Blog: I Think It's This Way» Wednesday Hike – UVic / Henderson Park – Victoria, BC

Wednesday Hike – UVic / Henderson Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:35:51 +0000

Summer is coming right? Apparently it’s hot elsewhere in the country; I guess maybe it’s a balance thing, i.e. it needs to be cool here if it’s hot somewhere else. Oh well, enough moaning about the weather – hiking is good in pretty much anything.

As I am the planning dictator for my Wednesday hikes I decided to opt for a short outing to the University of Victoria (UVic) grounds and Henderson Park. This general area is great for Michelle and I since it’s pretty close to home, not to mention the fact that it’s interesting on a variety of levels. I mean there’s rabbits, slugs, crazy flowers, students, and other stuff. This week we basically covered some Alumni Trail, Finnerty Gardens, and then headed off campus for a lap of Henderson Park. Goodly, despite the rain dampened enthusiasm.

GPS Data: 2.8km – 0h42m – GPS route

A 3km hike at UVic and Henderson Park in Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

There isn't any real shortage of colourful flowers around Victoria.

One of the trails on the UVic campus and some evidence of rain.

Lots of slugs and snails (I think that's what this is) on the trails at UVic.

Part of the UVic Alumni Trail I believe. Uhhh, I feel green... how's that for cheese.

Hee hee, elevator ride to view of the campus, hee hee...

It's UVic, so there will be rabbits. Rabbits don't seem to mind going about their business in the rain.

Mo rabbits fo yo. This is in the vicinity of the medical building on the UVic campus.

Bamboo and pond in Finnerty Gardens on the UVic campus.

Purple thing-a-majigs in Finnerty Gardens at UVic.

The wood chip trail around Henderson Park was surprisingly free of slimy invertebrates, aka slugs.

Run – UVic / Oak Bay – Victoria, BC – I Might Be A Vampire

Kris — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:56:53 +0000

I think I might be part vampire. This afternoon I went for a run in the sun, but felt like the energy was being, or had been, sucked out of me. I came to the logical conclusion that since I have felt better on previous night runs, I must be part vampire and the sun was sucking the life out of me. While I was certainly feeling less energetic today, a review of the numbers following the run didn’t indicate a drastically different performance than earlier in the week on a similar run.

The run route itself involved heading north up the hill to UVic followed by a partial loop of ring road (no sperm route today) and wound up with a gradual downhill run through part of Victoria’s posh Uplands neighbourhood. Despite my whining, it was great to be out in the sun after a bit of an ugly morning with lots of rain and wind.

GPS Data: 8.1km – 42m07s – GPS Route

A run through parts of Oak Bay and UVic near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS information on the Garmin website.

Wednesday Hike – Mt. Tolmie / UVic / Mystic Vale – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:10:58 +0000

What did you do tonight? Ate some food, watched some TV, read a book, played scrabble? I suppose the list of options is just about endless. As has been the case for many previous Wednesday nights, I went out for a hike, this time at Mt. Tolmie, UVic, Mystic Vale, and Henderson Park. I suppose you might have been expecting me to slag TV watching based on the start of the post, but that wouldn’t be right since as I write this I am sitting in front of the tube watching Haiti earthquake coverage. It can be a tough go for us humans on this rock sometimes can’t it?

The hike tonight was another good one, come to think of it, I don’t really know what would have to happen to make a hike a bad one. I suppose if I really try I could come up with something, but let’s keep things positive. The view of the city lights from Mt. Tolmie was great as usual, the rabbits at UVic provide some brief entertainment, and though it was a bit muddy, Mystic Vale was all good too.

GPS Data: 5.9km – 1h27m – GPS Route

A Wednesday night hike at Mt. Tolmie, UVic, Mystic Vale, and Henderson Park. Click on the map to see detailed GPS data on the Garmin website.

Run – UVic / Oak Bay – Victoria, BC

Kris — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:29:39 +0000

It’s almost hump day, also known as Wednesday. Tonight I went out for an 8.5km run pretty close to home, namely UVic and Uplands. There were actually quite a few other runners out there, bike commuters too, but they don’t count. I’m not sure, but I think I might have actually had a few moments where I was enjoying the run rather than thinking about when it would be over. Am I becoming a runner? Too soon to tell I’m afraid.

GPS Data: 8.5km – 43m43s – GPS Route

A run through UVic and Uplands in Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS data on the Garmin website.

Run – UVic – Victoria, BC – Big Sperm Route

Kris — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:35:41 +0000

Thursdays are supposed to be the ‘go-hard’ days if you are a serious athlete aren’t they? Maybe it’s Tuesday. Whatever. Today I did a run on what I have just decided shall be called the ‘Big Sperm Route’. Interestingly this terminology need not apply to a single route. You see, the main road through the University of Victoria (UVic) campus is a big circle, which is more formally known as Ring Road; anyone can make a ‘Big Sperm Route’ of their own by simply running an out-and-back from their abode to UVic that involves one or more laps of Ring Road. Of course as you’re running sperm doesn’t even remotely figure into the situation, but later on when you look at your route on a map, you’ll see that your running route resembles a big, no, gigantic sperm. I realize this is a little low-brow in nature; my apologies, I’ll try not to descend much past this sort of level with future blog posts.

So, it took a bit of mental effort to convince myself to go for the run, but it happened in the end. Although I was working pretty hard, and was looking forward to the very instant at the end of the run when I could stop running, I actually didn’t feel too bad. If I keep getting my butt out the door, maybe I’ll gradually start to feel even better, or at least go faster and further.

GPS Data: 7.6km – 0h39m – GPS Route

Today's 'Big Sperm Route' run to UVic in Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS data on the Garmin website.

Hike – UVic / Uplands / Willows Beach – Victoria, BC

Kris — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:42:48 +0000

Another hike today. This time around the hood, namely UVic, Uplands, and Willows Beach. It has occurred to me lately that I have been doing a reasonable amount of hiking, but not much else aside from work and other stuff. With Spring around the corner and the fact that I haven’t been doing it much, cycling has been on my mind a bit more lately. Before that gets going too seriously I think there will be a couple more weeks of laziness. I’m not sure I want to admit this, but I found myself watching some of the Much Music ‘Bring-It-On-a-thon’ today (horrible movies about the trials and tribulations of cheerleading). If ever there was an impetus to get off my ass sooner rather than later, escaping the ‘Bring-It-On-a-thon’ would probably be it, or perhaps I’ve turned a corner and am heading towards a dark, dark future.

Michelle and I were out hiking today by ourselves, mind you there were many other people out and about. Like most hikes, this was a good outing through some nice spots including Mystic Vale, Uplands Park, Cattle Point, and Willows Beach. To wrap things up, we stopped at Pure Vanilla for a panini, soup, and pumpkin spice cookie.

GPS Data: 9.6km / 2h01m / GPS Route

A map of a hike around parts of Oak Bay (UVic / Uplands / Willows Beach). Click to view detailed GPS data on the Garmin website.

No trip to the UVic area is complete without seeing a rabbit.

Hanging upside down at Henderson Park is mind-blowing.

A curious assortment of items near the south end of Mystic Vale. Sand dollars must be cheap these days since whomever put this arrangement together had a few to spare.

South end of Mystic Vale with sun through trees action.

About halfway down Mystic Vale in the middle of the Ewok forest.

Parc du chien. Adjacent to Mystic Vale. I'm just practicing my rather poor French. I'm not sure the park/field has a name.

Looking east or thereabouts from Cattle Point near Victoria, BC. Sunny, but cool.

Mt. Baker in Washington State. No eruptions today thankfully.

Poo-Jays, sh*thawks, seagulls, etc. Whatever you call them there were a good number hanging out at Cattle Point today. I actually don't mind seagulls, despite the fact that they seem to be quite adept at painting some parts of the world with their excrement.

More Cattle Point. Looking east towards the Georgia Strait.

In case you were wondering how Cattle Point got its name...

Heading towards Willows Beach from the south end of Cattle Point.

Thou shalt enter into my gut via my mouth! Pure Vanilla pumpkin spice cookie.

Pure Vanilla tuna panini and tomato/white bean soup. A tasty conclusion to our hike around the hood.

Hike – Victoria, BC – Mt. Tolmie / UVic

Kris — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:05:28 +0000

My run through part of Mystic Vale near UVic yesterday was enough to prompt me to go back today with some company to check out the whole Mystic Vale gully. The rain was steady for the first 20 minutes or so and I will admit that my enthusiasm was somewhat lacking. It never really got nice during the hike, but the rain did let up and the west coast foggy goodness made the trip through the entire length of Mystic Vale even more mystical – who comes up with these names?

Some might be interested to know that there is a bunch of equipment set up around the chip trail at Henderson golf course that at first looks like playground equipment, but is actually exercise equipment (plyometric, stretching, etc.). Strange, but true.

GPS Data: Hike – Victoria, BC – Mt. Tolmie / UVic

Map of the hike route at Mt. Tolmie and UVic.

Top of Mt. Tolmie looking north-west.

A rock at the top of Mt. Tolmie hanging out with some cigarette butts.

Token UVic rabbit shot with some fabulous washed-out white sky.

My hiking cohorts approaching rabbit central at UVic.

The fog... along the top of Mystic Vale.

The fog... at the bottom of Mystic Vale.

The creek at the bottom of Mystic Vale with a bit more vigor than usual.

More creek action from the bottom of Mystic Vale.

The sky did eventually clear a bit as we were almost through Mystic Vale.

One final Mystic Vale creek shot.

Chip trail around Henderson golf course.

So You Think You Can Run

Kris — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:35:24 +0000

No I’m not a huge fan of “So you think you can dance”, but have been known to watch it on occasion. Damn, now my secret is out.

If there were Victoria tryouts for the fictitious “So you think you can run” in the near future and I tried out I would be one of those people who is told that they suck. Ok, maybe I don’t suck that bad, but I sure wouldn’t make it to Vegas. I’m not sure why I was thinking about SYTYCD while running this afternoon, just one of those things I guess.

Besides SYTYCD, I was thinking that we have some dandy greenways and parks in this city. I passed through and nearly out at Cattle Point, Uplands Park, Mystic Vale at UVic, Henderson Park, and a little park along Bowker Creek off of Richmond. They were all cool, especially Mystic Vale. I think I do pretty well with discovering hiking spots, but I have basically only been in the “lovely” Mystic Vale three times since moving to Victoria six years ago – lame.

GPS Data: Run – Victoria, BC – Uplands / UVic

Running route through the Uplands / UVic area of Victoria.