Photos by Cathy and Bill.
About 4 years ago we had a group hike on the north side of the Trent River. Most of that hike was on old logging roads with lots of recent clear cuts, so it wasn't a hit. This time Cathy led us on a more interesting route with more scenic single track trails, and less road. It looks like there is potential for an even more scenic route, so you can expect to see more hikes along the north side of the Trent. Photos by Cathy and Bill.
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The day was too nice to waste, so a hike around Comox was hastily arranged. Stairs featured prominently in our 8 kilometre route, including a climb up the Goose Spit stairs. For our debrief we walked downtown to The Mill. Photos by Cheryl, Maryanne, Lindsay and Bill. Walk was from the Millard Lookout. We headed south along the extension before crossing the highway to Beachwood and the greenway path that leads to The Ridge. The Ridge has trails and sidewalks to walk upon. On our return, the traffic was heavy on the highway. Quite the wait until a police car came, stopped and put on its lights so we could cross. Nice! Debrief was at The Bayside where we could all fit to enjoy coffee and hot chocolate upstairs.
We found very unusual conditions on our trip around the Mackenzie, Battleship loop. Under the tree canopy there was very little snow on the ground, but snow and water falling out of the trees and down the back of our necks. Open areas had a few centimetres of fresh snow on a firm crust. Snow on either side of the packed path had melted away on some boardwalks and bridges, leaving a narrow path that felt like a tightrope in our wide snowshoes. Fortunately we enjoyed the scenery and fresh air with no incidents. A few of us debriefed on the deck at Raven Lodge. Photos by Cathy, Stan and Bill. Cathy and David led us around a loop near Bowser that was new to our group. Our hike included trails near Thames Creek under a canopy of big trees, as well as Nile Creek. There are many trails in this area so I expect that we will be back to explore more. We finished the day at Roy's Towne Pub. Photos by Cathy, Lindsay and Bill. A few days after storms knocked down dozens of trees in the Cumberland Forest we set out on a loop that included Allen Lake, high views from Teapot and Vanilla trails, and Sykes Bridge. We met one fellow along the way clearing some of the last obstructions. Thanks to the efforts of UROC we only had one fallen tree to skirt around. We met the Strathcona Probus Hiking Group in Cumberland. They started off following us, but as we hiked our groups mingled. A few of us capped off the 14 kilometre loop with a debrief at the Waverley where we planned our next adventure. Photos by Cathy, Lindsay and Bill. What a day on the Royston Seaside Trail and Marine Drive! The photos speak for themselves. Great debrief at the Royston Coffee Shop. Photo Credit: Dawn, Cheryl and Karen
It was a lovely day for a walk today and there were smiles all around as we made a loop from Lazo Marsh to the beach off Curtis Rd. Since we were back before our allotted hour's ramble, we crossed the road and headed to the bird lookout in the Lazo Nature Sanctuary where birds abound! A debrief followed, at Qualilty Foods Comox. photos by Dawn M., Karen B. and Karen R-K. A sunny day for our birding was greatly appreciated and enjoyed by all participants. A bit of excitement came from sighting a number of Barn Swallows flitting about overhead at the south side of the lagoon area. They are normally a summer visitor but have been noted for the last few days on this side of the Island. In all, we sighted 28 species: Canada Geese, American Wigeon, Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Green-winged Teal, gulls including Ring-billed, Rock (feral) Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Merlin, Stellar's Jay, American Crow, Barn Swallow, European Starling, Brewer's Blackbird, Red-breasted Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Golden-eyed Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Song Sparrow and Spotted Towhee. Photos by Dawn, Katie, Bill J. and Bill S. What a treat to be able to leave raincoats at home and hike in sunshine from start to finish. It seems like it has been a long wait for this. Our 12 km route started at Simms Millennium Park and followed the Courtenay Riverway to Millard Nature Park. A loop through the park, along the railway and the Riverway Extension brought us back to the Riverway for our return to Simms Millennium. We met the Birding Group on our way back. A few of us added a bonus trip up to Mudsharks for coffee on their sunny patio. Photos by Bill and one friendly stranger. Finally, no rain and some blue sky! Lovely walk on the One Spot trail from Burns Road. Debrief was at Bigfoot Donuts for coffee, hot chocolate and treats. Life is good!
The day's unsettled weather necessitated a change in venue from a Lazo Marsh-Curtis road-and-back route to a Comox loop including the Marina area, Filberg Park and....Benino's. We managed our hour's exercise very nicely, alternating between light misty showers and light rain and quite enjoyed spotting signs of the Spring to come. Still, it was nice to settle in at Benino's with hot drinks afterwards.
We were fortunate that our morning hike in Seal Bay Park wasn't as wet as the weather apps predicted. Packed snow and slush on some parts of our route gave us a better workout than the 11 kilometre loop normally would have. Photos by Cathy and Bill. |