Nov 23, 2016
After another downpour in the morning, which I spent putting together the two upstairs bedrooms, the rain finally cleared and I headed out.
The route today would take me from Snug Cove to Irly, the Bowen Building Centre: I needed a shovel. Moving from a condo in the city to an acreage in the country meant we didn't have a lot of yard tools, but we really needed them. As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to work more on the trails running through our property, and my bare hands only took me so far. ;)
I had considered walking up Cates Hill, then back along Grafton Rd, but as you will see, I merely retraced my steps on the way back. The day's walk was 3.6 km each way, for a total of 7.2 km. Elevation change up and over Cates Hill was: 102m up, then 54m down. I had also hoped to explore a little path I saw on http://bowentrails.ca that seemed to go around one side of the lake.
Starting from the corner of Village Rd and Miller Rd, I could have simply walked along Grafton Rd the whole way to Irly, but going through Cates Hill seemed quieter, and afforded some nice views.
Rising up the incline of Village Dr, I enjoyed the view of the mists on the nearby hills ahead of me, and the snow on the farther mountains, behind me (see last photo of blog-- might need to click on it to zoom). There were many houses along this zig-zaggy stretch, but as I approached Berry Rd, they retreated and gave way to woods.
At the intersection of Village and Berry, a sign pointed to the right, to Rivendell (no, not THAT Rivendell... nope, not THAT one either... wait... what's happening now???? I feel like I've gotten off track somehow...) What was I talking about? Oh yes... Another sign pointed to Tir Na Nóg. (No, not THAT Tír na nÓg...) Anyway, no sign of any knights of Rohan, either way. ;)
I took a left onto Berry Rd, walked past a house we had considered buying, and up to Cates Hill Rd. At Cates Hill Rd, I took a right, and headed back downhill. Aside from a couple of cars, this whole stretch was quiet. The mists crept through the trees.
Speaking of Cates Hill... In my last post, I mentioned Captain John Andrew (Jack) Cates, who had been running a ferry service in Howe Sound called the Terminal Steamship Company. According to Vancouver & Beyond: Pictures and Stories from the Postcard Era, 1900-1914, by Fred Thirkell and Bob Scullion, Jack built his first small steamship with profits he made while gold prospecting in the Yukon just before the turn of the century. He owned Lot 489, which today is known as Cates Hill.
With his business partner, Vicker Wallace Haywood, they developed a hotel, picnic areas, and campsites. A few years later, with new partners, Jack built a luxury "excursion" ship called The Britannia, and brought in up to 300 visitors at a time to the island. He set up fruit trees, a herd of cattle, and thousands of feet of water pipe, to supply a bakery, a store, and a restaurant.
In 1908, he expanded his fleet of ships to attempt to accommodate the flood of tourists intent on picnicking on Bowen Island. He furthermore bought 300 acres around Killarney Lake, and nearly 250 acres near Snug Cove, on which he created a fully functioning farm, with dairy and slaughterhouse onsite. Japanese immigrants did maintenance and worked the gardens, which was, by the way, a typical job for early Japanese immigrants to Canada, who were especially renown for their successful strawberry fields throughout British Columbia.
Later, Cates added the Lagoon, guest cottages, and ran a telephone cable to the mainland. It was all this infrastructure that attracted the Union Steamship Company to purchase his business in 1920. Cates made off rather handsomely from the deal, and went on to invest in other areas of the province, including the Okanagan.
Back at the bottom of Cates hill, I turned left onto Grafton Rd. You can't tell from the photo, but Grafton Rd was actually the most major road of the island, and the only one that crossed the entire island. Accordingly, it had a fair amount of traffic (I know, I know, you can't see that in the photo, but I waited for it to pass before snapping this shot).
I could see that the other side of Grafton Rd had a decent shoulder to walk on, so I crossed the road, and almost immediately, found this yellow boat, which had slid off its trailer into the bush.
Grafton Rd was very busy. I was glad to have my bright orange pack cover on for visibility. I walked on the gravel shoulder. Terminal Creek (yep, the same one from my previous post) followed parallel.
At Connolly Rd, Grafton Rd crossed over the Creek-- or rather, the Creek passed under the road. The shoulder thinned, but luckily, the traffic did too, and I scooted across. I saw another house we had considered buying. The Creek was so full that it had submerged much of the property I had toured.
After that, the shoulder widened again, but was very wet, as run-off turned it into an impromptu Creek of its own. Terminal Creek ran parallel to the road on the other side, but I couldn't see it from where I was walking.
I passed the Fire Hall, and admired the antique fire truck on site. The firefighters on the island are all volunteer, and this old fire hall is in need of an update and expansion. According to the Notice of Public Hearings, a public meeting would be held this month regarding plans to move the Fire Station to Bowen Island Trunk Rd and Miller Rd. Of course, this change would require altering some of the Crippen Park forest trails and trees, as they currently exist (the property in question is not zoned as forest, but has been existing as such), and according to the letters they submitted at the meeting last year, some locals were understandably upset about the impact to the park.
Shortly after the Fire Hall, the shoulder split from the road, and I saw a sign declaring this as the Trans Island Trail. I got excited, because I had read about the ongoing development of the trail, and was looking forward to getting off the shoulder of the busy road.
My excitement was short-lived. About 400m later, the trail ended, where Terminal Creek passed back under Grafton Road, and dumped into Grafton Lake. Actually, the trail appeared to make a sharp right turn, and head along the shore of the lake, but a big sign saying "private property" and "trespassers will be prosecuted" convinced me that it was no longer the "Trans Island Trail." Strangely, the trail was shown on the http://bowentrails.ca map, with no indication that it was private. :/
I was disappointed, but not knowing the situation, I erred on the side of caution, and stayed on the road. Just past the "no trespassing" sign, I got a nice view of the lake from the road. There was another gate there, explaining that the lake was a reservoir.
Grafton Lake was named after the third European family to settle onto Bowen Island: the Graftons. The four grown children and their widowed mother arrived from England in 1889. They bought 640 acres of land on the island.
According to Bowen Heritage, "In 1909, the 480 acres at Grafton Lake became the first ever subdivision on Bowen Island when it was broken up by [two of the Grafton brothers] Bill, Dave, and their mother, Caroline. They left intact all the land around the lake – half of the original 480 acres. The “Union” eventually bought that part of the Grafton family pre-emption as a water reserve." This is the same Union Steamship Co that bought out Mr. Cates. To date, Grafton Lake supplied the drinking water to Snug Cove.
There had been some controversy in recent years over locals swimming in the reservoir, with advocates both for and against it. Public swimming seemed to increase with the death of the land's private owner, who had no family on-island.
Then in 2013, the 350 acre property went up for sale, and this past year, a new rezoning proposal was published, which suggested subdividing these lands--the biggest undevelopped lands on the island -- into a 200-acre nature preserve, both public and private trails and greenways, plus areas for new housing, offices for small businesses, retreat centres, fruit orchards and community gardens, to name a few of the diverse initiatives. Naturally, the water treatment plant would retain a portion of the lands as well.
(click map to enlarge, or visit p15 of this link)
To watch a really cool fly-over video of the Grafton Lake lands, visit http://www.graftonlake.ca/flyover/ (The "fly-over" portion begins at about 1 minute, after the introduction.)
Across the street from the Lake, many cars populated the parking lot of The Orchard, a drug and alcohol treatment centre open since 2004, which offers 10-90+ day stays. It would also update and expand in the new Grafton Lake rezoning. Before you get the wrong idea, this high-end treatment centre is not just for the locals on the island, but attracts people from all across Canada, and has a waiting list.
The shoulder got really thin and somewhat precarious. I could see where others had stepped too close to the edge, and slid down off the shoulder. I there was no shoulder to speak of on the other side, so I walked with the traffic to my back. A little later, the shoulder widened, but then it was soggy grass and weeds, covered in sopping wet leaves.
About 1km later, I reached the Irly. Since it was my first visit, I perused all the aisles. I really enjoy stores like this: Canadian Tire is one of my all-Time favorite stores.
I quickly located a shovel, but still took my time touring the store. At the checkout, freshly baked cookies--neatly stacked in a casserole dish and topped with Saran wrap--called to me. "The school just dropped those off, so they're really fresh," the clerk informed me encouragingly. "Go ahead, I don't judge!"
I bought two for me and two to take home for Colin, who was working from home. The oatmeal raisin cookie didn't make it out of the parking lot. The double chocolate made it home. ;)
Walking back along Grafton was noisy. It made me a little grumpy. This, plus the dubious safety of the narrow shoulder, discouraged me from continuing on it all the way to Snug Cove, which had been my original plan. Instead, I retreated back to the quiet Cates Hill Rd, and got an extra dose of nature before returning home.
By the time I got home, I was cheered again, and happy about my choice. I was even more cheered after cheese time and nap time! :)
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