May 16 – Cowichan River Provincial Park

Another grey, rather dull day. When we first got up it was drizzling so we had a quiet morning. After lunch it had stopped so we decided to do another hike from the library ebook book.

Cowichan River Provincial Park is about 20 minutes west of us and is a narrow band of protected area along the river.

I circled our hike, which was a loop called the north and south river footpath. Here is our GPS track. We went clockwise around the loop.

For the most part it really stuck close to the edge of the river valley. The book said the length should be 6.4 km but the GPS said 8.2 km. It felt like 8.2.

Most of the time we were high up on either bank but because it did follow whatever contour was there, we did a fair bit of up and down.

We started by crossing river on the 66 Mile Trestle, which is part of the Trans Canada Trail. That trail continues on to the east.

You can see that Jennie is walking across the exact center of the trestle. It was a long way down.

The river is down there somewhere.

There were not a lot of river views in this section so we amused ourselves with whatever we could find.

Lots more giant ferns and tall, mossy trees.

Where did Jennie go?

I did another not very good photosphere here. I must have moved the camera around too much because a lot of things got disconnected, including Jennie’s body, even though she did not move.

Cowichan River Trees Photosphere

At one point we had to dip down to cross a creek.

It was low enough that we could sneak out to the river.

Back up we go.

A tiny trillium.

With very big leaves.

Jennie thought that this tree looked like Gonzo, from Sesame Street.

On the GPS track you can see the two spots where we got out into the river. Here we are heading down to the second spot at the start of the horseshow bend.

We stopped at this viewpoint.

But then quickly took a few steps back.

Some interesting vines hanging over the edge.

Out we go onto the rocks to check out the rapids.

Back on the trail there was some unusual very lacy moss.

At the bottom of the river’s horseshoe. We hit a very steep hill, where we climbed about 200 feet in less than 100 yards horizontal distance. We went from almost river level to this view.

Needless to say, there were a few pauses on the way up.

Some unusual fungi.

A few more ups and downs before we reached the bridge that was our turnaround point. The view from the bridge.

And looking back at it as we headed towards the car.

Here we are looking up at the hill we had climbed and the cliffs at the top. The bottom of the climb is at the bottom left of the picture.

The viewpoint we had been at.

We passed by a great looking group tent site near the end of the horseshoe.

The next part of the trail stayed really close to the edge.

Let’s just say that we were really glad to get back to the car.

It seems to have cleared up tonight so we are hoping for a nice day tomorrow.