Monday, July 05, 2010

trip to Bowen Island & Mt Gardner

We got lucky. We had good weather, and decided that we would drive to the ferry and go to Bowen Island to do our planned hike up Mt Gardner.  You can walk on the ferry since the hike is walking distance from the ferry, and there are a couple of smaller trails to take to get you to the beginning of the Mt. Gardner hike.

Lots of slugs along the way. Each one seemed bigger than the one before. We started to think that maybe they got larger the higher we hiked!
The first view on the way up that looks back down to where we arrived.
Foxgloves were abundant. Why do I have such a hard time growing them?
This was an unusual and cool looking part of the trail. This was along the "handloggers trail." There are several options to approach Mt. Gardner. We took several linking trails to wind our way up rather than taking a more direct (and perhaps less interesting) route.
Looks like some Angel wings...I think. Edible, but we didn't collect any as there were too few to really bother.


Second view: I think this is looking at Keets island.
New growth amongst the old growth.
We went to the North Summit where the views are. There are also radio towers and 2 helicopter landing pads. I think this is why the N. Summit has the views that the S. Summit doesn't.

View from the top. This looks down towards the Sunshine Coast. The clouds were covering the distant mountains, and at times some low cloud passed closely by. It was beautiful. We sat on the wooden slatted chopper landing pad and had lunch.

Playing with the sepia setting on the camera on the way down the mountain. 

After our long 6 hour plus hike, we reached our destination...


The Tuscany

The food was amazing as usual. It was a perfect way to end our day.
 Warm citrus olives with a bruschetta salad & grilled portabellos.

Ah, the pizza with grilled veg. They have a wood burning oven to cook their pizza. There's nothing like a pizza cooked in a wood burning oven.


Back to the mainland. What a beautiful day!

3 comments:

mister anchovy said...

I visited Bowen Island once, way back in 1983. Friends of mine had a cabin there for many years. I had just finished school and drove across the country just because it seemed like a good thing to do. While I was on the coast, I spent a couple days on Bowen with my friends. I recall that it was a very very beautiful place.

sp said...

It is a beautiful place. I wouldn't mind living there.

Wandering Coyote said...

Looks like such an awesome day. I miss the coast! Your pictures are gorgeous, as usual, the food looks great.