Other places on my wishlist to do (please let me know if you have any to add!):

• Mt. Finlayson
• Mt. Whymper
• Malahat Ridge & Hatchet Jack
• Goldstream Loop

Iron Butt’s!

Welcome to the home of the IRON BUTTS!  Where our motto is :

‘Never let fear and common sense stop you!’

What started out as just an interest in exploring the mountain down the street turned out to be a great way for the girl’s to get together, get some air and check out the great view at the top of our very own Cobble Hill Mountain.  Click on the Gallery to the right to view our photos. 

Our meeting time is promptly at 8:00am every Sunday morning. And of course Living on the island we endure a change in climate quite often, for this reason we are determined to head up the mountain during rain, shine or even snow! We meet in the main parking lot at the base of the mountain next to the new doggie park and head up as a group. And naturally our K9 counterparts are always welcome!

If you have been on the mountain before (or any mountain for that matter), you know that the only way up is up. I wish I could lie to you and say it’s flat as a pancake, but it’s not and it’s not generally for the weak of heart, however there are a variety of inclines and declines, and we choose a “switchback” style of hike giving ourselves a chance to recover, allowing us to persevere to the finish. We have various paces and abilities, so you will definately find a buddy that suits you within our group.  Click on the Hike link above to see all posts related to our hiking club!

Hiking Fieldtrips:

The last sunday of each month we take ourselves out of our comfort zone and have a ‘fieldtrip’ in another beautiful area offered by this island we call home. Our upcoming adventures can be found at Hiking Fieldtrips.

Yes of course you could hike solo – but why when you could come out with a group and meet some amazing gals!

If you are interested in joining us, please just email me at robin@theomtree.com to let us know you are coming and we’ll be sure to wait for you.

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Benefits of Hiking:

There are many benefits of hiking, however some of the most common are:

• Enjoy the smell, sight, taste and sound of nature
• Increase awareness, alertness and concentration and peace of mind
• Great cardio workout
• Decrease in blood pressure
• Prevents osteoporosis by improving bone density
• Relieves back pain
• Removes toxins from the body
• Time away from the hustle and bustle
• Inexpensive
• A great opportunity to hang out with like minded individuals!

During this particular hike we stayed local, heading off to the Quarry Mountain.  Yes there is a mountain!!!  some didn’t know that.

We met at the main gate all ready to burn off some xmas cheer prompty at 8am.  After morning salutes, sniffs and whatnot (i’ll leave that to your imagination) we were on our merry way.

It was a spectacular morning and the sun was already poking out with promises of a nice view at the top – we surely were not disappointed!  Along the way we saw some trees, rocks and a bit of dirt… I know your probably surprised.  Oh and an old car that obviously took a wrong turn one fateful day many many years ago.  I think we were all in our xmas fog as everyone was well behaved and focused on getting to the top.  Heads down, bodies moving forward and upward.

Once we emerged to the open bluff we were met with a beautiful sunshine and view!  You could see for miles and miles (check out photos at link below).  Of course staying with tradition we popped our bottle of bubbly… which we ALWAYS must finish because I’LL BE if i have to carry leftovers back down!  I like that even less than backtracking.. lol 

It was a great and beautiful hike and I highly recommend it.  2.5 hours (including our mini cocktail party at the top).

Sorry it’s taken so long to write or post pictures about this fieldtrip!  I’ve had to rely on facebook for photos of this trip until my website is up and running a little more smoothly

Enjoy Quarry Mountain Photos

Captain Tailfeather

Annual Challenge – Glenora to Skutz Falls

We did it!!!  All of us made it on our 21+ km hike!  I say + because we skipped around on different trails a bit and added a few extra on.

Of course it was yet another beautiful day to be alive on the island as we headed out from Glenora Park, the trailhead for The Cowichan River Footpath and the Trans Canada Trail about 8:00am on Sunday, September 27th.

We did our first little jaunt through the Holt Creek area and as we were passing along the foot little bridge we saw a little colony of  8 or so otters frolicking about as they floated down the river.  What a site!  Great way to start of the hike indeed.

We meandered along the river for quite sometime, well a long time until Patfinder found us a great little place to have a break and a snack next to an old aquifer.  Everyone found a rock or log to sit on as they got in some sustinance, everyone except Ruthless and Captain Tailfeather who were ‘cleansing’ with the Master Cleanse .  MamaBear even brought the puppies some yam cookies (even those looked good to Captain Tailfeather!  lol).  It was about this time that we started watching for fun guy’s along the way (Ruthless & Trekster will hopefully send some pics of these and i’ll add to our gallery). ~ hint hint ~

Onward and forward we go until the trail along the river sort of headed upward and disappeared and we found ourselves on the Trans Canada Trail.  Now the Trans Canada Trail is a great trail….if you are biking…. but as a hiker there really isn’t much to see until you reach the couple of trestles along the way.  In which we did reach the Mile 66 Trestle…. AMAZING…. I felt so small and insignificant in this big beautiful world as I gazed over the bridge to see my tiny tiny shadow in the glimmering greeny blue water below. 

Our group sort of split up at this time – by the way…. never never EVER do this when you are with a group – what was I thinking!!!  Patfinder and I followed the high river trail as the rest of the group stayed on the Trans Canada.  I can only speak about our experience on the river path – which was STUNNING!  See the photos for yourself, of course pictures don’t do nature justice, but it was absolutely beautiful!  However, through all this I was feeling a little tense and nervous without our posse in tow and was so pleased too see them lounging about  on a little connector path waiting for us up ahead.

Reunited we forged ahead up until reaching a campground (not sure which one) in which we enjoyed the sound of  some beautiful falls, some half naked men sunning on the rocks and some fly fishing to watch for entertainment.  Here we stopped for another snacky poo and a rest – Captain Tailfeather was sensing the group fading and tried to get them moving before any ceasing up occured! But after some resistance we continue on with our journey to Skutz Falls – we are getting so close!!!

In the next hour we do make it to the Skutz Falls “area”, all together and all in one piece!  We hear some commotion and come across a little bridge to catch a glimpse of some Kayak Recue Training going on – glad to know they are out there – also glad to know that we didn’t need them that day!!!

A few minutes from there we can actually see our destination!  Skutz Falls – exactly as I remembered!  Sun gleaming and glimmering over the beautiful falls and ginormous fish ladders … if it wasn’t for the danger of getting swept away you may have seen a few Iron Butt’s in there!

We were elated with pride and happiness that we all did it!  Adding a 21+ hike to our list of accomplishments!  We did the hike in the previously read 6.5 hrs… I was so sure that we were going to kick that time frame out of the park – but the guide book is correct…. go figure!!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank MamaBear, Ruthless, Patfinder,  Trekster and our k9 friends - The Bellboy, Stickman and Bonsey for 1) coming out and 2) making it all the way and 3) NOT WHINING!!!!

It was a great day, a great accomplishment and until next year ladies!

See our pictures of this hike at September 2009 – Annual Challenge.

Once again we live by the words……

“NEVER LET FEAR AND COMMON SENSE STOP YOU”!

Come out and join our Hiking Club - we head out every Sunday at Cobble Hill Mountain and the last Sunday of every month on a fieldtrip (don’t worry! we typically only do 20 km once per year!!!)

Captain Tailfeather (aka Robin)