June 17 – Soames Hill and Gibsons

Today we drove down to Gibsons to first climb up Soames Hill to get a high lookout down at the town. Then we drove down and walked around the harbour.

We parked at Bridgeman Road and took the flat yellow trail to the first staircase going up to the first viewpoint at the middle of the map. Then we climbed to the second higher viewpoint near the top to have lunch and stare for a while before returning the way we came.

Flat, wide and in the shade on this very hot day.

Then the stairs. On the way down we counted 297 steps and I guessed we went straight up at about a 30 degree angle. It is only about 1 kilometer from the car to the top but the steps made it a good workout.

They were well built and even steps, which made it a bit easier.

When we got to the first lookout we thought, “OK this is nice. A bit obscured but nice”. The view down to Gibsons harbour.

Middle zoom

Full zoom.

This is what a crowded, popular trail is like around here.

By now we had climbed about 60 m in elevation from the car. The next 40 m to the top were not as steep but there were no stairs.

The above open area had another slightly better view.

The view at the top was quite amazing. It was completely unobstructed looking south with Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands in the misty background. I wish we could have seen a bit more to the left in the picture below. It seems a bit cutoff.

And the photosphere.

The photos just don’t capture how impressive it was. We stared for a long time while we had lunch. Jennie found the one bit of shade.

We spent almost an hour there, resting and enjoying the view. During that time only two other couples came up and they only stayed a very short time.

Heading back down we encountered this group sitting in the trees having lunch. We couldn’t understand why they would stop there when the good viewpoint was only about 100 meters further up the trail.

We also said hello to a couple that we had seen at Francis Point yesterday.

Back at the car we drove down to Armours Beach and walked along the seawall trail the short distance to the harbour.

Looking back towards the mountains.

Actually, I walked the path. Jennie explored the beach.

A busy harbour with some interesting, I assume, house boats.

Some avid gardeners.

I am not sure if this was a working boat or a house boat.

A rusty little tugboat.

At the end of the path there was a Jazz Festival at the band shell. We are not into jazz so we looped back into town.

As everyone from my generation knows, Gibsons was the home of the longest running Canadian TV drama series The Beachcombers. I had to get a picture of these icons. Relic’s boat The Persephone.

Since Jennie didn’t watch the show (I did) she wanted me to capture and include these history boards.

After checking out some of the shops, we walked out the pier to get a look back at town.

You can see Soames Hill, from this morning, at the right of the picture above. The highest bare spot is our lunch stop.

The photosphere.

As we walked out we saw this otter checking out the contents of a barge.

It was too fast for me to get a face shot.

On the pier there was a BBQ place but it had some fish tacos that sounded interesting. I am also a sucker for mac and cheese. So…

I didn’t warn Jennie I was taking this picture but I want to include one with the nice view we had.

Most of the posts used to allow the dock to rise and fall had satellite dishes on them. This one had a little forest.

Heading back to the car, there is quite the mix of buildings along the shore. Some VERY old and some brand new condos.

And then home.