Tag: Su Castle

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Mount Bluff

March 15, 2026

~ submitted by Su Castle

After a short drive up Butler Main, we chose a little scamper up the side of the logging road to gain the Mt Bluff Ridge Trail.

Photo of a member clearing off the moss from the very old spray painted trail directions!

The ridge trail is less used, so we did a bit of route finding, made more challenging due to the amount of leftover snow. Great viewpoints along the way to the summit.

Disinclined to hike with the impending forecasted atmospheric river, we decided to forgo the idea of Trap and returned via the Speed Bumps trail.

The Scouts use this trail- it was much easier to follow!



Total distance- 9.5kms
Total elevation gain- 468m

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Green Mountain

~November 30, 2025

~ submitted by Su Castle

Beautiful late fall weather day for this trip up Green Mountain. We drove up logging spur K15 until the creek crossing. (approx 49.04447 124.34843), snow started 1100m.

We hiked steadily upwards, using micro spikes near the summit. There was more of a crust on the snow the higher up we got. Ice formations on the foliage were beautiful!

The last 100m of elevation gave us the adventure we were seeking, as the snow wasn’t consistent enough to create good steps, and there was just enough ice on the rocks with a bit of a drop off below us to make it a super sketchy choice!

We descended the summit a slightly different way. We were back at the vehicle and out of the last Nanaimo Lakes gates by 3:00. 

Trip length: 7.5 km Total elevation: 450 Total Hike: 4 hours  

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Heather Mountain

June 6, 2025

~ submitted by Su Castle

It was a hot day up Heather Mountain. The snow had mostly melted; luckily there were a few patches to cool down with.

It was one member’s first hike both on Vancouver Island and with the IMR.  We had a 12 km round trip as we were able to drive most of the way up.

Great company, big views. We took it slow and steady, made time for rest stops and a little exploring.

Elapsed time: 6 hours. Elevation gain: 750m.

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Upper Cowichan River (Part 3) – Lifetime Hiking Objective

–submitted by Su Castle
 
Part 3 Cowichan River Trail. ✅
 
By previous accounts, I thought parts of this trail was going to be really gnarly with bad bushwacking. We did follow a previous hiker’s track to keep us in line when the ‘trail’ was more elk than human. Most of the hike was lovely and obvious. The frozen ground helped to keep feet dry. Some areas typically would be pretty mushy. My shins bear the tale of walking into hidden branches along the ‘make your own adventure’ sections!
 

Continue reading “Upper Cowichan River (Part 3) – Lifetime Hiking Objective”

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Mountain Improv with Island Alpine Guides

June 1, 2024

~ submitted by Su Castle

7 of us met Jan Neuspiel, owner of Island Alpine Guides at the Comox Lake crags for our day of instruction.

He ensured we all got what the course promised to deliver at a follow-able pace. Additional knowledge was shared as response to our many questions! Jan was friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. We had a mix of theory and hands on practice. The instructor was able to deliver to the different levels of experience within the group.

Minimizing risk in the mountains was emphasized with many relevant examples and stories. Participants were actively involved and I think we all got what we wanted/needed from the course.  It was a lot of information and we were encouraged to practice and contact IAG with any questions in the future. So worthwhile!

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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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Ridge Rambler- Gowland Todd One way

–submitted by Su Castle

We left a vehicle at both trailheads and commenced the10km ridge hike at Caleb Pike, taking 3 hours with stops for photos and a detour to see both Cascade Falls and the extremely high tide at McKenzie Bight. While there was wind on the ridge, there was no rain! Elevation gain travelling in this direction was minimal, only 400m.

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Finlayson Arm 28k Route

September 1, 2023

~ submitted by Su Castle

We started at the Prospectors Trail in Goldstream and followed the route for the 28 km Finlayson Arm trail run route, at a hike pace.


Hike time was just under 8 hours, breaks about 40 min in total. Weather was fantastic.