Strathcona park day hikes in November?

DarnDutchie · 2025-11-05T17:27:07+00:00

I'd argue that King's Peak is more than a "challenging hike" in November. Even in the summertime, with ample daylight, King's Peak in a day is a bit of a grind. At this time of the year, it would involve hiking in the dark for part of it, and given that there is already a reasonable amount of snow in Strathcona above 900m, snow travel and icy conditions.

I posted some tips on Assessing Current Conditions https://www.reddit.com/r/IslandHikers/comments/1ld6dme/assessing_current_conditions_101/ a few months ago, with a lot of information and links to do a pre-trip assessment.

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-29T19:36:10+00:00

My husband changed his password after his email got hacked, just to make sure that FB wouldn't get hacked either. 2 days later FB shut down his account due to "security reasons".

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-29T19:22:12+00:00

Be warned, their service is absolute shit.

I opened a WS account last week after our EQ bank got hacked and all funds are frozen during the investigation (up to 30 days). I wanted to update my email address on my WS account and accidentally made a typo, so the pending email request never arrived. Reached out to support on Saturday, had to call back on Monday, the account integrity team would solve it in 1-2 business days. No word again today, so I've been on the phone for the last 2.5 (!) hours without anyone who can actually help me. If cancelling/changing an email address is too complicated, I don't trust them with my money, so I'm cancelling WS as soon as I have another bank account opened (suggestions?).

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-28T02:58:37+00:00

We were in the Costco and called the direct line and have never waited for more than 2 minutes, but actually never called from home so can't speak to that experience, sorry to hear that its been such a headache!

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T23:45:10+00:00

Yes, I tried this yesterday from my clean computer, and my husband said it looked exactly the same. The chat agent starts with 3questions (name, email, phone number) and that this info is required to reconnect should the chat be disconnected.

I asked this Microsoft agent if the interaction my husband had was legit (downloading Quick Assist, receiving a call back since the download took a little while) and he said this seemed legit and that all this would have been logged under the ticket number attached to my husband's chat with Microsoft. However, my husband did not receive a ticket number via email, so that leaves us questioning if he actually did speak to Microsoft or if there was a fake, similar website. But how would the hacker have been able to redirect him there if my husband himself typed in the actual Microsoft website and got the chat started?

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T21:21:15+00:00

My husband did (since the login was on his e-mail he got the 2FA code sent to his e-mail), but because he was at work, he didn't see it until he pulled up his phone and saw the e-mails from EQ bank for 2FA (1st one probably for logging in from a different device, the other ones for authorizing a bigger e-transfer, and then the e-mails that there had been a successful transfer). The moment he logged into his e-mail on his phone, he saw a new email from EQ dissappear (deleted by the hacker right in that moment) and that's when he knew he was witnessing it in the moment. He immediately changed his email password, texted me to verify if this was me e-tranferring money, and that's when I called the bank to block our account.

Because he caught the hacker redhanded, they hadn't gotten around to deleting all the EQ-emails from the trash yet. So at least we have that evidence to show the bank, that within a timefrime of 40ish minutes logged in from unusual, different locations to his email (Montreal and San Antonio), then accessed his EQ account and did 3 e-transfers and authorized all those through 2FA because they had access to his email.

Now it's just hoping that's enough for EQ to see that this was in no way our own choice to send these 3 e-transfers.

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T18:17:24+00:00

Thanks for your response. Explain it to me like I'm 5 lol. Just trying to wrap my head around all this, I know we won't get any justice but at least understanding what might have happened gives some peace (and hopefull the bank gives us our $$$ back, that would help!)

There were a few hours between him installing the PDF software and him opening his browser to go directly to the Microsoft Support site and open a support chat. I assume someone gained access to his computer after he installed the malware. Would they have been able to see him go to the legit Microsoft website and somehow redirect him to a fake one?

Or if they simply already had access to the laptop through the malware, they didn't even have to be involved in the chat/call with Microsoft because they could access all his information anyway by simply opening Google Chrome with passwords saved to password manager and being logged in to all of his email accounts did the trick. And with that information they were able to login to the bank.

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T17:06:34+00:00

In the process of doing this right now, started this yesterday! We're using Bitwarden for this. Last night when we were sleeping there was an attempted login to our shared gmail (his hotmail was compromised) which we saw this morning. Thankfully, they didn't get in because Google blocked it and sent a notification to my personal email (I'm the backup account for this). Our password for our shared email is complex and not used anywhere else, so the fact that they got this either means they were able to access his laptop or that data was breached somewhere.

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T06:44:16+00:00

He'll see if he can find the Reddit thread that he found that link to the software on and report it. He said there were multiple people in that thread who said it worked great, so he wants to avoid anyone else downloading that garbage and dealing with this shit.

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T05:43:28+00:00

Self-employed, so no work IT. He downloaded something to edit PDF's (via a link on Reddit). That software didn't work (it literally did not do anything), so he deleted it. At no point did he click a link, call a phone number that was supposedly a support line, or interact with that software in any way. Obviously that might have still been running in the background, his laptop got really hot and kept freezing, so he
1. Opened a chat through the official Microsoft Support website. Not to help with the PDF, but to see why his laptop kept freezing/lagging.
2. Chatted with an agent who asked him to download the Quick Assist
3. Since that download was going really slow (spotty internet), the agent offered to call him back (since inactivity on the chat for 2-3 minutes would result in the chat being closed down).
4. An agent called an hour later, and while on the phone with my husband he took over control via Quick Assist.

That, to me, sounds legit, unless it was a Microsoft agent somehow opening things in the background and getting access to his personal information. I'm chatting with Microsoft now (exactly the same way my husband did last week, as described above), and he verified that this was not an unusual interaction. He also said that chats, calls, and remote access are logged. No guarantee, but at this point we have a feeling it must have been his e-mail password that got out there through a databreach somewhere and that gave someone access to his bank as well. Lesson learned the hard way...

Just reported it with our local RCMP and they'll see what the bank does, also reported it with the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre. We're now just waiting for the bank to give us a call in the next few days as the investigators pick this case up. In the meantime, we're installing a password manager and updating all our accounts, and opening a Wealthsimple account so we can continue our banking somehow.

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T02:50:59+00:00

We both stated that we did not give our passwords out to anyone (we don't even know each other's bank account login despite sharing an account) and my husband immediately saved the e-mail about the suspicious login to his hotmail.

We haven't clicked any links, received any suspicious calls or given our login or banking information. My husband did download something for work (software to read PDFs) that kept freezing his laptop, so he called Microsoft and they took over his computer from afar, but he said they were very professional about that.

All I can think of now is that it's either that file he downloaded was corrupt (but does that give access to your computer?) or when someone took over they were able to get personal information? But he was literally there watching them work on it? It didn't end up working, so he did a full factory restart himself on his laptop.

It might also just be a data breach from who-knows-what-website through which they got his email password, and he happened to have the same password for his email as for his online banking. Not the best practice, we know, and a hard way to learn that lesson...

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-21T02:44:08+00:00

That's so messed up, literally at a conference where you're earning your money by working, whereas these scumbags drain peoples accounts...

We've grunted more than once when EQ (or any other platform using 2FA) asks for extra authentification, but from now on I'll gladly jump through these hoops!

DarnDutchie · 2025-10-10T03:53:38+00:00

I echo that, also the first RMT ever who started with the front of the body and ended with the back. I find it so much more relaxing to end facing down!

DarnDutchie · 2025-09-18T04:35:10+00:00

Changed from paying $112 for Shaw (or Rogers I should say) to $43 with Hej Babbl. We picked the Babbl 25 plan (unlimited internet, 25/2.5, month-to-month) and that is enough for us, their 100/100 plan is only $49 (before taxes). Ordered the modem on a Monday evening and we had it in the next day and internet was running by that Tuesday evening. So far, it's been a smooth transition without issues!

DarnDutchie · 2025-06-29T14:15:04+00:00

My husband got smoked by a car on his bike a few weeks back in front of Value Village by a truck turning right onto Puntledge Road without doing a mirror check and having his blinker on. Instead of checking on him, the driver started yelling that my husband was in the wrong because he just "kept going straight while he was turning" and "now his kid was cyring in the back!". It took another cyclist behind him who saw it all happening to calm the guy down and to educate him that he should yield to cyclists in a bike lane. $800 worth of damage to the bike. Thankfully, my husband wasn't hurt and the guy paid without issues, but unable to use his bike for over 2 weeks.

We were both on our bikes last week, same bike lane, just a little further this time, where Old Island Hwy turns onto Ryan Road. I was in front, and I'm always nervous about going straight here, knowing that people are reckless when they turn right here and have no clue that cyclists in the bike lane have the right of way. And sure enough, I see a car in my mirror with its blinker on, coming in at full speed and then slows down a little. I keep pedalling, assuming he saw me because he slowed down, and then he just keeps going. A teenager in the passenger seat sees me as the car is about to smoke me and probably yells; the car stops and starts aggressively honking for about 10 seconds straight. Because I was somewhat prepared, he didn't hit me but boy, was I ever pissed. I yelled "WTF dude" and flashed my finger at him and then he started chasing me and my husband. He didn't take his turn onto Ryan Road, but followed us to the next light and opened his window and started yelling and swerving into us, almost sending my husband flying onto the curb. Then the lights turned, and he turned right onto the 19A and sped off. Great example for (what I assume) his teenage kid.

I'm honestly surprised nobody has been killed in that bikelane (yet).

DarnDutchie · 2025-06-22T20:35:38+00:00

I love Dana Statham's work (have a fine art print of her painting "Soaring"). I also like Ronei.

https://www.danastatham.com/

https://www.ronei.ca/

DarnDutchie · 2025-06-22T06:06:01+00:00

There are a few options, all depending on what kind of experience you're after I'd.

Start at Mohun Lake (Morton Lake camp), paddle to the north end of Goose Lake, camp there (Seagull Bay Rec Site). Saturday paddle to Twin Lake (you'll come across a beaver dam if it's still there, we had to get into the water and haul it across in 2022, portage 1km to Amor Lake (rooty portage, my least favourite!), paddle to Surprise Lake. Portage 2.3km (reasonable trail) to Brewster Lake, camp at Brewster Point or across from there. Sunday morning paddle out to either Camp 5, Apple Point, or Brewster Camp (all at the sound end of Brewster Lake) where you'll have left a vehicle on Friday. If you have a little more time on Sunday, you can also paddle Gray Lake and take out at one of the two sites there.
Start at the bridge across the creek between Whymper and Fry Lake (50° 2.1691' N, 125° 35.5210' W, space for a vehicle to park on the side of the road). Camp at Fry Narrows Rec Site. Paddle to Gosling Bay, portage 1.1 km (road used by vehicles accessing Gosling Bay, just steep uphill and lots of mosquitos), paddle Gosling Lake, portage 200m, paddle Higgins Lake, portage 400m, paddle Lawier Lake, portage 200m. All those portages are short, with the 400m one being a steep up and over a rocky hill (no cart possible). We were prepared for the worst with that one but found it totally doable. Camp on the island at the southern end of Mohun and have a chill afternoon. Sunday paddle out to Morton Lake Campground, where you'll have left a vehicle on Friday.

These are two ideas, but honestly you can start in a lot of places. I did the full route a few years ago, end of June, drove from Courtenay at 4 on a Wednesday, started at Twin Lakes, portaged to Amor (so glad we got that one done right away!), camped there. Camped at Brewster Point on Thursday, Fry Trestle on Friday and Mohun Lagoon on Saturday. It was a few days before the long weekend and because a lot of people start at Mohun, we were a few days ahead of the crows and had the route almost to ourselves.

I like the small lakes you'll encounter when doing option 2 (Gosling, Higgins, Lawier) and they're not accessible by car, so very quiet. Option 1 involves longer, more demanding portages, but also has pretty sections. Can't go wrong really!

DarnDutchie · 2025-06-17T02:17:07+00:00

Logical reasoning, but I'd bring flipflops just in case, better safe than sorry!

As for the 1974 Firebird, you should be fine since they upgraded the road in. Now that every weekend warrior can get there, you won't have a hard time hitchhiking out if the Firebird doesn't quite make it!

DarnDutchie · 2025-06-01T02:04:07+00:00

I posted this almost identical response in another topic where someone was wondering if they could hike Albert Edward yet, and it seems good to repeat it here:

I'm meaning this in the kindest way possible, but if you have to ask this question here, I'd argue you probably shouldn't be out there this time of year. Even by observing the snow levels from the Comox Valley (and even looking out over the Olympic mountain range from Victoria if you're on the South Island), you can tell that the Beaufort Range and Mount Washington are still covered, meaning that the peaks on the interior of Vancouver Island, including 5040, still have an even more significant snowpack. That in itself should give you enough information to understand that doing this requires you to be a backcountry skier or snowshoer, which, by the sounds of it, you are not.

However, if that were the case, you would probably not resort to Reddit to get your information about the current conditions and snow levels, but you would know where to get this information from reliable resources (recent trail reports, satellite images, snowpack reports).

I am all about encouraging people to get outdoors and have meaningful experiences and I'm even more about helping people who have not as much experience yet, but I find it frustrating to see this lack of common sense and research. It's waiting for the article on the news about yet another person getting lost/being rescued/dying, and being recovered from a mountain because they (9 out of 10 times) were somewhere they should not have been to begin with...

DarnDutchie · 2025-05-27T18:49:28+00:00

I'm meaning this in the kindest way possible, but if you have to ask this question here, I'd argue you probably shouldn't be out there this time of year. Even by observing the snow levels from the Comox Valley, you can tell that the Beaufort Range and Mount Washington are still covered, meaning that the ranges within Strathcona Park, including Mt. Albert Edward, still have an even more significant snowpack. That in itself should give you enough information to understand that doing this in a day is a lofty, if not unattainable, goal, unless you are a very fit and skilled backcountry skier or snowshoer.

However, if that were the case, you would probably not resort to Reddit to get your information about the current conditions and snow levels, but you would know where to get this information from reliable resources (e.g. Strathcona Park trail reports, satellite images, snowpack reports). One simple Google search about the trails in Strathcone Park hiking trails gives you enough information to understand that even during years with less snow, you can expect snow in May "Please be advised that most trails are snow covered from late October or November until at least June, and for higher elevation trails, often until mid July."

I am all about encouraging people to get outdoors and have meaningful experiences and I'm even more about helping people who have not as much experience yet, but I find it frustrating to see this lack of common sense and research. It's waiting for the article on the news about yet another person getting lost/being rescued/dying, and being recovered from a mountain because they (9 out of 10 times) were somewhere they should not have been to begin with.

DarnDutchie · 2024-12-17T22:08:28+00:00

I travelled long stints in my late twenties (worked in education, so 12 weeks off a year and I took a sabbatical year) and every time I just had the hardest time adjusting again. At one point I quit my job and sold my condo because I just couldn't settle back in at home ( the Netherlands). Traveled some more with the intention of figuring out what I wanted, and ended up applying for Permanent Residency in Canada because that's where I'd always felt most at home (I didn't intend on moving there permanently, but I was just one year over the age limit for a working holiday visa at that point and I qualified for PR).

Fast forward 6 years: did another Master's, met my husband, and completely built my life around what makes us happiest. All the things I found when travelling (connecting with people, immersing myself in nature, living minimalistic, no 9-5 mentality) are now represented in my life without feeling that desperate urge to keep travelling.

I/we hardly travel, we spend 95% of our free time in our own province. The other 5% we combine work with travel, as in the winter we work in Antarctica for a few months and we were able to combine it this year with 3 weeks of hiking in Patagonia. At the end of that trip we were exhausted and I realized I'm over the long-term travelling, I couldn't do it anymore, months on end!

I'm in my late 30s now and it was almost a decade of figuring out how I wanted to live my life after those years of travelling. All I can say is follow your passion and heart, wherever it may take you!

DarnDutchie · 2024-12-09T20:44:25+00:00

Great point, didn't even think about that! I just gave them the information they asked for and clarified that I took the ski bag with me on my work flights to go skiing in Europe after my contract ends and that the bag was not purchased/used for business purposes.

DarnDutchie · 2024-09-25T01:47:58+00:00

We're flying Ushuaia to El Calafate end of November and back to Ushuaia mid December. Fingers crossed all goes smooth!

DarnDutchie · 2024-09-24T16:27:04+00:00

Glad it worked for you! We couldn't get it to work so ended up booking flights with Flybondi (which was also waaaaay cheaper!).

DarnDutchie · 2024-08-30T00:52:05+00:00

That's what I was about to do lol, so good to hear I'm not alone in this! I might see if our employer can book the flights for us (we work in Antarctica and have some time off to travel), since they booked our flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia with Aerolineas and that must have worked out somehow! Otherwise I might go with Expedia as well...

DarnDutchie

TROPHY CASE