Dec 1, 2016 (and Dec 4, 2016)
Blue sky greeted me that morning. I considered a couple big, view-based hikes, like Mt Dorman, but with my ankle was not 100%, I thought better of it.
I put my "real" camera into my pocket, along with a handful of nuts and some Chimes. Raven, the Trickster, sat over me, cackling as I left down my walkway. That seemed like it was probably NOT a good sign... ;) But my spirits were buoyed by sunshine, so I hopped into my truck to go to the Bowen Island Golf Course.
They had a fairly flat 4 km hiking loop that connected to detours to Seymour Bay Beach, Arbutus Bay Beach, Ocean Park Beach, and Alder Bay Beach. I thought I'd try to see them all. (Please note that this trail map below is *really* approximate. As none of the maps I used seem to match each other, I am making my best guess. But note that the trails/roads I have highlighted in orange are pretty well marked and easy to follow when you are there.)
(click on map to enlarge and see more detail)
Bowentrails.ca had indicated that I could park by the intersection of Cowen Pt Drive and Russell Lane, but I couldn't figure out where they meant, so I continued driving, and parked at the golf course parking lot, close to Seymour Bay Beach. What a view!!! (My second visit, a few days later, was even more spectacular, so I retook the photo. On days when Colin was working from home, he only had a limited lunch break in which to hike, so we would often re-walk the same route I had done the day before, so that I wouldn't need to stop and take photos, making our walk quicker.)
Actually, looking at both photos now, they are both spectacular, just in their own ways! :)
On the day I walked alone, a sign at the entrance of the golf course clubhouse read: "Course Closed: No play due to frost & frozen greens." All the golf carts were lined up in perfect rows in the parking lot, awaiting players that would not come that day.
On the day I walked alone, a sign at the entrance of the golf course clubhouse read: "Course Closed: No play due to frost & frozen greens." All the golf carts were lined up in perfect rows in the parking lot, awaiting players that would not come that day.
As I headed down towards Seymour Bay Beach, I had a spot of confusion. Bowentrails.ca showed a road leading to a trail leading to the beach, but there was no obvious road. Google maps showed a similar road to Bowentrails.ca, but what looked like straight-forward paved road on the map was now a maze of gravel construction access roads, due to the recent construction of Seymour Landing at Cowan Point.
The fact that this development existed was a quite recent turn of events for this area. A man named George Cowan had bought more than 1000 acres here in 1917. He built a handful of cabins on it, and had a small farm. In the 1920s and 1930s, he sold several hundred acres to W.H. Malkin (uh huh, THAT one) and the widow of B.T. Rogers (yeppers, THAT one-- Who knew that the early European inhabitants of Bowen were so illustrious?! BTW, to be clear, those were two separate sales, I don't mean to imply anything "untoward" going on between Mrs. Rogers and Mr. Malkin. lol).
Most of the land stayed "in the family" until 1990, when it was sold to a developer. However, that developer soon went bankrupt, and development did not actually get instigated until 1999, when it was purchased by Bowen Island Properties. Since that time, the land had been rezoned, and the 9-hole public golf course built, along with two park areas, public roads, and water and sewage infrastructure.
"Seymour Landing," which was still in the construction phase, was a planned community that would include residential properties (mostly waterfront), an inn/resort, and a passenger ferry to Vancouver.
I ended up using Google Earth to figure out where I was, which was not much more clear, but at least I could track my GPS location as I moved over the satellite image of the area. While tracking my route via GPS, I followed a gravel road toward the Bay. That was also how I determined where the "road" ended and the "trail" began.
When I got close enough, I saw a sign marking the Beach entrance, and a set of stairs leading down. I thought I was being smart, by visiting these beaches much earlier in the day than my usual hike time, but still, there was practically no beach to see, under the high tides. Bamboozled again!!
A small grassy path branched off about half way down the stairs, leading to a second cove. I imagined that at low tide, one could easily walk between the two adjacent coves, along the beach.
I walked back to the parking lot, and using my GPS to guide me, set off on the golf course trail, which was at this point "Seymour Bay Drive." This was clearly still a construction area, and as I gained elevation, the difference between the golf green and the surrounding landscape was striking.
I reached a flattened area, where some equipment and a pile of signage lay on the ground.
Taking a closer look at the signage, I could see the map of the development, along with a bullet list of the amenities that were forecast to be built. I was happy to see the loop trail, among others, included on the map.
From there, I also got another nice view of the clubhouse and saw for the first time how it had a small pond behind it.
The road ended there, but the footpath exited the far end of the clearing, heading up and to the right.
These little prickly bushes were everywhere along the path, so I had to watch my step.
The path skirted a mossy rockface, and then led down to the end of Russell Lane. From the crest, I could see a broad expanse of fairway.
The views out to sea were also quite nice from this spot.
The end of Russell Lane was marked as "no parking: emergency vehicles only." There was one house on the right hand side of the road, obviously inhabited. I still couldn't figure out where the parking was supposed to be, along this short thin road.
I walked along Russel Lane to Cowen Point Dr. At the intersection, a trail led in each direction. The stop sign had a small square below it, marked "Trail" with an arrow pointing across the street, towards the fire hydrant. From where I was standing, I couldn't really see a trail there, but the "Trail" sign reassured me that it was indeed the correct way to go.
Pivoting to my left at the stop sign, I could see a grassy trail leading down Cowan Point Dr towards the centre of the golf course and Beach Dr. I suppose I could have cut my walk short, and returned to the parking lot this way, but I had no interest in calling it a day already. ;)
Pivoting to my right, I could see another grassy path leading up Cowan Point Rd, on the other side of the street. I was surprised to see this, as it was not on the bowentrails.ca map. Their map did indicate, however, that more trails were scheduled to be built here, as the development progressed. This must have been one of the newer trails. I was very curious as to where the trail led. I'd have to watch for it on my drive out.
Arriving at the fire hydrant, I could see a thin grassy trail leading down Cowan Point Rd, but it still didn't really look like an official trail. I looked around, to be sure.
I saw what appeared to be an animal trail, leading through a small "fence." I wasn't completely sure that THAT wasn't the trail...
But as I took a few more steps along the grassy trail, towards a cement platform with green candy-cane-like pipes, it became clear which way was correct. The trail grew wider and more gravelled, and led to a road heading in the direction I expected to be heading.
Turning right, onto the little gravel road, I crossed a bridge. A plaque told me it was "The Jolly Bridge: Donated by Braden and Norna Jolly, October 22, 2007." Lee Creek was quite tiny, despite it being quite long.
Once I arrived on the other side of the bridge, I realized that the gravel road was actually the driveway to some kind of maintenance compound. A sign marked "Practice Range" directed me onto the gravel path to the right.
Chewing on Chimes and almonds, I enjoyed this part of the route. It was short, but something about it was really pleasing to me.
The path split as I exited the woods onto the greens. I saw a big stone with a plaque up ahead and to the right, so I thought I'd check it out. It said "Memorial Walk: those members noted below will walk forever on our course, thanks to the thoughtfulness of friends."
Just past the memorial, I noticed a teeny tiny path heading off to the right, and a post with another square "Trail" sign tacked onto it. I supposed that the bigger gravel trail was for the practice range.
The holly berries along the trail were quite beautiful.
This portion of the trail, too, was quite short, and led to a staircase.
As I reached the staircase, I could see a couple of houses perched far above me. I was pretty sure that at least one of these was one that we had considered buying. Although the properties were smaller in this area (ok, well, the ones that we could afford), I think I would have liked it here, overlooking the golf course, with the loop trail to visit every day. Of course, we didn't consider the disruption that the large-scale construction would cause for some time. We just ended up finding out dream house in another neighborhood.
The stairs did not lead up to the houses. Just past the tree to the left of the staircase, the path turned left, and ran along the edge of the green. I got a nice view of the maintenance compound and the very end of Lucas Lake, a 10.8 million gallon reservoir.
I took this photo because I just liked this tree. It was as if the tree was desperate trying to clutch all the rocks in its hands.
The trail continued beside the green for a while.
Then the path rose up a small hill to give a nice view. There was also a little bench there, if one needed a rest, or just wanted to watch the golfers.
On the day I went with Colin, the sea churned behind Lucas Lake. On the day I went alone, all I could see was shades of grey. ;)
Just past the bench, the path plunged down steeply, and made a sharp right hand turn away from the green. A blackberry bush marked the corner, and blackberries were frozen to the vine.
About a dozen little Dark-eyed Juncos flitted in and out of the underbrush ahead of me. I had noticed that there was more salal than ferns in the underbrush on this trail. One of the small differences in climate between the different sides of the island. This side generally got more sunshine, while the other, more shade and rain.
The trail led left, while someone had set up a basketball hoop at the end of an unnamed lane branching off from Cowan Point Dr.
As the path headed into the forest, it crossed over a creek that flowed down through Lucas Lake and into the sea.
It was quite a beautiful creek, although my photos didn't reflect it as well as I had hoped.
On the day he came with me, Colin was more daring than I, stepping right up close to the rushing water and using his pano to capture stunning images.
The little forest was quite nice, and the path followed the creek a little while. However, the beauty of the forest was short lived. We soon popped out next to the green again, and at that point, the forest began to look like a mangled mess.
Obviously, it was being cleared out, in preparation of building more houses. The devastation hurt my heart, but just then an eagle flew right over me. My first eagle since moving to Bowen Island!! They had always been plentiful when I had visited the island in the past, but I had to wait two weeks to get a visit since I moved. ;)
I followed the eagle with my eyes as it flew across the grey sky. Over towards the sea, the sky was actually quite dramatic. One lone evergreen stood tall above the others. A survivor of a past clear-cutting, I imagined.
The realization brought me back down to earth, and as I looked around, I could not escape the dead trees and broken branches. A logging road headed off to my right, and the path continued on the left, just past an amazing tree, clinging to life.
Its roots caught my eye, like an angry Snuffleupagus. A closer look revealed how impressive the tree really was... the nurse log under it had completely rotted away, leaving the tree dancing pointe on a pile of rubble.
Despite the devastation in the area, I loved the stumps it left behind. I have a thing for big stumps. >.<
Still, the juxtaposition of the perfectly manicured greens and the devastated forest, separated by the thin, curving line of the path, gave me pause. It felt so metaphorical... but the answer was just out of reach of my brain.
Another huge lone tree rose above the smashed debris on the ground. On the day Colin walked with me, I finally figured out my pano function on my phone camera. :D
The tired "crew at work" sign, lazily propped up against downed branches, seemed a fitting welcome mat back into to the forest.
This forest really reminded me of many of my forest walks in France. Maybe it was just because there was finally some sun. Lol. But also the trees, the paths, the feel of the forest, felt more like France than the forest on the other side of the island did.
The trail curled left, around the end of the golf course, and continued to run near Josephine's Creek. There were a few more ferns in this area, but overall it still seemed like a drier climate than the other side of the island.
Suddenly, there was a sign, reading "Maggie's Walk." I was a bit surprised, because the other trail signage was not so official-looking.
A little further along, there was a nice bench on the path. A plaque on the bench read: "MAGGIE'S WALK: In loving memory of Maggie, whose pioneering foorsteps can be found on many trails on Bowen Island. Her commitment and passionate dedication to the development of public trails will be remembered forever. MAGGIE CUMMING. January 9, 1933 - February 18, 2006. Love and thanks, the friends of Maggie."
Right before the bench, a tiny trail led down to the creek. There was another little waterfall, and what seemed like a great place to sit on a hot day.
Just past the bench on the main trail was a curious bridge. It looked like part of a railway car. It was all metal, with wooden strips running along each side. I couldn't tell which way I was supposed to go. There was certainly a trail that continued onward, on this side of the bridge. I couldn't tell if there was a path on the other side. But why would there be a bridge here, I wondered, if the path didn't head that way?
I climbed up on the bridge, to get a better look, and found the wood portions extremely slippery. When I got about half way over, I could see that there did indeed appear to be a trail that continued onward, on the other side of the bridge. Both trails looked equally well-established.
However, there were also two big cisterns on that side, so I wondered whether it was private property. Then I saw a white pipe leading from the Creek to the cisterns, and a black hose leading out of the cisterns and back down into the Creek. What a neat system to collect overflow water! Or perhaps to create a fish ladder, when water runoff was low??
After returning home from my solo hike, I spent some time investigating the route, trying to figure out where the trail went on the other side of the bridge. I discovered that Maggie Cumming was the granddaughter of the aforementioned George Cowan. Her grandfather gave Maggie 46 acres of his land, as a wedding present.
According to the book, "Maggie's Story," Maggie loved walking, and walked 2-3 miles every day until two weeks before her death. As a member of the Bowen Island Parks and Trail committee, she spent a lot of her own time and money developing several well-known trails on Bowen Island, like Quarry Park, the golf course trail, and Headwaters Park. I also stumbled upon a book claiming that she was involved with the construction of the public labyrinth at Rivendell... Hey!! There's a public labyrinth at Rivendell!! Yay!! One of my future walks will definitely be out to visit that!
Upon her death in 2006, Maggie's will stipulated that she wanted "that her estate... be subdivided in such a way as to allow: homes and property for her three children; a significant donation to the Bowen Island Community Foundation be made from the
proceeds of the subdivision; and a significant portion of the sensitive old growth fir in Echo Valley, located on the
Cumming property, to be protected, and allow for public access to Echo beach...To ensure public road access to the Cumming lands and proposed new lots, [in agreement with the neighboring property owners]."
Some maps were included in the document, and although it was difficult to match these to the out-of-date google maps, it appeared that the bridge's trail led across the creek from the golf course and over to the Cumming's land, as Maggie wanted.
The path split, and Colin checked out the right-hand path. It didn't go far before it disintegrated into many tiny trails leading to equally tiny cabins. We came back and took the left-hand path.
The trail was as wide as a car, and bathed in sunlight. It led up, then steeply down. At one point it seemed to be heading towards a clearing.
Upon reaching the clearing, which had a fence with a gate, the trail turned left and continued onward.
After so long in the woods, we were surprised to suddenly arrive at a tennis court! According to the maps above, these were indeed part of the Cumming's property!! The tennis court and field could be clearly seen on the satellite images. However, after reaching the tennis courts, it was unclear as to where the trail led, so rather than bushwack our way to the beach, we simply returned to the bridge and continued onward on the other trail, as I had done before. We figured that perhaps the road to the beach was still not fully completed.
The forest was not the only thing that reminded me of France. Just like in France, Colin started spinning plot lines to novels we could write. In France, the novel was about an anthropology professor who quits academia and takes a freelance travel writing job in France, where she falls for a frog counter (yes, that's a real job!), and stumbles into a dastardly plot involving a local gold mine. Dangerous and romantic adventures ensue. We only got to Chapter 26 though... we should finish that sometime. lol.
While we retraced our steps back to the metal bridge of the golf course, we came up with plot sketches for a series of "Bowen Island Mysteries"-- fictional stories each set within real and historical issues faced by Bowen Island: copper mining, big real estate developers, the ferries... "We could be the Louise Penny of the West Coast," I laughed.
Just like when I was walking alone a few days prior, the wooden sides of bridge were very slippery, and I tread carefully in the metal centre, returning to the golf course side of the bridge to continue onward.
At the conclusion of Maggie's Walk, the trail had looped around the end of the golf course, and I was soon on the returning half of my hike. This section of the trail was much wetter, and I felt the first tinge of damp seep through my runners.
The sign said: "private property: no tresspassing." Well, huh...? Bowentrailsmap showed a path to the beach leading from the end of Arbutus Bay Rd, but the map on the roadside claimed that this beach was an "Emergency Water Access." That didn't sound like "public beach" to me... Checking the bowentrails map, I noticed that they didn't put their usual little red umbrella icon on that beach (did that mean something?), and the road on their map didn't seem to match google's.
The trail headed down a set of stairs to a little bridge. A sign facing the other direction read, "Watch for golfers." I would have expected something more like, "Beware of balls," since it would not be plaid-clad men (and/or ladies) unexpectedly flying by one's head at ludicrous speed...
On the other side of the bridge, on a giant nurse log, a squirrel froze, acorn in paws, then waved his trail furiously at me.
The path continued on through the trees. After my squirrel encounter, I was feeling quite chitter... uh, chipper. ;)
The trail forked, but the left-hand fork simply provided a nice view of the golf course green.
The middle fork quite obviously led directly to Arbutus Bay Lane, but I could see some signage along the right-hand fork-- something akin to a map. I wondered if it was the route down to Arbutus Bay Beach.
The sign said: "private property: no tresspassing." Well, huh...? Bowentrailsmap showed a path to the beach leading from the end of Arbutus Bay Rd, but the map on the roadside claimed that this beach was an "Emergency Water Access." That didn't sound like "public beach" to me... Checking the bowentrails map, I noticed that they didn't put their usual little red umbrella icon on that beach (did that mean something?), and the road on their map didn't seem to match google's.
So I gave up on the beach, and took to the cement, heading down (public) Arbutus Bay Rd. I took a photo of the two entrances to the trail, from the road-side, in case you want to walk in the other direction. A sign at the Arbutus Bay community entrance read "end of public road," which again confirmed my decision to abandon my Arbutus Bay Beach plans. The other path's sign read, "Watch for golfers." Like on Russel Rd, there was no parking permitted here at the end of the road.
As I made my way down Arbutus Bay Rd, the brief blue sky was again covered in grey. :( Despite the turn in the weather, I congratulated myself on choosing a great walk for the weather and my ankle. I was feeling good, and getting lots of open sky.
This really picturesque barn caught my eye. But I don't want to give you the wrong idea: most of the properties in the area were far more luxurious. The property next to this barn was currently for sale, for $4.65 million.
At Ocean Park Dr, I turned right to head down to the Ocean Park Public Beach.
At the end of the short road, the public beach access was marked with a sign. A man was standing there on his phone when I arrived, so I didn't take a photo. Instead, I took one on the way out, after the man had left.
The trail itself was just a small grassy path. Without the sign, I surely would have thought this was someone's private property. Blackberries hung on the vine here, too, much out of season.
A cormorant bobbed merrily in the ocean. I thought back to my usual walk in Vancouver, along the seawall in Kitsilano, down to Science World in False Creek. There were always lots of cormorants there.
The waves crashing on the rocks made me nervous to venture out too far on them. Hauling myself up the steep and slippery incline, using a lot of upper body strength, I went a ways onto the rocks on the near side of the "beach," to see if there was any more "beach" around to the left, then panicked over not being able to get back down. Looking at the wet sheer rockface between me and the bottom, I stood there, momentarily paralyzed, wondering what to do. I didn't know many people on the island yet-- those I did were still just acquaintances. I could phone my realtor, and get him to come out and save me... That felt ridiculous... I knew I couldn't just stand there forever, as I was tempted to do, as I would be even worse off when darkness fell, a few hours hence.
So I sat my butt down on the wet rocks, breathed deeply, told myself to go really slow, remembered the handholds I had used to climb up, remembered how they were dry and not slippery when I had climbed up, flipped myself over onto my belly, grabbed the handholds, and slid my feet cautiously backwards... to find several easy footholds within easy reach. Within seconds, I had climbed down.
After a few moments of de-stressing, I laughed at myself, while adrenaline flooded through my veins, making the green of the grass pop in my field of vision. I mentally compared the experience to jumping into the river in the Cowichan with Nihan: It seemed so much scarier before I just did it.
After a few moments of de-stressing, I laughed at myself, while adrenaline flooded through my veins, making the green of the grass pop in my field of vision. I mentally compared the experience to jumping into the river in the Cowichan with Nihan: It seemed so much scarier before I just did it.
I headed back up Ocean Park Dr to Arbutus Bay Rd and continued onward.
The forecast claimed it was 5°C today, but it felt colder. After my experience at the "rock face" beach, I almost decided to skip going to Alder Bay Beach, and just head straight back. As you'll see, I'm glad I didn't!
At Eagle Tree Rd, I again turned right to head for Alder Cove Beach. The trail followed the road, and was marked all the way with Parks Board signs. I could hear a creek on my left, but couldn't see it over the embankment. Many signs along the route instructed where was appropriate or inappropriate to drive, park, and walk.
Eagles chittered and chirped as I descended the stairs to a truly marvelous beach. As I stood there, taking in the calm waters and the pristine sand, five, yes FIVE eagles flew out across the bay, played with each other, flew over my head, and perched in a tree on the other side of the bay. I grinned. I felt so blessed.
One gorgeous house overlooked the beach. Talk about a dream location! It made me realize that when Colin and I considered our new house our "dream house," that we might have had "small dreams." Hahahahahahaha.
Another dwelling peeked out from the end of the bay, as I looked out to sea. There were paths leading up to other houses I could not see. One had built an impressive stone wall. That must have taken a lot of painstaking hours!
The sun was out again! :) As I headed back on Arbutus Bay Rd, I crossed a little bridge and got a view of the creek I had been hearing.
Just past the bridge, a big sign proclaiming "golf course" and "public beach access" pointed down Beach Lane. I was almost back to my car!
To my right, wilted horsetails had been stripped naked and left broken on the roadside.
Up ahead in the shadows, a foreboding tree waved its arms angrily at me.
But soon I had nice sun-drenched views of the golf course. I noticed that prickly bushes I had been avoiding earlier had yellow flowers on this side! The golf course was closed due to frozen ground, yet these yellow flowers smiled merrily through it all.
At the car, I peered at the hill to the left of the Cove. It sure looked like "our" hill... Oh wait, it was! The golf course was simply on the other side of Eco-Reserve. Lol.
On my way home, I tracked the path along Cowan Point Dr with my eyes as I drove. It went quite a ways up, weaving in and out along the road. I would definitely have to come back and walk it, to see where it went. There were also a few stunning views of the island as the road twisted and turned.
I stopped at the Ruddy Kitchen, and bought a really tasty calzone. They were making berry pies, and I really wished they were already cooked and ready to sell, because they looked AMAZING. I was pretty satisfied with my calzone though, and very happy with the day's hike.
