After a day of HEAVY downpour, all the snow had melted. A great day for a big walk!!
Checking my new Schedule E map (see screenshot below), I thought maybe I'd head over to Eaglecliff, check out the numerous beach accesses and maybe find the entrance(s) to Mt Collins from there. Of course, the moment I found the first entrance trail to the mountain, all other plans were abandoned, as I rushed up. :D
The entrance I found was opposite Eagle's Nest Rd. My plan was to follow the trail from Scarborough up to the peak, then take the right turn from the peak and come down to Eaglecliff somewhere near the end of Highland Trail.
But I never found the summit's trail intersection shown on the map, so after hitting the summit, I returned along the same route I went up. On a second trip, later with Colin, we went a slightly different route, and did locate an intersection near the summit! I included both routes on the map below, plus the little detour Colin and I took to Meadowhawk Marsh aka "Mud Lake." (My solo route is in purple; the deviations with Colin in blue.)
(this is my best estimate, based on my phone GPS)
At 413m (1355 ft), Mt Collins is the second highest peak on Bowen. It's mostly Crown Land, although some of its lower slopes falls on private land, and one corner overlaps with Crippen Regional Park. "Crown Land" is land owned by the government of BC, and it open to the public for many uses, including recreation and camping, as well as research, and some industry.
There is very little information about Mt Collins available online. One website I visited mentioned that they believed that mountain was named after British Royal Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Collins, who captained the vessel HMS Boxer, a steam-powered gun ship with four guns, which visited the Clayoquot Sound and Kyuquot Sound in 1894. According to Gunboat Frontier, the Boxer was "carrying Dr. Israel Wood Powell, the superintendent of Indian Affairs, visiting native villages such as Refuge Cove on a coastal inspection." Commander Collins was a "staunch Anglican" who had established a "temperance society" for his crew and felt he was on a "divine mission" to spread Christianity to the First Nations peoples, within the limits of their Naval responsibilities.
As I have previously mentioned, most of the current nomenclature on Bowen Island came from British sources. After the arrival of the British (ca. 1850-1900), many of the local places were renamed after various British Admirals who performed well in the “The Glorious First of June” battle of 1794 against the French in the English Channel. For example: Bowen Island, Howe Sound, Hood Point, Cape Roger Curtis, and Mt. Gardner were all renown British Admirals. Before that, the Island had Spanish, and ultimately Squamish names.
A Park's Canada report says that Mt Collins is "characterized by healthy stands of second growth forest (100-200 yrs old) interspersed with old growth Douglas fir trees, rocky knolls and outcrops."
Most people never attempt Mt Collins, as the trail is much more rudimentary than its more famous sibling, Mt Gardner. It is so unknown -- even on an island with only 3 peaks -- that most locals don't even know its name! Some people claim that there are NO trails on Mt Collins, and it is indeed difficult to locate a map showing trails, but the Schedule E map showed 6 potential trailheads. Online searches revealed that the most common entrances were at Hood Point West and off Woods Rd (the ones I was looking for the day I walked to Xenia), as well as the one I took, up the water reserve easement in Scarbourough. I did find a link to a "narrated bushwack" but it seemed quite complicated to get it going, and I really wanted to find the paths on the Schedule E map.
Starting out from Snug Cove around 1:15pm, I realized that I had not yet eaten lunch, and that I would want some fuel in my tank. So I stopped at The Village Baker for a sandwich to eat on the road. It's not really a "bakery" per se. They have fresh bread, but mostly lunch fare. It was my first time there, and I got a freshly made veggie sandwich. Delish!!!
I headed down Miller Rd, to do the same portion of a walk I had done before. At least this time, there was no snow!!! Woohoo!! :D
I passed the Bowen Musem, then the RCMP and the Emergency Services. It was "emergency central"! There were plans to move the Fire Station here as well. In case you missed it, I had discussed the state of Bowen's Emergency services here.
Just past that, a big machine was working on clearing the site for the new senior's living complex. Some of the pressures that seniors faced on Bowen, like lack of emergency services or low-cost rental options, were hopefully going to be eased by this development. The complex would include 1 or 2 bedroom self-contained suites close to the Cove, a community area and some meals.
A kitty came by for a pat, while two hyper dogs barked from the other side of the fence.
I passed the two churches, which I have previously described.
I trekked up the hill, admiring the various cool staircases that led up to houses perched far above on the left. One had a wooden "chute" that I assumed was either for a boat or other heavy items (would hate to carry groceries up all those stairs!).
At the intersection with Scarbourough Rd, I hung a left, following the green arrow to "Eaglecliff" and "Hood Point." Another hill. ;p
I was obediently cautious, for the deer's sake (not of course because it was steep-- oh no! I am an animal lover!), but I didn't encounter any deer on this day.
At the intersection of Scarbourough and Eagle's Nest Rd, I stopped and looked around, trying to find the trailhead. The map seemed to show the Eagle's Nest Rd bisecting Scarbourough Rd, but one side looked more like a dirt driveway. It was hard to tell whether this was the official continuation of Eagle's Nest Rd, or whether it was a private lane, like the one to our own house. I headed down to take a peek.
Sure enough, the entrance to the trail was down at the end of that little dirt road, from which several properties branched.
Once I ducked into the trees, the path was quite wide and obvious. It was like a full-on logging road.
A large pink ribbon on one side encouraged me further, and I very quickly ran into a gate with even more pink ribbon wrapped around the pole. So far, this all matched a brief description I had found on the Bowen Island Forum.
The gravel road was INCREDIBLY steep. Like 45 degrees. It went up, and turned, and went up some more, but I could see the water tower at the the end.
After taking a rest to catch my breath, I went "round the water tower and followed an obvious path," as per the forum description. Everything was going great, and despite the incline, I was feeling jubilant about finding the path up this reclusive mountain.
The path gently rose up behind the water tower, to an unexpected junction. This wasn't on the map! No one had mentioned this! I used my GPS to determine whether I should go straight, up a very steep barely-there trail made of rock, or turn left, along a much more established and very flat dirt trail. My GPS said to go straight, but it really didn't seem like much of a trail. I ran down the left hand trail a little, to see whether it soon turned right. It didn't seem to.
There was, however, this strange set-up for a dog water bowl. The top part was some kind of metal mesh, completely covered in a writhing mass of some kind of worm. Grosssssssssss!!!!! :o
On the first day, I backtracked to the intersection, and found a yellow trail flag on one of the trees at the corner, which encouraged me to take the steep rocky uphill route.
(BTW, a future visit to the mountain told me that yes, the other trail eventually did have a fork with a right hand turn, at a big tree. That trail later rejoined the trail I took on this first day. While it was an easier trail than the one I took on the first day, it was also less well marked with flags, so I am not sure which was more popular.)
The next part of the trail involved a fair bit of scrambling and second-guessing myself.
I reached a portion where it seemed like the trail could be going straight, up a scrambly rock-climbing type section where I would definitely need to use my hands; or it could be going left, around the side of the hill.
I went left, which definitely seemed more "trail-like," but then saw a pink flag far up the hill to my right.
Since the "trail" I was on had seemed to just peter out, I bee-lined for the pink flag, scrambling through underbrush, and ended up on this nice established trail, which had a scrap of pink ribbon laying on it.
I looked over to my right and saw the rocky, scrambly portion, RIGHT THERE. I should have just gone up it at that last fork!
Just before the trail arrived at a very green moss-covered clearing, I took note of this cool log.
At the clearing, I at first didn't see the trail, but it was off to the right. I had to duck under a wandering arbutus limb, and climb up the little hill.
At the top of the little hill, I got a nice view of West Van.
I went a little farther along the open flat clearing, enjoying the sun and blue sky. From there, I got another great view.
I could see another pink flag among the dead branches of a fallen tree, so I headed toward it.
I thought this tree looked like that dragon from Spirited Away...
The trail got much more distinct for a bit, and before I left the clearing, I rubbed my face against the smooth skin of an arbutus whose bark had all peeled away.
Then the trail fell apart again, but more pink ribbons urged me onward.
Arriving at another little green mossy clearing, I found an inukshuk! (or, more properly, an inunnguaq, since it was human-shaped.) These were traditional markers of the northern-most First Nations in Canada, the Inuit. Was I at the peak already?? It seemed too soon! Pulling out my GPS, I realized, no, I still had quite a ways to go. This one must be just marking the trail, or perhaps marking the small clearing as a meeting place.
I stayed to the right of the clearing and the inunnguaq, and followed the trail heading back into the woods. I could see a blue flag hanging on a branch, a few trees into the forest.
I kept my eyes peeled for flags, and passed a number, of varying colors. Not long after the clearing, the trail plunged over the edge of the rock. Looking down, I saw a pink flag on the bank, so I went down... slowly and carefully.
Next, I crossed a flatter portion marked with yellow ribbons.
Then I arrived at another fork that was not on the map. A couple of decent-sized logs were on the trail. I couldn't tell whether they were supposed to be an "arrow" pointing left (like we pilgrims left for each other on the Camino), or an "X" (meaning don't go straight) that had fallen apart, or just some random logs. Very disconcerted, I checked my GPS again. It seemed like I should continue straight.
I continued on straight ahead, which was the right choice. (My return trip, later on with Colin, would reveal that this was the connection point for the trail that I didn't take earlier, after it turned right.)
There were a few cool broken rotting tree stumps in the next section. On my second trip along here, I turned one of them into the eye of Sauron at Barad-dûr, with a strategic placement of the sun. I giggled hysterically at this, while Colin raised an eyebrow and asked if we could move along.
After a little while, the path forked again. This time, it was to a nice viewpoint.
Both times, I took a rest at the viewpoint, then headed up the next rocky section.
The path turned left, and I realized I was at the top of a ravine that ran down the side of the mountain to the sea, walking along the plateau of the 300m elevation line. It was a much easier part of the hike, after all that uphill!
The trail led to a little marshy pond. It took me a while to locate a really overgrown and debris-strewn path that ran around the right edge of the little pond. I cleaned the path of debris a little bit as I went, moving the big branches that crossed over the path to lay parallel beside the path. I thought it would make it easier to locate the trail, on my way out. When Colin and I came through there later, it was quite easy to see the path! It was as if there was less salal somehow, even though it was later in the spring!
On the other side of the pond, the path was clearer... for about 20 feet... where it faded into a clearing. I looked around in a small panic: I couldn't see any trail or any flags. Was I really supposed to have bushwacked around the little pond?? Maybe that was wrong?? I stumbled through the clearing, trying to breathe, scouring the surroundings for flags.
Then, mercifully, I found a teeny tiny red one atop an equally tiny fir tree. The sunlight hit it as if angels were singing to reveal the tree. As my anxiety abated, I kinda felt as if angels had sent me this flag! Behind it, I could KIND OF see a trail leading up the hill, but it was totally covered in debris. I went up and saw the trail turned right, just after the bendy tree. Along here, too, I moved the bigger branches off to the side of the path.
After that, it seemed that someone else had the same idea, and bigger branches highlighted the edge of the trail.
I arrived at another small pond. Here, again, it took me a minute to figure out that the trail curled around the far end of the pond, as the trail was a little flooded out. I carefully picked my way across the narrow shoreline.
Next, I crawled under a fallen tree.
The trail went over the large root of a tree, and dropped down at 3-4 feet (just over 1 metre). I used the other roots as handholds and footholds. Looking back at it afterwards, I realized that without making a mental note of this spot, I wouldn't be able to figure out where the trail went, when walking in the other direction!
Just when I wasn't sure where the path was supposed to be, I saw that someone had again lined the path with larger sticks. :) It curved to the left, and I had to duck through the branches of a small fallen evergreen.
The trail went uphill a little, and curved along a little ridge, getting quite wet and mucky.
Again I found myself at a little tiny pond, and again confused as to where the path led. It just seemed to disappear!
It looked like someone had perhaps stepped on and crushed an old rotten cedar log to the right of the pond, so I went that way.
Then I found a little piece of orange flag on the ground, and thought for sure I had it right (spoiler: I didn't!!) So I went up towards a big fallen tree, assuming that the reason I couldn't see the path was because of the fallen tree. (NOPE!! Not why! It was because I had missed the correct trail at the tiny pond, which was hard to see, across the water and to the left.)
At the giant fallen tree, I saw this cool shelf fungus, but still no path. I started to panic again. Did I go the wrong way?? (spoiler: YES!!!) I felt very relieved when I found a red flag, but still couldn't make out a path.
Through the trees, I saw what looked to be the summit. Without any trail in sight, I bee-lined straight for it. Unfortunately, about half way up the little conical hill, the trail just ran out. Briefly considering crawling straight up over the last bit of rock, I decided against it. It didn't seem so safe, and what if it WASN'T the summit, and I just got stuck up there, unable to get down?!
I retreated to the little valley between that little conical hill and the next one, which looked nearly identical. Maybe THAT one was the summit?? Scrambling through the valley, the other little hill was much easier to climb (I stayed on my feet!), and reaching the top, I was shocked to see a very clear path through the moss!!! I clearly had lost the correct path a ways back (at the tiny pond, I would find out on the way back).
Following this easy and clear trail, I laughed as it circled around the end of the little valley, back towards the first little hill I had attempted. Yep, that WAS the summit, after all. I had been just trying to reach it in the most awkward way possible. Sigh.
One last small mossy incline and I was at the summit! It was marked by a cairn. I felt pretty happy... for a moment or two...
My relief turned to dismay, as I could not locate any of the promised 4-5 paths that were supposed to junction here. I had a minor panic attack, wandering around in circles crying, looking at my watch and the fading light.
But then I shook some sense into myself and actually said out loud, "Why are you panicking?! Just go back out the EXACT SAME WAY you just came, silly!!!"
Looking at the way I had come up, I was surprised that I could barely make out the trail. I was glad I had JUST came that way, or I would not have found it either! So it was possible that the other trails were there, and I just couldn't see them from the summit. "I might have to come in to the summit from the other ends of the trails, and then they would be more obvious," I mused.
I later went to investigate the trailhead at Highland Trail, because the map showed that Crown Land starts right at the end of the road. Unfortunately, I could not locate the trail from that end.
However, the next time I went up, Colin and I found flag markers for another trail down!! Woohoo!! Standing at the cairn, Colin pointed out two flags in the distance: one pink and one red.
We went back down the same tiny mossy incline that we had gone up to get to the summit, but this time we immediately found a little trail heading North-ish. Colin went ahead down this new trail, and called out: "I don't know if this is a real 'marker,' but there is a green thing here..." A little further along the new trail, we reached the red and pink flags that we had seen from the cairn.
There were actually more flag markers between and beyond those two. I followed the rough path a little farther, just to see how closely bunched the flags were... maybe every 10-20 feet! At any given point, I could definitely always see two at a time. Like the last time I had been there, it was too late in the day to explore the new trail, but I would definitely need to come back this way another time and see where this trail led! I suspected it was the trail that would take me past the second lake, Honeymoon Lake, from where one could choose to descend to Woods Rd or Hood Point West.
After this, we backtracked to the trail that we had come up on, and followed the mossy path down.
This is how I realized my error, the first time I had returned this way from the summit. I arrived at the opposite side of the tiny pond, where I had lost my way on my first trip up, and could see the big log with the shelf mushroom far off to the left of the pond.
Ducking under the small evergreen, I turned the branch-lined corner, and followed the slight downhill to find the clearing with the big cool spear-stump and the "gully" that I had suspected led to the "lake." Google maps had labelled it as "Mud Lake." Not very appealing! According to a 2010 National Park feasibility assessment, the "lake" was more beautifully named as "Meadowhawk Marsh, which is one of the most undisturbed, biologically diverse and ecologically rare marshes in southern BC."
The "gully" might have also been a creekbed, but both times I was there, it was dry. All fired up from our success in finding another route down, I wanted to try to find the "lake." With Colin at my side, and sunshine overhead, we went for it, and sure enough, encountered the "lake" very quickly.
The "lake" was surprisingly large! Huge trees grew right out of the water.
This weird little "monster" swam along placidly. ;) I decided not to stop to rest, lest I became its lunch. heehee
Once we were ready to go, we noticed that we could see a pink flag, indicating the way. We hadn't noticed it on the way in.
A little later, we passed another. This was definitely a trail! But there was nothing to show it, at the junction with the other, summit, trail.
We had to duck under a precariously leaning evergreen to get back to the junction, where the tall stump was quite recognizable. We hung a right at the junction and headed back.
Remembering that I had to climb over the roots of this tree, I walked over a rocky portion, then it was back on a dirt path.
I ducked under the fallen tree, feeling more confident that I recognized these landmarks from my trip up. :)
I tiptoed my way around the edge of this little pond.
Soon I was headed down the hill into the clearing with the Charlie Brown Christmas tree with the tiny red tag.
But this time I knew to just walk directly through the bottom of the clearing, towards the marshy end. I made my way around the left side of the marsh with a lot more ease, now that I had cleared the path a little.
I went up and over a little rise, and climbed over a couple more fallen trees.
This one looked like it would fall any moment! I kept my eye on it as I passed underneath.
I skipped the lookout on the way back, although I could see the apricot colors of the setting sun glinting through the clearing to the path.
Getting back to the fork where I wondered whether the logs were arrows or not, when I was alone, I just continued on straight ahead, to return exactly the way I had come.
On that second trip, coming down feeling all proud and accomplished, we were talking about how my confidence had increased since first time coming up this route. We were walking perhaps a little too quickly, and a rock shifted under my foot. My foot slipped off the trail, taking my lower legs with it. I tried to catch myself with my right hand, but it slipped too, and my face bounced (literally, bounced) off a big rock. I felt the crack of my cheekbone hitting the rock. Colin said he heard it. Gross. I laid there on my belly a moment or two, stunned, then flipped over and started doing some energy work to stop the trauma from imprinting. After a few minutes, I got up and proceeded down the incline... much more slowly!
At first, my face seemed more dirty than anything else, but I still put some ice on the key parts of my body when I got home. Still, by the next day, I had a huge egg on my cheek, and the beginning of a black eye. I felt a little Quasimodo-like, and it was too tender to touch for several days.
On my solo trip, my return trip was much less eventful! From the junction, I followed the yellow ribbons through the forest, then went up and over a little hill.
The way up was rough, but well-marked with pink ribbons.
At the top, I went through the clearing with the inunnguaq, and the second clearing, where the beautiful fading sun worried me.
Heading down the other side of the hill, I came to the set of trees where I had my trail confusion on the way up. The trail that I had concluded was "correct" on the way up was to the left, but on the way down, I noticed several pink flags on the trail to the right! I didn't know how I could have missed them all on the way up! So I went down that way, and they quite easily led me around the side of the hill, rather than down that very steep section. So I guess in the end, both ways were ok!
Before long, I could see the water tower in the distance, and easily followed the trail down to it. My adrenaline had to catch up, however, and I paused to catch my breath and convince myself that everything was fine, and that I would easily be off the mountain before dark.
Down the last stretch of steep hill, I took a photo of my feet, to show just how steep it was!
I came out between two houses, and turned left onto the dirt road part of Eagle's Nest Rd to return to Scarbourough Rd.
I messaged Colin that I would be home soon, and he started prepping dinner. What a dear!! :D
Speeding up along the downhills of Scarbourough Rd and Miller Rd, I stopped dead upon seeing something blue in the ditch between Miller Rd and Crippen Park.
What WAS that??? I climbed down to see.
It was an old wash basin! But.... something about it wasn't quite right.
I decided it would make a nice garden planter in my yard, and carried it past the RCMP and the Village Baker, all the way back home with me.
note Camera photos 02-16, and 02-17 as well as phone photos
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