John Dean Park -- A Ramble into the Past

Water Lilies

This wasn't a ramble for the Regent Ramblers, but since I put the blog together, I figured I could include it if I wanted.  If anyone is looking for a hike near Sidney, I can recommend John Dean Park. There are several trails one can follow, and anyone who loves old-growth forests will enjoy this one, as the park has some of the largest Douglas fir trees remaining on the south coast of Vancouver Island.

Jeanette at Dam that Makes the Emerald Pool

My aunt and I wanted to have a girls day out, but we were only interested in a shopping day if her granddaughter, Hanna, was available. We had a day like that two summers ago, and Hanna had entertained us for hours as we watched her look for bargains to fit her budget. The chances of Hanna joining us were slim, so I suggested a hike and Jeanette was certainly game. She peeked at the Ramblers site and said she wished she could have been here with us. Jeanette, along with my Uncle Don

Snack and Rest at Pickles' Bluff

and their two children, hiked the West Coast Trail close to forty years ago -- long before it was upgraded and became popular. I still remember visiting them shortly after their trip and being enthralled at their slides. Jeanette is older than I am (Uncle Don is 70, and I think she's a couple of years younger), but she can still put in a solid day of hiking--guess that's what comes from a lifetime of being active.

Trees Grow a Lot in 60 Years!

I got up early and headed to Tsawwassen to be sure the 8:00 a.m. ferry didn't leave without me. Jeanette met me at the other end. She had dutifully pulled a trail map off the provincial parks web site, and Uncle Don had given her clear directions of how to get to John Dean Park from the ferry docks, so we were off without hesitation. There was an added intrigue for us in choosing this park, as Jeanette remembered camping there as a child. Little was the same as it had been back then--trees grow a lot in sixty years, and other things decay and disappear. As we walked, we felt like we were stepping back into history and that the ghosts of bygone days were whispering to us along the way.

View from Lookout

The park is situated on top of Mt. Newton. You would have seen this mountain if you have ever travelled to Victoria, as it is the highest point on the Saanich Peninsula. The First Nations people call the mountain Lau Wel New (which means Place of Refuge), and according to the legends of their culture, this mountain enabled their Saanich ancestors to survive the Great Flood. It was here, on the top of Lau Wel New, that the ancient people were able to anchor their canoe with a giant cedar rope until the flood waters subsided. Lau Wel New was the first land available after the Flood. I will add this new piece of information to my collection of Flood legends and share it with my next crop of grade sevens.

Indian Pipe -- aka "Corpse Plant"

Yellow Slime Mould -- aka "Dog's Vomit"

There was much to see as we traipsed merrily along, and we chatted about everything and anything. Jeanette compared the conversation of women to a spider's web--moving out from a topic when something else catches their interest, but always going back to the centre of the web. And there was much to catch our interest. The first time I had seen Indian Pipe was last year when the Ramblers did the Jug Island hike. I was disappointed this year when I didn't see any along that trail, but that disappointment was quickly forgotten when we found the ghostly-white plant in abundance. This wasn't the only oddity along the path. In a place of green and brown, a patch of brilliant yellow cannot help but be noticed. Often confused with Witch's Butter, which is a jelly-like fungi, this organism is simply called Yellow Slime Mould (or sometimes Dog's Vomit). This organism baffles scientist, as it produces spores like a fungus, but is capable of locomotion like an animal--when faced with food shortage, the slime moulds congregate and move as a single body.

Emerald Pool

John Dean was an early pioneer in the area, and he settled on Mt. Newton, building a cabin he called Illahie. He donated his property in 1921, and it became the first donated provincial park in British Columbia. Others followed suit, donating adjoining property, and the park grew to 455 acres. The trail names are all connected to a piece of the past. As we hiked, we watched for anything that Jeanette might recognize from her early years, but for the first hour we saw nothing. Then we came upon a spot labelled "Gazebo Site." Jeanette remembered the gazebo immediately, and memories started to flood back. Next we found the site of John Dean's cabin, then the old campground site, then a rickety bridge crossing a dried-up stream. It was a haunting feeling to know that the silent surroundings were once filled with the laughter of families camping there.

Eerie Silence of the Lily Pond

Looking at the trail map, we headed to the "Emerald Pool," expecting to find a jewel in the woods. It was a tiny, black pool, but somehow it fitted the enigma of the day. When we came to the "Lily Pond," I couldn't help but feel I had slipped into another dimension somehow. It seemed as if an ethereal mist was rising from the milky water, and the silence was deafening. We sat there for quite some time, simply soaking in the mystery.

Four hours after we laced on our hiking shoes, we came to the trail that would take us out of our trip to the past and into the reality of the day. Sandals back on, a quick trip into Sydney for a bite to eat, and it was back to the ferry docks for the voyage home. I must say, that a ramble like we had beats sitting around or fighting crowds of shoppers!