The Marathon Trail to Gibraltar

Well, remember I told everyone that there really only two hills on the Sunshine Coast Trail: uphill and downhill.  Consider this trail to be the test drive for future, far more challenging ascents.

At Homestead, look at the cross roads: Southview crosses the bridge and bends Northeast and a secondary access road coming from due South meet. The access to the Marathon starts right there. It's not a challenge to find: the sign stands out.

The trail climbs gently beside the upper Toquenatch, the creek usually within view and always audible.  The humidity along the creek is notable; in the early morning, as the sun just begins to heat the forest canopy above,  a steam will rise up out of the thick woody loam and create a patchy mist through which the rays of the rising sun cut through.

 I had a old friend, a Cree elder, who's name translated to "Ray of the Rising Sun".  Old Albert, who had been old as long as anyone could remember, was stuck with the name of an English Queen's dead consort by the residential schools when he had a fantastic name already.

Rays of the rising sun along the edge of the Toquenatch

As you climb up the trail, there will be a couple of trails branching off to the left; stay the course and watch for the orange markers.  About ten minutes up the trail (or maybe less if you have normal length legs instead of my short little tree trunks) you will start noticing peculiar decorations hung on some of the trees.  It's a local tradition announcing the "Trinket Trail", a well marked branch off the left side of the trail that continues up the progressively steep slopes after the Marathon Trail bends Southward.

The Trinket Trail is a great detour and, if you know where to turn north, you can find a set of bluffs overlooking the Toquenatch Valley, but it's a longish detour for the determined SCT hiker.

Eventually the SCT bends southward and descends down to the creek below. The hiker crosses the Toquenatch and enters a woodland of what appears to be quite large, mature conifers.  The discerning eye will pick up the uniformity of the tree spacing; it almost looks like some giant has been cultivating a pine-garden.  This is the result of selective thinning, removing scrub trees to allow better, faster growth for the remaining stand.

Uniform in spacing and maturity: selective thinning.

After a relatively arduous climb up the hillside through a series of long switchbacks, the hiker will turn southward along the ridge-crest.  On the way up you will pass by the branch to Chocolate Lily Bluffs....or you can enjoy a nice detour because hiking is not a race.

Chocolate Lily

 Eventually you will come to a sign with arrows pointing every which way. Face the sign: to your left, heading South, the trail heads for the Gibraltar Bluffs and the big pay-off for your sweat.  Behind you is a short-cut trail that leads directly East, bringing the hiker to Branch 10 and a very fast access to the trail to Reiveley's Pond.  If you take this short-cut and miss the bluffs, not only are you a Godless heathen, you missed the whole point of the hike.

I might be wrong, but I think the junction is called the 54 junction simply because the sign is 54 inches long.  Somebody had a sense of irony.

Okay: it's a mystery. Somebody worked hard to make this Dreamcatcher, then they carted it all the way up to the top of the bluffs, then they just hung it on a small tree alongside the trail.  Kudos to the creator for making me scratch my head in wonder.

North to Okeover

Southwest

Due South and PR

From the bluffs.  I have many pictures from this vista.....and not one of them is really good enough for my taste.  I guess that is what you get when an amateur has professional aspirations.

Last year I started to get curious about the local geology along this stretch of the coast.  The geological history of the area is right in front and under the hiker here.  Savary Island below is the rock and sand remains of a glacial moraine. Texada Island, to the South is the remains of a mosaic of ancient rock, the last vestiges of benthic sea floor and various islands captured as the North American tectonic plate migrated westward, slowly closing the Pacific Ocean. Gibraltar Bluffs and, indeed, all the mountains here-about are the remains of volcanic plutons that were once buried under miles of continental shelf. Think of them as cousins to Yosemite's "Half-Dome" and "El Capitan, without the hoards of tourist ant-crawling up well-worn trails lined with chains for crowd control.  In this area you will see a lot of left-overs from the glaciers, lots of granitic batholiths, and, once in a while, remains of sedimentary rock laid down long before the dinosaurs became chickens. Watch for the parallel etchings across some of the granite faces that indicate the directional scouring of the glaciers of the last ice age.

The crescent arc of Savary, once the  moraine at the end of a mile high glacier

The trail tracks along the edge of the Gibraltar bluffs for a few hundred meters, then turns Southeast to enter the forest again, descending into shallow gulley, the result of a fault in the granite batholith and erosion.  The forest is pretty lush here.

Eventually you will come up over a rise and see a fast flowing creek below with a bridge crossing it just at the cusp of a waterfall.  For some reason this has been called "John's Tea Room". No idea why, but you will find that sort of humor throughout the district (one of the urban trails is called "Unamit" and, for quite a while I assumed that it was a First Nations word.  I was later corrected that it was short for "You name it", the reply given to a young worker as he helped lay the original trail in.).  The trail climbs steeply out of the dell and reaches an open area with a large picnic table upon  a stone hillock opposite a massive glacial erratic monolith, a left-over from the last ice-age.  The hilliock is called "Gentle David" and, before the trees grew to their current height, there was probably a great Southwest vista here.

A glacial erratic: huge stone imbedded in the bottom of a glacier, like a raisin in fruit cake, and left in place when the glaciers melted.  People who live in Powell River's Westview know all about these: just about every house here had to move one of those monsters to excavate the foundations.

After "Gentle David, the trail crosses over some areas of lichen and moss crusted bare granite.  A little hint for the novice hiker: whenever you see the combination of bare granite and thick moss, watch your footing carefully. The bare rock is usually slippery on a wet day and the moss carpet will treacherously slip out from under you without much warning.  It becomes a lot like walking on an ice-hockey rink built on a sharp slope.

Bare granite and wet moss: take care

The picnic table atop Gentle David: eat and ponder the Southwest view.

Not too much farther along the trail the hiker will come to Branch 10, and old forestry road.  I know it's accessible by vehicle, but I've always just hiked to this point.  The through hiker will cross the road and, in about 30 minutes, be at the Rieveley Pond Hut.

The day hiker wanting to get back to Homestead has two choices: turn around and retrace your steps OR turn left (North) and follow Branch 10 for about fifty yards, watching for a trail marker on the left side of the road. That trail will drop you very quickly back to the 54" Junction and then homeward bound.

The chute down to 54" Junction.

A stormy day from the beach access on the highway across from Southview Road after a hike to the Gibraltar Bluffs.  Intelligent hikers stay put rather than hiking in the woods during a gale force wind. Hmmmm...I was hiking that day....foolish bear.

Cartref yw cartref, er tloted y bo; Home is home, no matter how humble.