The trail - about 4 km long - follows a bluff and is well marked. One word of advice from those of us who stumbled (it happened): while walking, look where you put your feet. When you're looking up for trail markers, or to admire the setting, stop walking! Otherwise, the roots, rocks and other obstacles are just waiting... 
The trail goes past Murder Point, site of a double murder that occurred in 1863. If you are curious about the name, click here for the story of what happened at murder point (page 140). This link takes you to pages excerpted from Gunboat Frontier, a book by Barry Gough on local history. To get to Murder Point, you have to take a steep side trail; we decided that this side trail would be another adventure, on another day...
When we reached the former Taylor homestead, we noticed that the forest environment changes. There are fewer dry-forest trees like arbutus, and more alder and grasses. For safety reasons, Parks Canada has designated the ruins of the Taylor stone house off-limits. After meeting horse riders from the Campbell Farm and their dog, a sweetie named Alice, we continued down a meadow toward the beach.
The beach at Taylor Point is sandy, and almost deserted. A lovely place for a picnic. We enjoyed our well-deserved sandwiches and water, then we took off our shoes and dipped our toes in the ocean and looked for anemones. That is cold water, people!
After a picnic on the beach, it was time to go back... much too soon for some of us, but we had other things to do - like get back early enough to clean up and go to the Firefighters' Pig Barbecue and Dance. The social calendar on this island is very busy.
Our return route took us through the Campbell Farm, with its pastures and a grove of old-growth Douglas firs and cedars. Click on the picture above to enlarge it. Even a larger image does not do justice to the size of these trees. You just have to be there. We were told that some of the trees are estimated to be 500 to 700 years old.
On top of keeping you safe, the concept of looking where you are stepping discussed earlier has interesting payoffs: here's a garter snake that we spotted by the road.
We also met some cattle... the mothers were not very happy with our presence and let us know that we should not try to walk between them and their calves. It's a matter of etiquette.
After a visit of the Campbell Farm renovated barn and office, we returned to our cars through Rebeccas's Vineyard, part of the Saturna Island Vineyards. The vines are beginning to leaf out, a promise of Gewürtztraminer and Pinot Noir...
We returned to our cars after 4.5 hours of hiking through a coastal forest, a picnic, some beach time, and visiting a farm. Everyone was tired, but it was a "happy" kind of tired!
We have voted on next week's walk and we will get more information together. Stay tuned, the walk will be posted here and at the stores on Wednesday.
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