For fun, value and challenge try Mulligans Golf Course in Courtenay

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

 Golf is popular in the Comox Valley with many courses to test your skills but if you want to try a fine little course that allows you to still play 9 holes for less than $20 then check out Mulligans Golf Course. Depending on when play you could pay as little as $16 (from 7 to 8:30 am and from 3:00 pm to closing) and it rises abit to $18 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. We recently played at round 2:00 pm on Tuesday , May 19 and found the in and out cloudiness the perfect temperature for golf.  

                       Heather teeing off on the first hole...the Beaufort Range makes a nice backdrop

 

 They offer an executive course which means there are mostly par 3’s with some par 4’s and the longest hole is 337 yards. Total length from the blue tees is 1763 yards which is about a mile so it is also easy to walk for many people from younger children to older adults. But just because it is short doesn’t mean it is easy. There is water on 7 of the 9 holes and many strategically placed sand traps so depending on where the pin is placed,  making par can be a real challenge. The course also gives scenic views of the Beaufort Range of Mountains and has been landscaped to create undulations and mounds which add to the layout of the course. Even with the dry spring weather we have been having the course was green. Note that they have just punched the greens recently so they are abit rough and sandy but that should settle down.I actually found I liked the slower greens and it didn't hurt my game. 

                                                         I actually liked the slow greens

 

In addition to a small clubhouse with an outdoor patio , there is a driving range, a putting green and a sand trap practice area where I need to spend more time. The driving range is another bargain since a bucket of balls is just $3.75 ! One of the friendly staff, told us that it is usually busiest between 9 and 11 am through the week and it is easiest to get on between 3 and 4 pm. Mulligans is located right outside of Courtenay and it took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to play 9 holes on our recent game. For more information see: http://mulligansgolfcourse.com/  or phone 250-338-2440. This course is ideal for families or friends wanting to meet for a couple of hours of enjoyable golf. Also a real bonus is that for the next few days-until Monday , May 25 you can get a second bucket of balls free when you buy a token. You can't beat that. See you on the course. 

 

The “Pub to Pub” trail is a scenic ocean view walk

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

We always love doing the so called “Pub to Pub” trail which is roughly half way between Campbell River and Courtenay since is a scenic trail with both river and ocean/beach views. We hadn’t done the trail for a few months since last fall and so we decided to walk on May 14, 2026  with our daughter who was visiting from Vancouver.  The trail gets its name from the fact that 2 pubs were located close to the start and end point of the trail but now these “pubs” are no longer there. Since the trail is just 3.5 km (1 way) it is suited to a variety of options. If you have young children or walkers that would find 7 km too long a hike, you could park a car at each end and just make the 1 way trip. You can see from the photo below that the trail surface is well maintained and is generally flat so is walkable for just about all ages. Just beware of some rooty sections!

The first part of the trail winds along the Oyster River 

 

To get there from Courtenay drive north on Highway 19A and keep an eye out for the Oyster River bridge since you want to turn right on the next road (Glenmore Road).  Then travel one roughly 1 block and then turn left on Regent and look for a parking lot with a sign Oyster River Nature Park. The parking lot coordinates are 49. 52.232 N and 125 07.616 W.  There is parking for several cars but this area is popular so we try to go mid week to be able to get a spot. There are a few forks in the trail but bear to the left and you should be fine.  After about 1 km you reach the ocean and from there you follow the Jack Hames Trail to Salmon Point. You can walk the trail in either direction although we tend to walk it south to north most of the time. On this day we were treated to sunny skies and light winds and we had  lunch on driftwood logs part along where we had a fabulous view of ocean and mountains of the BC mainland in the distance. Check this trail out of you haven't done it before. See you on the trail. 

                                                  Daughter Kristie and Heather walking along the trail 

"Lupin Way" is well worth a visit in Comox

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

We are not sure who planted all the purple lupins along Lazo Road but they are in their prime now and well worth a visit. A paved path winds through the lupins paralleling Lazo Road and it can be easily walked or included in a bike ride for those people planning to cycle to see it. The paved path runs for several blocks but the key area for seeing the lupins is between Barber Ave and the Balmoral Rd intersection of Lazo Road. It would be nice to see more of this sort of landscaping along pathways like this in the Comox Valley since it is most appreciated. Check it out for you next walk or bike ride. These pictures were taken on May 13, 2026. See you on the trail. 

 

 

 

 

A mid May hike to the Comox Bluffs

 

By Keith and Heather Nicol

 The Comox Bluffs are along the north side of Comox Lake and there is an ecological reserve there to protect the unusual plant life that exists in this dry rocky sun drenched area. Trees like Arbutus and shrubs like hairy Manzanita are common along this area where as they are pretty rare in the rain forest environment of the Comox Valley. We usually go to this lookout in Mid April since many wildflowers are out at that time of year but this year we did not get there until several weeks later on May 11, 2026. There were still a few wildflowers out but clearly we had missed the main flower season this year but this views are still spectacular and it is well worth the trip. This year we had several friends with us including a couple from Canmore who are interested in all sorts of plant and flower life. 

                                                          The viewpoint overlooking Comox Lake is only a 20-25 minute walk from the trailhead
 

                This trail starts at a small parking lot at 49 38.477 N 125 06.256 W on the left hand side of the road a few hundred meters past the bridge the crosses the Puntledge River where it empties out of Comox Lake.  This route is called the Tomato Creek trail and it leads to a lookout which gives fine views of Comox Lake and is surrounded by the rare plants of the Ecological Reserve. It can be reached in just over 1.2 km (20-25minute walk one way ).

                 The first part of the trail winds through second growth forest and the trail is quite easy to follow
 

 A longer trail continues from the lookout and it traverses the entire Ecological Reserve and ends up at the main logging road which you can then follow back to your car. Be aware that logging trucks may be using this road and it can be dusty so you also can return back via the same trail rather that do a loop.  This longer route is about 5.5 km and takes about 2 hours. But the shorter hike to the lookout would suit people families with smaller children or others that want a shorter hike.  Just be aware that the trail is hard to find in some places and it does have forks which makes route finding abit challenging. The full route can be found on AllTrails and is under the name “Tony’s and Tomato Creek Loop”. If you use this app route finding should be easier. For more info see: https://www.alltrails.com/ 

 

  

 

                

               

Edge Cards are the way to go ski Whistler Blackcomb

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Whistler Blackcomb is certainly one of the top ski resorts in North America and it just around the corner for people living in the Comox Valley. But the high lift ticket costs discourage many people from skiing there except if you get an Edge Card (available if you live in BC or Washington state). According to the Whistler Blackcomb web site you can pay anywhere from an eye watering $305 to $351 for a single day ticket bought at the ticket window . But my 2 day Edge Card bought in September 2025 for this season cost me around $115 per day of skiing. But of course to be a good value you need to use it and so with time ticking on this year's ski season son Michael and I headed to Whistler on April 23 for some great spring skiing. It had been 10 years since I had last skied Whistler and so I was looking forward to skiing its above tree line slopes- something that our local mountain Mount Washington doesn't have. Although conditions were firmer than we thought we might encounter, the snow softened nicely on 7th Heaven whose runs face south. Another bonus is that the views from the top of 7th Heaven are truly spectacular skiers were lined up taking videos and selfies after they off loaded from the chairlift. Over all we made 12 runs on a variety of lifts and can't wait to return to Blackcomb before May 18th- the final day of skiing for the 2025-2026 season to use up our second day of skiing. Check out the Edge Card and buy it early for the best prices if you want to ski Whistler Blackcomb and make it affordable. For more info see: https://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/

 

 

Checking out the Cherry Trees in Bloom in the Comox Valley

 

By Keith and Heather Nicol

Vancouver and Victoria are well known for their cherry trees in bloom in the spring and although the Comox Valley does not have the number of trees of these bigger centres they do have some locations worth checking out. One of our favourite streets to view every spring is Anna Place in Courtenay which not only has many well established trees in bloom lining the entire street but it also has a superb view of the Comox Glacier as you can see in the pictures below.  We either bike or walk along this street every spring when the blossoms at their peak.  If readers have other favourite cherry trees or favourite streets in the Comox Valley let us know where they are.   

 

Spring Wildflowers along the Tsolum River in Courtenay

By Keith and Heather Nicol

 On  Saturday March 28th  we decided to take a break from skiing at Mount Washington to check the fawn lilies and other wildflowers along the Tsolum River in Courtenay. The last couple of weeks have seen some mixed weather with rain and cool temperatures some days but more seasonable temperatures on other days so we weren't sure quite what to expect.

Fawn Lilies are delicate spring wildflowers

  There were carpets of fawn lilies in bloom along the trails which really brightened up our walk. These trails are located behind the Exhibition Grounds off of Headquarters Road in Courtenay and there is lots of parking. Take the main access trail (really a road) toward the river and we found many clusters of fawn lilies on the trails to the right near the river. You don’t need to walk very far before you see the flowers in bloom along the trail and under the trees.

                                                 Heather getting a picture of some fawn lilies along the trail

 We are not sure how long they will last but if like early spring flowers check out this area and don’t forget to bring your camera. If you are into pictures you might want to bring a tripod and something to kneel on since the carpets of flowers are best photographed low to the ground and the ground can be wet. Another bonus of our walk was seeing a couple of great horned owls. They were quite a distance from the trail and we only saw them since there were several photographers with long telephoto lenses taking photos of them as we passed by. There are other song birds in the area and in the past we have seen Pileated woodpeckers at this time of year. Binoculars might not go astray...see you on the trail. 

                                                     I think these blue flowers are Siberian squills 

Hiking the trails at Piper's Lagoon in Nanaimo

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

   After checking out Neck Point Park (see blog -  https://keithnicol.blogspot.com/2026/03/exploring-neck-point-park-in-nanaimo.html) earlier in the day (Friday, March 27) we headed down the road a short distance to explore another ocean front park - Piper's Lagoon. This was also enroute to our daughter's drop off point at BC Ferries terminal at Departure Bay and it proved to be another perfect place to do a short walk. 

 Piper's Lagoon Park offers quite a different coastal experience than Neck Point Park and the first section follows a tombolo (a sort of spit) which connects the mainland to a rocky island. This part of the trail has benches and is an easy to walk gravel trail. But once you reach the rocky island the trail becomes much more rugged and anyone with mobility issues will likely want to turn around at this point. But for everyone else the walk around the island is a fun short hike with lots of ocean views to islands and back toward Nanaimo. Looking south you can see the BC Ferries coming in or doing out just a short distance away in Departure Bay and looking north you can actually see back to Neck Point Park. One of the highlights at this time of year were the abundant spring flowers - especially the Fawn Lilies (see picture below) They carpeted the edge of the trail just about the whole way around . The island has many Garry Oak and arbutus trees which are likely due to the dry rocky nature of this location. Over all the trail was about 2 km and took less than 40 minutes. It is is another hidden gem in Nanaimo that we are not sure how we missed for all these years.Check it out.

 

If you go- We used google maps to navigate to the Park- simply put in Piper's Lagoon Park and it will lead to a large parking lot. We also used AllTrails to confirm the trail and it might be useful to download but is certainly not necessary since the trail around the island is easy to follow.  

 

Exploring Neck Point Park in Nanaimo

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

On Friday, March 27 we decided to check out some new trails in Nanaimo before dropping our daughter off at the ferry to return to Vancouver . Our first stop was Neck Point Park which seemed to have lots of easy trails criss crossing the park and some very scenic shoreline with beaches and even some off shore islands. What we didn't expect was the large number of sea lions that were there as well. We started out walking counter clockwise around the coastal trail from the medium size parking lot. The gravel trail is wide and well marked with several lookouts along the way. There are stair cases in places and as we made our way along the coast we could see several people on a rocky island. 

 The rocky island is connected to the mainland by a narrow gravel spit and once there we could see what all the interest was. All around the waters edge were sea lions either in the water or hauled out on the rocks. There were dozens of barking sea lions and was fascinating watching them diving into the water and "posing" on the rocks with their necks and heads stuck up in the air. After taking many pictures we decided to cut our hike along the coast short since we were getting hungry and headed back to the car to get our lunch. There are several picnic tables near the car park in the sun and they made a perfect spot for a picnic snack. We vowed to come back to check out the other trails in this scenic park on another visit and we wondered it had taken so long to explore this Nanaimo gem.  

 If you go- We used google maps and used the Morningside Drive access to get to the Neck Point Park parking lot. We happened to get the last spot since it was obvious that this is a popular park - particularly now with the sea lions close at hand. If you find the parking lot full - the nearby school might have parking spots available. We downloaded the full walking route on AllTrails which was useful. The tide was 3.4 meters which we were there.At higher tides the island with the sea lions is not accessible. 

Sea Lions getting ready for the annual herring run

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

After coming back from xc skiing on Tuesday March 3 we had heard on social media

that lots of sea lions had hauled out at the spit in Deep Bay just south of Fanny Bay opposite Denman Island. But despite the wind and rain we decided to check it out! Sea Lions usually haul out on log booms and other more protected locations like isolated islands but not this time. For some reason they selected the beach at the end of Deep Bay Drive. They are getting ready for the annual herring run so who knows how long they will be there but it is unusual for them to seek out this sort of location. If you go be sure to obey the rope fence and of course do not feed or interact with the sea lions. And leave your dog at home. Parking is limited and be mindful of local resident's driveways so you may have to park some distance away. It is well worth checking out.  

 

 

Temperature Inversions can make for sunny skies and great skiing at Mount Washington

 

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

    On Monday, March 2 we woke to fog in Courtenay and so I checked the web cams at Mount Washington and sure enough the slopes and trails were in sun. It also turned out to be warmer up in the mountains and than in the cold , clammy fog in town. So instead of a planned trip with our bike group we grabbed out skis and headed to the mountain to ski in great spring like conditions. So it pays to check out the web cams at Mount Washington Ski Resort since while it is cold and foggy in town it might be bright and sunny at Mount Washington.  This is caused by ridges of high pressure which trap cloud and fog close to the surface but as you go up in elevation you break through the cloud giving great conditions on the mountain. So if the fog and chilly temperatures are getting you down, head for the hills and you might find it is alot sunnier and maybe even warmer than in town.  And the views are spectacular with layers of cloud and fog below and snowy mountains rising above them (see photos below). Even if you don't ski or snowshoe you can sit on the deck at Raven Lodge or enjoy the sun at the Alpine Lodge . To check out the web cams at Mount Washington have a look at: https://www.mountwashington.ca/

 

 

 

We are biking now that XC Skiing is closed at Mount Washington

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Usually during the winter we are skiing but with the poor snow winter at Mount Washington and the closure of the xc ski trails (hopefully temporarily) we have pivoted to biking. This winter has generally been quite dry which has made riding an option for those who want to get some exercise and explore the side roads and trails of this area. Winter riding means wearing more clothing, a thin hat under your helmet and maybe mitts but it is quite easy to stay warm as long as it is above 0 C. For those 55 years and older the Evergreen Bike Group has rides on Mondays and Wednesdays and is a great way to meet cyclists and explore the country roads and trails of the Comox Valley.  On Monday, Feb. 9 twenty cyclists headed from the Filberg Centre for a ride that featured both roads and easy trails enroute to scenic Point Holmes and Wireless Road.   The Evergreen group uses mix of electric , hybrid and road bikes.  The rides on Mondays tend to be longer and it gives us a chance to explore places like Denman and Quadra Island as well as rides in Campbell River and Parksville through the summer months.  On Wednesday morning the rides tend to be in the Comox Valley and run for 2 to 2.5 hours in length. If you are interested in finding out more about this cycling group contact Ernie at: ejkimball62@gmail.com  The pictures below are of the February 9 ride to Point Holmes and Wireless Road.