Stephen H. at Brew Lake:
“Dennis, Lisa, Rasham, Tu, and Vladimir joined me for my third and finally successful hike to Brew Lake. The hardest route-finding was at the start, driving up the logging roads to the newer trailhead. The trail itself is rugged, steep, and overgrown in parts but easy enough to find when you fall off the path. There were tons of blueberries along the trail. Fog obscured most of the views, but we did get a glimpse of Black Tusk. All in all, it was a great somewhat-rainy-day hike.”
Yearly Archives: 2014
Mystery Lake, 6 Aug 2014
Steve v. at Mystery Lake:
“Looking at the weather report I assumed it was going to be a cooking hot day worthy of an “after work” swim, but it turned out to be a bit cooler with cloud. I had 2 full cars of sign-ups and on game day we opted to hike first to Mystery Peak, then down to the lake. It turned out to be a good move making it a bit longer and by the time we reached the lake some sun had broken through. The added bonus is that Mystery Lake is probably one of the warmest mountain lakes I’ve ever been in (everyone agreed, not just my opinion!): in fact it was quite comfortable. After eating and drying off we walked out as the sun set.
While the nights are still long and warm enough, I highly suggest this trip for a weeknight evening escape. You can shorten the hike part by going directly to the lake from the parking lot and avoiding Mystery Peak.”
Marriott Meadows, 2 Aug 2014
Stacey A. at Marriott Meadows:
“A long-weekend two-night trip to Marriott Meadows and Rohr Lake. Four of us made the trip and were fortunate to have a driver with 4WD 🙂 It’s a short access road to the trail head if you have to walk though. Lots of bugs the whole time: mosquitos, black flies, deer flies, you name it, they were biting us. I would suggest bringing bug hats at the least (or waiting until later in the season). One of our crew had a small over-bed mosquito net that pretty much saved us as we could eat under it, etc. That being said, my skin was mostly covered, I used almost an entire small bottle of Ben’s 30% deet spray, and I still managed to get almost 100 bites! The others seemed to have fared a bit better.
First night was spent at Rohr Lake. The trail to Rohr Lake is muddy in several spots. The last steep hill up to the lake is definitely muddy and slippery and requires care! Alternatively, you can head up the boulder field next to the path with ease. There seem to be about 6 spots for camping at the lake. No toilet or cache, and the trees aren’t ideal for hanging food. Lake is cold but swimmable! The hike to Mt. Rohr takes about 2 more hours from the lake. It’s mostly boulder fields, but well cairned for the way.
Second night was spent at the lake just below the Wendy Thompson Hut (we heard the hut was overfull with a large group of 22, plus others). Again the hike was muddy with a few creek crossings on logs. The terrain was varied with forest paths, meadows, and boulder fields. No apparent obvious camp spots on the lake, just put up our tents on a dry patch of grass. Lots of hikes from here to explore. The lake was cold but refreshing and great for swimming!
All around beautiful views for both areas!”
Mt Harvey, 27 Jul 2014
Stephen H. on Mount Harvey:
“What a tough hike. Mark, Yasuyo, Ino, Jacqui, Jenn, and Michelle joined me for the steep slog. Thankfully, there’s lots of shade until you get to the ridge. We were rewarded with a largely empty trail (everyone was over at the West Lion) and sweet views. Great, tiring day. Too bad they don’t serve iced coffee at the Lions Bay cafe.”
Tricouni Peak, 27 Jul 2014
Steve v. at Tricouni Peak:
“Did we make the peak? Almost. Did we see amazing scenery and views all around? You bet we did! This trip was one of those epic dayhikes that may have better been served as an overnight trip. The need for a good 4×4 makes this particular destination hard to reach for the average hiker but do what you can to someday come to Tricouni Meadows and Peak.
Lakes, waterfall, flowering meadows and open summits all awaited us, impressing us at every muddy step. Yes, that is right, the legendary muddiness of this trail was out in full force but really is only an issue for the first 1/4 from the trailhead. Another group of hikers told us there is a way less muddy trail on the other side of the creek and had the clean pants to show for it (someone look into this!).
The group (me, Tamara, Paul, Perry) held up a decent pace but we still found that the mud, combined with the extensive scree fields and snow patches put us way over the 7 hour time estimate listed in 103 Hikes. More like 9 hours with lunch but I can’t help but think maybe it is easier with more snow in certain parts than less.
After an exhausting hike out with an endless “last kilometre” we tried to get into the Watershed for some grub but it was packed and ended up at the Howe Sound Brew pub.
One last big thanks to Perry for getting us to the trailhead and for having a spare pair of boots to lend!”
Twin Lakes, 26 Jul 2014
Tu Loan at Twin Lakes:
“Steps to an awesome backcountry trip through Wanderung:
- Place a callout to the most amazing place within a 4 hour drive: Twin Lakes (Haylmore-Melvin Divide in 103 Hikes Book).
- Be lucky enough to gather a group of great people who all pitch in to do their part to make the trip great: Elisa, meal sharer extraordinaire; Ty, beverage sharer extraordinaire; and Nima, human mule extraordinaire. TLT was photographer and meal sharer #1.
- Have a car that can drive 13 km on rough FSR and make rock clearing a sport amongst your passengers.
- Provide a doable and scenic 10 km hike through a U-shaped valley with plenty of flowers and creeks to distract from the bugs.
- Arrive at the first lake with plenty of time to take in the beauty of being in the alpine and the magnificent views mountains to the south and waterfalls to the north.
- Prepare a delicious meal for 4 with the non-chefs fighting off the now-not-so-cute-but-aggressive marmots (one ran off with Nima’s headlamp on our last day!). Beverages were well paired for the meal: white wine, après dinner port, and Bailey’s for yet hot chocolate.
- Be prepared for the unexpected cold evening! Ty’s bivy sack was frosted, inside and out, the next morning. Luckily, we had a structural engineer to explain the phenomenon.
- Spend the whole day exploring the area above the first lake, with a magical trek through a meadow of wildflowers!! Nearby peaks are scramble-able. Make sure you have Matt Gunn’s book to help with route finding.
- Enjoy a second evening of a delicious meal and wine pairing and great company.
- Pack up the last day and retrace trek back to car and head over to Birkenhead Provincial Park to find solace from heat and jump into the refreshing lake. This was also bought us time until HWY 99 southbound opens up again (Iron Man Canada).
- Enjoy after hike refreshments and meal in Pemberton!
Thank you Elisa, Nima, and Ty for making my first overnighter callout so memorable with great stories, great food, and great company! Pictures as proof!”
Garibaldi Lake, 9 Jul 2014
Andy G. on the Great Garibaldi Glacier Lily Hunt:
“Glacier lilies! A familiar refrain to the ears of those who know me. It was a pleasure to introduce two Wanderung and Garibaldi Lake first-timers to those cheery yellow flowers. As expected, they were a little past their peak but we did see a few nice patches. We wandered up beyond Outhouse Junction, following the trail towards Black Tusk for a km or so where we found the best flower displays. Then we headed down to the lake to cool off our feet. The most surprising discovery of the trip was the water level in the lake: I’ve never seen it so low. Rubble Creek wasn’t flowing out of the lake at all, with nothing but old trees visible.
The trail is in excellent shape, if a little dusty right now. No snow and almost no mud. The campgrounds look to be snow-free. We encountered the crew working on upgrading the trail and rested awhile to chat with them. Bugs are mostly not a problem except at Taylor Meadows campground, where the bug rating was upgraded to irritating. I was hoping to see a bear, as that would have made for bear sightings on my last 3 callouts, but it was not to be. (I did the same trip a few days later and we saw a lone black bear grazing the meadows between Taylor Meadows and Outhouse Junction.)
Full flower update is on Live Trails and photos are on Flickr.
Many thanks to Jackie and Aaron for indulging my obsession and keeping me company on a long day of hiking.”
Illal Creek, 30 Jun 2014
Chris M. at Illal Creek:
“Two of us went into the Illal Creek area for part of the long weekend. Colleen and I left late Sunday night and find a wonderful place to camp just off the Coquihalla Highway, shortly before the Sowaqua Creek exit. A short drive the next day took us to the access turnoff and I was able to drive all the way up the logging road to within 30 seconds of the trailhead. About 10 minutes in to the hike we used a log to cross the creek then we followed a nice trail up through the forest. Within an hour we crossed the scree field and were out in the open. Much of the north-facing slope was still covered in a little snow so we decided to head over to a dry ridge north of Illal Creek. After setting up camp and resting for a bit we followed an old wonderful little trail all the way around and then up Illal Peak. Great close views of Jim Kelly and Coquihalla Mountains. The sunset view of Needle and Yak Peaks from our camp spot was beautiful. On Monday we attacked the surrounding peaks in a mad blur of activity! Well actually it was nothing like that. We lazed around, packed up late-morning. Headed towards Spiral Peak. That started to look steep so we found small flower fields to distract us. Then picked a route across the bowl to join up with the trail down. Back at the car, we used the chilly creek to cool off in, sat in lawn chairs, drank cold beer and ate strawberry-rhubarb pie. I think the drive home was less than 3 hours, including a small stop in Hope.”
Al’s Habrich Ridge Trail, 29 Jun 2014
Stephen H. on Al’s Habrich Ridge Trail:
“Bob, Lindsey, Mark, Markus, and Thomas joined me for another great Sea to Sky Gondola hike. From the upper terminal, this recommendable trail travels up rocky ground and forest floor, and delivers plenty of elevated views of the Stawamus Chief and Squamish. While the gondola folks peg the round trip at 11.6 km and 6-8 hours with 954 m of elevation gain, our hike to the “end of the marked trail” sign was 4.5 hours return. We lunched at a viewpoint near the final pond, before heading down to the lodge patio. A flagged route appears to continue beyond said pond (for next time!). By the way, the bugs were bad. An early start meant we had the trail to ourselves on the way up, but met several parties on the way down.”
Semaphore Lakes, 21 Jun 2014
Chris M. at Semaphore Lakes:
“Six of us in 2 cars went up the newly opened Hurley FSR to Semaphore Lakes for the weekend. The trail in took a little over an hour and had patchy snow sections. We found a nice rocky plateau to set up camp on and then we all headed up towards Locomotive Mountain. Except for the final ridge the entire hike up was still on snow. Ino, Colleen, (another) Chris & myself went the easiest route possible while Cara and Mark tried out a more direct line. There were plenty of fun slides on the way back down. That evening, we enjoyed a variety of beverages while waiting for the stars to appear. The next day, 3 of our group made it to the summit of Face Mountain. Two of us went part way and then returned to camp and relaxed with our 6th member. The hike out was easy.”
