Quadra Island Adventures

June 19-21, 2011

I spent 3 days on Quadra Island which is located just offshore from Campbell River. I usually do day trips there but decided to get my money’s worth from the $30 ferry ride which takes only 10 minutes one way.

Beech’s Mountain

I took a turn up the gravel Walcan Road and parked along the side of the road instead of the informal parking lot. It just felt safer here. The trailhead is the same for the Chinese Mountain. At this time of year, the creeks have dried up although there were still small pools of water here and there. I eventually came to a junction with a sign pointing the way to Beech’s. 

 The trail in the forest

 

The sky was a mix of sun and clouds. At times, I had to wait until the sun disappeared behind clouds to take photos because the contrast can become too great especially with the glare off the rocks. There are nice viewpoints along the way overlooking the Discovery Passage and the green forested land below. But up here,  I noticed that it hadn’t rained much lately as the grass and moss look dry and lifeless.

 The view from the viewpoint along the bluffs

 

So far, there wasn’t many mosquitoes around so this made the walk more pleasant especially hiking uphill when the pace is slower. At least the air was nice and cool at the higher altitude.

The trail is a nice mix of open forest and walking over moss covered bedrock. 

 Nothing like a level trail 

 

About 75 minutes from the start, the path breaks out onto a large rocky knoll with open views of the forested land, the ocean and distant views of snowcapped mountains. Nothing really spectacular but instead rather pleasant.  Penstemons were growing in clusters here and there. I paused for some photos before heading up higher to the cairn at the top of Beech’s. It had only taken me 1.5 hours and I thought the trail continued to the mountain top nearby but the sheer drop and lack of trail from where I was indicated otherwise. 

 Testing my balance

The sun came out from behind the clouds and it was hot. I stopped to eat lunch while a lone hiker paused for a break behind me then I heard him heading down into the forest via a steep slope. I saw him marking the way with ribbons; it appears that he is heading for the mountain across the way. When I checked the way he went down, I saw an old ribbon marking the entrance of the route to take. I was satisfied from where I rested.

I booked in at the We Wai Kai campsite at Rebecca Spit Provincial Park on Heriot Bay. The campground is run by natives and there are two site locations. One is near the ocean and is popular with motorhomes and campers. The other is in the forest which offers more privacy and most of the sites are practically empty. I chose campsite number 4 which is located right near the water tap and a trail which leads down to the pebbled beach. The trail leads into the dark woods then branches. The right path leads to a nicely carved bench with a roof above and small trinkets and wind chimes dangling from under the roof. What a nice place to sit and overlook the ocean. 

 A bench with a view. I was almost tempted to sleep overnight on the bench.

 

I had brought my dinner and ate it while relaxing in the fresh open air. It sprinkled a bit but there was no constant downpour. The tide was out so I explored a tide pool dotted with huge boulders. I came back and followed a trail into the bush. It seemed to have petered out near a marshy area and there was no place to access the beach so I backtracked a bit then bushwhacked to the ocean. I slowly made my way back along the shoreline as the tide was slowly coming in. I waited past 9 pm hoping for a nice sunset which didn’t materialize. I headed back up the trail as it was getting dark. The next morning I got up at 4 am. It was still dark out so I packed my camera and with my headlamp on, I headed down the trail to the beachfront. The tide was out as I can make up the shapes of the boulders in the tide pool. 

 A 30 sec exposure taken at 4:44 am of the tidepool

 

I was hoping for a nice sunrise but there were too many clouds around. When it got light, I headed back to my camp and left for the Shellalligan Trail.

Shellalligan Pass Trail

This trail is one of my favorite on Quadra. There are several trailheads leading to various vantage points along the bluffs overlooking the ocean. Perhaps, the shortest trail which leads to the small open bay is from the furthest turn-a-round parking area. A short jaunt of less than 5 minutes brings one to the gravel shoreline. The trail contours the bay over rocky bluffs. There are views across the water to Read Island Provincial Park which is accessible only by boat. 

 Low tide at one of the bays. Read Island Provincial Park across the way.

There seems to be a lot of biting mosquitoes in this area. I think this is probably due to quite a few pools of standing water here and there. I got bitten quite a few times that I had to use insect repellant which I don’t like because it stinks but it sure works like a charm.

I like detouring off the trail and when the tide is low I like to climb down to the shoreline and look around for starfish. Climbing up and down these huge cliffs can be tiring and dangerous but the rocks provide good grip when they are dry. I find it amazing that the tide can drop and rise so dramatically. There were several starfish in a shallow pool of water high up on the rocks. 

 Several purple starfish stranded at low tide.

The coastline which the trail runs along is very rugged. Wave action has smoothed and polished the softer rocks lower down while the harder ones retain their jagged fractured shape. This makes for good photography but on sunny days it is impossible to get good photos.

 The rugged coastline. The trail runs in the forest on top of the cliffs. It's an easy scramble down.

This is why I pray for cloudy days when the lighting is subdued and the contrast is minimal. I liked the dark brooding clouds overhead. Despite the threatening appearance it didn’t rain.

I hiked back along the bluffs to the bay and scrambled along the shoreline on the opposite side to another small bay. This trailess area is nice to explore. The rocks are more barnacled here and there are lots of oysters which looked tempting to collect but I wasn’t sure if it was red tide or not.  I waded across the thigh deep water to a small rocky island. The barnacled rocks in the water sure hurt my feet. The tide was going out so I wasn’t worried about being trapped by high water. Back on dry land, I explored the area finding anything good to photograph. I saw a natural planter; a tree stump with a small bush growing on top and a twisted denuded tree branch which looks like a serpeant.

 A natural planter from a denuded tree trunk

I lingered around resting on a log waiting to see if kayakers would show up. I saw them coming in from a calm channel on my last visit. I looked through my binoculars at a small treed island in front and spotted a bald eagle resting. 

 Taking life easy

 

I headed back to the small bay and took the short trail to the informal parking area. I had parked further down the road at the other trailhead sign. Once back at my car, I rested for a bit then decided to take the trail into the woods. My legs felt tired on the uphill stretch so I took it easy. The walk goes through secondary growth and has been replanted with young shoots housed in a plastic cone to protect them from grazing deer. At a small footbridge, I took photos of horsetail stems 2 to 3 feet in height. They were growing in a damp part of the creek. Suddenly this black dog appears in front of me. For a split second I thought it was a bear but then the owners appeared. They were middle aged and walk the trails on a regular basis although it was the first time I had seen them. While talking to them, they mentioned that it is red tide and picking oysters is safe when September arrives.

I continued on my way passing a gully filled with hundreds of ferns. 

The green vegetation is rich and vibrant. 

 Ferns love shaded areas and there are lots of them

I soon came upon a small bay with floats and a long platform out in the water.  On my previous trips I didn’t know what the platform was about until the couple had mentioned that there was an oyster farm just down the trail. The tide was low exposing a lot of empty oyster shells and some live ones. I hung around and ate my lunch before retracing my steps back to a junction. I headed out through the forest to the coastline. There was a lot of bladderwrack seaweed clinging onto the rocks. The low tide has exposed a whole colony of them and their yellow color contrasted nicely with the surroundings.

 Bladderwrack seaweed and starfish

 

I scared an otter up on the rocks as I was scrambling across the shoreline. I saw it running down towards the water. I scrambled down the rocks as fast as I could but lost sight of it. Further along the trail I bumped into an otter again. This time it ran off into the cover of the bush. I looked for it but couldn’t see it. I doubt it was the same animal as the first.

The mosquitoes are bad along the coast. I got bitten a few more times so I kept moving and followed the trail back (in a loop) to the small bay. I stopped to photograph this "sea monster" stranded on the rocks.

Sea monster....well, actually a piece of driftwood.

The sun was out and I wasn’t interested in photographing anymore. I took the short trail back to the parking lot then a short jaunt up the road to my car. My legs were tired.

I drove back to Rebecca Spit and ate my dinner along the shores of Heriot Bay. It started to rain so I finished eating in my car before driving back to my campsite. I was so tired that I took a nap and didn’t have the energy to do anything the rest of the day.

I woke up at 4 am again and headed down the dark trail with my headlamp. Unfortunately, the clouds prevented a nice sunrise so I wandered off into the park which is gated for vehicles until 7 am. This means that I will have a quiet walk with no one around. Rebecca Spit is a 2 km thin parcel of land with juts out into the ocean. Piles of driftwood line the shores on both sides.

 Driftwood piled up from winter storms

I walked the road and took some photos. In the shady grassy part of the Spit there are nice twisted tree trunks to photo. 

I walked back to my campsite and headed out to Cape Mudge. There was only a few other people camping here. Everyone else is camped near the shores of the water.

Nugedzi Lakes Trail

I had originally planned to hike the shoreline from Cape Mudge Lighthouse at the southern end of Quadra but after driving there the walk didn’t seem too appealing. Walking on rocks would be quite an ordeal and the views are boring. Across the water is Campbell River with the backdrop of mountains but there are logging scars on the lower reaches of the snowcapped peaks.

I drove the winding road to the Nugedzi trailhead which I almost missed. There is a rather inconspicuous sign posted near the entrance of the branch road. The road is enclosed in and dark therefore the sign can easily be missed. The abandon logging road heads up to a clearing with a trail sign pointing up the rocky road. The hike up the road was boring and steep. After 20 minutes, I came to a footbridge which enters some bushes but I crossed the shallow creek downstream and went up the bank. That proved to be an error which I later would discover. I kept hiking up the ever steep road passing by a rusted old car just off to the side amongst the trees. About an hour later, I questioned whether this was the right way but I pressed on until the road started to enclose with bushes. I started down and decided to give up finding the way to the lakes. On my way back, I explored a mountain biking trail signed “Bak Seat Driver”. The word ‘back’ was spelt wrong. It’s quite a challenging trail with bridges and drops over a large boulder. The trail kept going down which means I have to head back up so I stopped after a certain point and headed back up to the road. On my way back to the footbridge I saw where I had made my error. If I stuck to the path, I would have seen the trail branching off to the right but since I had gone done into the creek instead of walking over the footbridge the bushes have obscured my view and I didn’t realize the trail branches from the road.

By this time, my legs felt tired but I pressed on anyways up the long steep rocky road. I kept a comfortable but slow pace in which I didn’t really have to stop for a break. The path parallels a small creek for a bit then the creek veers away into the forest the higher I climbed. I eventually came to a small clearing with a sign “Nugedzi Trail and Ancient Forest”. Here is the start of the official forested trail but there is nothing ancient about the forest. It looks like secondary growth from past logging practices. Nonetheless, the hike is pleasant due to the lack of mosquitoes.

One thing which has surprised me during my hikes on Quadra is the lack of bear sightings or evidence of bears (droppings). I am sure black bears frequent the island but I have not seen any signs so far. I see lots of deer instead.

I eventually came to a junction and a small footbridge. The right path leads to Nugedzi Lakes and the left to Lily Pond and Chinese Mountains. There is a map which shows how far to each objective. Nugedzi Lakes seem like a long distance away still and I am tired from my previous day hikes so I took the shorter route to the Lily Pond. The pond looked more like a large lake except the water is very shallow. 

 Lily Pond and billowy clouds

There is a nice boulder to sit and watch the drifting clouds go by but I noticed there were a lot of ants running around so I ended up standing most of the time. A young couple dropped by and said hello then they retraced their steps back.

I ate my lunch then decided to continue on this trail to the Over Look. I passed by a shallow body of water with lily pads.

At the Overlook, there are views of the ocean from the rocky bluff. Nothing spectacular looking as a good part of the view was obscured by trees and the sun made the views hazy. I headed back to the Lily Pond and discovered a dilapidated footbridge crossing a marshy section of the lake. 

 The marshy end of the lake.

The footbridge slanted a bit but was sturdy. I wondered if this was the way to the Chinese Mountains. There are no signs but a footpath leading into the woods. The path was quite indistinguishable in places as nature has reclaimed the land back. I followed along a massive boulder then through overgrown bush to a clearing of an abandon logging road which branches left and right. I wasn’t sure which way to go. The sun was hot out and I didn’t want to waste more energy so I headed back to the Lily Pond. It’s obvious the trail to the Chinese Mountains is not maintained.

It appears I will have to hike this trail again to reach Nugedzi Lakes. At least that will give me an excuse to come back to Quadra.