Blog: I Think It's This Way » Road Ride – Lower Saanich – If There Is Such a Thing as Lower Saanich

Road Ride – Lower Saanich – If There Is Such a Thing as Lower Saanich

Kris — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:57:29 +0000

Wow it’s been a while without any blogging, exercise, photos, or other cool stuff. These last couple months of house hunting, research, and buying have been a bit of a drag. That’s not to say I didn’t appreciate the challenge that came with various fixit projects, like changing a toilet etc., but there’s pretty much no way I’d prefer doing that sort of stuff over bike riding.

Time to get back to a more active lifestyle… I don’t really have any good excuses to for not doing so, so I shall ‘do’ rather than ‘do not’… thanks recently viewed Yoda quote.

GPS Data: 45.1km – 1h47m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download)

Another trip down Martindale Road on the road bike on a wet coast day with the smell of pumpkin and cabbage decomposition in the air.

Curious Christmas arrangement on West Wallace Drive. Good luck with that Santa.

Saturday Morning Photos – Gorge Waterway – Victoria

Kris — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:00:21 +0000

Database error! Failed insertions into activity table. That’s computer dork code that I am using to describe my lack of activity and whatnot recently. Managed to get out for a photo walk today, which was kind of fun. Had to cut it short when the rain started.

Saturday morning at the Gorge in Victoria.

Selkirk Trestle in Victoria.

Some sort of fruit near the Selkirk Trestle.

Evidence of a rainy day in Victoria.

Gorge Waterway dragon boaters.

Skatin and textin on the Galloping Goose Trail.

Newer Gorge Waterway residences and office buildings.

Interesting adornments on a row boat near the Selkirk Trestle.

Water droplets on a leaf near the Gorge.

Fall is here in Victoria.

A partially naked tree and a Gorge Waterway residence.

Wet leaves on the Galloping Goose Trail.

Gorge Waterway / Dockside Green residences.

Gorge office buildings and an outrigger canoe.

Bright red tree near the Selkirk Trestle in Victoria.

Wednesday Hike – Goldstream Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:24:32 +0000

Wow, it’s practically Fall. Wow, the daylight is getting shorter. Wow, how many more times might I use the word ‘wow’? This week’s Wednesday outing was a nice sort of meandering around Goldstream Park near Victoria. For an after work hike, Goldstream is a little ways out of town and given the daylight situation, I figured we’d wing it a little bit in terms of route. We ended up choosing to take a pass on the Mt. Finlayson ascent and instead wandered around the lower reaches of the park. Nice big trees, Niagara Falls, and a blackberry feed at the nature house.

GPS Data: 3.4km – 1h24m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download)

Bill admiring some nice green carpet.

Goldstream River.

Creek bed artwork.

Leaf in the water at the bottom of Niagara Falls.

Bill admiring Niagara Falls west.

Walk Home From Work Photos

Kris — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 06:52:28 +0000

Decided to take the slow way home after work today, namely walking. Fought off the urge to use some Starbucks card credit and wound my way back towards home on Rockland Avenue. The most notable stop was Government House. Along the way I took some pics.

Older rear derailleur on a bike near Rockland and Cook.

What does it mean when the bee/wasp sees its shadow.

Tree sap at government house on Rockland Avenue.

More tree sap at government house.

Top of a small totem pole at Government House.

Nice white flower at Government House.

Another angle on a nice white flower at Government House.

Yellow flowers and transluscent leaves.

Hair balls.

Not upside down hairball.

Leaf and blurry hairball at Government House.

Hairball close up.

Kingdom in decay.

Bee work.

Pollen transfer engineer.

Blurry flowers near Oak Bay Avenue and Foul Bay Road.

Big flower with spikey looking centre.

Turntable and needle.

Bear hug.

Flowers against a well lit lawn.

Shrubbery near Oak Bay Ave.

Bee and flower near Oak Bay Avenue and Foul Bay Road.

Wednesday Hike – Macaulay Point – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:10:31 +0000

You never know for sure what you’ll see on a hike. Tonight’s hike was at Macaulay Point, a place I have been to only once before. The highlight of the hike was definitely seeing an orca very close to shore. It didn’t do any TV orca tricks, which was slightly disappointing, but I can deal since this was only the second time I have seen a real, live orca. The hike / walk was pretty short at about 2.5km, but there were lots of cool things to look at… uhhh yeah, we saw a freakin orca.

GPS Data: 2.5km – 1h03m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download)

Rather beautiful night at Macaulay Point in Victoria.

Ummm... awesome night and a whale too!

Orca checking out the marker near the Macaulay Point jetty.

Orca close to shore near Macaulay Point with Metchosin in the background.

Ferry, outrigger canoes, orca.

Possible cause for concern, but pretty sure there's lots for whales to eat without resorting to fiberglass.

The Coho heading into Victoria from Port Angeles.

Beast chillin at Macaulay Point.

Washed up tree remnants.

Blackberries of varying rypeness.

Vine of some sort against a former gunnery installation at Macaulay Point.

Trevor, Christine, and Sheena at Macaulay Point on a very nice late summer evening.

Through the tunnel up to the lookout at Macaulay Point.

Looking across the Juan de Fuca Strait toward Washington State.

Ogden Point viewed from the lookout at Macaulay Point.

Another beast on the rocks at Macaulay Point.

Brown beast staring contest.

A vessel looking somewhat military oriented off the Esquimalt waterfront.

Peeps, dog, log, and rocks.

Late day sun at Macaulay Point with a glimpse of the Fort Rodd Hill lighthouse.

Climber go up.

Climber go down.

Macaulay Point dock.

Metchosin Hills and a dock near Macaulay Point.

Wednesday Hike – Partridge Hills – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:28:33 +0000

Somewhat hot, somewhat humid, but all in all an excellent night for some sort of activity. Since it’s Wednesday, it’s hike night and the destination was once again the Partridge Hills out near Durrance Lake. As with previous outings we started from the Durrance Lake parking lot and did an out and back route to the the highest spot we could find. The views were the same as previous outings, except the skies were a bit clearer, particularly in the direction of Mt. Baker.

GPS Data: 6.4km – 1h37m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download)

View from the top of the Partridge Hills towards Mill Bay.

Fair sized hike group for the Wednesday outing.

Partridge Hills grass with the Saanich Inlet in the background.

Grass / wheat at the top of the Partridge Hills.

Particularly good view of Mt. Baker.

Sunset at Mt. Tolmie after the Wednesday hike.

Red sky at sunset viewed from the top of Mt. Tolmie.

Mt. Tolmie sunset.

Yellow skies at sunset viewed from Mt. Tolmie.

Standup Paddle Outing on the Gorge in Victoria

Kris — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 05:40:54 +0000

5pm choices: A) sit around at home probably wasting time on the interwebs; B) go for a bike ride; or C) go standup paddle boarding. Choice C it was. For me this was a bit of an unknown since I had never done option C before. I have paddled kayaks and have occasionally stood on surfboards, so I guess I had some possibly useful skills heading in. I don’t have a large surfboard or standup paddle board so renting was the route I was going to take. Struck out at the Gorge Paddling / Rowing Centre rental shop… kayaks only as of this writing. Word on the street was that Selkirk Station might rent standup paddle boards, and indeed they did. I think I had a two hour rental and a Powerade for about $40 tax in. The current published rates are $32 for 2 hours or $25 for the 5-8pm evening special. I might have paid a bit extra for board damage insurance, which I probably didn’t need since I’m careful.

The paddle itself was great. For starters I didn’t fall in the drink, and more importantly although it was work, it was fun and relaxing and there were cool things to look at along the way. I could see buying some gear of my own at some point; we’ll see. I could see how this could be a bit challenging depending on your background (balance and fitness), so if you’re interested in trying it, it would probably help to have at least a little kayak time in beforehand.

GPS Data: 6.7km – 1h43m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download) WARNING: funny elevation profile below!

B is for boat and boat squatters.

KrisFeet and JimmyStyks on tour in the Gorge Waterway.

Victoria Harbour Ferry heading south along the Gorge towards downtown.

Tillicum - Gorge bridge looking sort of west towards what might be Mt. Finlayson.

Gorge heron. Crap photo.

JimmyStyks heading east, back toward town not far from the Tillicum - Gorge bridge.

Awesome night on the Gorge.

Back at the Selkirk Trestle, heading east / south towards downtown.

Some sit-down paddlers enjoying their evening on the Gorge near the Selkirk Trestle.

Apparently if you're a seagull needing to dump your guts, you know better than to do it near a bobble-head owl.

Steel recycler on the Gorge Waterway. I'm guessing the herons don't really hang out in this area.

Idle Sennebogen 870 at the metal recycling facility on the Gorge.

Passing under the Bay Street Bridge heading towards downtown.

Looking toward downtown near the Canoe Club restaurant on the Gorge. Blue Bridge not long for this life.

Sort of a pirate ship moored near the Blue Bridge.

Blue Bridge, Johnson Street Bridge, soon to be something more futuristic.

Tugs on the Gorge near downtown Victoria.

Evidence of Victoria's Banksy, or not, since it's always the same dinosaur / dragon.

Racoon hiding spot under a dock on the Gorge.

Getting close to board delivery time and sunset.

Wednesday Hike – Royal Roads University – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:14:29 +0000

Not that long ago we did a Wednesday hike at Royal Roads University, on the exact same route we did tonight. When it’s good, why not repeat it? It’s late summer in Victoria, so things are looking pretty brown around town, but not in the forest, thankfully… the brownness is less appealing to me than the greenness. Kind of hoped we’d see another owl tonight, like last time, but no, although there were a variety of birds down at Esquimalt Lagoon. As usual, it was a great night for a hike.

GPS Data: 7.0km – 1h30m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download)

Part of the trail, through the trees of course, at Royal Roads.

Deciduous trees on the Royal Roads University grounds.

On of the buildings at Royal Roads University.

Non-trail down near Esquimalt Lagoon near Royal Roads University.

Mallard duck on the edge of the Equimalt Lagoon.

A couple Cormorants hanging out on a light post at Esquimalt Lagoon.

Bike Ride – Lochside Trail to Blenkinsop Lake – Victoria, BC

Kris — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:43:01 +0000

Went out for a relaxing evening bike ride up the Lochside Trail here in Victoria with Sheena tonight. We made it as far as Blenkinsop Lake before turning around due to fading light. Bike and foot traffic was pretty light on the trail tonight, not counting a reasonable number of roadies moving at various rates of speed. The ride ended up being a good 35km outing for me and about 20km for Sheena.

Paddling by one or two squashed cars on the Gorge Waterway.

Modern office building, crushed cars, kayaks, and late day sun.

A quiet evening on Blenkinsop Lake.

Roy at Blenkinsop Lake looking unperturbed by Sheena's lack of camera manners.

Roy at Blenkinsop Lake.

The trusty steeds resting at Blenkinsop Lake.

Obsolete building bits at the Quadra Street bottle depot.

Wednesday Hike – Willows Beach / Cattle Point / Uplands Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:29:21 +0000

Very nice Wednesday hike in Oak Bay tonight with a surprising variety of wildlife (crows, seal, seagulls, engaged couple, etc.). We started in Estevan Village and headed toward Willows, then it was off to Cattle Point, and finally Uplands Park. There was some great sailboat watching from Cattle Point.

GPS Data: 5.4km – 1h11m – Garmin Website | GPX (right click to download)

The north end of Willows Beach.

Some Cattle Point flowers.

Wednesday night sailing off of Cattle Point.

A couple sail boats off of Cattle Point.

Wednesday night sailing action near Cattle Point and Willows Beach.

Cattle Point crow on a well used log.

T-rex conga line at Cattle Point.

Garry Oak tree at Uplands Park.

Beach art at Willows.