Glorious Gambier Island trail clearing: Liddell/Gambier and Burt's

On the 2011 theme of not letting the bummer summer and deep snow pack put a damper on bagging, Ken Legg, Mike Wardas, and I spent a frenzied day on Gambier Island clearing and marking trails, armed with shocking pink tape, signs, folding Japanese pruning saws and secateurs.

Mt. Liddell, and, before it on the ridge, Gambier Peak, the latter the highest peak on Gambier, and one well worth visiting, suffered from several bewilderingly overgrown areas where the undergrowth and lack of flagging left unfamiliar hikers wandering in circles. Mr Ean Jackson had particularly unkind words to say about the peak. It left me personally lost and bloodied.

We are proud to report that the trail is now flagged almost to the point of absurdity.  Major intersections have been redundantly flagged, and nasty alders and branches sheared.  The most confusing bit, just before the logging road encircling the peak ridge, has been cleared out, with flags and signs put up.

We ran thin on energy and time and tape in the final push up the ridge trail itself, so that area is more challenging. The next ambitious bagger adventurers up Liddell/Gambier could gain a place in heaven by better flagging and clearing this final stretch, especially the trail past Gambier Peak down and up to Mt Liddell.

We also added tape the to existing flagging on the newly-added Burt’s Peak, in the NE quadrant of Gambier.  This trail stretches from the well-established trail up to Burt’s Bluff, up to the mossy east-facing peak of Burt’s Peak, then northward along the ridge, and down to the north end of the beautiful Lost Lake.

So give Gambier a visit. It is a beautiful place: well worth a bagging adventure. Say hello to the salamanders in Gambier Lake. Watch the sunlight diamonds sparkle off the ocean. Marvel at the manifold hues of green on the moss magnificently carpetting the whole island.

And give thanks to Mike Wardas, who sacrificed both of his thumbs with bloody wounds, and could only bandage them with flagging tape, to make Liddell safe for the timid.

And be a good bagger! Pack along some tape and secateurs and leave each trail finer than you found it.