A mid April trip 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 hadn’t been to this lookout for a couple of years and never in mid April so we were interested to see what wildflowers we might see.

                 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 minute walk one way ).  Some of the many flowers that bloom here were out although if you come at various times in the spring you will likely see a  variety of different flowers in bloom. We saw lots of sea blush out on this visit. 

                           Sea Blush was out in bloom in mid April on our most recent trip to Comox Bluffs

 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. In fact we ran into a couple that was off route trying to reach the Bluffs and they followed us to the Lookout. 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/ 

 

 

Cherry Trees are in bloom in many places 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 trees worth checking out. One of our favourite streets to view every spring is Anna Place which not only has many well established trees in bloom lining the street but it also has a superb view of the Comox Glacier as you can see in the picture below. Another tree that is very impressive is at the intersection of 14^th and Cumberland in Courtenay. It is also one of the nominated trees for Tree of the Year for 2024 (an event run by Comox Valley Nature). So be sure to check it out! If readers have other favourite cherry trees in the Comox Valley let us know where they are.  

 

The “new” Lake Trail Disc Golf course in the Comox Valley is great

 


By Keith and Heather Nicol

We started disc golfing through the CV19 pandemic and it became a great way to get some fresh air and socialize with friends at the same time. It is easy to socially distance while playing so we played many times on the different courses in the Comox Valley but always returned to our favourite at Lake Trail. When we started out the course had 12 holes and that then morphed to 9 holes but the tee boxes were always rough and ready unlike those at the disc golf courses in Comox and Cumberland.

                    Heather getting ready to throw off the new tee boxes with a map of the hole as well

 The Lake Trail course also lacked signage info but over the past several months both of these areas have been corrected. There are now small maps of each hole at the tee box and the new tee boxes are well made making this course now even nicer. So thanks to those that have made these improvements. On our most recent round we even saw some nice wildflowers like trilliums in many places which is a nice bonus of an early spring round of disc golf.   

                                                              Keith tossing in a putt on the last hole

 We enjoy this course it since it has some elevation changes and now has some variety with an open shot across the playing field at Lake Trail school. Since we are new to the sport we thought that another advantage of this course was its relatively short layout and reasonably open understory which means finding an errant disc is pretty easy.  This course is right next to Lake Trail school and there is parking for several cars at the start. Check it out if you haven’t already.  

Trilliums were out on our last visit in early April

 

Thanks for a great cross country ski season

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

   It was a sad day when we cleaned out our ski locker at Raven Lodge on Sunday, April 7 to end the 2024 cross country ski season. Raven Lodge is the base of operations of cross country skiing and snow shoeing at Mount Washington near Courtenay, B.C on Vancouver Island.  It was a strange year weatherwise with snow late to arrive at the start of the season and then a rain storm in early February closed the resort for a couple of days. But somehow the trail crew got things going again and then in March lots of snow fell which gave Mt Washington the cushion of snow they needed to be able to finish up the season. The Strathcona Park cross country trails were even open for awhile which everyone really appreciated.

                           We had some great times on the Mt Washington Cross Country Ski trails this winter

So next year if you have thought about trying cross country skiing or snowshoeing then check out Raven Lodge at Mount Washington. They have over 50 km of trail groomed for skating and classic skiing as well as many snowshoe trails. Raven Lodge has great mountain views and inside you can have a bite to eat, book rentals and lessons, buy day tickets and even have a sauna.  Lets hope next winter brings more snow and continued great skiing to Mount Washington.  For more information see: https://www.mountwashington.ca/  

 

                              Mt Washington Ski Resort has great trails for cross country skiing

Spring Wildflowers are out along the Tsolum River in Courtenay

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

        On Friday. March 29 we had a pleasant surprise when we had a walk by the Tsolum River. There were carpets of fawn lilies and trilliums in bloom along the trails which really brightened up our walk. The trails are located behind the Exhibition Grounds off of Headquarters Road in Courtenay, B.C. Take the main trail toward the river and we found many clusters of fawn lilies on the side trail to the right. If you are handy with a GPS turn right at this junction - 49 42.284 N 125 00.373 W. You don’t need to walk very far before you see the flowers 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. We usually check out this area in early April so it seems like this year the flowers are abit early. A pad to kneel on for getting up close to the flowers for photography will also be helpful. 

                                     Fawn Lilies are out and we love those first signs of spring wildflowers

                                                    We didn't see many trilliums but they are there if you look closely

The Park trails are now open for Nordic Skiing at Mount Washington Ski Resort

 

by Keith and Heather Nicol

  Many skiers’ favourite trails at Mount Washington Ski Resort are in Strathcona Provincial Park and for good reason.  They are scenic and generally well suited to the beginner and intermediate skier with lots of flat areas or gently sloping trails which are easy to negotiate. With the very unusual winter that has generally negatively influenced skiing across North America, Raven Lodge at Mount Washington has been usually able to keep 20 plus km of Nordic trails open but when you think that they have 55 km of trails – that is alot that were closed due to lack of sufficient snow cover.  So it was great when the last big March snowfall added just enough to open those trails. Of course, conditions can change quickly so if you want to ski those trails you should do so sooner rather than later, especially with the double digit temperatures that are hitting us right now over the March 16-17 weekend. 

                                    The nordic ski trails are in great shape at the moment

There are just 3 weeks of skiing left at Mount Washington Ski Resort so now is the time to take advantage of the nicer weather and longer days to get in some exercise on your snowshoes or cross country skis. Next weekend (March 23-24) is Nordic Fest which always has alot on the go and is a great time to get some advanced ski lessons as well as checking out the other activities that are organized. You can also go on a scavenger hunt, check out Rossignol ski demos and much more- see https://mountwashington.ca for details – search under upcoming events for more info.  See you on the trails .    

                 The nordic trails in Strathcona Park are currently open - check them out

October Full Moon rise from Air Force Beach , Comox, BC

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

One of the disadvantages of living in the Comox Valley is that you don’t get a chance to see the sun dropping off into the horizon in the evening. Sunsets in this area can be nice as the setting sun undercuts any clouds that are in the area but a classic sunset (with the sun disappearing below the horizon) can’t be seen due to the Beaufort Mountains. But we do have moon rises which come up over the Salish Sea and so we have taken to seeing the full moon rise whenever the weather cooperates. Our favourite place to see the full moon rise is the Air Force Beach Parking area and this gives us a good view of the various Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and the mountains of the BC mainland that lie behind.  Below is a shot of the Hunter’s Moon rising on October 27, the day before the actual full moon. 

                                        Hunter Moon rise over Texada Island and Mountains of BC Mainland

 Of course like the sun, the full moon doesn’t always rise in the same place each month so the back drop to your views and pictures will always be different. As well the clouds are often different so this adds another variation to each month’s offering.  To find out the date of the full moon and where it will be in the sky check out this web site: https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/canada/comox. See you for the next full moon and bring a tripod and telephoto lens for the best pictures. Check it out!

                                                               Hunter Moon just coming up

 

Fall is a good time to visit the Elk Falls suspension bridge

 by Keith and Heather Nicol  

With the good fall weather holding decided to check out Elk Falls near Campbell River and the suspension bridge that has been built there in 2015.  The suspension bridge spans Campbell River in Elk Falls Provincial Park and offers stellar views of the river as it plunges 25 meters over a picturesque waterfall.  The suspension bridge opened in mid May, 2015 and  attracts lots of people during the summer but we wanted to check out the fall colours. The suspension bridge spans Campbell River in Elk Falls Provincial Park and offers stellar views of the river as it plunges 25 meters over a picturesque waterfall. Also according to the posted information Hydro is releasing more from Oct 24-27 so now might be a good chance to see the falls in full force.                                            Be sure to check out the side trail to get this lookout of the falls To get to Elks Falls Provincial Park drive through Campbell River and take the road toward Gold River. Simply follow the signs to the turnoff to the Elk Falls trails and suspension bridge. The bridge is roughly 1 km trail from the parking lot and the wide gravel trail is suited to just about all walkers. We also walked an 800 meter side trail to get down to the river and another lookout which we recommend.                          The Suspension Bridge had a few visitors when we were there on Oct 20  There are also other hiking trails in the area but we liked the 800 meter Old Growth Loop which passes by some huge trees that have never been logged. These trees also managed to avoid a devastating fire in 1938 which burned much of the timber in the surrounding area. Evidently 1938 was the driest summer in 64 years and the forest was tinder dry. The fire was evidently set off by a logger who accidently dropped a pick on a rock and a spark set off the dry grass near his feet.  For more information on the park see: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/elk_falls/                                                               The Falls from the another view point

Hiking to Hollyburn Peak near Vancouver using AllTrails

By Keith and Heather Nicol

Hollyburn Peak is a great ½ day hike from the Cypress Bowl Nordic Centre near Vancouver. We were in Vancouver visiting our kids and grandchild recently and when a nice day beckoned we took full advantage to hike this roughly 8.2 km return hike.  Note that although the distance one way is around 4 km the trail does climb over 400 meters. It took us about 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach the top and about 70 minutes to return and we had a lunch at the peak with several other groups. 

                                                                   There are splashes of colour along the way

Note that there are several options for this hike according to AllTrails but we opted for the Power line option and it worked out well. The option from the alpine parking lot seemed to have warnings about wasp nests enroute and the winter route was reported to be overgrown.  For those people that do not know about AllTrails it is a great app for finding hiking trails and also since users often up date info about the trail you can often see what actual conditions are like for hiking and any tips that people might have. 

                                             The Lions are clearly visible from the summit of Hoillyburn

The Powerline trail starts out easily enough as it winds up one of the xc ski trails but at the warming hut the trail turns left and narrows considerably. From there it winds up through a broad cut over that featured splashes of colour and gradually gets steeper as you approach the summit. Many people brought bear spray since bears have been seen in the area so you are best to travel in a group and keep dogs on a leash. The trail itself has many sections that are quite rooty and rocky so hiking shoes of some sort are recommended.  From the top you can see the Lions very clearly and also views to the many distant mountains to the north. Although the trail is easy to follow you can download the route from AllTrails in case of poor weather or fog. The hike gets a rating of 4.3/5 out of 500 reviews on AllTrails and which is what we would give it as well. Check it out on your next visit to Vancouver.  Cypress Provincial Park has many fine hiking trails and we have reported on a few of them is this blog. Previous posts have dealt with hiking to Eagle Bluffs (https://keithnicol.blogspot.com/2015/03/hiking-to-eagle-bluffs-at-cypress.html)  and also to Mt Strachan (https://keithnicol.blogspot.com/2016/08/hiking-to-summit-of-mt-strachan-in.html) .  See you on the trails. 

                                                                             Starting out on our hike

 

Checking out the Fall Colours in Paradise Meadows – Strathcona Park

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

We love seeing fall colours unfold in different areas of the Comox Valley and have recently featured a blog post about some bike routes that include autumn colours along the way (http://keithnicol.blogspot.com/2023/10/fall-cycling-in-comox-valley-1-spot.html ). But recently we decided to check out the fall colours in Paradise Meadows in Strathcona Park. 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 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. 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. Check this out this fall to see bright reds and golden colours of fall. See you on the trail.  

 

48 hours on Salt Spring Island, BC

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

 It has been many years since we visited Salt Spring Island so when the weather forecast for early part of October was promising we decided to head down for a couple of nights. We especially  wanted to check out Ruckle Prov Park and we were not disappointed..it is an amazing park and must have one of the best tent camping sites in the Gulf Islands. We caught the 1125 am ferry at Crofton (it was about a 2 hour drive from Courtenay) on Thursday Oct 5 and were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the Visitor Centre in Ganges was open and had 2 knowledgeable staff working that day. We wanted to hike and they handed us several specific hiking maps and gave us some good suggestions. Then it was on to Ruckle Campground and we were relieved to see so few people there. We had heard this place is very hard to get water front sites at in the summer since it is so popular. We virtually had our pick of campsites and after setting up the tent we decided to explore some of the coastal trails in the area. The hike to Bear Point is a good warmup hike and leads past pocket beaches and headlands. The trail continues but in October the sun goes down at 7:00 and we lost the sun at our campsite by 5:30 so we opted to head back and cook dinner. That evening we walked to the far end of the campground and found that many of these sites were preferred since almost all of these were taken.  And we could see why...they were very picturesque. 

                                                     Heather in front of our amazing grassy beach front campsite

 Friday, Oct 6 dawned sunny and warm and after breakfast we headed to Burgoyne Bay to do a 1 km coastal hike suggested by the Visitor Centre Staff. It is an elevated walk with a trail that would suit all ages and stages and we saw some families on it when we were there. There are many other trails in this area but we wanted to check out some mountain hikes so headed first to Mt Erskine which one staff person told us is one of the most popular hikes on the island. And we could see why..although the trail climbs over 200 meters, the loop we did was about 3.65 km and it took about 70 minutes of steady walking. The views north to Vesuvius and Crofton (basically looking down on the ferry route) are great and there is a summit bench to have your lunch on. From there we also wanted to hike up 600 meter Mt Maxwell and so we headed off to Armand Way to start that trail. There is quite abit of parking in the cul do sac which makes it somewhat preferable than the Seymour Hts trailhead. Since you climb about 300 meters by car you have to hike about half of its 600 meter elevation. This trail is certainly more challenging than the Erskine hike but is still just about 2.5 km one way. However it climbs over 300 meters and the final 20 minutes are quite steep.  There is also a rough road that you can drive to the top if you aren’t up to the hike. The views here are amazing with vistas of Mt Baker in distant Washington State, many islands and views back to Vancouver Island. Allow about 2 hours return for this hike if you walk fairly steadily. By then we were ready to sit in the sun back at the campground and what a difference when we arrived. At least 20 or so new tenters had arrived since it was the start of the long Thanksgiving weekend . 

                                                        Keith from Mt Erskine Summit

Saturday Oct 7 again dawned sunny and warm so we packed up and headed into Ganges to check out the Saturday Farmers Market. There are great artisans on Salt Spring and you can pick up some fine pottery, woodwork, clothing and of course some fresh produce. Since the market continues until the end of October you still have time to catch it this Fall.  From there we caught the 1050 am sailing back to Crofton and were back in Courtenay by 2:00 pm. We will be back to Salt Spring on another visit since there are lots more hikes we plan to do and next time we might bring our sea kayaks. For more info see: https://www.saltspringtourism.com/

 

                                 From the Summit of Mt Maxwell looking toward the Burgoyne Valley and Fulford Harbour

Checking out the Mountain Bike Trails at Doumont near Nanaimo, BC

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

We usually mountain bike at the mega trail system at Cumberland but it is also good to see other places and see what their trails have to offer. On a recent trip to drop our granddaughter off at the ferry in Nanaimo we decided to check out the trails at Doumont for 90 minutes or so before heading back to Courtenay. Since we had not ridden these trails and trailforks reports that there are dozens of trails there we wanted to check out the “best” trails right away. So when we googled “Best Mountain Bike Trails at Doumont” up came Lower Fine China, Upper Fine China and Finer China – ranked 1, 2 and 3 as ranked by Trailforks. For those that aren’t familiar with this aspect of the trailforks app it is a handy way to see what the most best/most popular trails in a new area are. So using that info we headed for the parking area that would give us good access to Upper and Lower Fine China since they were ranked as blue trails and Finer China as a black trail. 

                              Keith at the top of Upper Fine China -- Liked this trail so much I did it 3 times 

And we were not disappointed ..Upper Fine China feeds naturally into Lower Fine China and I am not sure if I have been on a more flowy trail with nice berms that follows a twistly course down the mountain. Obviously much work has gone into this trail and we congratulate the trail builders. I wish we had a similar trail at Cumberland that was also just as accessible as this one. Cumberland does have some flowy trails but they seem to be high up in the trail system where as this one appealed to families and other newer riders since it was right next to the access road. In fact I saw several groups yo yoing this trail so I know it gets lots of use. I decided to try another trail that parallels Fine China called Styx and it was also rated as a blue trail. It is certainly more technical with many roots and rocks to deal with and short steep uphills in sections and I found that part way along when it came close to Fine China I left it to get back on Fine China.   So if you are visiting the Nanaimo area and want a bike on an easy flowy trail then Fine China at the Doumont trail system should be checked out. For more info on Trailforks see: https://www.trailforks.com/