spectacle lake; old baldy mountain 24/28 weeks

Our oldest, Jordan, joined us for our 24th outing at Spectacle Lake.

Our 24th week ended up being more of a weekend excursion. Mark and I camped at Bamberton Provincial Park on Saturday and Sunday nights. The idea was to get out of town for a relaxing couple of days and to get ourselves into closer proximity to a number of hiking trails. Our agenda was to hike any trails at Bamberton and on Sunday we would hike Spectacle Lake. The trail around the lake veers off to the right and winds up the side of Yos Mountain.
Known as Mount Jeffrey, this is a sacred mountain to the Malahat people and, at 530m, one of the highest elevations on the Malahat Ridge. We were nervous enough about the elevation and wanted to remain sensitive to the sacredness of the place.  I contacted the band office to ask if there were clear trails to the summit and if it would not be an affront to hike there. I received a very gracious letter from an administrator thanking me for my inquiries and asking that we simply be aware of the sacredness of this place to their people. I was also informed that any search and rescue costs incurred would be my own.
Mark and I let that information stew for a few days before we left and we finally decided to head to Spectacle lake and remain open about the possibility of a Yos Mountain hike.

Mark is fixing us a carb-heavy  meal.

Our stay at Bamberton was a good one. The park was crowded but still felt spacious. There are no amenities at the sites and chemical toilets only. Also there is no shower house. Even so, it is a fantastic park. The location is far enough away to feel like a vacation and close enough that very little of your time is devoted to travel. We hiked the 2 km beach/campground trail on Saturday evening and found that the descent made it a small workout and nice warm up for the next days hike. 

The well kept picnic grounds looking toward Goldstream Park.

Bamberton light show on the north end of the beach.

On Sunday morning we left for Spectacle Lake. I can't convey Mark's disappointment when he heard that the lake was named not for a visual spectacle or spectacular beauty but because it is shaped like a pair of glasses. There is a 2 km trail around the lake that we anticipated being fairly rugged given its location in the Malahat area. When we pulled into the parking lot we noticed an early model car with all of the windows busted out. As we ended our hike we met the fisher group who owned the car and found that they had only been on the lake for a little over an hour. We were also struck by the amount of graffitti at the park and the horrible condition of both chemical toilets. 

It felt like residual bitterness which seemed appropriate given the history of the First Nations struggle to keep their sacred land in this territory. The Malahat Nations website history reads like a true life Avatar, complete with eviction and tremendous sacred trees.  Without casting stones, it seems likely that a land in such dispute would carry the energy of the argument. Now this place seems neglected and left to its own devises to fend off the advances of the careless and disrespectful. 

A definite pall was cast over the morning and rather than attempt the trail to the summit of Yos Mountain, we finished the hike and were back at the parking lot within the hour.

At certain points the forest was so dense that we seemed far from a lake.

The trees were magnificent.

Glasses or not, the lake IS spectacular.

Can you believe this is the only book I found in our car while looking for the trail map book?

Jordan headed back to Victoria and I plied Mark into a Shawnigan Lake visit with the promise of outstanding sushi. The cafe that I was looking for has since closed but we stumbled upon Shawnigan Joe's Grill and Teriyaki at the corner. At less than five dollars for eight pieces of fresh vegetarian sushi in a beautiful cafe setting we will definitely visit here again soon. Across the street we visited the Shawnigan Lake museum and were escorted through by a gentleman whose extreme knowledge of the area and its lore was quite fascinating. And here is where the weekend took an interesting turn. 

Across the street from Shawnigan Joe's, for a mere twoonie the historical society will treat you to way more information about the area than you ever thought you needed to know.

As we were leaving and thanking him for his time I asked if he knew of any local hikes besides the Kinsol Trestle. He grabbed a Shawnigan Lake map and proceeded to give us insider information on finding a trail up Old Baldy, the mountain that overlooks Shawnigan lake. One of the effects of the 52 week commitment half way though is that a 2km hike now seems pedestrian and my muscles crave more. So when the gentleman assured us that it was a good one for folks who hike we were in it for the adventure. He promised incomparable veiws of the islands and even Sooke Lake. At this point know that he also told us it was a half an hour to the summit.

Mark and I at the trailhead...we have already cut through the Easter Seals camp to get here.

Just as we were snapping the above picture a couple came onto the tracks from Mt Baldy. They told us that they hiked to the tower and warned us about the rough patches and tips on where to pick the trail back up when it disappeared. It turns out the man gave us impeccable directions right down to the make of the car we needed to look for on the hard road to find the trail cut again. We lost about 20 minutes when I talked Mark into going the wrong way but it ended up being the most shaded part of the hike.

We think we are tough; we are just babies on the side of this mountain.

The elevation allows us to just see the tip of Shawnigan lake.

After leaving the railroad tracks there is a fairly wide trail winding through sparse woods. The mountain then opens up to an ATV track or a gravel road. This was rough going and not my favorite part of the hike though it proved to be the longest; maybe it just seemed longest. It was hot and dusty. The day was gorgeous and clear so the sun felt magnified on the surface of the road. Also, the gravel is very rough so you have to be mindful about your footing. You could end up pitching over or twisting an ankle. We nearly slipped many times and coming down the mountain was even worse.  It didnt take long on the gravel road to decide we had better ration our water. Remember that we took off on this hike on a lark so had only one water bottle between us.  Poor Mowgli just walked from one peice of shade to the next.

 Mowgli on the left is in no big hurry to catch up because it means walking in the sun.

 About halfway to the summit we walked through an arbutus forest. It was the most arbutus we have seen in one spot and because they were competing with the conifers on the mountainside they grew straight and tall. At this portion of the trail we figured that we could turn around and go back down because we had already seen so much beauty. Mark kept quoting Forrest Gump; "We've come this far. Might as well keep going."
On the gravel road we met another couple coming down. The were sunburnt pink and flushed from exertion. They told us they had made it to the tower and that the trail to the summit from there was rough and steep.
Just after that, we arrived at the tower ourselves.
                             

Posing at what would be refered to as the Hillary Step, the last spot before the push to the summit.

my new boot shot for the blog

After a nice rest Mark quoted Forrest Gump again and we decided to head to the summit. We met 2 more hikers coming down and that brought the number of hikers to six, only 2 who made it to the absolute summit. This fact was not lost on us as we slogged the last bit of trail.

WAY down there in the middle of the picture is the swimming pool we parked our car next to. Why did we look up and believe that we could summit Old Baldy in 30 minutes?

We are probably the only two people from Alexis Illinois to have placed rocks on this cairn.

Here we are at the top of our world that day.

We began the descent in a bit of a hurry because we were out of water for Mowgli. There were a couple of close calls on the loose gravel but we got down and to the second water bottle in approximately an hour. That was without stopping to rest so I can not imagine someone even running to the summit making it in 30 minutes. The lesson learned here was to always be prepared for a big hike no matter what the local guy says. 

dreamy little jellyfish on the ferry ride home.

Next week: Lone Tree Hill