Maple Mountain

Today was an awesome day and I finally was able to get out hiking again. The last time I went hiking it was with a group of 20 people up to the Genoa Bay bluffs. It was the first time in over a year that I hiked with a group. It was fast paced and no time to stop and enjoy nature or take pictures. I enjoyed the hike, but like the paddle, I found I really do enjoy hiking with a friend or alone even more. I have been wanting to hike some higher mountains here on the island and the safest route is to go with a group so I had given it a try. My aim has been to hike Mount Arrowsmith and a few others up in Strathcona Park but after today, I’m not so sure.

Maple Mountain has five hiking trails on it and I have completed most of them so today I chose to do a loop, something I had not done before - the Blue trail, down along the pink trail and back along the yellow trail.  I had not hiked to the end of the yellow trail and looked forward to seeing the views from there and wondered how difficult it would be.
The Blue trail took us on a steep trail up the mountain and through the forest although not to the summit.

 

 I had hiked it before and wanted to go and see the three crosses that are there are on a hillside over looking the ocean. 

Even though we weren't at the summit there were some beautiful views along the way.

 

The short piece of the pink trail took us quickly down to the yellow trail which then took us back to the car along the coast line. Although I love reaching great heights I really enjoyed hiking along the coast even more. The sound of the waves hitting the shore, the cooling breeze that blew off the waters and seeing the boats go by was very peaceful and lifted my spirits.

There were little purple flowers growing in the grass among the many rocks we had to climb over,

Beautiful arbutus trees were everywhere and in the trees, the ferns were green and lush, which in our very dry spring looked wonderful.

The trail is well marked with ribbons in the appropriate colour tied to the trees ( you can guess what song came to mind along the way)

and markers which certainly helped when parts of the trail went over dry grass covered rocks making the trail almost invisible. 

 
It was a great hike, but it did require us to go up and down the hillsides quite a few times, climbing up over large rocks and back down avoiding the loose pebbles on trail. By the time we headed back down the mountainside my knee was giving me some grief and I realized that I may not be physically fit enough to make it up a mountain like Mount Arrowsmith but there are other mountains here I am sure I can manage. I always felt that one needed to climb higher and higher and reach those summits to feel fulfilled from the wonderful moments of awe that the views mountaintops give to us. Today , however, I learned that creation is beautiful among the trees, along the shoreline and that hiking anywhere out in nature can spiritually uplift us.

Today’s hike covered 11.5 kilometers taking us five hours to complete. My body, although tired, feels great and I’m so thankful I had this opportunity to get out into creation and to just absorb all that surrounded me. It was a good day!