Rithets Bog Walk

Today we decided that we would do one of the walks that was in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago. It was listed as "EASY"...Well yes, the walk itself was pretty easy except for one spot that is uphill coming back for close to a mile. It levels off a wee bit but that's only to fool you into thinking that there's no more uphill. I hate uphill now. I used to think it was good exercise, but I have since seen the error of my ways. This walk was very good all in all. We did get a bit sidetracked a couple of times. It started in the same area as last weekend, in the parking lot at Mt. Doug. Hah, I'm no fool, this time we stayed on the trail that we were supposed to. Fool me once shame on you Mt. Doug, fool me twice shame on me. This is the first part of the trail. Nice, wide and FLAT. Notice the FLAT aspect.... (Don't forget to click on each picture to see it bigger)

So off we went. It was actually quite a nice walk, except when we got a bit off track and for that steep part. Just a little thing I feel compelled to show you. A park map !!!! We didn't see that last time. If you look at the name "Horn", (near the bottom of the map and a little left of center) and about 1/2 way along that, then straight up to the summit...that's where we went last time. Now, you see the marked trails that lead to the summit...that's what we missed.

As we went along, we passed through a couple of residential areas as the trail is a bit broken up or the writer of the directions just made a walk out of several things and tied them together. This next picture is what I think looks so magical. Like walking through a tunnel and you expect little fairies and gnomes to peek out from behind everything to spy on you as you walk by.

We eventually got to Rithets Bog. It's a wetland area that was donated to the municipality of Saanich. There are signs around telling you not to let you dogs and children wander around due to some concealed areas of very deep water and to stay on the trail. I would have enjoyed it more I think had it not been so sunny. I'm not good in too much sun, but I had my Aussie hat on and that helped a lot. There are bull rushes everywhere in the bog. I used to love those as a kid at Halloween. With adult supervision around bon fires we would burn them like a torch, just one of those childhood memories.

As we came around a corner, we found some ducks enjoying the privacy of a big bog all to themselves. They aren't actually stuck as the picture would suggest, there is a layer of plant matter on the water. When the ducks move around you can see the water they are in..

The last picture is of another area of the bog. Just to show the amount of bull rushes and other vegetation in the wetland, and the water that looks like pea soup when it's covered with all that plant matter..

This is the halfway point of the walk. So back to the car we went. The whole thing took 3 1/2 hours, and 12 miles/19.2 kms of walking. I'm feeling a bit like the hunchback of Notre Dam now. By morning I'm sure that will have gone, but even my toenails hurt right now. We stopped at the market to pick up something nice for dinner, and now are spending a non moving evening in front of the tv and nothing or nobody is going to make me do otherwise. Good night all and I hope you enjoyed your little tour today.. If you would like to know more about Rithets Bog as there is so much more that one blog post can cover, CLICK HERE.