Sunday's. The last day of a regular weekend. How do you spend them? Realizing you have no more clean socks so you better do laundry. The day where you want to drink only coffee and lay on the couch? Recovering from a Friday/Saturday night out? Brunch? Beach? All of the above? How about getting lost? Is that on your Sunday to do list, cause it definitely wasn't on mine this past weekend but it happened & I loved it!
Yep, I got slightly lost but managed to have an awesome day of adventuring. My original plan was to head over to Bowen Island (which is bout a 20 minute ferry ride from Horseshoe bay) and do some exploring and relaxing. So armed with my camera I headed on my way, bought a ticket ($11.20 return) to Snug Cove (Bowen Island) and off I went. And in 20 odd minutes I knew that something was amiss. I stepped off the boat and instead of seeing a cute little marina & cottages (that's what good 'ol Google Maps said I would see) I saw a very large off ramp towards a highway. I was lost. I hadn't a clue where I was for a good 5 minutes but I did know I was on the wrong island- womp womp! Quickly I turned back towards the ferry, and saw a sign for Gibson's another of the Gulf Islands but not the one I had intended on visiting. So with that I got back in line and on another ferry. Trying not to feel too annoyed at myself for the mishap, I went up to the sundeck and was instantly cured of that bad mood. Why? The view of course! Floating along the Georgia Strait is awesome! You get a chance to see surrounding islands and some stunningly sweeping mountain views.
I mean really, does it get any more scenic than this? Especially after a horribly cloudy morning turned blue skies & sunshine once I got on the ferry back from Gibsons. I even hoped that maybe I'd just be going straight to Bowen Island..sadly that was not the case & I ended up back at Horseshoe Bay to turn around and make my way (FINALLY) to Bowen. And as soon as we got close enough I realized that I was in fact finally at my original destination, and not even upset at myself over the unintended scenic mistake I had made earlier.
And so my adventure day began, albeit later than I had intended, but the later time meant that a fair amount of people had already come & gone so I had most of the trails to myself for the afternoon! Approximately 12km long and 6km wide, Bowen Island has a population of just under 3, 500 residents and can see anywhere from 1500-2000 visitors each summer on the island. Being just 20 minutes away from the mainland (Vancouver) a fair amount of residents commute to Vancouver for work each day. When I stepped off the ferry it felt as if I had set foot in a different time completely. The little village is adorable to say the least and my first stop was a short trail up the front side of the island called Dorman Point although barely taking 25 minutes to get to the top it was quite steep so a quick little work out before reaching the top where you can see out a fair bit even though there are a lot of trees. I had the spot to myself so I caught some sun and relaxed before making my way down to walking around the marina.
From there I headed towards another trail that ends at Killarney Lake through the Peace Garden. The trail itself is less than 2km (one way) and covered by some huge trees, again hardly any people safe for a few dog walkers so I was able to enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods before coming out to the lake. There is a loop trail around the lake but as it was a fairly late start (and I was starved) I decided it was best to head back towards the ferry and save it for another Sunday (where I hopefully wouldn't get lost).
All in all, even with my directional mishap it was as great way to spend a Sunday. Sometimes you really don't have to go to far to feel like you're in a whole other world and it's nice to be reminded of that from time to time. Good way to go into the week ahead and get to planning some future adventures too!
