2008 - Van. Island Cycle, Robie Reid, Brunswick/Harvey, Sheridan Lake, Trophy Mt.

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

A Vancouver Island Cycle Tour -
Location of Port Renfrew

Our route - map by Randy

Roughing it at the Port Renfrew Hotel

Randy Wheating heard about a loop a person could do on Vancouver Island on bicycles so July 16 found Randy, Keith Akenhead, Chuck McCafferty, and myself driving our bikes to a parking lot just before the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. We spent our first night on Saltspring Island. 
Thursday saw us climbing very warm pavement on our way to Lake Cowichan where we spent our second night. I remember a very nice meal at the Aroma restaurant.
There were some strange sights on the almost all paved road to Port Renfrew. Reports of a cyclist wearing little more than a helmet and cycling shoes were rumoured, but I'm sure that was just a halucination. The Port Renfrew Hotel was a welcomed watering hole.
Saturday dawned foggy and chilly, but we soon warmed up on the long climb leaving Port Renfrew. Up and down to single lane bridges, and a sharp climb on the other side are lingering memories. The hills relented somewhat after Jordan River.

Approaching Sooke

We spent the night at the Sunny Shores Resort & Marina in Sooke and had a good meal at the Fuse Waterfront Grill, wondering where Keith the younger had gotten to. I looked forward to our last day of cycling for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the lack of hills. The Galloping Goose Trail took us to Victoria, and the Lochside Trail to Swartz Bay.
I am lucky to have good friends with a sense of adventure and humour. I thank them for another good trip.
Here's a link to the article I put into Clubtread. It contains more info and pictures.
Here's a link to Randy's great write-up of our trip. It contains much more info and pictures. :-)

Robie Reid in a Day - by Alan Lizee

Alan Lizee

"This Lobster is very proud to have finally climbed Robie! We did it Monday (July 21) in 15 hours, car-to-car. Ed from Club Tread was a very good partner. We started at the gate to the BC Hydro road at the top of the ridge between Stave and Alouette Lakes. This added one hour each way of rough hiking, but it eliminated the canoe trip; thus, making it possible to do the entire trip in one day.
Robie Reid is best climbed in early September when the rock route is snow-free. Now in July, the rock route to the South peak is 80 percent snow-covered, and this compounds the difficulties. A deep moat with a thin overhanging lip provided a worthy challenge to get onto the ramp leading to the South Peak notch. Next, we had the rock crux (class 4) with two inches of water running over it (rappelled on descent). A few, normally easy, class 3 grooves had slippery, wet moss in the bottoms. The top half of the ramp that traverses towards the South peak was a narrow strip of steep, hard snow (45 degrees) perched precariously over the rock wall right below (no chance to self-arrest a slip). At the South Peak notch, we found an easy ramp to traverse along the West side of the South peak directly onto the final ridge leading to the main peak, and that saved a lot of time and calmed our nerves. The final summit, with solid rock, was so fun and aesthetic that we wanted it to keep going. We were very tired, but happy thoughts kept us going as we trudged back up the long slope from the lakeside to our car."
Read more about his trip and view many pictures on the Clubtread page.

Brunswick/Harvey Loop - by Alan Lizee

Location of Mt. Brunswick

Chris scampered up the West horn for this photo op. Mt Garibaldi and the Sky Pilots as background.

Early in August Chris Morley and I completed a clockwise loop of Brunswick Mountain and Mount Harvey. From Lions Bay, we headed up the trail to the regular West-end route of Brunswick. From the true summit, we headed directly down Brunswick's south flank to intersect the Howe Sound Crest Trail already half way to Magnesia Meadows. This was qiccker and more fun than retracing our steps down the West side to the actual juntion of the Brunswick trail with the HSCT. The trail lead us in a gradually descending traverse to Magnesia Meadows and then on to Harvey Pass. Scrambling up the steep but easy North-East ridge of Mount Harvey was fun. There actually was a distinct trail worn through the vegetation between the blocky granite. The summit gave us more spectacular views to enjoy before we rushed madly down Harvey's South-West ridge and back to Lions Bay. 1764 metres total elevation gain and 7 1/4 hours car-to-car. - AlanMore pictures and info in the Clubtread article.

A Sheridan Lake Retreat

Location of Little Fort - The bottom of the hill cycled.

Dave Dixon part way up the big hill west of Little Fort

Ken Willis invited the Lobsters up to the family cabin on the east shores of Sheridan Lake for some R&R and we gladly obliged him. Dave Dixon has written a very nice article about our trip in his blog, Big Guy Small Scooter. I recommend the read.

Trophy Mountain Meadows

Location of Sheila Lake in the meadows

Dale MacQuarrie and Dave Dixon in the Trophy Mountain meadows
Looking south - Sheila Lake behind them.

See Ken Willis's Clubtread article for more pictures and information.