A September Visit to Hornby Island - Part 1

By Keith and Heather Nicol

Wheels come in handy for hauling kayaks over Hornby's beaches

      With school starting and tourist numbers getting smaller we decided it would be a good time to head to Hornby Island to do some kayaking , hiking, mountain biking and beach walking. We last visited Hornby Island almost a year ago in October and that time we were on our own. This time we were in a larger group including brother Bruce and his wife Mary Ellen and they also invited their Victoria friends Rene and Mieke. We started our holiday with great weather and on Tuesday, September 10 we had an exploratory walk along the High Salal trail which was new to us and then we paddling to Flora Island.  The kayaking launch point was Whaling Station beach and due to the low tide we were glad we brought our “wheels” to help get the kayaks to the water. 

Kayaking in perfect conditions

  We paddled under light winds and sunny skies and saw tons of seals on the islands as well as some spotted sandpipers and gulls. We lunched in the sun on Flora Island even saw a few California sea lions in a group resting in the water. Over all this kayak route is about 8 km making it a great morning or afternoon paddle.  And a real bonus was that we arrived back at high tide which meant an easy carry of gear and kayaks to the cars. 

The views from the Middle Bench trail are superb

  The next day (Wednesday, September 11) the wind was up so we opted to do some hiking and mountain biking on some of Hornby’s fine trails off of Mount Geoffrey. While the rest of the group hiked the amazing Middle Bench trail (accessed off of Mount Rd), Rene and Keith mountain biked to the top of Mt Geoffrey via the scenic Outer Ridge trail and then wound our way down via Devil’s Kitchen , Far Side, Slalom, Mr Toads Wild Ride to Washing Machine (which we loved due to its banked turns) and we ended at Slade Rd where were cycled back to our accommodation.  We like mountain biking at Hornby since the trails are fairly smooth and generally easier than those around Courtenay.  Plus the scenery is impressive! And we had the trails to ourselves which was a nice plus. The forecast for the following days was for showers and wind so we were glad we got in the biking and kayaking in under good conditions. For information on Hornby Island see: http://hornbyisland.com/   

Rene biking along the scenic Upper Ridge trail- Denman Island and the Vanc Island in backgrd