Thorn Hill hike and what to expect.

I have lived in Maple Ridge for almost thirty years but have never hiked the Thorn Hill area. Part of the reason is that I haven't been particularly aware of it, the other has to do with the word "hill". One of the things I like about this part of the world is the number of hikes, dikes, and parks that team around me, and most of them have little in the way of elevation gain. This trail though has moderate slopes throughout its length. The entire trail, as indicated on the Hiking Project website is 10.4 km; I did only about 3 km of it.

I was inspired by a friend's post. It was the photograph he included of a Northern Pygmy Owl that stirred me into action. Yesterday, with the sun out and my camera begging to find some action, I began my quest. I wanted to find the mysterious "small duck pond" that he mentioned. I had to backtrack several times along the trek as it seemed I went the wrong way but eventually came upon the standing body of water he told me about. Admittedly, it wasn't very impressive (see photo above). It did have one outstanding feature though, it was where he saw the aforementioned owl.

I have been doing a lot of walking lately. My goal is to get in shape for some of the adventures I hope to have this spring and summer. Doing six kilometers on the flat is OK, but this hike was a bit more than I bargained for. I was about to give up as I had taken several wrong turns, all of them slopes that further exhausted my limited resources. I came across the pond as I neared the end of my will. As I looked about for the bird I found varied thrushes but no owl. After a short break, I made an about-face and headed back down.

The views are rather spectacular. There are quite a few places along the trail where you get uninterrupted views of the Golden Ears Mountain. Some of them have pristine foregrounds, but most have buildings present that diminish its grandeur. Still though, I got a couple of nice shots off. You can see one of them in the photo I included.

It turns out the trip wasn't entirely for nothing. A bald eagle approached the hill from the west and gave me a great chance to photograph it. My camera was set up for stills in the bush and not tracking in the open skies so the images weren't as good as I had hoped to get. Despite the incorrect settings, I got a few decent photos of the majestic bird as it flew past my view of the mountain. I included one in the above picture.

All-in-all, I have to say it was a nice walk and I learned a few things. Next time, I hope to have more success with seeing the owl. And maybe I won't take so many wrong turns.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen

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