Though it has plenty of competition the Brown Ridge-Taylor Point route is quite simply the most glorious day hike in the entire south Vancouver-southern Gulf Islands region. Starting at an elevation just under 500 metres, we hiked down to sea level at Taylor Point, savouring familiar but no less astounding 180-degree vistas over a feast of magnificent islands south of Saturna: little ones like Blunden, Skipjack and Flattop, mid-sized ones such as Stuart and Waldron, big ones too – Pender, Orcas, Saltspring.
Spectacular though it is, the hike is remarkable for the absence of fellow travelers we typically see.Feral goats frequent the bluffs, black-tailed deer too, and – at this time of year – plenty of woodland birds. Every April we keep a lookout for two migrant species: Townsend's solitaire and mountain bluebird. Yesterday, for the first time ever, we saw both. As for fellow humans, the day was happily, blissfully typical: we had the ridge entirely to ourselves.
In April wildflowers proliferate in these parts: shootingstars, calypso orchids, blue-eyed mary, coralroot, fawn lilies et al. At Taylor Point white-crowned sparrows marked their territory in proprietary song, harbour seals eyed us warily from the littoral, bald eagles patrolled the headland, a garter snake sunned itself at trailside.We explored new territory, the first few hundred metres of the shoreline trail from Taylor Point to Saturna Vineyards, liked it hugely, and vowed to devour more of it next time.
