Dave, Jackie, Richard, and Ferg hike the CPR Trail from Cameron Lake up Mt. Arrowsmith.

Our first view point, just as the sun was emerging. Our big dog, Xhosa, was left at home today as she’s been limping and she needed some rest.

It’s been very dark and wet in Port Alberni so when our friend Richard called and suggested hiking up Mt. Arrowsmith we jumped at it!  And a nice rare clear day too!

 This is a 1000 metre climb, and since Jackie is in training for an upcoming race, she opted to go with her full water bottle vest she is trialling. As you can see, the trail is not easy to find when everything is covered in snow.

Ferg has cold nose and feet!

The scenery was very nice being snow covered once we got high enough.  We saw fresh cougar tracks crossing our trail about half way up.

Richard Ronyecz knows this area well. Good thing, because you couldn’t see much of the trail.

There was no snow at the Cameron Lake trailhead, but after a couple of hundred metre elevation gain the snow started and got deeper and deeper until it was about a metre deep with higher drifts.

Scenic up high.

Fergus loves the snow! He was really tough for such a little guy – we were out there for nearly five hours.

We ended up, at the far side of the loop, not being able to clearly find the track. So we took the safe option, rather than risk wasting 15 minutes at a time, over and over again trying to find the trail, and just retraced our tracks back down. A very fun and beautiful day.

And if you have a couple of minutes and want a laugh, check out this video of Fergus (Yorkie-Chihuahua cross), with icebergs hanging off his fur, after four hours of hiking through the snow, still full of energy and having a good play:

 

Hiking the Arrowsmith CPR Regional Trail, lookout and loop – in a dress!

Oops. Well I did not mean to do this hike in a dress. I had dropped Dave and his daughter, Valerie at the Nanaimo ferry that morning (they were flying to Iceland for a week of hiking!) and figured I would hike the Arrowsmith CPR Trail loop on the way home, since I would be driving right past the trailhead. That would make for perfect training for my upcoming three-day ultramarathon, The Golden Ultra, which I would be running in less that two months – lots of

I’ve wanted to do this hike for years – Mount Klitsa!

Dave and I had a great mid-July hike with Ron and Brett up Mount Adder. They were planning a trip a couple of days later to Mount Klitsa, and invited us along on that too. I was totally excited about that – I’ve wanted to do Klitsa for years. My old Tofino friend, artist Mark Hobson, had told me about it, but somehow I never had a chance to get up there. Dave couldn’t go this time – he was packing, leaving for Iceland the next day – but I jumped at the chance!

Run to the top of the China Creek, Port Alberni’s watershed.

Jackie raced her ultra yesterday in Patagonia and I needed a long run and the weather was awesome so I headed up the China Creek Watershed.  I parked on the Cameron Mainline at the yellow gate and started up the long hill.

New beaver dams.

I ventured off the main road to

Mt. Horne hike with Rich and Xhosa.

Jackie just finished a 132 km hike in Patagonia before her ultramarathon so I’m wandering the mountains here with Rich.

Cameron Lake start.

We parked at the yellow gate at the Port Alberni side of Cathederal Grove and walked down the road to the flagged trail start.

Mt. Wesley Traverse.

Jackie is still in Patagonia so Rich, Xhosa and I decided to tackle the Mt. Wesley Traverse. This trail is the ridgeline over the top of the mountains across from Cameron Lake.

Trail sign from rail line.

Franklin flats to home along the Inlet trail.

My favorite section of the Inlet trail.

Since Jackie is in Patagonia getting ready to run a 70 KM Ultra, I ran from Franklin Flats along the Inlet trail to

Alberni Valley Outdoor Club – volunteer trail-builders!

Alberni Valley Outdoor Club work party on Roger’s Creek trails (Ivan, Harold, Randy,Dave, Steve and Mike – and Xhosa acting like she was helping)

Hey, just a quick post here…. I was out for a run with Xhosa a few weeks ago on the Roger’s Creek Trails. Somehow we haven’t blogged about these trails much here, but this is a fantastic trail system right in the heart of Port Alberni, and Dave and I are on these trails all the time – at least several times a week. I’d noticed over the previous week or two that someone had been working on the trail: improving drainage around the wet spots, fixing up stairways, etc.

Hiking the Inlet Trail in the November sun: Port Alberni the best place to live!

Jackie, Xhosa and I took advantage of our warm November sun to hike from China Creek along the Inlet Trail back to Ship Creek road parking lot in Port Alberni.  We packed a lunch, a thermos of hot coffee and set out for a leisurely 5.5 hour stroll along the sunny waterfront; a world-class gem!

Looking south, down the 60 km Alberni Inlet towards the ocean.

A big hilly training hike to prep for the Squamish 50k ultramarathon – with an internet stranger!

I only knew Nikki, aka @ndscottnygren, through my @running_ultras Twitter account. She’s a Vancouver-based trail runner and ultramarathoner, and she was coming out to Port Alberni for a few days. She tweeted and asked if we could go for a run together.

This was only 5 days before my wedding, and 12 days before the Squamish 50k ultramarathon that Dave and I would be running as our honeymoon! So I wasn’t very