HEART LAKE run 14km??Chicken ladder pictures.

These picture are part of the Holland creek trail system, The bottom picture is at the top of the ladder, the second picture from the bottom and the last picture is the same spot but somebody had turned the water valve on because the water came shooting down from just a trickle of water minutes before.. So why is this called the Chicken Ladder ? GETTING UP AT 6am to go running seems kind of crazy but if you want to stay cool and run before the sun gets up it doesn't sound so bad after all. And that is what a group of Ladysmith striders decided to do ,meeting at the top of Battie drive John- Phil -Dolly-Kelly- Robin- and myself met to face the task of running up to Heart Lake and back again figuring it wouldn't take us all that long.We started running along the power lines and coming to the start of heart lake trail we decided to escort Robin to the Ladysmith water reservoir where she continued on her own we back tracked to the heart lake trail were it didn't take us long to break into a steady walk, this was a bit better than a walk seeing we had to hike up a steep trail which takes you to heart lake ,making a few stops for water and sight seeing with tougher climbs higher up the hillside. A steep climb (initially via a stone staircase) takes hikers to Heart Lake; the viewpoint, which takes in theGulf Islands and the mainland and Ladysmith harbour ,getting to heart lake we were met by the music of some one camping and this kind of spoiled the serenity of the place,continuing with our jog yes we could run here the ground had leveled of a bit although the trail did have roots , muskrat holes ,trees and rocks that we had to manoeuvre over and around so it was like a miniature boot camp run only nobody was telling us to go faster,coming to the main trail we had a miniature huddle to decide to go to stocking lake trail or back .doing the stocking lake trail is nice with a trail going through second growth forest although it is getting very dry up there. it its a very scenic trail and has many sights of the lake although you feel isolated from everything you are not far from Bannon creek forestry rd winding our way down the trail by the chicken ladder. why this part is called the chicken ladder I don't know maybe its the way the Creek cascades down for a ways it kind of twirls around and down not going in a straight line and lets the sun hit it making the water different collars, running along the creek was nice seeing we where still protected from the sun by the big trees which kind of made a canopy over our heads, yes we did make it back to our vehicles and were happy that we had enjoyed our selves on our early morning run, Run smart - Run safe.