Blog: I Think It's This Way » Wednesday Hike – UVic / Mt. Tolmie – Victoria, BC

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

Kris — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:50:18 +0000

Catching up on some missed blog posts for previous Wednesday night hikes. Some Wednesdays it’s nice to be able to make the short journey up the hill to the University of Victoria for a quick hike, like this particular Wednesday. I like the other, more distant hike locations too, but sometimes I guess it’s just nice not to have to travel quite so far. Also makes getting to the post-hike food consumption stage quicker too.

This weeks route at UVic and the surrounding area was not unlike previous outings, except with some minor deviations. It was Finnerty Gardens to start, then over to and up Mt. Tolmie (up the more northern route), back down to UVic and across campus to Mystic Vale, and finally a short loop around Henderson Park. An alternative summary might be: flowers, view, no rabbits, rainforest, and golf course… a visual summary I guess.

GPS Data: 6.7km – 1h26m – Garmin Website – GPX (right click to download)

A crow hanging out at the top of Mt. Tolmie.

Post-hike stop at Shoppers and who do I see... it's freakin life-sized cardboard Bieber. Actually saw a couple late teen girls take their photos with it/him.

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

Kris — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:15:47 +0000

Did a nice, slightly longer than average Wednesday hike at Mt. Tolmie, UVic, and Mystic Vale tonight. I think I mentioned it last time… there are no rabbits left at UVic… very weird. Thanks to some expert guidance (thanks Corinne and Gracee) we ended up touring some short sections of trail at Mt. Tolmie that I hadn’t been on before. Once back at UVic we encountered a gang of deer munching on pretty fresh looking grass at the south end of the campus. I’m pretty sure I have not seen this many deer (about 10) in such close quarters before. To finish things off we cruised through Mystic Vale, which is looking all good aside from some minor muddy spots.

GPS data: 7.0km – 1h35m – GPS route

A 7km hike at Mt. Tolmie and UVic. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

No more rabbits, but we saw about 10 deer at UVic. Wonder if this might be the start of the famous UVic deer population.

A nice sunny afternoon turned into a bit of a grey evening, but the various forms of plant life were still interesting to look at.

Wednesday Hike – UVic – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:00:49 +0000

Rumor has it Michelle and I are in Los Angeles. While it is true that I have been approached by several California-based talent agencies regarding underwear modelling opportunities, I have not made any recent trips down south. Instead I’m up here plugging away with work and trying to fit in some outdoor excursions here and there.

Tonight, I headed out for a Wednesday hike with a few others, Michelle included. There’s been lots of rain lately, but thankfully there was none. There was actually some clear sky; had we been a day earlier we might have seen some Geminid action. I guess I should also report that there seems to be far fewer rabbits milling about the UVic grounds than the last time I was there. Perhaps the earlier snowfall sent them into hibernation, or perhaps the university’s population control efforts are actually working.

GPS Data: 4.8km – 0h59m – GPS route

A 4.8km hike around the UVic campus. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

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

Kris — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:39:48 +0000

Where’d the daylight go? It’s not exactly dark at 5pm yet, but there is definitely less daylight now than a month ago. Despite the dwindling daylight we had another cool Wednesday hike this evening. Eight of us started out with Henderson Park, then we headed down through Mystic Vale, then across the UVic campus (very quiet right now – that’ll be different next week), and finally up and down Mt. Tolmie.

GPS Data: 7.0km – 1h31m – GPS route

A 7km hike at Henderson Park, Mystic Vale, UVic, and Mt. Tolmie in Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS information on the Garmin website.

The pond in Mystic Vale where Beer Pong has been observed and some upside down trees.

Dude, that's crap all around you!

In the courtyard of the social sciences and math building at UVic.

Yeah, it's just grass.

Ahhh, my eyes. Taken near the top of Mt. Tolmie.

Looking towards downtown Victoria from the top of Mt. Tolmie.

A lonely tree near the top of Mt. Tolmie. That's Mt. Doug in the background.

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.