Is it gloomy and raining down at sea level? This is on Hollyburn Mountain, yesterday. Already there is just enough snow to ski above 3,000 ft. It is an early start to the winter ski season.
Explore the Roe Creek to Brew Meadows Trail with GPS
Published October 29, 2011 Backcountry Leave a CommentThis is more on our hike last Thursday (see previous post). I thought it would be largely a bushwhack and I’d need GPS to find the route. Although rustic, and not in any of the guide books, the path is well marked and fairly easy hiking. It is certainly an excellent short day trip into the local high country. It is very buggy and muddy in the summer, and is probably well-used by backcountry skiers in the winter. Right now, it is a lovely and lonely sub-alpine ramble. Please don’t try to hike this in the winter… the skiers will not like you post-holing their ski track.
To dynamically explore my GPS track on Google Earth (in a web browser), click on this picture below. Wait for Google Maps to upload the GPS data. If you expand the Time Line arrow, you can then move the arrow on the right to see where we were and when. To pivot the image, put your mouse over a spot on the map, and hold down your shift key, then move the mouse.
Some out-of-date guide books describe the Roe Creek Road as difficult to drive. Actually, it is in wonderful condition, and in good weather can be managed by 2-wheel drive vehicles (if you don’t mind logging roads). As we approached our car at the end of our hike we could hear a huge mechanical clatter, and a road grader rumbled by. Even the spur above the Roe Creek Main was being levelled.
If you are interested in skiing here in the winter, a well known destination is the Brew Hut. For information about going there visit the Varsity Outdoor Club Brew Hut Wiki page.
For images and video from this hike, please see the previous blog entry.
On Thursday, 2011 October 27 the forecast was for a sunny break in the wet weather. We decided to play hooky and go for a hike.
There is a winter route for skiers from the Roe Creek Road to the meadows leading to Brew Mountain. We wanted to explore it before it was covered with snow. We could see that the recent precipitation had fallen as snow on the upper regions of all the local mountains. As we drove up the Roe Creek road, and then on a logging road above it, we were surprised that our parking spot, at 3300 feet, was already covered with fresh snow. All day we walked in a few inches of new dry snow. The occasional splashes of sunlight was magical in those old growth forests.
These are some videos and still pictures. The background music is by Kevin MacLeod, http://incompetech.com.
To explore the GPS route of this hike, please see the next blog entry.
On Thursday, Oct 20, BowenLIFT and Bowen Island Rotary volunteers rode the Queen of Capilano to present the news about hitchhiking on Bowen Island. The Chillbillies provided music.
BowenLIFT is working to make ride-sharing and hitchhiking once again part of the friendly culture of Bowen Island. In addition to being neighbourly, it also contributes to reducing our carbon footprint.
New Lift Stop by RCMP on Miller Road
Lift Stop at B.I. Trunk Rd. and Senior Rd
This week five Lift Stops have appeared around Snug Cove. These were installed by the Municipality. The plan is to have about 25 of these around the Island.
This concept was developed successfully by the folks on Pender Island.
The sign lists the basic hitchhiking protocols (in rhyme):
- Drivers don’t have to take the first in line,
- You’re not obliged to accept a ride that’s fine.
- You Accept a ride at your own risk,
- But the ride is free, so consider it a gift
Aboard the Queen of Capilano the BowenLIFT and Rotary volunteers prepare materials for the next BowenLIFT presentation
On the ferry the BowenLIFT volunteers distributed vehicle mirror-hangers which drivers could exhibit to indicate that they were offering rides — the colour of the hanger signal the destination. Soon there will be badges with lanyards for hitchhikers to wear to show that they’d like rides.
If you enjoyed the taste of the Chillbillies music in the video above, here is the complete 20-minute set of their concert during one of the trips from Horseshoe Bay to Snug Cove.
If you’re humming along with the music, and you’d prefer sing, click to see the next pane with the lyrics… Continue reading ‘BowenLIFT Rides the Ferry’
At the north end of Howe Sound is a remote and imposing island: Anvil. It is remote because there is no public transportation available to reach it. Yet it is close and familiar with less than 2 kilometres separating it from the Sea to Sky highway. As the glaciers of the last ice age retreated, Anvil must have been a sturdy nunatak that stood in the centre of the path of the glacier that carved the fijord that we call Howe Sound. No wonder it has such steep sides.
Yesterday, October 8, I was invited to join a group that was going to hike to the summit of Anvil: Leading Peak. The guide book promised a 5-hour return trip from the dock on Anvil. Since the vertical climb was only a little more than Mt. Gardner on my Bowen Island, it seemed like an easy hike. The truth is that, while it is just a hike, there are some steep scrambles, and the day is much more of a workout than the statistics would suggest. The weather has been wet. The forecast said that the rain would hold off until the end of the day. If you plan to do this hike, I suggest it will be much easier if you go when the many roots and slick rock are dry.
To see my pictures, please proceed to the next pane… Continue reading ‘Hike Anvil Island — Leading Peak’
Recollections of Bowfest 2011
Published August 28, 2011 Bowen Island Leave a CommentTags: Bowen Island, Bowfest, bowfest2011
The theme for Bowfest 2011 was ‘Under the Sea.’ Here is a collection of video shots and images of the day. On August 27 the day began with the Run for Rwanda, and then the Bowfest Parade down the main street of Bowen Island. The festival grounds were in Crippen Park adjacent to Snug Cove. It was a sunny mild day. Your reporter spent most of the day at the BowenLIFT Pavilion.
Roe Creek Road is now driveable
Published August 14, 2011 Backcountry 1 CommentTags: Black Tusk, climb, cypress mountain, Cypress Peak, Roe Creek, snow, Whistler
As we approached the end of the Roe Creek Rd. and had our first glimpse of the slopes we'd climb, we saw we'd be on snow most of the time
The guide book, Scrambles, by Matt Gunn described the logging road up Roe Creek as a horror. Water bars begin at 6.8 km, and at 9 km a washout makes it impassable. The last 2-1/2 km must be walked. And then the hiking begins with a bushwhack down to the creek, followed by a reported hair raising boulder-hop across the torrent. Last Sunday (Aug 7) we decided to reconnoiter. The good news is: the whole road is easily navigated with a 4×4. The washout has been graded and the water bars are gone. The whole road is probably passable with a 2-wheel drive. The images are thumbnails — please click to see full size.
We parked just past the last cut block. We chose that because the trip down to the creek seemed shorter than the end of the road.
It was easy to find our way up Roe Creek to the snow
After some thrashing around, we found a very helpful path at 50º 02′ 09.6″ N 123º 13′ 24.6″. It leaves the road just past a little bridge and heads down through the old growth forest to Roe Cr.
The flow on that side of the main Creek was fairly benign, and all we had to do was rock-hop until we found enough snow to support us. Most of the rest of the hike was on sometimes-steep snow. Lovely, and no bugs.
Lunch Rock below Cypress Peak, view of Black Tusk
Reclining Balance Rock enjoying the view
When we turned back we were only about 1000 feet below Cypress Peak. The top would have been a fairly easy destination if we’d started earlier.
Even without climbing to a summit, it was an enjoyable day in a beautiful location.
Walking towards the North-East facing cliffs of Cypress Peak
A couple of last comments. I see that I now have posted 301 blog articles at this site. And, since this blog was meant to be a short-term experiment, I never imagined that I’d leave a trail that is this long.
I’ve been to Cypress Peak before. My story of a ski trip to that mountain, with an approach from the other side, is here: Tabblo essay.
If you live around Vancouver, you might think that Cypress Mountain is a hill on the North Shore. Actually, there is no such mountain by that name. There is a resort that calls itself Cypress Mountain because it is within Cypress Provincial Park. This is the real nearby Cypress Peak.
Yesterday, as part of its program to promote Bowen Islanders offering lifts to pedestrians the BowenLift crew was talking to Wil Hilsen, the municipality’s manager of engineering and operation, about car pullouts — where hitchhikers can expect to be picked up. Here is how it would work.
There is already a potential Lift Stop at the bottom of Cates Hill
If there were a culvert for the ditch above Senior Road, this might be a pullout
Several locations were visited and discussed.
Daphne Laureola - 11 Bundles - RIP
After a week there is still Daphne here. But…
There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago
Celebrating the holiday scraping moss off my roof
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