Great food and get-together at the Church Street Taphouse in Comox. Another pub club organized thanks to Sheila.
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First full day of Spring and cool in the morning but by the end of our walk we were quite warm. Puntledge Park to Ruth Masters Park, First Street Park and Morrison Nature Park was it for today. Pleasant walk with no wind! Debrief for coffee and, for some, donuts at Bigfoot Donuts was a good way to end our walk. Thanks to Dawn for photos.
In spite of the intimidating signs, when the vehicle gate is locked on Sundays the Oyster River mountain bike trails provide a peaceful, scenic hike. It was great to see that the trails are being maintained, and even new trail signs are being installed. This 9 kilometer loop includes a few short but very steep hills and lots of river and mountain views. Photos by Patti, Ian, Lindsay, Tannis and Bill. Our plan was to return to the ridge above Battleship Lake to check out viewpoints with clear skies. With only three of us to share trail breaking we decided to stick to existing packed trails. We didn't stick to either of those plans. We saw a trail heading up from Battleship to the area we wanted to explore so we broke trail across the lake. When we reached the trail we found that it was mostly filled with fresh snow, so it took more effort to follow than the untracked snow. New plan... break trail back across the lake to the Mackenzie, Battleship trail near the south end of the lake. We followed an easy trail to Kooso Lake then broke trail through the forest up and over to Lake Helen Mackenzie. More trail breaking on Helen Mackenzie took us back to the lakes loop which we followed back to our cars. Our 9 kilometer loop included way more trail breaking than planned, but it was a great workout in the sun. Photos by Annette and Bill. What an amazing day for this snowshoe! Starting with GBV or Great Big View, there is no escaping the 100 m ascent; however, we follow the gradual uphill nordic trail to avoid the steep climb. It is always breathtaking to see the GBV expansive scenery. GBV leads into Finger Glades which follows a ridge before heading into the woods. The whiskeyjacks found us. No surpise! Next, was Marmots' Mess,a trail created last year. It is up and down but not extreme and ends by meeting up with Finger Glades. Snow conditions as well as the weather was perfect for this 5k trip. Debrief was outside at the Raven Lodge where we met up with other Probus members. Great way to end our outing. Thanks to Lori, Cheryl and Bill for photos.
Bill Jorgensen's portfolio In hopes of viewing scenes of herring activity, some group members drove south to the Deep Bay and Ship's Point areas on Wednesday. We found some of the herring fleet set up off the peninsula forming Deep Bay Marina, while an aqua colour staining the waters between the fleet and land was a signal that the herring had been busy spawning. Of course, the area was alive with birds, seals and sea lions all eager to grab a meal. We heard that Orcas had joined the frenzy the day before but, alas, they were absent when we visited the area. For ninety minutes or so, we checked out the birds off the Deep Bay shoreline and in the Marina before heading to the Ship's Point Park for a quick look at its shores. The tide was well out by this time, so we kept the visit short (no herring activity here). It was a very interesting afternoon, all in all. Deep Bay species count was 29: gulls, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Merganser, Common Goldeneye, Surf Scoter, Black Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Mallard, Bufflehead, Long-tailed Duck, Harlequin, Scaup, Horned Grebe, American Wigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Canada Geese, Bald Eagle, American Crow, European Starling, Brewer's Blackbird, American Robin, Finch, White-crowned Sparrow, House Sparrow, Golden-eyed Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Spotted Towhee and Anna's Hummingbird. At Ship's Point, the count was six: Great Blue Heron, Black Oystercatchers, Mallards, Buffleheads, Common Goldeneye and Horned Grebe. What a lovely day for a walk with the sun streaming through the woods at Seal Bay! Starting from Hardy Road, we usually go to Bates Road and turn around; however, with a group consensus, a decision was made to check out the herring-spawn coloured waters.Turquoise waters! Anyway, we weaved our way to the marsh before heading back. Debrief was at Milanos for treats, excellent coffee and hot chocolate. Thanks to Cheryl and Karen for photosl
Our hike in Seal Bay Park started with no planned route, just some possibilities to keep us entertained until noon. It was a chilly morning so everyone was moving quickly to warm up. Covering ground fast we headed for the far south end of the park. From there, with lots of time left we hiked across toward the ocean where we completed the two loops above the beach. We completed our hike across the north side of the park back to the Hardy Road parking lot. We hiked just over 12 kilometers and were finished a few minutes before noon. Photos by Lori and Bill. We set out from the Anderson Hill chain up area to see if there was enough snow at this lower elevation. The way down to Anderson Lake didn't look good, but there was a very well packed trail heading up the hill. As we gained elevation the trail deteriorated until we were breaking through untracked snow. When we stopped for lunch I was excited to see that we were only 2.5 kilometers from the Ramparts chain up area. My excitement waned when I realized that we had covered less than 3 kilometers so far. After lunch we had a much easier time retracing our steps down hill to the vehicles. Photos by Cheryl, Lindsay and Bill B. Drone images by Steve Ray. The day's Birders explored the area on the north side of Royston's Trent River Estuary for their morning outing. The tide being fairly low, almost all birds were a fair distance, so binoculars got quite a workout. Sadly, the distance factor meant that there were few photos of any quality, though they could be used for identifying the birds. We managed a species count of 25: Bald Eagle, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Golden-crowned Sparrow, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, American Crow, Anna's Hummingbird, Finch (probably Purple), Woodpecker (heard), Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, gull species, Common Merganser, American Wigeon, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Cormorant (probably Pelagic), Common Loon, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter and Gadwell. All in all, a pleasant morning spent in fresh air and followed by coffee at Royston Coffee House. Lovely walk from Marine Drive picnic shelter to the Royston Seaside trail and back to the Royston coffee shop where we sat comfortably outside to enjoy coffee and snacks. Very little wind and a bit of sun! Thanks to Dawn for photos.
Mary led a small, hardy group up to a ridge and viewpoints above Battleship Lake. As soon as we left the Mackenzie - Battleship trail we were taking turns breaking trail through about 35 centimeters of untracked snow. That became very challenging as we climbed up a steep hill from the lake. But we persevered and found two of the promised viewpoints. Views were limited by clouds this time, but the snowscape was beautiful throughout our trip. When we returned to Battleship Lake all were in favor of continuing on to Lake Helen Mackenzie. Everyone was surprisingly polite when we actually ended up at Kooso Lake instead of Mackenzie on our first attempt. The 9.5 kilometer loop was quite a workout. Photos by Lindsay, Lori and Bill. Dawn led group of hikers along the East Puntledge trail system. A good choice as the scenery was well worth the visit and the trails were in good shape, despite the frequent appearance of icy snow on the trails. Most of us had crampons on our boots so were in good shape to enjoy the beauty of the day. The sound of voices and frequent laughter was a good indication of people having a good time! Thank goodness for spikes that allowed us to hike over ice and snow to the top of Nikkei Mountain with no hard landings. Our almost 16 kilometer loop included Cumberland Forest mountain bike trails and access roads. Photos by Lindsay, Cathy and Bill. Twelve snowshoers completed the Tree Beard, Crooked Creek and Old Cabin loops. The trail conditions were surprisingly excellent for our outing due to the area having received a few inches of fresh snow; as a matter of fact, it snowed lightly on and off during the morning. We gathered at Raven Lodge for our debrief afterwards. Overall, it was a great outing enjoyed by all participants. Photos by Cheryl and Bill J. Bill Jorgensen's Portfolio |