We love hikes where the reward:effort ratio is really high and today’s hike walk had an extraordinarily high ratio. It was just 4 km and only 115 m of elevation gain, but the views were spectacular. We hiked Stoney Hill path that looked down on Samsun Narrows where Bill kayaked with the club a couple weeks ago. This is a narrow strip of water between Saltspring and Vancouver Islands, that can be very tricky, depending on tides and winds. Bill had a perfect day when he paddled and today it was fun to look down on it from on high and see the water patterns.

As you may guess, this is a really popular path because of its reward and proximity to Duncan and surrounding area. We met lots of people – groups of friends, families with kids, families with dogs etc. All were pleasant and enjoying the good weather and views.

I still get a kick out of seeing all the different trees. There are of course the tall fir trees but others have interesting shapes, especially when covered in moss. Up a bit higher and near the cliffs, the arbutus trees always provide something interesting to see and appreciate.

But the star of the show was the view. We had several great viewpoints along the bluff were we could look down into the Narrows, and back into Maple Bay as well as out to the Straits of Georgia and towards the Olympic Peninsula in the US. The views were stunning and I’ll let the pictures speak for them selves.

There was one picturesque place where I tried 3 different focal lengths on the camera. Each picture captures a different vision. It was an interesting exercise in composition. Which one is your favourite?

So in just a short hike we had fantastic views that allowed us to experience a place we had been to before from a different perspective and a lovely walk through the forest. Another day in Island Paradise!