On Saturday, March 14, I led a small group on a snowshoe trip to Lake Helen Mackenzie. It was two families, me with my two children, and Jes with his son Trace. It was Hemingway’s first-time wearing snowshoes to walk, even though the conditions didn’t require it. We had very …
Mount Benson: Late Fall
Dear Hemingway and Octavia, Over that past few years, I’ve been working steadily towards completing my Island Alpine Quest. Even through the winters, I’ve reached objectives that started on remote sections of highway or plowed industrial roads, but this winter will be the first in a long while where I …
Mount Chief Frank over Mount Clifton
When authors describe the beauty of the island’s alpine, I imagine they are visualizing a place like the Beaufort Range, which offers some of the best low-alpine hiking on Vancouver Island. The rolling features and open heather-covered meadows that allow you to wander easily walked routes make it a highly …
Mount Drabble, The Family Way
Dear Hemingway, My trip reports usually focus on the technical details of a hike: the terrain type, weather, and simple descriptions of the route, including any notable terrain features. But sometimes those details aren’t the important ones. Our trip to Mount Drabble is a great example; it’s the things you …
Hiking to Pinder Peak in the Province Range
Our late September trip to Pinder Peak was fantastic! The combination of a dry, cool day on a snow-free route filled with plenty of alpine berries reminded me why I (sometimes) love fall hiking! This trip was very different from my first trip to Pinder Peak. If you’ve ever driven …
Marble Meadows Ramble: Marble Peak, Morrison Spire, and Mount McBride
View PostMount Mitchell via the Northwest Ridge
Once you’ve done enough hiking on Vancouver Island, you will realize that most of the great hiking requires that you drive down a section of industrial gravel road. And that’s if you’re lucky; a good number of these places require walking stretches of road as well. Mount Mitchell is one …
Steamboat Mountain via the Zipline
Steamboat Mountain rises prominently on the north side of Highway Four; you may have spotted the prow, a feature on the east end of the summit ridge, on a drive to Tofino. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like up there, it’s incredible! It’s also a problem that took me …
Pamela Creek Horseshoe: A Failure on Ms. Mountain
In the early days of writing this blog, I tried to document all my trips. It was a near-impossible task that offered little route information to the community, even if it did frequently highlight my inexperience and buffoonery. It was exhausting and often frustrating, especially when, inevitably, I couldn’t keep …