Nineteen MalaNats members toured the Horseshoe Valley area looking at variety of glaciological and geological sites. And the weather even cooperated – for November: no sun, but no wind or rain either! Our first stop at 12 Mile on the Goat Main was mostly about recent (10,000 – 30,000 years ago) ice advances and retreats … Continue reading Earth Science in the Horseshoe Valley, November 8th, 2025. Submitted by Tom Koleszar

An intrepid group of fourteen club members set out for the Squirrel Crossing (Duck Lake Trails) parking area in heavy rain. Isabel Loveluck was our leader. We found the parking area surprisingly busy – with people gathering for a multigenerational birthday party. Izi requested use of one picnic table: smart thinking! She led us to … Continue reading Forest Mushrooms for Novices October 18th, 2025. Report Submitted by Kate Alexander

Submitted by: Cindy Dalcourt SEPTEMBER 23, 2025 5:00 pm to 7:45 pm On a beautiful fall evening 11 members met Captain Matt at the Rugged Coast Expeditions truck in the South Harbour parking lot. After some brief instructions we all donned bulky red survival suits and headed out onto the wharf. Our expedition’s boat was … Continue reading RUGGED COAST EXPEDITIONS WILDLIFE VIEWING TOUR: September 23, 2025

For our 2025 alpine field trip, we chose a small lake – Vera Lake – on the west side of the Eldred Valley across from Emma Lake. Once again the weather intervened on our planned date (Aug. 9) and we had to move to August 10. However, Aug. 10 turned out to be a fantastic … Continue reading Alpine Adventure # 8 Vera Lake, Mount Baldy by Tom Koleszar

This field trip was run for two groups on Saturday and Sunday, July 19 and 20. The trips were aboard a crew boat generously supplied by Western Forest Products, with each following the same itinerary.  The trip leaders were Nancy Pezel and Tom Koleszar. The weather was good both days, and we had great views … Continue reading Powell Lake Field Trips July 19 & 20, 2025

On Saturday, April 5 the Malaspina Naturalist Club was treated to a tour of the Powell River Community Forest by Forest Manager Chris Laing, along with Community Forest board members Rod Tysdal and Janet May. We all gathered at the bridge by Duck Lake where we received an excellent introduction to the Community Forest, with … Continue reading Sustainability in the Community Forest

Three of us got together at the Tla’amin Hatchery on April 13th to see the White Fawn Lilies in bloom. We walked along the creek and were soon rewarded with the nice blossoms.  There were not as many this year as other years.   We also saw Bleeding Heart and Salmonberry in bloom. We then … Continue reading Spring Flowers: Fawn Lilies

On Thursday, May 29, 2025, thirteen Malaspina Naturalists caught the early ferry to Comox and headed to Vancouver Island. We carpooled to Maffeo Sutton Marine Park in Nanaimo where we had a quick lunch before boarding the small passenger ferry for the fifteen minute ride to Saysutshun/Newcastle Island Provincial Marine Park. Newcastle Island is just … Continue reading Newcastle Island Trip 2025

At the Saltery Bay dock, 12 Club members embarked on a Sunshine Coast Tours boat captained by Bryce Christie for an afternoon tour of Jervis Inlet and the Skookumchuck Narrows. The day was mostly sunny, but somewhat cool – there was fresh snow on the mountains! From Saltery Bay we went up into St Vincent … Continue reading Skookumchuck Narrows Field Trip by Tom Koleszar

On a beautiful autumn morning, twenty one of us left from the Westview ferry terminal to begin our trip to Texada Island. Upon our arrival our first stop was the Texada Museum in Van Anda. We met with Janice, a volunteer, who opened the museum just for us. She gave us a brief recent history … Continue reading TEXADA OLD GROWTH FOREST FIELD TRIP – October 29, 2024

For the first time since our first Alpine Trip in 2017, we had fantastic weather on the scheduled field trip day (August 10) – the skies were clear, the day was warm, and it turned out to be a beautiful day for a field trip! We landed on a small plateau on the South Powell … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #7 – South Powell Divide by Tom Koleszar 10 August 2024

by Lynne Macdonald 22 October 2023 The mushroom excursion to the Duck Lake /Squirrel Crossing area was a well-attended and much appreciated outing, in perfect weather.  As promised, Izy Loveluck lead an exploration of “mushroomology”, sharing her extensive experience with identification, the related cautions, and some cooking tips. We began by walking along a pre-scouted … Continue reading Mushroom trip

by Nancy Pezel 23 September 2023 A rainy start to this trip did not deter the 10 adventurous members in their exploration of Riverbend Cave on Vancouver Island.  After gearing up with helmets and headlamps, our guide Kat took us on a 30 minute hike up a forested trail to the cave entrance.  At a … Continue reading Horne Lake Caves

by Jennifer Martin 7 September 2023 This was the clubs’ second trip to Hollyhock Learning Centre on Cortes Island this year.  While late in the summer we had great weather both sunny and cool.   After some members grabbed breakfast at Nancy’s Bakery in Lund, we boarded the 43 ft Schooner Misty Isles and headed for … Continue reading Hollyhock Learning Centre

by Tom Koleszar 13 August 2023 Alpine Adventure #6 – Diadem Mountain Once again, on our scheduled field trip day (August 12), the backcountry weather was questionable – so we had to move the trip to Sunday August 13, when we had an absolutely beautiful day!  We landed on a ridge near Mt Diadem, with … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #6 – Diadem Mountain

by John Edwards 30 July 2023 A fantastic low tide exploration day was enjoyed by members of the Malaspina Naturalists (Bengul, Dale, Dan, Madelon, Sharron, Fran, Colleen, Lynn, John and Kelly) on Sunday, July 30.  We powered out of Lund Harbor aboard the Misty Isles with captain Jonas steering us past Keefer Rock to the … Continue reading Low tide exploration

by Tom Koleszar 20 July 2023 This field trip was run for two groups on Saturday and Sunday, July 15 and 16. The trips were aboard the Tla’amin Braves II with Captain Bryce McKenzie, each following the same itinerary.  The trip leaders were Nancy Pezel and Tom Koleszar. The weather was wonderful (and a bit hot) on … Continue reading Powell River Lake

by Tom Koleszar 17 June 2023 Eleven club members headed into the Horseshoe Valley area to learn how forests are regrown after harvesting. Our guides for this trip were Darwyn Koch and Geoff Matheson – both Registered Professional Foresters with Western Forest Products. Our 1st stop was along Dixon Road where we saw a block … Continue reading Forest Regeneration

by Jason Addy 30 May 2023 A stunner of a day at the Bluffs! Fifteen members attended and I ramble along as the guide. The weather was perfect, a bit of cloud, a lot of sun, and cool ocean breezes. We started at the mailboxes on Stillwater School Rd. I talked about the history of … Continue reading Stillwater Bluffs with Jason Addy

by Sheila Peters 13 May 2023 Saturday, May 13, 2023 was a gorgeous day for 12 club members to join captain Jonas Fineman and naturalist George Sirk on the Misty Isles trip to Mitlenatch Island. Just out of Lund, Major Islet was bright with monkey flowers and sea blush and noisy with both Steller and … Continue reading Mitlenatch aboard the Misty Isles

by David Bedry, 7 May 2023 Four of us met at the north end of the mall to carpool to Browne Creek.  Dinner Rock Park is still closed.  We parked at the gate for about a fifteen minute walk to the area where the wildflowers were finally blooming.  The chocolate lilies are finally starting to … Continue reading Browne Creek wildflowers

by Pat Cottingham 26 March 2023 On a cool and very windy day, 5 club members caught the 0810 ferry over to Comox and met up with our informative and interesting guide, Nancy Pezel, in Qualicum Beach.  We were in search of the Brant Geese (sub species Black or Pacific Brant “Brant nigricans) arriving from … Continue reading Return of the Brant geese

by Pat Cottingham, 3 Oct 2022 An enthusiastic group of 12 spent a stunningly beautiful, warm and calm day on the Comox Estuary and in the Baynes Sound area.  We went over as foot passengers from Westview and boarded bus transport at Little River….to take us to Comox Harbour to link up with Duncan Cameron … Continue reading Comox Estuary Tour #2

by Cindy Dalcourt, 19 Sept 2022 A beautiful sunny fall day with calm seas for 12 of us to head over to Comox for our first ever trip with Comox Harbour Tours.  On the way there we were lucky to see whales spouting in the distance on both sides of the ferry.  As we had … Continue reading Comox Estuary Tour #1

by Tom Koleszar, 8 August 2022 Our scheduled field trip day of August 6 had beautiful weather, however, our helicopter was taken to fight wildfires near Bute Inlet, so we could not go! After much discussion and planning and rescheduling, we managed to get a full trip up to Slide Mountain two days later – still … Continue reading Alpine Adventure #5 – Slide Mountain

by Howard and Lois Bridger, 23 July 2022 Leaving Lund at full capacity with twelve passengers, our Captain Jonas and assistant Tosh. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. The temperature was perfect and the few clouds were scattered over the mountain tops. We motored around Sarah Pt., past the Curme Islands to Prideaux Haven … Continue reading Desolation Sound (aboard the Misty Isles)

by Nancy Pezel and Tom Koleszar, 10 July 2022 We conducted this trip on two separate days aboard the Tla’amin Braves II with Captain Bryce.  The weather was OK on both days, just a brief shower on Sunday afternoon.  The lake was relatively calm and the clouds generally high enough to see the surrounding hilltops, if … Continue reading Powell Lake’s Natural and Not So Natural History

by Howard and Lois Bridger, 26 June 2022 It was a fair weather day as the Misty Isles, with Captain Jonas, naturalist George Sirk and a full contingent of twelve naturalists headed out from land towards Hernando Reef. Bird sightings included, a pair of rarely seen Caspian Terns, a Peregrine Falcon, Kingfisher, Harlequin Ducks, Purple Martins, … Continue reading Low tide exploration (aboard the Misty Isles)

by Tom Koleszar, 29 May 2022 Fifteen club members headed into the back country to learn about riparian areas and find some big trees.  After leaving Lang Bay, we drove for an hour to get to the canoe route portage at the head of Windsor Lake.  Here we parked and walked the ~1km route down … Continue reading Streams and Trees

by Sharon Shultz, 7 May 2022 The Misty Isles, her Captain Jonas Fineman and Naturalist George Sirk picked us up at the Lund Marina and took us on a lovely day trip to Mitlenatch Island. Twenty seven (27) species of birds were spotted during our trip. The camas, monkey flowers and sea blush were in full … Continue reading Mitlenatch (aboard the Misty Isles)