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Category: Free Inquiry

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November 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

For this week’s hike I went to Goldstream Falls. I heard about this hike through a friend of mine that has done it before. I would say that the views of this were well worth it. In the photo below you are able to see all of the fish in the water. On All Trails this hike is rated as a moderate hike. I would agree with this rating with understanding that parts of this trail include lots of stairs as well as some fallen debris that may be more challenging for visitors to go through. In my star rating below, I rate the accessibility a 3/5 because I’m caught between two different views! This hikes accessibility could be seen as poor because of the challenges you face on the trial itself for example, the stairs. This trail could also be seen as quite accessible due to its clearly marked trails with supporting signage.

Overall this was an enjoyable trail that I would highly encourage others to adventure on!

My star ratings for this hike would be:

Difficulty: 3/5 Stars

Views: 5/5 Stars

Accessibility: 3/5 Stars

Hiking (8)

October 28, 2024 /

For this weeks hike I drove to Qualicum with a friend. Qualicum is a very familiar place for me, I have been going on family trips there during the summer since I was 5 years old! I went on a hike to, “Englishman River Falls” which is just over two hours away from UVic campus. I found this hike on All Trails as well as through conversation with my mom who has done it before!

Englishman River Falls is a very short trail loop that includes upper and lower falls. Although it is short, it has some amazing views and some nice spots for swimming in the summer! This trail is well maintained and easy to navigate.

My star rating would be:

Difficulty: 1/5 Stars

Views: 5/5 Stars

Accessibility: 5/5 Stars

Although this hike was short and easy, I liked the adventure of travelling outside of Victoria to explore a new part of the island. The place itself wasn’t new to me but the hike was. I am in hopes that I will be able to see some more views of different hikes along the island for my last couple inquiry posts. Maybe I will head in the direction of Sooke next time!

Hiking (7)

October 23, 2024 /

This weeks inquiry post is going to look a little different. I didn’t make it out of the house over the weekend due to the Atmospheric River we endured as well as the fact that I am battling the flu! For this week I decided to look into how technology has enhanced hiking.

Technology has created expertise on a variety of things that can help prepare hikers before they go into the outdoors. The websites I’ve been using and linking in my recent inquiry posts are dependent on where I am trying to go on my hike. The websites that I have used while looking for hikes in my area are Victoria or Vancouver. While using this technology, it is very helpful to find hikes in my area or a certain level of a hike that I want to go on, etc. These websites tend to include, the maps to the trail/s in the mountain, a map to get there, safety tips, and expertise on the hike itself.

I have seen that the hiking apps some people use while hiking can give you all different information like where the elevations in the hike are, along with distance and time you have left to go. Something I found pretty neat is that if you allow the app to track your steps it can also help you if you get lost off the main trail! I think that this is a great thing about technology and it is very helpful.

I have found this technology to be very helpful when I’m trying to decide which hike to go on. I make sure to pay attention to things like, the difficulty rating along with the duration of the hike. While planning hikes in the past I have always looked at a Trail app or website before going on the hike and I compare the results when I am done. I have always found these to be very accurate.

Something I also think is very important is, not only getting the internets results but also being able to see how other people have experienced it. With the specific websites that I have used in the past, I haven’t found any way to comment on the hike or read anyone else’s comments. Although I know that there are other hiking websites that do have this option.

Below I have included an example of what the hiking apps show.

Hiking (6)

October 12, 2024 /

This weeks blog post is actually being completed in Squamish! I travelled here for thanksgiving this weekend and decided to do my inquiry hike on a trail in Squamish.

I looked up Vancouver trails, https://www.vancouvertrails.com and found Shannon falls, the Sea to Sky trail/ gondola and more. While being here this weekend, my mom and I took on both Shannon falls and the Sea to Sky trail with the gondola ride!

On Saturday, October 12th my mom and I took the afternoon to explore. We started of with Shannon falls. I have been there before when I was quite young, but I don’t remember very much of it! This time we went up the trail to the first viewpoint, up the trail some more to the second view point and then we decided to be a bit more adventurous. We climbed through trees and rock boulders to reach the bottom of the waterfall where we got to take some pictures.

Vancouver trails provides the same information that Victoria trails was providing for my past trails on the island. This includes length of hike, difficulty, accessibility, and directions. The trail itself had low difficulty but, the climbing through and on the rocks is not included in the trails description and I would positively say that what we adventured to do was way more difficult compared to the trail itself!

My star rating on this hike would be:

Trail difficulty: 2/5

Climbing difficulty: 4?5

Views: 5/5

Accessibility to the platforms: 5/5

Shannon falls has connecting trail from itself to the sea to sky summit. My mom and I also hiked the trail to the sea to sky summit. When we reached the top we took the gondola ride to the bottom! This hike was an intermediate trail but it was well worth the views at the top.

My star rating on this hike would be:

Difficulty: 4/5

Views: 5/5

Accessibility: 2/5

Hiking (5)

October 7, 2024 /

This past week, October 3rd I went for an independent hike up Mt. Doug. I heard about this hike through a few of my friends and I found it on a hiking website https://www.victoriatrails.com/trails/mount-douglas/. Before going on the hike I did a little bit of research. I used the same website as my last hike, “Victoria Trails”, I have found this website to be very helpful. Victoria Trails shares lots of important information on the trail that you are wanting to look into. This website includes a review of the hike itself with an overview, directions on how to get there, public transportation, timing etc. I looked into the reviews of photos and overall ratings. The website expressed that it was an intermediate rated difficulty, and the photo of the view was very pretty, I wanted to see it in real life!

This was my first independent hike, and it went quite well. It was a very sunny day out and it was nice to get out and enjoy nature. When comparing my experience with the website overview, I would agree that this hike was a more difficult trail. There are different trails that you can take on Mt. Doug, an easier, gradual incline loop or a steeper, rockier climb. I enjoyed this hike and the views were very nice. Comparing this hike with the Thetis lake trail, this one definitely took more effort but it felt good when I reached the top!

My star ratings would be:

Difficulty- 3/5 stars

Views- 3.5/5 stars

Accessibility- 5/5 stars

Hiking (4)

October 1, 2024 /

For this week I didn’t have the time to go on a hike, but I decided to research the benefits to hiking. While looking into this there were lots of great websites that provided lots of benefits to hiking. The one that stood out to me was done by Cleveland Clinic, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/9-benefits-of-hiking. This stood out to me because it wasn’t just a list of benefits, each benefit had a description of what it means. They provided 9 benefits and I chose 3 to talk about in this weeks reflection.

The first one I looked at was the benefit hiking has on lowering blood pressure. High blood pressure is something that is hard to identify but people can prevent it by staying active. Keeping the body moving keeps the blood flowing and constant temperature regulation.

The second one I looked at was the benefit hiking has on reducing anxiety and depression. When the body starts moving it releases endorphins which increases the bodies sensitivity to serotonin and norepinephrine, this reduces the feelings of depression. Being outside in nature also the body and mind when you interact in fresh air.

The last benefit that I looked at was how hiking improves sleep. A big thing that hiking does to help people sleep is getting you outside so that you can capture vitamin D. Getting the body moving will increase the bodies temperature so when your internal temperature decreases it will be easier to fall asleep.

Adventures of Hiking (3)

September 21, 2024 /

When I first started thinking about what I wanted to do my inquiry project about, I was having trouble coming up with a topic to choose. I heard some talk about hiking places on the island being very worth it. I am not from the island and have not yet adventured enough to find the hiking spots I always hear amazing things about. I thought that this inquiry project would be the best opportunity for me to get out and go on hiking adventures along with having somewhere to document and reflect about it afterwards.

I am planning to explore the island through hiking trails I have found on apps as well as places I’ve heard from other people. I am also going to take this opportunity to look more into the history of hiking and the benefits for the mind and body.

This past Sunday, September 22 I went on my first hike here on the island. For my first hike here, my friends and I went to check out Thetis lake. I found this hike on the ‘Victoria Trails’ website https://www.victoriatrails.com/trails/thetis-lake/#google_vignette The app suggested that the Thetis lake hike difficulty was “easy” and its trail was about 5km. I would agree to this difficulty rating, it was more of a walk with some elevation than it was a hike.

My star ratings would be:

Difficulty- 1/5 Stars

Views- 2/5 Stars

Accessibility- 4/5 Stars

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