Activity Group News Posts are like blog or FaceBook posts and cover the entire history of the Glacier Probus Club, you can scroll down and all the way back to our beginnings in September 2013.
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We started the new year off with a Mexican-themed wine and appies evening hosted by Jennifer and Robin Harrison on Friday, January 24. Everyone enjoyed the delicious selection of unique appies and desserts as they visited with other group members and re-connected with old and new friends. Happy new year to all and thank you again to Jennifer and Robin for hosting our January event! BC Hydro announced that much more water than usual will be flowing over Elk Falls these days so we hiked the Canyon View trails to check it out. The falls did not disappoint. In addition to the usual ups and downs of this 12 km route we added a steep climb up to the Ridge Trail on our way back to vehicles. For our debrief, food and drinks at the Riptide Pub were appreciated by all. Quite a large group of us showed up. The earlier morning looked promising but that kept changing. Starting with the loop at the Airpark, we endured the rain and wind. Many umbrellas turned inside out. However, as we walked towards Locals the clouds parted and blue sky could be seen. No rain for the stretch to Simms park. The pathways to and from Simms were clear and walkable. Debrief was at The Bayside where a good hot cup of coffee and company was appreciated. Thanks to Bill J. for photos to view here. Monday saw the Intermediate Walkers enjoy a break in the rain, just enough time for a lovely walk along the creek. Which was very very full! AS we were enjoying coffee after, the rain began again. WE enjoyed the coffee even more being warm and dry. With the recent snowfall accumulations at sea level, we decided to check out the mountain bike trails in Cumberland. From the trail head, we followed Colliery Line where we picked up Josh's trail. This trail meandered through the trees to one of the access roads in the area. After walking along the road for a while we turned on to Friday's Child which took us to Munday's Child. We went about half way along Munday's Child to an old growth fir surrounded by much younger trees. We stopped for our lunch/snack break under this giant. After our break, we backtracked and returned to Colliery Line which took us back to our vehicles. Much of our route had not been packed down so we all took turns at the front of the line breaking trail, then stepping aside and dropping to the back of the line for a break. We had our debrief at the Waverly where we enjoyed hot soup and cold beer. These sets of trails will definitely be added to our list of future events when conditions allow. Thanks to Katie and Bill J. for the photos. To see all of Bill's photos click here. Below freezing temperatures did not deter us from an excellent, new 90 min. walk/hike. Eighteen of us ventured out to explore "Katie's trails" and a short walk down a dirt road led us to Eagles Greenway. We were glad for the frozen ground. Otherwise, we may have had to deal with mud and puddles impossible to skirt around. It was a 1.4 trail that led us to Tasman Rd. From there, Sarah and Brian McLoughlin Park and the Fern Bench trail led us to the artist cabin and beach. In 2016, The McLoughlins donated the 11 acres as a public park and an ecological gift with its family cottage now a retreat for artists. After meeting the winter caretaker and having a look around, we climbed up and up to the road and trail to retrace our steps. Thanks to Katie for a lovely, relaxing debrief! Also thanks to Dawn and Bill for photos and you can click and view here. This was our group's first visit to Ace Brewing. A couple from Montreal performing as the Co-Conspirators are on an extended Western Canadian tour. While it is not uncommon for our group to out number all other patrons, on this evening there were only two other customers in the building when the Co-Conspirators started to play. Our own Rob Reid cleaned up on music trivia prizes until he was disqualified from the rest of the contests to give others a chance. Thanks to Steve Hill for the photographs. It was a bitterly cold day yesterday (with the occasional snowflake drifting down), but a few birders braved the elements to check for birds at the Royston Seaside Trail site. In the 30 minutes that frozen fingers could stand, we did sight a respectable number of birds both on shore and on the water. Noted were: Spotted Towhees, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Lincoln Sparrow(?), Gulls, Scaups, Horned Grebes, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, American Wigeons, Mallards, and Common Loons. We adjourned to the Bayside Café afterwards, to warms up with our favourite coffees. After a stormy past few days, it was a real pleasure to get out today to enjoy a day of sunshine before snow arrives (?) tomorrow. Temperatures were crisp, but some of us were taking a layer off before completion of the route. Smiles all around once again as we negotiated the trails of Campbell River's Beaver Lodge Forest Lands. There were muddy, wet patches to contend with along the way, but we found side-trails around the worst of them...and we ARE getting rather good at jumping over pools! It was a good day and a good walk: thank you, Bill Boham for leading once again. Two groups, two stories. On this trip, twelve of us decided to split into two separate groups. A group of four did a couple of marked trails in Paradise Meadows. With the lack of fresh snow recently and temperatures below zero, the marked trails were icy in spots and overall very crunchy. Consequently, our ability to converse with each other was limited to when we stopped to take in the scenery. At the Crooked Creek bridge, we came upon an older unmarked trail, so decided to follow it. To our wonder, it led to another creek that had icicles hanging from a log that crossed the creek. Very picturesque. Well worth the effort it took to break through the crust that had formed over the trail. When back at the Lodge for our debrief, we warmed ourselves with hot beverages. Thanks to Cheryl McMahon for the photos. The rest of the group did the Helen Mackenzie - Battleship Lakes loop. We also found the snow hard and noisy under foot. Our packed route followed the park trail very closely with none of the usual short cuts across lakes or ponds. The creeks along the way were running fast with lots of interesting icicle formations. Unfortunately we only took to time for photography during our lunch break. Photos by Lindsay and Bill B. Last Saturday, Bill Boham led a bumper number of cheerful hikers (23) over MB Trails on the south of Nile Creek. This trail loop had been explored by some of our hikers in late November and was found interesting enough to warrant inclusion in our roster of suitable group hikes. It includes a variety of landscapes - big trees, logging areas, and lots of moss-covered ...everything, and looks well-maintained. This time, however, the route was showing the effects of a recent wind-storm, with a number of trees blown down. We suspect it won't take long before the path is cleared once again but in the meantime - hey, it's kind of fun clambering under and over such obstacles. Just look at the photos! Despite the recents storms and all the rain, the trail loop was usable (albeit with occasional mud and pools to negotiate) so is definitely one that will be used year-round. Note all the smiles below, despite the rain which accompanied us for the last few kilometres of the hike - it really was a nice outing. Really! Bill Jorgensen has provided a link to his photos of the outing - thanks Bill!  Under rainy skies, but with a positive weather forecast, we headed up to Raven Lodge. Once there, sixteen hardy souls started off in Paradise Meadows along the marked trails, which were in relatively good shape considering the amount of rain over the past few days. We were faced with light snow and a cold breeze, however, as we were walking through the trees, the wind picked up and started to blow snow from the branches, making it a bit uncomfortable. Well, as the story goes, wait five minutes and the weather will change. While we were stopped for our lunch/snack break, the sun appeared, making for a lovely trip back to the Lodge where we held our debrief. All in all, not a bad day, if that's even possible. Thanks to Michele Hind and Bill Jorgensen for the photos. To see all of Bill's photos click here. A group of eight hikers hit the trail bright and early on January 1st in celebration of the New Year's Day sunshine (forecast to last the morning). Conditions were just right for a walk - crisp but pretty with the mists rising up and glowing in the sunshine. Lovely! The day's route took us through Raven Forest (off Veterans Memorial Parkway) and through rural subdivisions connected by various wooded areas before returning via basically the same trail system. We returned to our vehicles after over three hours of exercise and adjourned to the nearby McDonalds for our 'debrief'. All in all, a great way to greet the new year.A group of birders made their way to the Airpark yesterday afternoon for a last 2019 bird outing. We managed to slip this one in between all the rain of the last weeks, except for some mistiness towards the end of our circuit. There were plenty of birds to be seen, but unfortunately, not a great variety. Listed were: crows, raven, Bald Eagles, starlings, Red-winged Blackbirds, Spotted Towhees, gulls, mallards, Canada geese, buffleheads, American Wigeons, Great Blue Herons, goldeneyes, Green-winged Teals and some sort of domestic-mallard cross.Gil and I are back from vacation and were ready for exercise: time to organize a hike. Yesterday was the day, since the forecast didn't mention rain. Sure was a good one - not only was it dry, but there was no wind and not all that cold. The group headed for the Wildwood Forest trailhead off Piercy Rd and started off down the trail. From Wildwood, we passed on to the Bob Webb trail and then finished off on the One Spot (the idea was to go 90 minutes down the trail system before heading back); in our 3.5 hours of walking, we completed 15-16 km and all felt better for having been in the fresh air on a brisk outing |
