Paddling the Courtenay River in the fall

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

We love to paddle the Courtenay River (actually the lower part of the Puntledge River) in the fall since the leaves are changing and it often has calm water when it might be windy on the ocean. We use a couple of put ins depending on what kind of paddling we are doing. The first one that is great for kayaks or canoes is the Air Park boat launch. We like to go at high tide so that we can paddle well up the Courtenay River past Lewis Park and within site of the Condensory Bridge. Also at this time of year there is lots of seal and salmon interactions so that is exciting to watch.  If we want to paddleboard on the river we tend to put in at Lewis Park and paddle upstream. This makes for a shorter paddle and usually we encounter less current in this area. No matter which area you choose aim for a high tide of at least 4 meters to be able to navigate more of the river. See you on the water. 

Checking out the Fall Colours in Paradise Meadows – Strathcona Prov.Park

 

By Keith and Heather Nicol

We love seeing fall colours unfold in different areas of the Comox Valley. But recently we decided to check out the fall colours in Paradise Meadows in Strathcona Provincial Park with our son and our 2 grand daughters.It was there first time walking in this area and they were impressed. Here the main colours  are created by the blueberry bushes turning a bright red in the open boggy areas. The Comox Valley is blessed with being able to get up into the mountains in just 30 minutes and the Paradise Meadows area can even be accessed by wheelchairs. We walked around the 4 km Paradise Meadows loop which is mostly boardwalk but recommend that people using a wheelchair or children’s stroller stick to the 2 km loop since the longer loop has some rooty wet areas and steps on the boardwalk. We parked in the Nordic Centre parking lot at Raven Lodge which is part of Mt Washington Alpine Resort but there is also a parking area at the smaller Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre. We were amazed at how full the parking lot was given that it was early October but we guess everyone had the same idea we had. Check this out this fall to see bright reds and golden colours of fall.  A note of caution though is to have a look at temperatures in the alpine on the Mountain Washington Ski Resort web site...if it is around 0 C there might well be frost on the boardwalk which can make it slippery. In our case warm overnight temperatures meant that there was no frost even for our morning walk. See you on the trail.

Kamloops rightly deserves to be on everyone's mountain bike "to ride" list

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

On a recent trip to the Interior of BC to visit friends and family we stopped in Kamloops overnight. When I checked out Trailforks for riding areas in and around the city I was not disappointed. There are enough trails here to keep you occupied for some time but we only had a chance to check out a couple of areas over the space of 3 hours. Our first stop was Peterson Creek which had just a handful of short trails which are mostly easy but provide a good view of the city of Kamloops and Thompson River (see photo below).These are also great walking trails and are worth having a look at if some of your group likes to hike and others like to bike.  

We also had a chance to check out some of the riding and hiking at the Kenna Cartwright trail system and I really liked the open vistas and the large number of easy trails that this location offered. I only did a small portion of the trails which included a fun climb to Lava Flow Lookout trail. There are lots of green and blue trails here and they are more of a cross country nature which I like. But there are many more mountain bike areas in and near Kamloops which we hope to check out on our next visit.  See you on the trail. 

View from Lava Lookout toward the Thompson River