Dec. 12-16, 2022: Three Islands and three day hikes.
1) Dec 12: Galiano Island / westBodega Ridge: 9.26 km / 357m gain / 250m high point / 3 hours MT
This was our first time on Galiano Island. With a population of only 1000, there is no police force. There were also no crowds, it being the off season. And there was no snow or ice. It felt so good to get out in the warm sun with most of the trail being on an open ridge overlooking the Salish Sea.
Trincomali Canal -- west.
This hike had oodles of arbutus trees. Case gets excited when he sees interesting trees.
The salal grows higher here than on the mainland.
Hairy manzanita shrubs are related to the arbutus trees.
Case thinks these manzanita shrubs died because of the drought this summer & fall.
Saltspring & Penelakut Islands were sandwiched between us and Vancouver Island.
northwest
About 15 minutes walk past the second brown "Hazardous Area" sign, the ridge views end.
We carried on (as instructed in the Destination Hikes book by Stephen Hui) to the sign in pic 2. The last few kilometres were not really worth doing.
pic 2: A tree growing out of the high hollow stump.
After the hike we drove to Retreat Bay.
We walked past an old wooden gate at the end of the road, to these these beautiful sandstone formations.
We spent two nights at the Galiano Inn. I'd highly recommend it. It's right by the ferry terminal and the quaint small community. We took a walk through the gardens by our hotel.
Day 2) Mount Galiano: 15.4 km / 804m gain / 267m high / 4:20 hours MT
My paper pages that I'd photocopied from the Destination Hikes book, were pretty frayed by the end of the day. I had to pull them out and check the directions constantly throughout the hike. And even then, I still ended up going off course which cost us an extra half an hour. What made this maze of trails so hard to follow is the fact that they had no signs. And one trail didn't even show up on our two GPSs!
We hiked right from our hotel.
It was only about 10 minutes before we got to this trailhead.
An antique car graveyard.
At this point we were walking on Georgeson Bay Rd. The book said "after 10 minutes of quiet road walking, spot a kiosk and parking area on the left". This threw me off because we were barely walking 5 minutes. And the faint trail + decrepit kiosk by a muddy parking lot were easy to miss.
So we ended up walking about 2 km down this paved road. Most of the homes have high wired fences to keep the deer out of their yards.
Many holly bushed lined the road.
Back we walked, after talking to a local. This is the kiosk, angled sideways to the road.
Another no-sign fork in the trail that was easy to miss. At this point I kept my GPS in my hand. But this stretch of the Alistar Ross trail that started at the kiosk, did not show up on our GPSs.
A black-water pond.
In about half an hour we were back on the Mt. Galiano main trail. This is the remains of a small aircraft.
At the near-summit viewpoint on top of the bluffs. A Garry Oak tree.
Active Pass separates Galiano & Mayne Islands.
Overlooking the Salish Sea.
A log by the parking lot for the Mt. Galiano trail. I've never seen this form of Artists Conk before.
After the parking lot we dropped down to check out this beach at Shore Access #17.
Back onto Zuker Rd. we went.
Then we turned right onto Highland Rd, following it up & round the corner to the sign pointing to the Japanese charcoal pit kiln.
Many of the Japanese pioneers that settled in Galiano in the late 1800s & early 1900s, were from Wakayama Prefecture in Japan where they practiced the ancient technology of charcoal making. Charcoal was used for cooking, heating, in blacksmithing, for the manufacturing of explosives & soap and the booming salmon canning industry.
The charcoal pit with a tree that grew into the pit.
On the second ridge where Garry Oaks dominated the landscape.
This shelter was built in 1950 when the newly created Bluffs Park was being established. In 2016 a storm damaged the roof so it was torn down.
The GPS failed to record the last stretch of trail (turquoise line). We didn't get out of the forest and back to the trailhead till almost 5:00pm! By then it was very dark. Tired & hungry, we had dinner at the Hummingbird Pub.
Day 3) We didn't have to be at the ferry to Mayne Island till 10:30am so we checked out Montague Harbour.
The white shell beach makes the water look turquoise-green.
The inland lagoon was only a few minutes walk from the bay.
Now we were on the island of Mayne. Population: 1300.
The Georgina Point Lighthouse has guided mariners using Active Pass since 1885.
The Fallow deer are abundant and eat everything, unlike the native Black Tail deer.
We went to visit our friend, Robbin who's cozy home is situated 300m high on a bluff, with a lovely view on the Gulf Islands. Robbin used to be a member of our Chilliwack Out door club.
Robbin took us on a walk along this spit.
A seal versus a seagull.
Oyster Catchers.
Then we stopped in at the Japanese Gardens.
Robbin is listening to the hum of the bell after Case rang it.
So many artists living on these islands. We caught the 5:30pm ferry to Swartz Bay.
Day 4) We drove from Duncan to Lake Cowichan, northwest. From there we turned west onto a gravel road that was busy with logging trucks. Unlike the other two islands, we were now in snow and ice.
It was only a few minutes walk to this massive Sitka spruce tree.
Fairy Lake.
We stopped at Sombrio Beach, taking the east trail to the beach. This is part of the 47 km long Juan de Fuca trail.
Then we walked left for about 20 minutes.
At the creek we turned in. At first you cannot see a trail but soon to the right you see a faint one.
And voila: aptly named, Hidden Falls.
Surfers were out.
A tombstone hidden on the beach's edge. From there we drove south, past Sooke and then Victoria and then drove north to Naniamo and had a lovely visit with my brother, Rick & his wife, Arlene.
Day 5) Extenision Ridge hike: 15 km / 473m gain / 286m high point
Extension Ridge is part of the TCT, the longest trail network in the world.
We got up early for this one, knowing we had to catch the 1:00pm ferry. So we started in the dark at 7:10am. Again, I got us off course, not paying enough attention to my written instructions. This cost us at least half an hour.
Instead of turning right by the overpass and going under it, we crossed the road and continued on the paved Parkway trail. About 2 km later I finally noticed that we were off track, so I pulled out my GPS, crossed the highway and got us to the Extension Ridge trail, doing a large triangle.
The Abyss.
At this point (about 20 minutes past the Abyss) we had to turn back. We were out of time. Case was getting antsy about not making the ferry. But he got quite queasy a bit later when in my haste, I stepped on ice-covered granite and fell backwards, with my arms taking the impact of the fall. When I got up I noticed the top half of my middle finger was positioned at an alarmingly bizarre 45-degree angle. What to do? It didn't really hurt. I tried bend it back but it wouldn't. After hiking down another 5 minutes, I took off my glove, checked for any perforated skin, and snapped the finger back into place. Hence our day could proceed as planned.
There wasn't much of a distant view. The forecast of sun did not happen.
At the Colliery Dam by the beginning of the trail.
Notice the big off-course triangle we walked.
Lesson to be learned: don't forget your micro-spikes. I had my finger checked out the next day and I did indeed have a fracture in the knuckle.
So glad you stopped to see Robbin, loved the trees, sorry about your finger, yikes