Timberline Tales

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Whiltilla Mountain, Day two in the Bonanza Range

–submitted by Matthew Lettington, Read the report on his blog

This report is a chapter in a longer series of reports from a multi-day car camping and mountaineering expedition done in the summer of 2016. In this section, day 2 July 17th, we climb Whiltilla Mountain.

Every summer I look forward to one of two long trips trekking and mountaineering in Vancouver Island’s backcountry. They become the focus of the summer because it’s difficult to get 7 days where I can head into the backcountry with friends so these days are sacrosanct. This summer we planned a trip through Strathcona Park along the Wolfe/Cervus Divide. Mother nature had other plans. As the day of departure came, the forecast called for three days of lighting. We changed our plan and traveled farther north, and used the days to do some climbing in the Bonanza Range.

Whiltilla Mountain, Bonanza Range, hiking on Vancouver Island
Whiltilla Mountain Map and GPS Route

 

Total Distance: 7.8 km
Starting Elevation: 948 m
Maximum Elevation: 1698 m
Total Elevation Gain: 782 m
Total Time: 5 h 20 m

 

 

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Rappel Workshop 3

The day may have threatened rain, but we had only light winds and a pleasant glow for our rappel workshop.

The four of us worked quickly to learn the basics of rappelling. Before long, we were rappelling down the height of the bluffs at Pipers Lagoon.
Next to the mountains!
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Maple Mountain Loop

–submitted by Ken Warren

Eight of us set out on a Maple Mountain loop from Chilco Road on Saturday. Maple Mountain is the best marked and mapped trail system I’ve found on the Island, in that trail marking is frequently updated and the actual trails correspond exactly with the mapped trails. We set out along the blue trail and switched to the yellow, walking parallel to the water to our first break at Grave Point and the opening of Sansum narrows.

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Westwood Ridges

A slight departure from the scheduled route, an extra leg was added to the hike to extend the day trip.

Four of us started out from the N. end of Westwood L. following the standard ridges route with a first stop at Ridge 1 overlooking the lake. After a brief snack it was on to Ridge 2 for lunch, complete with views to Mt. Benson, Robert’s Roost and Ladysmith inlet. We concluded our hike with a brief tour of a couple of trails in Morrell: the Rocky Knoll trail (not to be missed), and the Beaver Pond.

Good weather, good group, and a nice woodsy ramble fit for anyone with average physical fitness.

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Mount De Cosmos & Wine Tasting

A short, stiff hike up from Second Lake on the Nanaimo Lakes circuit. We leftHarewood Mall at 0700 and arrived at the base of the logging road 1150 metres below the summit. Stop about 400 metres before the main 2nd Lake Gate which is the gate just after the lake cottages. There is a small road to the right climbing up with an old,low gate which may be locked. It does not matter. We parked on the main logging road.From here it was a quick walk up from the lake to the end of the road at about 480metres.

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