Sadie Peak

July 20, 2024

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

Why not many things change in the Alpine over the years, the same cannot be said for cut blocks. When I did Sadie Peak the first time, I do remember the block being a little bit of a challenge, but this time it was  very bushy. 

We stuck to the route I used on my first trip to this mountain 10 years earlier. The first half mostly went as expected. We followed the original route pretty closely. The navigation and bush on the first quarter of the route was made even more challenging by the very warm weather. By the time we made it halfway along the route, we discovered a well booted in game trail. It was a welcome sight because it greatly sped up those portions of the trip. 

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The Obscure Sadie Peak

— Submitted by Matthew Lettington, read the full report on his blog

View from the summit of Sadie Peak, looking North

Many of those who read my blog will know that I live in Nanaimo BC and that most of my hiking trips take me to the mid and north island. If you know your geography at all, you will also know that Nanaimo is wedged between the ocean and the mountains, a magical sort of place. However, that place is being held ransom by timber companies. The relationship between hikers and the land-holders is complicated. Though we would love to see the mountain left untouched, the reality is that most of the access to the peaks we want to climb is provided by the roads that are built and maintained by the forestry companies.

View GPS Route with photographs

Total Horizontal Distance: 11.4 km
Time: 8 hours
Starting Elevation; 885 m
Max Elevation: 1460 m
Total Elevation Gain: 1087 m

 In the past I have written of the challenges of getting into the areas around the Nanaimo Lakes Region.  I believe that many folks who live on the Vancouver Island have little concept of how the land owned by Island Timberlands has shaped their concept of where communities are located on the central Island.