Dory at Gambier Lake:
“Saturday’s car free hike to Gambier Lake is definitely one of my top 5 most enjoyable hikes at Wanderung. Using 2 ferry services to get to the somewhat isolated Gambier Island, we landed at New Brighton dock at 10:15 am and started making our way up through the beautiful lush and mossy forest. The climbing portion of the hike was much longer than the organizer estimated (which caused him to give false ETA information to one of the hikers, apologies!) we reached the lake at 13:15 and spent the next hour having lunch as some brave souls went for a swim. Back at the dock at 16:45 we had enough time for refreshments at the local general store/community centre and then caught the ferry back to Langdale.”

Su-Laine on Sumas Mountain:
“How does a 6-hour hike end up taking almost 9 hours? The trail to Sumas Mountain from the west is mostly well-marked, however just after the creek and before Chadsey Lake, the main trail is blocked by a fallen tree and a new trail also branches off. After inadvertently taking the new trail, which isn’t shown in the ‘103 Hikes’ book, we found ourselves walking west, not east, on a trail that looked familiar. We stopped for lunch and met some locals who confidently gave us entirely incorrect information about where we were and where we should go. More walking in the wrong direction followed, and we met the only other people we’d see on this trip, who were just as lost as we were. Eventually local pair #1 caught up with us and told us where we really should go, and we turned around yet again. The new trail, we eventually realized, forms a loop, and we weren’t the first ones to be caught in it like some space-time vortex in Star Trek: https://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26394.

I was glad the group had all stuck together and gotten lost as a unit – if we’d been in this situation and missing a person, we could have been in serious trouble. I was also very grateful for everyone keeping their sense of humour! We all made it to the top, at which point we started another chapter in the annals of Lame Hiking Experiences by not being able to find either of the two summits described in ‘103 Hikes’; all we could find were microwave towers and a lookout. The lookout had a very good view of the east. ‘103’ Hikes is correct, we found, in its description of the west trailhead. It is indeed .5 km down the gravel road and very poorly marked. Wildflowers were not spectacular – I think the season for them on Sumas is pretty much over. Mosquitos, on the other hand, are still plentiful.”

David in search of the Boise Trail:
“Denis and I got up extra early to do this hike because of all the unknown factors involved. Unknown trail conditions, road conditions etc. Unfortunately, the only question answered was road conditions. The Mamquam service road was blocked by a crew removing the bridge at mile 15. They didn’t seem to think that a new bridge will be in place anytime soon, so this trail will remain an enigma.

Thinking fast, we decided to cross Squamish to Tricouni meadows. The logging road was in rough shape but was no problem for my SUV. The branches are closing in though and, unfortunately, christened the SUV with scratches on both sides. I guess that it was bound to happen sometime.

The trail was wet and muddy for the first 45 minutes, At first, I cursed myself for wearing low top trail shoes, but after stepping into mid-calf deep mudholes, I was glad that I didn’t wear my boots. They only would have held more water and mud. Once past the boggy section the trail ascended to a beautiful series of alpine lakes. At the end of the second lake, someone has recently been carving a totem pole, giving the area a peaceful and surreal atmosphere. There is no official trail to the lakes but there are many paths that will get you there.

One last bit of advice. There was very little blooming in the meadows at this time. This hike will be stunning in another couple of weeks.”

Maia on the Lindsay Lake loop:
“Pablo, Ilia, Jeremy, Justin, Noman, and Maia started from Buntzen Lake with with a bit of an uphill workout (1000 m elevation gain) which is then rewarded with a series of stupendous and varying lookouts showing Mount Baker, downtown Vancouver, Deep Cove, Seymour Peaks and much much more. We were very surprised to hit a number of patches of snow, but they were nicely packed and not challenging. The first little lake we hit was Jessica Lake – still half covered with ice and snow – and then Lindsay Lake. From there the way back went along gurgling little rivers and another 5 or 6 cute little lakes. The descent seemed more challenging than going up, mainly because many of us were impatiently looking forward to a dip in Buntzen Lake. After about 7 hours of rewarding hiking, the swim in the almost tepid water and the gelato at the exit of the park made us feel really spoiled. It was the first hike I organized with Wanderung and … I am going to do it again!”

Kamen on the Eagle Bluffs trail:
“This hike was originally set up by Paul Taylor but he had to drop out because of work commitments. Three of us met at Park Royal to drive to the trailhead about 10 minutes away by car in a quiet cul-de-sac in West Vancouver. After the initial (and fairly easy) stage of the trail, the trail started climbing steeply and didn’t relent until we got to the top. The trail was fairly well-marked but quite challenging and quite a few times we had to resort to using all fours to climb some of the more rugged sections. About 2/3 of the way up, we encountered a rocky section that we had to scramble over. After a short pause on the rock field, we pushed on up to the top. We were greeted with an amazing bird’s eye view of Bowen Island, the Lower Mainland and the Sunshine Coast. The sun hid behind the clouds while we were at the top which was actually a relief. There were quite a few other people at the top who had hiked there from Black Mountain. After about an hour, we gingerly picked our way down which took almost as long as the ascent. We encountered two parties on their way up while we were hiking down; they were the only other people we encountered on the hike all day. All in all, a beautiful day for a hike with some great hiking partners.”