Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

Today was such a nice day, sunny and bright and so out the door just after 10 to hike another trial. This one wasn't so hard. The trail is wider and more used, but there are some spots you still have to be careful of. Rocky areas and some slippery areas to because of dried leaves, pine needles and the ground itself being so dry. This is the start of the trail....looks nice doesn't it.

The trail here is nice because it's not all in the sun. I prefer to walk in a more shadowy area, it just makes it more enjoyable. I was really impressed how nice the trail is, always looks a bit different at each turn.

We got to the top of the trail pretty quickly, about 35 mins. At about the 2/3rds mark, there was a view looking across to another mountainous area, but unfortunately, the sun played havoc on the picture I was trying for. However, when we got to first summit, this is what was waiting for us.

Isn't this amazing. There are a four pictures here because it's a panoramic view that couldn't be shown at once like you can when you're right there.

In the next picture, right about the center point there is a line through there. That's actually the highway leading up the island. That's what's called the Malahat. It's not a friendly place to be in the winter, when it snows up there it's really dangerous and they often have to close it for hours because even with chains on your tires, it's still not safe. A beautiful place to drive up to though when the weather behaves.  See those bare spots, those are areas that have been logged and are slowly filling in, but it won't happen in my lifetime I'm sure. Some trees around here are hundreds of years old if not thousands, but it would be so nice to see those bare areas filled in.

 

I took the next picture in hopes that the mountain range in the far distance would show, but it doesn't show well. At least you can see how lush, lovely and mountainous this area of the world is.

I have a love for different trees and how majestic they are. This is one of our local trees. Arbutus. The trunk peels naturally from these trees and is a hard wood, great for the wood stove for heat if you can get it for a reasonable price.

There were two more lookouts to get to, but we decided to cut this one short, much to do today. The next view was another 3.7kms, and another 6 kms, so we decided that would have to wait until another day.  The elevation here was just under 400m or about 1100 ft. There is so much more to this park, but today was a shorter hike, but we'll be back again.

So finally, back down we go. This particular part of the trail is much steeper than it looks. There wasn't a good way to get a good view of how steep. However, walking sideways is the best way to get down without landing on your fanny...No I didn't do that... ;o) The side on the left is a drop off, so keeping on trail is a good thing to do.  If you would like to know more about the park, click here.