest mountain on southern Vancouver Island, definitely one for the more experienced hikers. It took us 6.5hrs at a steady pace, from dusk till dawn, steep and slippery, heart rate raiser and old injury breaker (knees/lower back). Snowshoes are not required. Crampons, poles, and axe are definitely required.