Living the best adventure life, since 1958
The day may have threatened rain, but we had only light winds and a pleasant glow for our rappel workshop.
Eight of us set out on a Maple Mountain loop from Chilco Road on Saturday. Maple Mountain is the best marked and mapped trail system I’ve found on the Island, in that trail marking is frequently updated and the actual trails correspond exactly with the mapped trails. We set out along the blue trail and switched to the yellow, walking parallel to the water to our first break at Grave Point and the opening of Sansum narrows.
Early Saturday morning Rick and I met Rishi at the Mt Cain turnoff and proceeded up Nimpkish Rd. till we hit Vernon camp. There we proceeded up Stuart main till we hit an area of the road that was no longer drivable(1100M). We then proceeded down the rest of the road(.5 km) where we found a lightly booted route through the logging slash.
Day 1 San Josef BayOur trip began late Friday night. Myself, Lisa and Adrian hiked into San Josef Bay by moonlight arriving by 11pm. 2km
–submitted by Phil Jackson
Leaving Nanaimo at 5:30am Phil and Matt proceeded to Campbell River where we picked up Mary then proceeded to where Palmerston Rd meets Eve River main. Rishi was there waiting for us, Rick and Lisa weren’t to far behind.
A short, stiff hike up from Second Lake on the Nanaimo Lakes circuit. We leftHarewood Mall at 0700 and arrived at the base of the logging road 1150 metres below the summit. Stop about 400 metres before the main 2nd Lake Gate which is the gate just after the lake cottages. There is a small road to the right climbing up with an old,low gate which may be locked. It does not matter. We parked on the main logging road.From here it was a quick walk up from the lake to the end of the road at about 480metres.
–submitted by John Young, read it on his blog
Ah, Keeha Bay, one of my favourite destinations on the Island, and this year it didn’t disappoint. Whales in the bay, eagles aloft, bears scrounging along the shore, seals afloat, sea caves, shell fish, flowers, lichen, fungi . . . . Oh, this area is teeming with life!
Continue reading “Keeha Bay Backpacking Experience – May 13-15, 2016”
–submitted by Ken Warren
Nine of us set off from Morrell Sanctuary to hike Mount Benson from the south. Clear skies and warm sun were promised and delivered. Logging activities have made the original trail somewhat more difficult, but a bike trail allowed us to bypass the damaged section.
We missed our intended trail, which turned out to be a recurring theme that day, and found ourselves on the eastern side of the ridge on a new trail that is only partially complete. We managed to intersect our intended trail only to wander off on several newer and similarly marked trails. We did eventually find the summit and enjoyed the views and the sunshine. The return leg of the loop was uneventful, without the trail exploration that marked our ascent.
–submitted by Phil Jackson
We started off at 5:30 AM from Nanaimo. Drove up Stowe Creek main and parked part way along. We were off from the vehicle at 8:30AM and into bushwhacking almost immediately. After a quick crossing of Stowe Creek we followed an Alder choked road till we decide we’d take our chances with the forest and take the direct line up. With a minor amount of rock scrambling and some B4 bush we were up yo the snow in no time. After a short break to take in the view we headed up the lower ridge to the lower snow bowl. After climbing a snow chute we headed along the upper ridge to the upper bowl and the summit from there. We arrived at the summit at 1:30 and sat around for half an hour soaking in the spectacular view before heading back for the jeep.
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| A handsom looking group of Island Mountain Ramblers! |