SCOUT MOUNTAIN THROUGH TO MOWAT BAY 

Before the Zombie Apocalypse (COVID) I would have dangled the carrot of a cold beer and a tasty burger served on a sun-drenched deck at the Shingle Mill Pub, but these days the burger will be "take-out" eaten from a foil wrapper as the hiker contemplates where to stop for the night.

Scout Mountain will afford the hiker a great view of the city of Powell River, perched atop a stone knoll that overhangs the southwest corner of Powell Lake. The trail itself is a very nice, almost urban stroll with a few steep parts.  There are a couple of spots on the descent down the south side of the mountain that the hiker will want to watch their step...or have a parachute ready for deployment from their pack.  It's not really dangerous, but perhaps it's a good thing that the promised beer is a ways ahead down at the bottom.

Having visited 3-Mile Bay (or not), the hiker will start ascending the North side of the mountain from one of the many, many logging roads that crisscross the mountain and environs.  It's actually a bit of a rabbit warren around the base of Scout Mountain, so it's worth paying attention to the SCT markers in this area.

Oh, and consider yourself warned: there are bears around here.  

The first time my wife and I hiked Scout Mountain, we practically tripped over a mature sow and her growing cub leisurely strolling down the trail ahead of us.  Thank goodness one of us had some common sense. I was busy fumbling with my trusty Sony pocket camera trying to get that darn desired bear portrait so my wife had to literally grab the waistband of my baggy shorts and pull me back.  Oblivious and camera crazy.

 Scout Mountain is yet another vista that it is hard to get a great photo from.  It's beautiful up there, but clear days in winter are rare and during the summer the haze of moisture evaporating off the Straits below creates a bland photo that even the best polarizing filter cannot cure.  Again: landscape photography means getting up before sunrise and being on location when the first light twinkles off the distant mountains.  Most of my photos here will center around Mowat Bay: I hit a great day for landscapes and just have to share those shots.

At the first vista opening on the trail proper, after the hiker has finally left the logging road maze behind.  The trail snakes up the northern flank of the mountain, using a series of switchbacks and long traverses across the hard granite bedrock. Here we see the suburb of Wildwood, home to Winnie the Pooh, Smokey the Bear and Yogi, sharing a newish condo with an ocean view....and a few humans.  The Island is Harwood.  Vancouver Island is somewhere out there, hidden in the mists.

The trail levels off eventually, traversing across the western shoulder of Scout Mountain.  The hiker will come to a understated trail marker where they can choose to rush down the SCT and tag a "finish" on this segment, or they can follow a branch heading East and up, aiming to get to the summit.  GO to the summit.  There is no point in climbing a mountain without seeing the top (but in the epic words of Sir Edmund Hilary: a summit does not count unless you return alive).

There is not much to recommend this photograph other than telling the hiker that there is a bench to have lunch on up there.  This is a learning moment: photographs done at high noon on a summer's day will always wash out.  Thus the reverence for the Golden Hour(s).

This is about as good as it can get with that photo above: all the post-capture digital editing cannot make silk out of a sow's ear.

A series of photos from the summit of Scout Mountain on an unsunny winter's day.  The clouds made for wonderful contrast and light effects.  Bright sunny days are nice for beach volleyball but boring for photography.

Scout Mountain can also be accessed from a hidden little trail coming off Sunset Park at the Southwest base: the trail looks very promising, but it gets a little squirrely as one climbs up the face. There is one point that the wayward hiker will have to scale a 4 foot ledge and then inch up onto a mossy slope.  From my earlier post: wet moss means slippery moss, so you need to pick your footing carefully as you carefully climb to meet the SCT above.  This trail is kind of a "locals only" trail: we send old men past their prime up it as a Darwin test to see if they are still worthy.

Mowat Bay on Powell Lake in summer and winter.  The body of water one can see in the far field is little Cranberry Lake, home of lily pads and frogs.

I'm catching the Southern tip of Texada Island in the very distant field.

From the summit, the clouds over the Island mountains parted for a moment and announced "Winter is Coming"

Way above, just visible, is the bench.

The hillside directly below the picnic bench. There is a trail descending from the bench that is a might steeper than the standard SCT grade.  If heights are an issue for you, then maybe just go back the way you came.  The picture directly above is NOT the trail,, just our version of the Tarpeian Rock of Rome.  

Not a special landmark, just attractive.

Along the trail proper on the way down the south side of Scout Mountain.

The SCT wanders across the Western face of Scout Mountain and then meanders down, inevitably heading toward the mouth of Powell River and the Shingle Mill  Pub.  There is a general feeling of "steep" along the whole trail down, but truthfully it's not hard going at all.  Just don't expect to run down it in anticipation of the cold drink at the Mill.

Eventually the hiker will reach a series of woodland paths tracking along old logging cuts, shaded by a heavy growth of young deciduous trees.  The trees come to an abrupt end and you emerge into a gravel parking lot (for the boat launch) and then you will see the Shingle Mill and the driveway heading out to the 101.

From the gravel lot just North of the Shingle Mill in January.  The hiker will be headed in that direction in the near future.

From the bridge crossing Powell River, the shortest river in Canada

Powell River even recycles old bridges: the present steel construct was brought in from somewhere in the Fraser Canyon to replace the old, one lane bridge (the supports for the old bridge are still standing).

Having crossed the Wildwood Bridge, the hiker will make a hard left and walk through a muddy little parking area to enter the flat and gentle trail that tracks along the edge of the point under Valentine Mountain. 

The trail across to Mowat Bay is short and very sweet.  Most of the way it just follows the shoreline with near perfect views North, up Powell Lake. Goat Island is front and center, the Bunster Range to the west and the mountains  above Inland Lake forming the East frame.  In winter the Rainbow Range is just East of Goat Island and beckons the mountaineer hidden in all of us (some deeper than others: just tall ladders make me a bit dizzy).

Scout Mountain from the Mowat Bay Trail.  Looking down the back trail

The far white peaks up the lake.

Almost the same photo taken a season later.

Some Powell River paddlers training to become modern day Vikings so they can pillage the big city of Vancouver. 

Just more of the same.  After twenty years in the prairies, I just cannot get enough of the snow covered peaks.  They are white and pretty and I don't have to crack out a snow shovel to deal with the snow.

The shoreline trail eventually joins with an access road for the trucks depositing logs at the logging dump just short of Mowat Bay.  The hiker has to pass through a pedestrian gate, turn nearly 180 degrees right and wander perhaps a hundred meters up the road before accessing the trail that cuts through the shallow valley that passes behind the logging dump and over the hill down to Mowat Bay.  Here  the SCT returns to woodlands for a short way before the trail heads downhill toward the parking lot/ boat launch at Mowat Bay.  

Mowat Bay is a popular summer destination for local sun worshippers.  Throughout the spring it can be overrun by Canadian Geese and many goslings: it pays to keep your distance from the mothers because there is nothing quite like an angry mother goose when it comes to unbridled aggression.  You might want to doff your boots for a soothing soak in the frigid Powell Lake waters or just to enjoy the feel of the green grass here; keep in mind the grass is extremely green because the geese fertilize it heavily all spring.

Finding food, processing food, and then swimming ashore to save the city money by naturally fertilizing the lawn

It's a really big crane.  I liked the symmetry.

At the log dump.

A "fiddlehead" just unrolling in the Spring. It's a wonder

The common dandelion. Beauty in the common. 

Once the hiker reaches Mowat Bay, they have to push on to find a suitable camp for the night.  Certainly stop and enjoy the convenience of the washrooms, but this is not a camp-ground.  

Go past the facilities, heading down to the shore of Powell Lake to find the next trail head. The guide book has the hiker walking out into the Cranberry neighborhood and finding a old road off one of the side street there. The old edition is out of date now. The SCT has returned to what was once known as Tony's Trail.

Off you go: the best camping area ahead is probably Tony's Point. It's a bit of walk from here and will be covered in the next section.

Remember that one only gets to brag about the things you have actually done, not the things you planned to do.  A boat is always safe in a harbour, but that is not what boats are for.

Hir yw pob ymaros:  All waiting is long.