Lone Tree Hill

Was sunny this morning so it was up early, a sturdy breakfast and out the door to the Lone Tree Hill trail just outside Victoria. Read about this one and was looking forward to it as a nifty spot you’ve just gotta see. The clouds came in a bit heavy when we got there, but it was mild and sheltered at the trailhead, a reasonable 10 or 11 degrees. Couldn’t wait to see what it would be like at the top, since it was up over 1000 Ft. I imagine something spectacular and charge into the bush, up the steepish trail. This was a nice mix of new forest and some alpine terrain. Moss-covered rocks abound. The Arbutus trees, which lose their bark and are a local curiosity, are heavy in number and lovely — slick, smooth and shiny. Finally, after a pretty steep incline for about a half hour, you come out onto the high point of the hill…The rain is pelting down into a little rock pool filled with water beside me, the lone tree on the next rise, and a strange mix of sun and not…The ravens circling below — above the treetops, almost in a cloud. But it isn’t a dream, it’s real. What I imagined and more…I can see 270 degrees, from the mainland mountains mixed in among the clouds, to the Olympic Peninsula and Victoria, shrouded in a spot of concentrated sunlight in among the dark and stormy weather to the west, up towards the Malahat and the rest of the island. At one point I have a brief and clear peak experience. That I am at this place, at this time, in this way, seems a wonderful priviledge. Took shelter under the lone tree, a stubborn Arbutus which actually grows towards the predominant wind up from the sea. As we headed down the hill, the sun shone through briefly before giving way to a light mist. But it was OK. The journey was winding down, and happily downhill. Stopped at Royal Roads University on the way home…Really cute castle is the centerpiece of the school. Then had a coffee down by Ogden Point, watching the sun and rain do battle over the strait. Exhilarating the kind of stuff you can do in a day, or even a morning, around here.

Pictures to come…

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