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
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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. Walk was from No pub to No pub or otherwise known as Oyster River Nature Park to Salmon Point and back, which is a 6 k walk through the woods and then parallel to the ocean. No snow on the trail! No wind! No rain on the walk! So lucky! Just like a group of kids, we paused to watch the machinery. Twice a year silt is removed from the marina. The walk was conducive to good company and conversation which was continued at The Country Market.
Today's group of walkers set off on the riverside trail from Courtenay Airpark northward towards Simms Park, making it as far as Central Builders before turning back for coffee at Bean Around the World. The day brought a soft rain with it, but it was light enough not to be a bother and we all enjoyed the fresh (crisp) air. A bonus was the quick chat we had with fellow Probus members out on a walk of their own. The hiking group decided to go back to explore the waterfalls above Comox Lake again, but this time while they are frozen. With a requirement to have micro-spikes and on short notice we started with 11 hikers to enjoy the different Walls of Ice, and Mother Nature did not disappoint. While the hike was only 5 km in length we were treated to 3 different frozen waterfalls before making the climb to the upper lookout at Devil's Ladder and the view over Comox Lake. While not everyone started the hike in their micro-spikes they were required to navigate the trail in certain sections. Debrief was held at the Waverly Hotel. Photos by Steve, Christine, Lindsay, Stan and Bill. With this outing being the first time out for some of us, we had a pleasant trek around the Old Cabin and Crooked Creek trails in Paradise Meadows. The conditions were surprisingly good for our outing, considering there had been no fresh snow for the past few days. After a debrief and lunch/snack break at Raven Lodge, we finished the day by doing the Lookout trail. Thanks to Bill J, Katie and Cheryl for the pictures. Links to Bill's pictures and Katie's pictures. Today's walkers enjoyed a loop leading through woods, fields and residential streets at CFB Comox. The day was crisp, but the cold edge of the past week had eased and the exercise felt good.
Thanks to Heather for leading the walk and for hosting a debrief at her home afterwards and to Lorne for providing the group photo. After a cold stretch with mountain temperatures in the minus teens we headed up to enjoy a milder sunny day. We found the loop around Helen Mackenzie and Battleship lakes well packed down and easy going. Breaking trail up and over the ridge between the lakes wasn't easy but it took us to a peaceful sunny spot for our lunch break. We all capped the day off with a debrief in Raven Lodge. Photos by Cathy, Lindsay and Bill. A very chilly day by Comox Valley standards didn't scare away our group of dedicated hikers. We started at North Island College and followed trails to the bottom of the new Dingwall Stairs. From the top of the stairs we made our way along mostly trails and fields to the Tsolum River. Our return trip was along mostly the same route. Our debrief was at Milano Coffee. Photos by Cathy and Bill. |