Bowen Hiking 15: Cates Hill Trail by Moonlight

Dec 16-17, 2016

Worried that the propane truck would still not make it through to our place on the following Wednesday, I had grabbed my shovel and headed out to the top of our lane.

There was a stretch of icy snow at the top of our lane, where it met the cul-de-sac of a city street, which had thwarted the propane truck's attempts to deliver the previous Wednesday.  It didn't help that the cul-de-sac was also covered in icy snow as well, but at least that part was flat. I debated how far I would be willing to clear by hand.  We were down to 7% of a tank... I might be willing to shovel the whole cul-de-sac, if it meant we could get propane...

I shovelled and chipped out the ice near the top of our lane, using a square metal spade.  It was really hard going.  The ice was 1" thick, and solid like an ice rink.

However, within 5 mins of me starting, a snow plough arrived to clear the adjacent city road!!!  I figured my willingness attracted some good karma.  ;)  Perhaps Colin's phone call to City Hall to ask about getting the city street ploughed might have helped too.  ;)

Watching him pull up the big slabs of ice in the cul-de-sac, I was extremely grateful I wouldn't have to do all that myself after all.  

As he got closer to the end of our lane, I told him he made my week. He said the city had subcontracted him, because they couldn't keep up with the snowfall.  I asked how close to our lane he would come, as he cleared. He looked at me struggling with my shovel, and said he'd come all the way over to our lane, and finish off the last bit at the top for me.  I was really grateful, because what took him 2 minutes would probably have taken me an hour.

At the end, I thanked him again, and he commented at the difficulty of the job, not just for me with my shovel, but even for him with his plough!  My growing blisters would agree...

I rewarded myself with my first experience of the famous fish and chips from Doc Morgan's Pub. There was a choice of Pacific Cod, Atlantic Haddock, or Premium Alaskan Halibut.  I picked the cod, which came with a pile of crispy fries.  They certainly lived up to their reputation.  :)

I really liked the atmosphere at Doc's.  It really felt like I was dining in an old yacht club.  Old nautical maps hung on the wall, and even the washrooms sported port-holes and ship flags on the tiles.  

The fireplace was roaring and I had by stroke of luck come in at a time when it was not busy. 

Heading out, I snapped a photo of the weekly specials. These repeat every week. 

That evening, with the roads finally all clear, Colin and I took a car trip to "Villefranche" (aka Park Royal) to buy boots and groceries!!

Armed with my new boots, we decided to tackle the Cates Hill trail, late that night.  Our own property's trails were completely impassable, with trees bent over them, trapped in the snow.  So we bushwacked our way through to the Cates Hill trail.

We headed up the Cates Hill Trail from the yellow post, just like on my hike to Valhalla, but then, where the trail split, we kept right and continued up the hill, instead of crossing the creek, as I had on my previous walk.  It was about a 2km loop, with an elevation rise of about 95m.

The trail was almost unrecognizable, in the snow and dark, but wow was it so much less slippery with boots!!  :D  Here's where the trail split.  The ferns were completely covered by the snow.

For reference, here is what that juncture usually looked like:

We followed the few sets of footprints up the hill through the deep snow.  Our dog Rory struggled valiantly to keep up, although he kept sinking in to his shoulders.

After the second trail up from the creek merged with ours, the trail finally flattened and widened.  A few trees were down on the path, but we could easily step over them or push them out of the way. 

Rory also got more bold, and charged ahead through this fallen tree... although we would have to go around it.  Unable to follow him or disconnect his leash, I tossed his leash through the tree.  And somehow managed to get it cleanly through to the other side. 

Rory was very pleased with all of those results, and trotted merrily ahead. 

Laying under another fallen tree was a blue sled. This time, I followed Rory right through the branches, while Colin went around. 

Suddenly, we arrived in the back yards of two houses. Their Christmas lights shone merrily in the darkness. 

We noticed that the path here was very compacted and smooth, and remembered the sled... Obviously kids had been using this portion as a sledding run! 

Rory, beside himself with excitement, ran up the shortest route to one of the houses.  We had to call him back, as we didn't want to actually walk through other people's yards. I looked to the left and right for the trails.  I had really wanted to go left, since we had gone right last time, and I wasn't totally convinced that had been the correct way to go.  But in the snow, it was quite obvious from the footprints that the right trail was the more used. Colin voted to take the shorter right-hand trail and head home, so I acquiesced.

Right-hand trail:

Left-hand trail:

Within minutes, we were on cement, near the cute little chicken coop.  

It was so dark at that point that I stopped taking photos.  We simply took the road back: from where the path exited onto Berry Rd to Village Dr.  

Sorry today's post wasn't more exciting, but never fear, dear reader, along with a fresh new huge dump of snow came some truly excellent and beautiful new hikes!  Stay tuned...