The Mystery of 'MOH CK'

Found a cool map site. Loads quickly, and has some topographical stuff to. I got it centered on BC here.

So I went back up to the gated community today (Little Qualicum River Village) to apply for a construction job. Since it's an even nicer day than yesterday, I went up to the highest spot I'd gotten to yesterday to admire the view again. This time though, I decided to follow some footprints on a hunch (remember that the reason I had come here yesterday was to search for the radio tower). I was only in shorts and shoes, but it wasn't cold, and there was only an inch or two of snow at most. Five minutes up the trail, I come across a road. It appeared to be exactly what I'd been searching for, yet I couldn't figure out where it came from. So I follow this road and the footprints up to a fork in the road. A sign indicates that to the right is 'MOH CK'. I've now determined that MOH must stand for Ministry of Highways (old name from way back when), but the CK has me perplexed. mount CoKely is in the vicinity. Cameron laKe is even closer. Maybe just CreeK. I dunno. Anyways, so the footprints went left and I followed them a little ways to a false summit where there was a little lake about the size of a soccer field and a half, with a little island in the middle. I followed the road around the lake, and the footprints went off down some other trail, but I followed the road, since the radio tower was now in view and I figured there must be a way to get up to it nearby. The road looped around the lake and rejoined that MOH CK fork, but then it just ended (although late, I realised there was another road that took off from it). From this dead end though, there was a wide trail that a golf cart would fit nicely on, with footprins going up it. I figured if this wasn't it, it would at least get me close enough to bushwack to the tower. So now I'm in the woods, walking this trail, trying not to be too on edge, from all the sounds of snow/water falling around me (snow was melting off the trees). The trail spiraled up the hump that the tower was on and led me right to it. SUCCESS. After two days, a hunch and about 2km later, I had finally completed my objective. The view was outstanding, as I was now at least 200m above where my car was and was at the highest point within a few kms. I could clearly see both Courtney and Nanaimo on either side of me, which are about 200km apart and I could see even more of the coast mountains, since they weren't blocked as much by Texada Island. I was mad stoked and spent about 30 min there. I climbed up the tower a bit, but there wasn't really a ladder, it didn't go too high, and it was windy too. I decided to practive my karate on top of the building. That was cool. It's weird doing it with shoes on though. I had hoped that I'd be able to see down the back side of this hill/mtn/ridge and see Cameron Lake, but the tower didn't appear to be high enough to allow a glimpse. Quite pleased with myself for following my gut feelings, I started making my way back down the trail, when I noticed a smaller trail take off going down around the backside of the hill. I decided it might've been an alternate route back down to that lake at the false summit, so I started following it. It went past a few ponds, but after about 200m, I figured it probably wasn't gonna help me, so I was JUST about to turn around, when I noticed some light coming through the trees, so I broke trail through the woods and came out on top of a rock outcropping, that dropped away VERY steeply, verging on a cliff. Below me and in front of me was a magnificent view of Cameron Lake, at least 300m below. So that basically put me in a groovin' mood. I would've stayed longer to soak it all in, but the sun was going down, so I hurried back to my car. As I was driving down this road, a truck was blocking my way and so they started driving when I got to them. When they stoped at a wide part of the road, I decided to talk to them. They didn't live there, so I told them what I'd found and I wondered out loud how to drive to that road that I'd walked up. Oddly enough, the guy knew how and told me where to go. So I drove to the spot he said, which I'd already been to yesterday looking for a such a road, but I didn't spot anything this time either. Just as I was turning around, I decided to try this one road. Now this is a subdivision (outside of the LQR village) being made in its early stages and every little road, which there was no shortage of, had lot numbers over them, so I dismissed them all. But this one road seemed to look ever so slightly different, because it had some gravel on it, not just dirt. Even though it had a lot number just like all the rest, I decided to give it a try. Lo and behold, the road forked and there was a sign with good ol' 'MOH CK' on it. Too fuckin weird. So now I know how to drive straight to the lake, and I can even go further down the fork that I didn't notice till I was hiking back down to the car. So if I hadn't been looking for this radio tower yesterday, I wouldn't have noticed that they might be hiring for construction. So I came back today, and if I hadn't been applying for construction (even though I already have a job), I wouldn't have came back at all. Now if it wasn't a flawlessly clear day, I wouldn't have bothered going back up to check out the view. Luckily though, all of these key pieces fell into place, and I found that trail, which despite the snow and its forks, I managed to find both the tower overlooking the ocean, a cliff overlooking the lake, AND the trail kept going along the ridge from there, so there's certainly more to discover. In addition, if I hadn't talked to that guy in the truck, and followed a hunch on that road, I wouldn't have found where that road started.

There are no coincidences, only different levels of awareness....


Read 'The Celestine Prophecy'