Category: Regional Districts

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Mount Hayes, Christie Falls, Camas Ridge

March 30, 2024

~ submitted by John Robertson

Seven Ramblers connected at the trailhead. Some were old hands and some were new to the club. We started out on time, gradually making our way up the mountain in the near-perfect conditions. We paused for views as we encountered them, benefiting from the excellent visibility.

Conversations waxed and waned as the path became more moderate or more steep. A snack at the summit, then the descent to Christie Falls (approached from the “other” side), and another snack.

Then more descent, and a climb up onto Camas ridge. The Camas were out, but not yet blooming. Another snack (one can’t have too many) then off the ridge, and a bit of a wander in the woods below.

Back to the cars on time, and satisfied with he morning, we bid each other goodbye until the next adventure.

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Mount Becher via Boston Ridge

February 4, 2024
~ submitted by Pete Hrkac

Solid, consolidated snow made for easy travel. Traction was very useful for ascending and descending the steeper sections. Although we brought axes, we only used them once, briefly during the descent from Boston Ridge toward Mt. Becher.

It was a great loop, easy route-finding.

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Tower and Meadow Cabin Loop

March 3, 2024
~ submitted by Evan White

We started the day by parking on Jordan Main when the snow levels were too high to continue.

We hiked to Tower Cabin where we met four ladies that were on their way out from an overnighter. From there we headed to Meadow cabin, breaking trail in up to 3 feet of fresh snow. We arrived at Meadow cabin, made a hot lunch while melting some snow to replenish our water supply.

From Meadow Cabin we broke more trail while heading out on Matty’s trail in more waist high snow.

Our day was a total of 9.5 hours with 6 hours of moving time over 19km. A good day was had!

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Monument Mountain to Grassy Lake

January 13th, 2024
~ submitted by Su Castle

The intended trail head (parking lot #2/Sooke Potholes) that would have us closer to our intended destination was locked (icy, windy, steep road); so we changed plans and started off from the Charters Creek trailhead.

Through -5 temps, clear skies, snow and ice underfoot; 4 humans and one dog tromped up Monument instead. We had a brisk pace with very short stops to stay warm.

Coming down off the hill towards the north, we caught icy winds in the face for a short time. We stopped to admire the frozen Grassy lake before returning down Grass Lake trail.

We wanted to include Devastation Hill, but the creek crossing was a little larger than we wanted to attempt.

Took us about 3 hours to hike 12.5 kms with 550 metre elevation gain.

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Mount Becher New Years Day Celebration

January 1st, 2024
~ submitted by Greg Deabler

Our New Year’s Day stroll up Becher was thoroughly enjoyed by seven Ramblers: It was +2 at the trailhead with slight traces of snow along the plowlines of the road up and no snow at the parking lot.

Given that there had been rain during the previous week and little fresh snow, we made the decision to leave the snowshoes behind and trust our microspikes. A good decision, the snow was hard and supportive all the way to the summit. No wind and and lots of fog as we ascended and came down served to negate most of the views but made for perfect hiking comfort conditions for the day.

A lingering lunch on top, a few photo shoots involving an igloo constructed by a group who had spent the night, as well as the resident and persistent whiskey jacks made for a nice stop. Headed down at a good pace and arrived back at the cars by 2:15 pm.

A great day with even better company!