Living the best adventure life, since 1958
On January 29, 2022, we finally caught a break. After what seemed like weeks of rain, it relented for a Saturday of hiking through the Sooke bumps. I relied heavily on the beta provided by a friend who frequents the area in planning the trip. I trusted he would provide us with some good routes to highlight some of the best features. He didn’t disappoint!
On January 15th, 2022, while Nanaimo lay under the oppressive dark typical of our Vancouver Island Winters, six members pierced through the cloud for an adventure in the sunshine!
Tangle Mountain turned out to be a fantastic day in the low alpine of Vancouver Island, September 26, 2021. Though we probably didn’t take the easiest route to get to the mountain’s base, we were all in awe of the surrounding landscape. Fall colours are spreading their drama in the hills: purples, reds, yellows, greens.
October 23rd, 2021
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Plan A was Mount Hooper, likely a solid B3/4 bushwhack up steep terrain to the ridge. The forecast called for an atmospheric river to fall. We headed the caution and picked a better option, Minna and Kamma Ridges.
Continue reading “Minna and Kamma Ridges”
Most folks will agree that it’s more enjoyable to hike under clear skies than cloudy, but sometimes it rains. Let me make a case for the dreary day adventure. Though the views from the top of a mountain may be vast on sunny days, those sunbathed landscapes lack the drama and character that appear –like fitful apparitions– when the clouds descend. The wind ripping through the trees goes unseen unless clouds and fog come with it. And the sea of hills blends into each other unless cloud pours through the valleys, billowing around features allowing only the top of the peak to emerge from the top. And even in a whiteout, one must marvel at our own insignificance in the scope of the situation.
On September 26, we all had a chance to witness these unique –but otherwise dreary– characteristics on our short hike to the marked summit at Mount Apps.
When I posted Marmot Mountain to the club schedule, I enticed members with the promise, “Participants should be willing to participate in moderate bushwhacking to get through the lower areas of this route, and a few of the upper areas… and why not some more in the middle too?”. The trip lived up to my promise.
September 18, 2021
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Misty Moriarty
We were a group of four, including Hemingway (now 8 years old), who braved the misty forest and cloud-drenched slopes of Mount Moriarty on September 18th. It’s been seven years since my last trip up these familiar slopes and along the rolling ridge. In that time, the route has become more defined, easier to follow.
Continue reading “Mount Moriarty”
September 11th, 2021
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Heather Mountain is one of the many Vancouver Island hikes where the logging road approach far exceeds the distance on the trail proper. It’s a trip I do when nasty weather turns us away from more challenging objectives, and therefore one I do in the rain.
Continue reading “Heather Mountain”
August 28, 2021
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Another fine day on the high ridges of Vancouver Island! Six members total participated in a traverse of Wesley Ridge on August 28th. This is a much-loved hike for the club and is one of the club’s Ridge Rambler objectives. Even though another leader led this route just a week prior, I led it again as a last-minute addition to the calendar when I cancelled a more complex trip.
Pogo Mountain falls inside the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks. When hiking in these tribal parks, consider making a donation to the Tribal Park Guardians as we did.
The Island’s backcountry isn’t immune to the sways of social media. It seems like every summer there’s a new fevered interest in some area or other. A while back, everyone and their dog wants to reach Century Sam, and this year’s flavour seems to be 5040. It’s not difficult to point to the cofactors that drive people to these places: FOMO, Moral Panic, and various social media play their role. But how does one place become “the place” in any given region/year? And, what I want to know is why hasn’t Pogo Mountain become one of those destinations?
