One of my favorite pastimes is exploring all the valleys, slopes, and hilltops of Metchosin. Today I chose a nice mountain off of Kangaroo Rd to tackle because I could see some large Douglas Fir trees growing near the top. It proved to be a most beautiful hike with some awesome vistas as well. From this side of the summit is a view looking out towards the hills around Matheson Lake and in the distance, the Olympic Mountains.
Here was one of the tall Douglas Firs I had hiked to see and in the top was a great surprise! Up on one of the higher branches sat a huge orange bird! I am still not entirely sure what exact kind it is, but I am thinking it is a type of hawk. The ravens weren't too happy it was there.
On the north side of the mountain the trees were all delicately covered in layers of lichens. On these steeper rocky slopes, many old Firs remain since it may have been too difficult to drag them out when the areas were hand-logged some 100 years ago.
The thick bark of these old trees are often blackened from forest fires long ago. The bark is highly fire resistant and the taller trees often survive.
Unfortunately, I stumbled upon a road being put in right up through the middle of the mountain. Excavators and puddles of oil seem quite out of place in this beautiful forest.
The cliffs in these areas provide quite the lookout. In many places you can quite literally hang your feet off into the tops of trees.
The main cliff face on the north side looked out upon the stretching Sooke Hills. This magnificent area was protected as a Sea to Sea Green Blue Belt by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee in 1997.