Last of the Year Dec. 31, 2011

Nippy but nice ... just had to get out for the very last one of the year ... many of our hikers are off island, or very busy so it was a short reminiscing hike of our past year's activities ... trying to choose favourites and already planning for January and February.

.


It is always fun to take someone who hasn't been there before ...

This is a trail system which suffered from blow down  last year but fortunately there was some help with clearing and signage.

Some unusual tracks too.

Rare to go down to the meadow and not meet someone, as we did this afternoon ... so nice that it is well enjoyed!

Nude Beach Dec. 27, 2011

We began with Plans A, B, C ... we missed the annual Gray Bay Hot Dog Hike ... when the weather threatened to strand us on Moresby Island, we missed the Rennell Sound trip this morning when there was a power outage and snow!

So we settled on Nude Beach ... by accident. It was close to perfect as we accidentally ran into some of the folks who were to go on the original trip ... and after a cold, windy walk on the beach we ended up with a house tour, hot chocolate, cookies, and some beach treasures. And we all made it home in time for dinner with friends and family!

We also have a knowledgeable new Over the Hill Hiker and Aeriel ... welcome all.

Who needed Rennell Sound we found a size 12 runner anyway ..

Take care all - it is really stormy out there now!
Plan D ... Gray Bay and Rennell Sound when the weather permits.

Anguilla - Wardward Point

Beach hike ... yesterday. Wardward Point ... cactus and geocache too. George and the girls headed off ... after navigating along a rough road only to be redirected along a rougher one we got close to the right spot [much of this was from memory of 6 years ago]. We spotted the famous people place ... Pitt-Jolie-Anniston or some combination. Then wound among the braided dune trails, some flooded from the ealier rains ... eventually we got the close to the beach ...

Lovely wind blowing enough to keep us cool, breakers pounding into the beach ... beautiful coral beachcombing, lots of flotum and jetsom ... then we branched off to wards the cactus fields and the marker ... where we expected the geocache.

Success on all fronts ... beachcombing, fantastic views, exercise and the geocache FTF [first to find].

Anguilla ... Iguana Cave Hike

A windy day, so plan B was, hike into the island today, beaches tomorrow. We loaded up the car, headed to the bakery then off towards Crocus Bay for the hike up into the caves and conveniently a geocache called Arawak [the early indegenious people of Anguilla]. 7 of us scrambled into the car.

Stas was prepared with a chair and book, as he is recovering from a hip replacement. We didn't know how long the hike would be ...

Off we went - the beginning of the trail was flooded with the recent rains so George led us around the edges and following the geocache directions we made our way up to the sistern then around to the cave entrance where Julie entered the cave to turn around shortly announcing there were bats!

Some of the rest of us were searching for the red tree beyond the cactus for the geocache ... we never did find the geocache but there were lots of cactus, which tend to make you focus on them!

Defeated but resileant we headed back to the house for lunch and a pool swim.

International Chapter ... Anguilla, BWI

As one of our members is interested in crossing England we decided that we should try walking across some other islands. As Anguilla is a small island we decided it should be our first.

This morning at 7:30 we set off, 7 of us, from Shoal Bay [where we are staying and headed across the island, having checked with the maps etc. so we wouldn't get lost, as if we could!

Apparently we have some geographically challenged hikers, so we kept in a group ... this was not our regular hiking, along trails, but along the roadway ... remember they drive on the left side of the road here and the roads are narrow ... occassional white lines with no sidewalks. Very friendly people ...

Anticipating heat ... we had backup care with MaryAnn and Stas [who had hip surgery very recently] who had water for us and hosted us at Sandy Hill, our destination.

Then we returned to Shoal Bay, by car as the next thing planned was energy balancing exercises, snorkling and beachcombing ...

Next hike not planned but it will involve geocaching.

Nov. 14, Hardly an Opportunity Goes By

Monday and couple of hikers had the day off so why not ... doesn't matter that we actually had snow last night [a skiff really] ... and today there has been wonderful sun both preceeded and followed by snow and rain. It has been exciting but like the postman off we went!

Crabapple Creek was the destination ... we went up from the Dry Land sort across to the creek, which was rushing, then followed Paul's flagging to the back bog then retraced out steps and came out on 2nd Ave. down to 10th and then back to the dry land sort.

Enjoy the lovely calm beautiful greens of the ferns and brilliant orange of the mushrooms ... it is bit slippy in places so be careful.

Nov. 11, 2011 Remembrance Day

As a wonderful part of Remembrance Day, following the Cenotaph Ceremony, we headed off for a Traundl Loop hike ...

So calm and mild ... we told stories, told to us, about when the towns folk used to go down there in the summers for ball games on the meadow and we admired the gigantic stumps as we walked through the woodland trails...

We were awed by the cliff side we had scrambled up earlier in the summer ... and the terrific view we had from our serendipitous hike that day. Thanks Reiner.

We checked out the area where we hope the work experience crew will be able clean up.

Then we went up to the see where our town water comes from ... the Honna looks quite high and delicious.


At the end of this hike is dinner and a movie ... doesn't always happen that way.

November 7, 2010 Experimental Hike

After a fun lunch with the QC Seniors at Tlell's Crows Nest a couple of the hikers took off to explore some of Tlell's woodlands.

Can you guess where we went on 2 mini hikes. Wildlife spotted; an expiring coho

Of course we ended up on the beach ... and talking about the Supertanker Threat of the Embridge Pipeline and the upcoming Joint Review Panel.

Update: 2 island locations have been announced for early 2012 - Masset and Queen Charlotte for the local in person presentations.

November 6, 2011 Sheldens Bay, Moresby Island

Emails went out and folks responded ... a couple hikers were double booked so we all fit in 2 hardy cars ... the roads were rough but the drivers were undaunted. 10:00 ferry had us over and down to Sheldens in great time ... it was a bit nippy on the way over on the ferry ... west wind!

By the time we found our trail, checked google earth's map, got our snacks organized etc. we were ready to set off 11:30ish. While we had rain gear ready, we never saw a drop of rain and there was no wind yet a powerful swell was rolling in against the rocks.

We went out the forest encroached logging road paralleling the shoreline to the big beach then walked the beach around to Dogfish Bay ... there we detoured into the forest, wide open and mossy, lovely to wander through.

Beachcombing wasn't the best ... but it was lovely to sit on the beach, warm and cozy, jackets off in November. The oxeye daisies were still blooming and the mint was still edible!

Eventually we had to turn back to retrace our steps to the cars and with perfect timing drove onto the ferry with 5 minutes to spare. We did stop to figure out this little fellow frog or toad.

Once again we did spot a bear [practically every trip out we see one but the camera isn't always ready!]

Oct. 30, 2011 to Riley Creek

Off the ladies went to Rennell Sound ... the plan was to get a last hike into Riley Creek before the snow flies! This was the night after the Halloween Dance so the start while early was a bit slow ... we began with a walk out to the Knoll in search of the "green chair" ... it had disappeared in the big wind storm a few days ago. No signs.

Next it was out on the logging roads ... Blueberry and her driver did a great job, the roads were pretty good ... no traffic ... only one bear crossing the road [all the cameras were in the back ... it was big and black!].

Watching overhead we could see the odd spot of blue sky and by watching the road carefully we found the trail head into Riley Creek ... we had noticed along the way that the rivers were really rushing! N53 23.401 W 132 29.383

After getting ready ... rain gear and food ... off we went. It is a beautiful hike even though the government seems to have abandoned it. Today we over and under lots of blow-downs and mushed through many muddy spots ... but we were not deterred!

On we went watching for the creek crossing spot ... we had gumboots ready and were prepared to ford the creek and then take the trail along to the southern side of the creek to the beach. We passed the spot where the puppy was lost and saw the rushing river ... there were rapids in the river!

A couple of times we were encouraged when we saw a log across the river that we might cross on .... over the hill hikers we are supposed to be mature and wise ... we didn't try it and instead walked down to the saltwater on the north side - this meant we wouldn't get to beach comb. Yet amazingly we made find ... it perfect condition a huge yellow "marker/bumper" about 50 meters into the bush maybe 500 meters front the creek mouth!

We did get to a new place on the "beach" and there we decided to eat. After retreating a bit to get out of the wind and starting a fire, supplemented by a stove we enjoyed smokies, with all the condiments, chips and hot chocolate ... quite the feast!

Soon we noticed the tide had turned and was rushing in ... at the same time the river was rising! So we hastily decided it was time to head back up the trail as dessert, fresh apple pie was waiting for us at the car!

The hike back was jackets on, jackets off one, as although there were rain showers periodically it was mild.

All in all ... another great hike and we'll be back when the creeks drop ...

October 22, 2011

Once again we piled in the car to head over to Moresby Island ... the plan was a walk around the Spit and then to pick up one of our members who had been missing for a month. She wasn't lost just having a wonderful time on a few other islands; Vancouver, Saltspring and Hawaii!

Weather was great leaving QCC ... sunny with quite a strong westerly but by the time we reached Sandspit the wind had dropped and the clouds had moved in .... not to be daunted we drove to the airport left the car and headed west to walk the loop ... collection bags in hand.

About to the end of the Spit it was fine then ... the wind came up from the south east and the rain began ... so we headed up from the beach to the grassy track ... just one snag was sat upon!

We continued on and fortunately the plane was a bit late as we all arrived at the airport at the same time both the hikers and the plane. We now know it is about 1.5 hrs to walk the short circuit..

Even though wet it was a great hike and great to welcome back to our fellow hiker and to top it all off we got to talk via cellphone to another fellow hiker who now lives in Prince Rupert!

Friday ... Summer continues

Sometimes the right thing happens ... I felt I needed a walk and it was such a gorgeous day with high winds predicted [the tide always seemed high!] so I choose Spirit Lake as I hadn't been up in ages.

Who did I meet but Jags coming out armed with a chainsaw! There is a new trail to explore, new and steep with a very cool view .... so lets plan on it soon.

This photo, while strange, should be seen in this orientation ...

Oct 2 Moresby Island Adventures

The Hikers headed out for Moresby Island to do some mushroom picking, perhaps some fishing and general exploring!

It almost worked as planned ... except one of the hikers missed the ferry! What could we do but keep going, as we were already on the ferry.

Bypassing Sandspit we headed via South Bay to mushroom country. While looking for chantrelles one of the collectors managed to also find false chantrelles ... apparently happy to find any orange-ish mushroom! Fortunately the more experienced picker [rather than the doctor] pointed out the error!

The chantrelles were few and far between but we weren't skunked ... although sales would have been poor had we been professionals.

Next stop was Moresby Camp ... to check out the camping area, new dock [which wasn't there]; lots of work was being done on the road ... bridge replacement - very rough. Perhaps why there were so few people around on such a wonderful day.

The Pallant Creek weir has had 1/3 removed ... saw a few very old chums swimming in the lower section ... a few carcasses. Further towards the mouth we joined a couple of visiting fishermen on the river ... they were quite downcast as had no fish in 2 days! We were not more successful but

we did get to both see and fish with a bear.

Then we just did a bit of exploring ... seeing some pretty amazing stumps.

Looking forward to Banff Film Festival this week ....

October 1, 2011 to Rennell Sound

Some of the Over the Hill Hikers minus their stalwarts headed out to Rennell Sound to enjoy the promised fine weather ... the roads were pretty good, newly graded.

Actually we acted a bit more like Over the Hill Strollers ... we first took a short detour down a forestry road ... just to see where it went!

Next stop was Gregory Beach trail ... muddier than summer ... but the beach was great, lots of driftwood collecting and sun-rays soaking up time.

Next we headed to Bonanza on the rising tide ... where we did more driftwood searching. Found it interesting that these two beaches so close together could have such different driftwood patterns.

Very few people were out enjoying the area, although we were happy to meet Ruby, the dog and her family at Bonanza.

We did see various wildlife: squirrels, marten, deer, raccoon tracks, seals and one bear!

A bit of time off

It has been a month since the last update ... not that we haven't been doing anything .... we just haven't been doing it together.

Today the group was in different places too ... from kayaking to gardening but here is what a couple of the group did ...

The idea was initially to look for mushrooms but in reality it was an exploration trip ... unfortunately not much hiking [but some potentials were identified] ... a few chantrelles were found, some pickers cars were seen, signs of pickers were noted ... a lots of other types of mushrooms were spotted.
The best part was the decision to see where "this road goes" ... still don't know!


Then we got to have a bit of a visit with this black bear and her cub!

Out of sync August 26, 2011

Three of us who had known each other 40 years ago on the Islands ... all piled into the truck [with golf clubs] to head up north site seeing along the way. The trip began in Sandspit, where it was planned the day before on the Willows golf course.

After QC the first stop was Balance Rock ... a wonderful weather day.



Next recorded stop the Dixon Entrance Golf course ...


Then finally to the beach ... we chose the Cemetery Beach, so we got to drive through the Sanctuary, past the Graveyard and out on to the beach. After admiring the sky and sea, the dunes and beach - it was heads down focus on rocks!



Generally a great day and lovely visit with long time ago residents, wonderful stories too!

You never know

Today the weather was perfect and we needed to get out, to be together and to test one hiking foot...
so we headed for Tlell, thinking the beach with a short forest hike would be the best test ...

All went well, we repositioned a geocache, showed a new hike off, enjoyed the beach, chatting all the way ... after we had gone far enough we turned around with thoughts of lunch ....

Then we happened to notice a store at the top of the beach, just below the dunes ... who knew that the newest business in Tlell would be so creative .... we greatly enjoyed the window shopping and indeed did leave a tip!



We would like to thank the local entrepreneurs ... fantastic sense of humour.