Siouxsie Comes Out of Hibernation...

Siouxsie got out for her first ride today.  Forking over $476 for 8 months insurance was hard to swallow, but today's ride put it all into perspective.  It was a relatively warm day today, and, together with Andy, we put nearly 100km on the clocks and blew the cobwebs off the bikes.  I didn't have too much hope for getting very far or high, as last year's first ride (April 4th - in honour of Martin Luther King) ended up stopped short by snow.  But how wrong I was...

The overall route looked like this, starting from Dumont and heading southeast at first, only to be turned back by active logging.  So we settled for a run up to Sundew Main - where Mourning Cloak butterflies were all over the road sunning themselves.  I had no idea butterflies were about this early in the season. 

We found a couple of lakes on the way back, but they are far too choked by deadfall and ex-trees to be fishable...We rode up a couple of old spurs which were good fun.  You can see the lake/ponds below...

But more fun was had after 4pm, when the crew had knocked off and we made it up to Blackjack Ridge for an overview of our riding area...

Wow.  The views were stunning and you can see as far south as Mount Whymper (where there is a plane wreck we'd like to uncover), West to Mts Arrowsmith and Moriarti (on our plans too for this year) and north east to the main land...

We snapped a few shots on from the ride:

The larger of the two choked lakes...Old man's beard growing on the bark of a dead tree - a testament to the air quality here on the west coast.  This stuff doesn't grow in urbanized or polluted areas...

Above and Below...Green Mountain -an ex ski hill -from BlackJack Ridge...You can see second lake below the mountain...Mount Whymper - the highest Island peak south of the 49th - lies in the distance, just about where that little fir tree is pointing.

Below: The hydro-line trail that we frequently take to Rhododendron Lake... You can see it turn north east in the distance.  The lake lies on the other side of those hills.

 

Below: Mt De Cosmos...another goal for the future.  We're trying to find a way to the myriad of trails that go up it from the hydro lines, but so far, no joy....

Below: we didn't see too much of this stuff, and only in shady northern exposures unlike last year!  This is at over 2000ft.

And finally a 180 degree panoramic from Mt Whymper 15 miles south-west-south, Mt Hooker, Green Mtn, Mt Decosmos, Moriarti and Mt Arrowsmith to the Strait...

Thanks for the ride, Andy.