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Snowshoeing is now over. It was a enjoyable season with good snow conditions despite the lower than usual snowfall this year. Here are some photos from our trips. The group meets every Thursday, rain or shine at the Air-Park Walkway. We meet for a 9:00 a.m. start in the paved parking lot off Mansfield Crescent. Mansfield connects to Cliffe Avenue, opposite the Driftwood Mall. The group, usually numbering between 12 and 18, breaks into smaller groups walking at a variety of paces for exactly one hour. At 10:00am.we gather for coffee and conversation on the mezzanine level of the Bayside Cafe which is close to the parking lot. Please note that until there is a problem with ice or snow the “Summer Route” is still in effect i.e. walking around the Air-Park then East to Millard before heading back. New participants are always welcome. If you are planning to come, wear layers, proper footwear and bring an umbrella in your trunk.  We ended 2019 with our usual hike and lunch on 10 December, and then our first snowshoe hike of the season on 17 December. For the first time we did a 5 km circuit of the Courtenay Airpark/Millard Creek and then went to the White Spot restaurant for lunch. This replaced our normal Oyster River - Salmon Point walk. Sadly the Salmon Point restaurant burned down last January. It was lightly snowing and breezy for our first snowshoe. Snow conditions were good though on the summer trail out to Lake Helen Mackenzie and back. It felt good to get a taste of winter conditions before the Christmas season.  01 Oct - Snowden Forest, 08 Oct - Cumberland - Fuji Jim, 15 Oct - Puntledge River - Nymph Falls, 22 Oct - Bevan - Comox Lake, 29 Oct - Cumberland - Lily Pad Lake. The season commenced with a taste of Turkish cuisine - interesting spices and loads of yogurt but generally dishes weren't too peppy to taste. Hosted by Nina Goodman. Below is a list of the dishes prepared Kabak mucver - zucchini and feta patties Kofte -carrot and apricot rolls Manti - chickpea parcels karides guvec - baked prawns with tomatoes Fesinjan - chicken stew with walnuts and pomegranate juice Yogurt tatlisi - yogurt cake in orange syrup We were 13 hikers including two guests visiting form Utah. We headed up to Croteau Lake and the new yurt and dock and tent pads and food cashes and ... There has been a lot of work at Croteau and it was fun that we had it mostly to ourselves as we ate lunch on the very nicely provided chairs or the edge of a tent pad. It took two hours to get to the lake in near perfect weather for hiking. Native plants were spotted in new locations and we were all pleased at the water in the the creeks. We lounged for awhile at Croteau before heading back to the parking lot. On the way back we saw two fishers in floaters trying their casting skills on Battleship Lake. Going up and back we met a number of back packers enjoying the park. The dock at Battleship is still broken but we did spend time at the table area. It was a great group , thank you all! We were gone about 4 1/2 hours and covered about 13 km. Elevation we were not so sure of however seems to be about 300 m. A fun day On Tuesday 12 hikers did the hike from Nymph Falls to the Comox dam & back. We first visited the falls with the new accessible trail upgrades recently completed by the Regional District, took the River Trail to the upper hatchery, then the Bear Bait trail (more or less!) to the Comox Dam where we had lunch, encountering another Probus group that we had seen at the trailhead. Other than that there were just a few cyclists & other dog walkers on the way - although when back at the parking lot, it was full up! (on summer weekends here, cars are parked on the road for a km or more!) After lunch we took the River Trail back to the hatchery & then the Midline Trail back to the parking lot. Depending on the measuring devices, we travelled anywhere from 13 km to 17.6 km! (I think somewhere between 14.5km-15km would be accurate). Total time was about 4 hours. The hike was in the trees & shade most of the way with some interesting plant sightings, wood carvings and a few bird sightings ( most birds were heard only - about 25 different species total!) Thanks to all for another great outing. |
