Submitted by Bettina Matzkuhn. Trip leader Bettina Matzkuhn met her group of seven at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. The weather was overcast and windy, but quite warm and pleasant for walking. We tried the “Bluffs Peak” trail, which meant a quick hike up to the bluffs and backtrack down to continue on to Mt. Galiano. The Warbler Road route is better as one gets to enjoy the length of the bluffs. Return trip was approximately 15km. We saw the bright…
6 members and a guest joined leaders Anne Leathem and Teresa Gagné. We moseyed about 2 km in 3 hours on the South East side of Rice Lake, with everyone calling out their finds every few steps. Despite being late in the season there was a surprisingly large variety of fungi. One participant wrote: What I most appreciated was coming away with a process of thinking about mushroom identification (particularly your well-illustrated explanation of different systems of spore dispersal), about…
Trip Report by Naomi Ross Sunday, November 13, was a brisk sunny day, which was a real treat having had rain the preceding few days. The group of seven hikers met at 9am at the base of Burnaby Mountain. A welcome surprise was that two birders and a grade twelve teacher had joined us. The walk quickly became a fascinating medley of facts about birds, fall leaves, mushrooms and lichens. Some of us were experimenting with “Seek” and “Google Lens”…
Five Nature Vancouver members camped and hiked for 5 days in the Whistler area.We camped at Whistler Olympic Park Campground in Callaghan valley just below the ski jump. It was a pleasant quiet campground, smallish sites with grass for tents, grouse walking through, a building for dishwashing and bear-proof food storage, and a second building (with shop) for hot showers. Not many trees, so the stars were fantastic! Monday August 14:Brandywine Falls to Bungee Bridge – 6.4km, 90m ascent, 1h44mAudain…
Joint Trip with Friends of Cypress Prov. Park Trip Report by Marshall Bauman On Friday, August 25, 2023, nine enthusiastic adventurers, led by Marshall Bauman and Anne Leathem set ‘Off to see the Giant’ in near perfect, if hazy, conditions. After crossing a small canyon on the Baden Powell trail, we headed up through old growth forest, on the western flank of Hollyburn Mtn. We found the Hollyburn Giant, and several ‘look-alikes, less than 1/2 km above the Baden Powell…
NV Trip to Juan de Fuca Marine Park – June 2 to 6, 2023 Report by Denis Laplante We had no rain, and the worst patch of mud was only 2cm deep. Many of the trails required scrambling and good balance; some sections were like a walk in the park. For tides we used Fisheries & Oceans https://tides.gc.ca/en/stations stations Point No Point and Port Renfrew (also Java App jtides.jar). Beware daylight saving time – tide tables at trailheads were in…
Report and Photos by Leader – Bettina Matzkuhn Nine members of Nature Vancouver and one guest participated. The weather was warm and breezy. We saw a Humpback whale spouting in the distance en route to the island. We covered approximately 10km to and from the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal, with a short stop at the historic Japanese Charcoal Pit Kiln. We made a few mistakes with the route but were rescued by Teresa’s GAIA track. The trail that goes up the back…
Report by Naomi Ross On Sunday, 27 November, 2022, five members of Nature Vancouver and a guest met at the Rabbit Lane trailhead for a 9:00am start. It was a crisp and clear day. The trail was unusually quiet in the beginning, and there was nobody at the first viewpoint. The clumps of mist gave a mysterious effect to the dramatic views from the platform, which looks almost vertically down the walls of the canyon. We continued on the winding…
Trip Report by Caroline Penn On September 22, 2022, nine members of Nature Vancouver gathered at the Snug Cove Library / Info Centre on Bowen Island at 10am to hike around Killarney Lake. It was a perfect early fall day with a slight breeze. We took the counterclockwise route. It is not clear whether Killarney Lake was initially man made or natural, but a dam built in the 1920’s increased its size and caused the ghostlike trees that we see…
Trip report by Christine Thuring From Thursday to Saturday (June 16-18), a small group of five backpackers enjoyed the trials and tribulations of early summer in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The wildflowers were quite behind schedule, there were 5 active bears in the area and the snow line was surprisingly low. Still, we had a fantastic time. Our home base was the Cheakamus Lake Campground (at 850m elevation), where we occupied two sites, separated by a thicket of dogwood and hawthorn….