Timberline Tales

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 5040 Hike – Aug.15, 2020

–submitted by Sherry Durnford

The 5040 hike of July 11 took place on Aug. 15 as snow levels and visibility were still an issue on July11.   This hike was appended to Matt Lettington’s hike up 5040 and 7 people came along.  It was a beautiful warm day so we started early, meeting at 6:30 am with 2 people coming up from Maple Bay (a VERY early start).

The coordinator, Sherry, was sweep and the reluctant hiker, Peter, was lead.  This worked well until Holly realized that Peter was waiting too long for Sherry to catch up on the way down and took the lead.   One and ¼ hours got the group to Cobalt Lake and about ½ hour further got us to the cabin.  It was occupied but closed for visitors.  We had snacks and the 4 am starters from Maple Bay decided to enjoy views from the cabin porch while the rest of us trudged to the top.  By noon, we met the other Island Mountain Rambler group led by Matt Lettington and had nice chats about flying ants, bugs in general, and how to fine tune trip participant levels.

On the way down, Holly took the lead with a good pace and we congregated at Cobalt Lake for swims, dips, and water refills.   The rest was a slow but steady descent through trees, roots, and rock to the cars.  All were down by 3:30, thankful that we’d gotten an early start on a very warm day.

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Sutton Peak via the West Ridge

–SUBMITTED BY MATTHEW LETTINGTON; ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON EXPLORINGTON.COM

Sutton Peak is one of Vancouver Island’s illustrious 6000 footers. It’s a destination that I frequently poke Phil about doing; since he first summited – without me—back in 2016. Aside from its height, this route’s sparkling feature is the long west ridge that leads mountaineers to seek this summit.

No GPS Track Available

Total Distance: 15 km
Starting Elevation: 1094 m
Maximum Elevation: 1870 m
Total Elevation Gain: 1511 m
Total Duration: 8 h 30 min

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The Golden Hinde(less) Traverse – July 18-24, 2020

Why the Hinde(less) you ask? Because we didn’t summit the Golden Hinde, which, for most people, would be the primary objective of this trek. For me, and for most of my group, it wasn’t a big disappointment, because for us it was about the journey, not just about bagging the highest peak on Vancouver Island.

 

We were two groups of four, with the other group canoeing over Buttle Lake before traversing across Marble Meadows and then to the Hinde, attempting it on the 21st. Aftrer coming within 200 meters of the top, they turned back due to hazardous snow conditions. My group hiked up the Elk River Trail to Elk Pass and then across to the Golden Hinde, making it to the South Tarn at the base of the mountain on July 21. Our hopes of a summit attempt on the 22nd, however, were dashed when we heard from the other group (via our inReach satellite communication) of their aborted attempt. To be honest, though, I’m not disappointed. I was tired, and climbing the mountain (which I had bagged in 1998) and then having an arduous 3-day hike to Buttle Lake before the short canoe back to my truck wasn’t appealing. And frankly, I don’t have the confidence on steep pitches, especially snow, that I once had.

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What a blast on the Augerpoint Traverse!

–SUBMITTED BY JOHN YOUNG; ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JOHN’S BLOG

What a difference a year makes! Last year when we hiked this trail, we saw nary a soul past Mount Albert Edward, but this year we met more than 20 others. One big group of about 20, a group of 3, a solo man and his dog, and two runners completing it in a day. The trail is also much better defined than it was just last year – a well-worn tread with many cairns leads the way. Although it is popular and pleasant, it’s far from a “walk in the park,” as over it’s 30 km it gains 2150 m and loses 3000 m. Lots of ups and downs! Since we started from Mt. Washington’s Raven Lodge with an elevation of 1100 m., we had an overall elevation loss of 850 m.

We started off with a stroll through Paradise Meadows

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Douglas Peak

July 5, 2020

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

Four of us braved a spotty forecast to hike Douglas Peak. Instead of patches of sunlight, the four of us hiked up the logging road to its terminus and then headed into the bush for a few hours of light bushwhacking to the old-growth summit.

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Golden Hinde Traverse

–submitted by Bill Jackson

In the fall I posted a July trip to the Hinde.  Greg Deabler offered to co-lead, which made the thing possible.  Even with that much lead time, and even if Covid hadn’t interrupted hiking, I’d have trouble preparing to lead that serious a trip.  Later a suggestion was made to change the plan to a traverse.  John Young would lead a traverse from Elk River to Buttle Lake, ascending the Hinde along the way, and our group would do the same in the other direction.  We conferred with those who were down for the trip that was originally planned and the decision was a “go”.
As it turned out, we didn’t complete our objectives but it was a great time in the mountains.

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Boston Ridge & Mount Becher

July 5th, 2020

~ submitted by Bil Derby

With cooler temperatures and light drizzle in the forecast four of us gathered at the “old Forbidden Plateau Ski hill” trailhead under overcast skies.  After a few minutes spent catching up and discussing the day’s plan we headed downhill, replete with the expected commentary about starting a hike downhill, to pick up the trail to Boston Creek.  

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