Monthly Archives: March 2008

Lindsay Lake 30/03/08

Hurrian P. at Lindsay Lake:
"Like most great trips, this one didn’t really go as planned, but the day’s adventure made it worthwhile. As we started to ascend up from Buntzen Lake I doubted that we needed snowshoes but by the time we got to the ridge there was 8 feet of snow. We followed the tracks of some errant snowshoers and somehow wandered off the regular trail to some place to the east of Eagle Peak. Luckily we bumped into a mysterious older man named Bob who looked like he had stopped aging a decade or so back. He confirmed that we were nowhere near the Lindsay Lake trail. (All of the signposts were buried.) He said we could find the proper trail again but we’d have to bushwhack through the forest among very deep tree wells to get there. He led us past Cypress Lake and to a great lookout over the eastern Lower Mainland before depositing us back at the proper trail. I think the trip demonstrated the need to also bring a topographical map because 103 Hikes, however good, does not provide sufficiently detailed maps."

West Canyon Trail 29/03/08

Ahmad at the West Canyon & Viking Trails:
“The roads were fine and accessible to the parking lots. There was also no parking meters so the parking was free this time. The Viking trail had a shallow layer of snow while West Canyon had some scattered snow patches. We met few people on the trail. The waterfalls were not in their full capacity yet. Thanks to Melanie who warned me about the road conditions.”

Baden-Powell Trail 29/03/08

Melanie on the Baden-Powell trail:
“On a fabulously sunny day, five of us hiked the first part of the Baden Powell trail from Deep Cove to Lynn Canyon. There were views of Deep Cove at the rock, some nice forested sections, a canyon, waterfalls, and a bit of a steep grind at the end to work out the leg muscles. Great company and conversation. Reminisced about the newly renovated suspension bridge and its lost Indiana Jones style thrill appeal. Finished a fantastic day with donuts at the famous Honey’s.”

Mt Gardner 22/03/08

Hurrian P. on Mt Gardner:
“With a little help from an SFU/UBC hiking group named, not-so-creatively, “Hiking Group”, the five of us were able to find the trail head to Mount Gardner. The path was quite tricky to find at times and there were crossroads without clear markings. Only the top few hundred metres was snow-covered but it was quite slippery on the north slope, especially the final steep section. On the way back, we decided to take the alternative route and followed a very sparse trail back to Snug Cove – often the only way that we could tell that there was a trail were the signs that some very adventurous soul had decided to mountain bike that route down from Mount Gardner. Our conversations, although diverse, intellectual and entertaining always found their way back to Wikipedia sex scandals – ask Su-Laine.”

Elfin Lakes 21/03/08

Michelle at Elfin Lakes:
“Five of us headed to Elfin Lakes on Good Friday with beautiful weather all the way up from Vancouver to Squamish. With all the recent snow, the final portion of the service road had definite winter driving conditions in the morning and required chains – we had to wait for a car with just snow tires to finish “trying” and get themselves safely off the road. Funny observation: all cars parked at the lower pull out lot, us and all the other trucks/4x4s at the upper pull out lot and nothing but jeeps in the actual parking lot.

We were among the early crowd on the trail so it was fairly powdery conditions requiring a little more effort and time (lots of fresh powder up there!). The sun played peek-a-boo all day. We had periods of fine snow mixed with windows of amaaaazing blue sky and sun with great views along the lower trail. However, the view from the ridge was a wall of immovable white. We had beat the throngs to the warming hut but had voted to return early (we only ventured a half hour past the hut up to Paul Ridge), given the hidden view, time and unknown road conditions. We all enjoyed a leisurely return bathed in sun with harder packed conditions from all the traffic now on the trail. Fortunately upon return, road conditions had immensely improved. All in all, beautiful scenery, pleasant weather and great company with a lot of laughs. A great day and the first of many call outs to organize for me I think.”

Widgeon Falls 21/03/08

Greg M. at Widgeon Falls:
“After a very, very last minute callout, I ended up having to turn away people. In just the first 20 minutes I had 10 replies. I over filled the trip with eight: Harris, Kevin, Daniel & Charlotte, Nadia & Joel, and me. For those who know me and have heard about the horror story last weekend of driving up to Nelson (2 flat tires, highway closures, 80kph spin, and a near empty tank), you will not be surprised with what mother-nature had in store for us this weekend. We began our saga at the trail head where we rented canoes. We suited up and readied ourselves for the adventure. Since we were running a bit late, we met up with Joel and Nadia at the rental house who planned to catch us later on the trail. Warmly greeting their arrival and gladly sharing the canoe costs, we made our way up river. The sun was shining from behind and the view of the mountains in the clouds was perfected only by the white of the snow on the trees. Then something hit our heads. Many things, actually. And we realized that we found ourselves in a hail storm. It sounds terrible, I know, but you at least stay dry. Then it began to rain. And we concluded our hike quite wet. However, the feeling in the camp was very good, and we had a great time. We learned about the J-stroke, chanted 1-2-1-2 like warriors, and some of us even had to get out of the canoe at one point as it had run aground. Hard. We have video. Upon review of the pictures and movies, everyone was laughing the whole time. And the hot chocolate really made drying off fun.”