Living the best adventure life, since 1958
September 30th, 2023
~ submitted by Mary Hof
Today I led a group of 8 on a hike to Mt. Apps for the Island Mountain
Ramblers.
Mt Apps is the second highest summit in the Beaufort Range and overlooks the east
coast of Vancouver Island as well as the Alberni Valley to the west and south.
It also presents excellent views of the southern part of Strathcona Provincial
Park to the northwest. We could see forever today.
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.
November 14th, 2020
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Mount Apps is one of my favourite short alpine hikes. Located in the Beaufort Range, it offers a beautiful ridge walk through alpine terrain. The roads have pushed so high up the ridge that you literally start the hike on the crest of the ridge – 4×4 permitting, and, weather.
September 28, 2019
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
On Saturday, October 28th, I led a group of 9 –including a 13-month-old—to the summit of Mount Apps. The sun may have been shining but that did not offer much reprieve from the biting cold and bitter wind.
Continue reading “Mount Apps from Buckley Bay Side”