After the recent snows, our yard had become filled with these tiny little birds, flitting about and chirping. My bird book identified them as Dark-eyed Juncos. I loved the birdsong, and was thrilled imagining how beautiful the summer here would be.
Due to all the recent snow, walking around the neighborhood had been a little hazardous. The streets were starting to clear, and some paths seemed safe enough. On the first clear day after all the snow dumps, I did practically same walk, two days in a row... from Snug Cove up to Artisan Square and back. A loop of about 2.5-3 km, and an altitude change of about 90m. I marked day 1 (Dec 12) in solid orange, and day 2 (Dec 13) in red dots. One fun thing about this walk, was that I got to use two different right-of-way easement trails that are not well-known: one off Village Dr, and one off Captain Cates Walk.
(click to enlarge)
My dog Rory joined me on this snowy trek. He had felt as cooped up as I, over the recent week, and was eager to get out and stretch his legs.
We started down near the ferry dock in Snug Cove. In the little grass square just past the entrance to the ferry parking lot, the Christmas trees that had been decorated in time for Santa's arrival, just over a week before, stood glistening beautifully in the sun. The tiny bright green shack in the background is Paradise Grill, which sells snacks like hot dogs and hamburgers (both meat and veggies) in the warmer months.
Anyway, I thought it might be neat to make little "Bowen Island" gift baskets for the few people I had on my list. I liked the idea of sharing my new home with them, as well as the idea that I would be boosting the local economy. Rory waited outside, like a very good boy. I wished I had thought to bring treats for him.
After filling my shopping bag, I followed the boardwalk around past Doc Morgan's Pub and the Davies Cottages towards Bowfest beach and picnic area. No one was sitting in the ever-present white adirondack chairs, which were nearly invisible under many inches of snow. The USSC anchor was also disappearing under the white stuff.
A strip of beach was visible near the water, but none of the usual waterfowl were present on that day.
I soon passed the Crippen Park sign, and a trail map, at the entrance to the Bowfest field and picnic area.
The view out over the marina was breathtaking. Go ahead and click the photo to enlarge. ;)
I turned right and followed the near end of the field up to the picnic area. Someone had driven through the field to create a footpath, just like they had in Terminal Creek Meadows near Killarney Lake.
Past the covered picnic tables, I made my way through the parking lot to Dorman Rd.
On Dorman Rd, an approaching car stopped and the driver motioned to me. For a moment I wondered whether I had done something wrong. Then the woman rolled down her window to tell me that Rory was a darling creature. "Welcome to Bowen, Rory!" I laughed.
We headed up Dorman Rd towards Village Square, so that we could stop in at the pet store to buy him a treat. As I had previously mentioned, this stretch of road often had a line of ferry commuter vehicles parked along it. One car seemed to have timed their commute badly, and got totally snowed in by the passing plough.
I had considered taking the trail from the Ruddy Potato grocery store in Village Square up to Artisan Square, but because of my recent need to cut through a dirt pile that was been taken down by machines earlier, I took the road instead, and headed up Village Dr.
(Walking past the entrance to the trail the next day via the Trans-Island Trail, I could see that the trail I was thinking of taking this day was indeed blocked and closed.)
Village Dr was very steep and winding. It rose over 50m in about half a kilometer.
We passed Captain Cates Walk and Harbour View Dr, and headed for the two large stone pillars protecting a small group of houses at a hairpin turn.
Right at the stone pillars, someone had dropped a carrot, and it had frozen into the snow. Rory tried quite hard to get that carrot. He would continue to try to get that carrot for over a month. lol.
Fortunately, someone had shoveled the path. :D We headed in.
A few metres in, branches were bowed over onto path by the snowfall. Rory easily trotted underneath them. I tried to duck under them, but the back of my coat got caught on the brambles. I stood there for a good moment, wondering what to do.
I was hunched over in a very awkward position, unable to go forward or backward. Finally, I started taking off my clothes. I removed my tuque and scarf, and had my coat about half off when I could slide my purse strap over my head. The leather of the strap must have knocked something free, as suddenly I could move, and escaped the brambles.
By the next day, someone had cut them all down.
At BIM, snow plough piles nearly blocked our path; I had to carry Rory over. Then after that, the road was clear.
We walked up Prometheus Place to Artisan Square.
As the buildings of Artisan Square appeared before me, the view on my right stopped me in my tracks and took my breath away. As I stood there, a Raven flew overhead. All I heard was the loud whoosh of air under its wings above my head to alert me to its presence.
She commented on how quickly I grabbed what I wanted, and I motioned to Rory, sitting outside in the snow. At the sight of him, her eyes melted and she offered to make me a felted dog, modeled on Rory. Totally intrigued, of course I instantly accepted, but it was a few days before I saw a photo of her in a Bowen Tourism magazine, and realized what exactly she was offering.
Rory and I did a quick tour of the rest of the Square. For some reason, he always really liked doing the "loop" of the parking lot, marching along jauntily, when most times he was a reluctant walker.
On this day, the snow plough piles were up over my head, yet this beautifully decorated bike stood completely dry, against the Juniper Gallery, where Vikki Fuller, Jane Dunfield, Becca Fairbairn, and Jo Willems. (I LOVE this story of Jo's journey to art, and her focus on trails.)
This was where my two nearly-identical walks differed. While the first day I did this loop, Artisan Eats Cafe was closed, on the second day I stopped in to grab some of their fantastic in-house granola to add to my gift baskets, and enjoyed the view of the mountains again, from the cafe windows.
Then my route back to the Cove was another big difference between the two days. On the second day, Dec 13, I took Artisan Lane down to Grafton Rd, and returned to Snug Cove via The Trans-Island Trail, which meandered beside Grafton Rd towards Snug Cove. I didn't bother to blog that route, since I would take it again a few days later, with more exiting stories to tell on that trip. ;)
On the first day, Dec 12, we decided to loop back from Artisan Square to Snug Cove through a different right-of-way easement trail on Cates Hill. As we headed back towards Prometheus Pl, I admired the giant icicles hanging on the rock cliff beside the lane. Looking closely, one could see the water bubbles moving underneath the icicles, as the water still dripped down next to the rock. It reminded me of those old-fashioned Christmas tree "bubble lights" that we used to have when I was a kid.
After admiring the icicles, I had to carefully negotiate each step along the snowy shoulder of the lane, as the pavement itself was a sheet of ice.
Fortunately, by the time I got to Prometheus Pl, at the bottom of the inclined lane, the road was again free of ice. After soaking in another view of the snow-covered mountains, we headed back towards the BIM.
Several trees and bushes were broken and downed by the heavy snowfalls.
We kept going, straight back the way we had come, to the BIM building, ignoring the trail to the left.
At the BIM, we returned to the long staircase that we had previously descended. However, this time we didn't take it. Instead, we took the trail next to it, which followed the side of the BIM building.
On the other side of the BIM, the views of the mountains were again fantastic.
After the viewpoint, we took another staircase down to a relatively new development on Orchard Lane. Yes, these are stairs, although covered in snow. Rory was very nervous about descending them, perhaps because they were poorly defined under the snow. I had to coax him on nearly every step, by saying "Yep, go ahead, good boy!"
At one point he stopped and would not proceed. I thought perhaps it was an especially long step, but as I bent down near him, I realized that someone had spilled most of a tin of tuna on the stair. I had to drag him away from that one. ;)
At the bottom of the stairs, we arrived at the edge of the new-ish development. On the left, the road made a loop from Orchard Lane, and there were several townhouses. On the right, a right-of-way easement trail led to Captain Cates Walk. In between (straight ahead from the stairs), the Artisan Trail plunged steeply towards Village Square below. I eyed the icy incline, and decided to go for Captain Cates Walk.
The path led beside the propane tanks of a house, and exited beside the carport. I waited as two men helped a car get out of the driveway. Then they discussed the broken branches that were hanging over the trail. "I think I might lose a lot of that bush..." one man was saying. I took that moment to cuck my way under and make my grand appearance onto the road. With a wave to both, I was heading down Captain Cates Walk.
This road was not ploughed, and it was fairly icy. It was just as I was nearing the staircase right-of-way easement trail on Captain Cates Walk, when I slipped and fell on the road. Why did I always seem to fall on the flattest part of any trail??
Frustrated at my ongoing daily falls, I continued on, unhurt save a little road rash on one palm, when my ski glove came off in the fall.
Where Captain Cates met Village Dr, I turned left and returned back to Snug Cove.
At the bottom of Village Dr, I took another left, onto Dorman Rd, then turned right onto Bowen Island Trunk Rd, and struggled down the snowy sidewalk toward the ferry.
Despite the (literal) "downer" of my fall, the trip would end on a high note, when I saw a sign in the middle of a lot next to the Snug Cafe. Since the snow was deep and Rory was tired, I tied his leash to a post at the sidewalk, and trekked in to read the sign: it was a notice of development for a "craft micro distillery and lounge." That sounded awesome!
I happily made my way back to the Christmas trees where I started.
At home I was the lazy gourmet, then had a nap, and put some holiday lights up on the house (I had bought some super fantastic lights at Bell'Occhio). Then it was cheese time, and finally I blogged a little. In other words, a pretty typical day. ;)
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