New Books to Check out for the Outdoor Enthusiast on your Christmas List

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

    Books are always a welcome Christmas gift and 2 that might appeal to readers of this blog are from Ronsdale Press. The first book was  published in April, 2025 and is called The Final Spire: Mystery Mountain Mania in the 1930's by Trevor Hughes. This book looks at the various attempts to climb the highest point in BC - Mount Waddington (initially called Mystery Mountain!). It weaves the story beginning when long time explorers Don and Phyllis Munday first glimpsed Mystery Mountain from of all places Mt Arrowsmith on Vancouver Island! The book examines various attempts to climb the mountain from various approaches - first from the ocean by the Mundays and then by others approaching from the East and includes a trip by 4 climbers from the flat lands of Manitoba. Who knew that the Alpine Club of Canada got started in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1906 and featured a woman as its first president. For those wanting to see what the climbers of almost 100 years ago had to deal with to explore BC's highest summit then this book is a must read. 

 

   Another book from Ronsdale Press that has just been reissued is Wilderness Mother: A Memoir of 13 years off the Grid. It was just revised and update and published on October 6, 2025.  The book looks at a couple who raised their children in a cabin 160 km from the nearest paved road in the isolated Ningunsaw Valley in Northwestern BC. They lived there for 13 years- constructing their home and raising food in their garden. They even built a small dam to generate their own electricity! For anyone wanting to know what it is like to raise children in such a remote location and feel the seasons turn in a place of natural beauty then check out this classic wilderness book.  The Ningunsaw Valley is now an ecological reserve and provincial park. Both of these books are available either online from Ronsdale Press or at your nearest bookstore. 

Lots of Christmas Events happening in the Comox Valley

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

The Christmas season will soon be here and there are already many events going on celebrating the festive season. On Friday November 21 we took in the Comox Winter Market and tree lighting and today (Saturday) we hope to get to the Filberg Lodge Christmas kick off and Winter Market. It is a rain or shine event and all funds raised go maintaining the Lodge and its grounds. Also the lights at the Kingfisher Resort and Spa are now out and we always like seeing those (see picture below). Of course there are many other Christmas events happening in the Comox Valley and we regularly google what events are upcoming to get an idea of what to take in. 

 Also there is a new book out that people might want to check out which is perfectly themed for the season- It is called A Festive Season on Vancouver Island by Bill Arnott and covers a variety of Christmas themed events happening up and down the Island. The book has more than 20 vignettes which capture the natural beauty and cultural history of the Island at this festive time of year. It is published by Rocky Mountain Books and is available online or at your favourite book store.    

 Juno award winning Helen Austin plays at the Comox Winter Market on Nov 21,2025 

Book ideas for hikers on your Christmas list

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

    Books are always welcome Christmas presents and here are a couple that might be of interest for hikers on your list. Both books are published by Rocky Mountain Books. Seaside Walks on Vancouver Island by Theo Dombrowki has recently been revised and has 39 hikes for you to check out. The majority are in the southern half of Vancouver Island with only 2 listed north of Campbell River. There are lots of colour photos, sketch maps and information about each hike includes key information like distance, difficulty, elevation change and when to go. I like the way the author also adds in some additional information about difficulty by indicating the nature of the trail (ie type of surface) and if there are likely areas that might be muddy or slippery. Most hikes are fairly short (less than 5 km) but some like the Pachena Point Lighthouse shows a distance of 20 km return. We can't wait to check out some of the hikes on our next trips to Victoria and Pacific Rim Park. 

The Pub to Pub Trail is one of our favourite hikes and just one of the hikes featured in Seaside Walks 

Also of interest to hikers, especially those with kids in tow, is Family Walks and Hikes of Vancouver Island also by Theo Dombrowski.  There are 2 volumes and I recently checked out the book dealing with hikes -Nanaimo and North to Strathcona Park- which has also been revised this year. It lists 49 family friendly hikes and it also has many colour photos and sketch maps for each hike. In addition, there is information on distance, elevation gain, difficulty, best hiking season and also a section showing why children might like it. Since the hikes are geared for families most are quite short - less than 5 kilometers which might make ideal for many older people as well. These books will give the interested hiker many hours of reading and are ideal for helping to plan hiking options in various parts of Vancouver Island. The books measure 8.5 by 5.5 inches (21.5 by 14 cm) so easily fit in a pack. Pick them up either on line or at your nearest bookstore. See you on the trail!

                Another local favourite of ours is the Royston Seaside Trail featured in Family Walks

 

 

 

 

  

Fall Colours worth seeing at Millard Creek in Courtenay, B.C.

By Keith and Heather Nicol

      Fall colours are rapidly disappearing due to the windy conditions of late but on Monday, Nov 3 we took advantage of some changeable weather to get in a photogenic hike at Millard Creek. Millard Creek is located in the southern part of Courtenay just off of Highway 19A. We parked at Millard Road where there is a parking lot and several  benches have been built which look out to the Comox Estuary. The coordinates of the parking lot are: 49 39.916 N, 124 58.284 W. The trail starts near the parking lot and a real bonus of this trail is that it has a small brochure with 10 interpretative signs which cover various topics related to salmon, the old railway that traversed this area as well as explaining aspects of the vegetation. Look for the brochures in a plastic waterproof holder at near the start of the trail.

         

                                                        Heather on the bridge over Millard Creek

     There are numerous big leaf maple in the area and they have showered down lots of leaves along the trail but there are still leaves left on the trees at this point in time. There is a bridge which fords Millard Creek but we saw no signs of salmon swimming upstream on our visit. Coho use this waterway and they might come later perhaps with more fall rains. We saw many people on the trail including a number of families and this trail is also used by cyclists. Toward the end, the “wilderness” aspect of the trail ends since a new apartment and several condo developments have been built along the route. We walked as far as 31^st Street which would offer another starting point for the walk but it only has 4 parking places so can fill up quickly. The walk to this point is almost 1 km so the return trip can be done in 30 -45 minutes. Thanks to the Millard-Piercy Watershed Stewards and the Rotary Club for putting together the brochure.

Marker 4 here shows where an old rail line passed through this area