October 9, 2012 Royal Roads escorted hike

Hike Directions
Patti Walsh -  Manager, Recreation Centre, whom we met on our last visit to RRU will meet us at 9:30 at the Rec Centre to take us on a conducted hike of some of the trails.  We can park in the Rec Centre car park and Patti will give us free parking passes.

Here's someone's description of Charlie's Trail.

Again, we will be meeting at the RRU Rec Centre at 9:30.

Photographed at RRU.




Dwayne's Track and Pics for October 9, 2012 Hike

Here's the track we took - 7.2 k - another great hike. Thanks again, Patti!

Report for October 25, 2011 Royal Roads escorted hike

The largest (and best looking) group we've had so far on these hikes met up with Patti at 9:30 as planned.  We headed off down Charlie's Trail and did see an owl like the one at the very end of this entry (someone else's photo). The photo from my iPhone wasn't quite as good (by a very long way), but is evidence that we saw the owl.

We also noted the fallen tree that had formed a bridge over the creek.

Next we headed over to the cheese house (purpose not yet identified but probably not a euphemism).  Experts at the university are investigating, and we may be able to get more information in the future.

We went from there to the most superb viewpoint over the lagoon.

Worth two shots!

After enjoying the view we explored the edge of the RRU grounds that lead to the lagoon and Fort Rod Hill.  On the way, we stopped off to view the foundations and part of the patio of the Dunsmuir daughter's house.  Patti had unearthed some old pictures of the house from around the 1920s, and it was interesting to compare the photos with what was left on the ground.  Hopefully we'll be learning more about this aspect in the future as more information is pieced together.

Next we went past the new building and onto part of the 5K trail to see a special place that isn't on any of the maps. On the way, we said "Hi" to one of Patti's three favourite trees in the grounds.

It's hard to capture the immense size and presence of this giant, but it would probably have taken all twelve of us together to give it a encircling hug.

This special place may have been sacred to Natives and may have been especially important to Aboriginal women.

Patti has been part of setting up an investigation into the history of the site with the university's Aboriginal liaison.  We may be able to learn more about this later.

Also, it's possible that Patti may be able to arrange a tour with the RRU arboreal specialists (the tree guys - although there may only be one of them on our visit (thanks to Benny Hill for this attempted witticism)).

We had a fabulous 8K ramble today with some excellent information and company from Patti.  I'm sure we'll be planning to visit again next year to check out the rest of the trails and perhaps have a visit with the tree or history experts from RRU as well as with Patti.

Patti gave us copies of a new trail map, part of an upcoming hiking book. Thanks again for an excellent hike!!