Living the best adventure life, since 1958
-submitted by Matthew Lettington: Read the original post on his blog
Everyone has a favourite hike. For some, that hike may be a well-travelled location, such as the Cape Scott Trail, or a route past Lake Helen Mackenzie. For others, favourite routes are more private, with information held close by those in-the-know; secret spots where not many people venture. Assuredly, Horseshoe Mountain belongs in the second category, as one of Vancouver Island’s best-kept secrets.
Horseshoe Mountain has views to rival many of the better-known routes. With easy Class 2 hiking through old-growth forest, and a final approach along a broad, high-elevation alpine ridge to the 1742-metre summit, it’s surprising that Horseshoe Mountain isn’t more well-known. The reason is simple, and the title of this post alludes to it: accessing the trailhead is a pain in the rump!
>
Horizontal Distance 5.8 km
Starting Elevation 1230 m
Maximum Elevation 1742 m
Total Elevation Gain 642 m
Total Time: 3h 45m
Continue reading “Horseshoe Mountain: The Journey is the Destination”
–submitted by Michael Paskevicius from his blog.
Along with the Island Mountain Ramblers hiking club we explored Rodger’s Ridge on the north east edge of Strathcona Provincial Park. This was a great hike and a beautiful day! As we do not do much alpine hiking this was a great opportunity to climb up on a ridge and see what alpine has to offer. I loved the wide open vistas, views, and alpine ecology.
The post Rodgers Ridge: An Easy Alpine Ramble appeared first on Explorington.
Rodgers Ridge is among my favourite easy alpine hiking routes. It’s a non-technical route with a lightly booted trail that ambles through the light alpine bush, past a secret hut, and along rolling slab rock. Once high on the ridge you can see views of Buttle Lake and many of the peaks in Strathcona Park. I’ve posted numerous reports from the area but my favourite is the time my car stuck on the logging road— 37 kilometres up the Argonaught and Granite Mainlines! I added it to the schedule and as one of the objectives for the Island Mountain Ramblers Ridge Rambler Challenge because this region is among my favourite ridge hikes.
 |
| Maquinna Point |
Isolated.
Rugged.
Awe-inspiring.
But most of all, humbling.
Yes, the Nootka Island Trail is all of these.
Isolated because it is an island off the north-west coast of Vancouver Island, accessible only by boat or float plane.
Continue reading “Nootka Island Trail Backpack – July 9-13, 2016”
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.
–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.
 |
| A handsom looking group of Island Mountain Ramblers! |