Category Archives: Day hike

Upper Shannon Falls 09/05/09

Day hike, ,

Su-Laine at Upper Shannon Falls:
“Upper Shannon Falls is an underrated trail in two respects. Where else, at 12:30 PM on a gorgeous Saturday, can you have an entire summit to yourself with beautiful views over Howe Sound? Other than the 185 m of staircase that it shares with the Stawamus Chief trail, this hike is uncrowded enough that you can feel that you’re getting away from it all. The trail is also underrated, though, in terms of difficulty. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s listed in a book called “109 Walks” or by memories of family picnics in the lower Shannon Falls area – on average this trail is about as steep as The Lions.

Our planned Cheakamus Lake trip didn’t happen. We got about 3 km into the 8.5 km logging road off Hwy 99 and had to turn back because of snow on the road. Vehicles with high clearance might be able to get to the trailhead, but I’m not sure. A stroll in Whistler after dinner took its place as our second hike of the day.”

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Campbell Lake 09/05/09

Day hike,

Michelle on the Campbell Lake trail:
“Think hiking in Chilliwack is closer to home than the Harrison Hotsprings area? Think again! This ‘think outside the Vancouver bubble’ hike proved to us that although Chilliwack is before Agassiz and Harrison on the highway, in actual fact it took us only about an hour to reach our destination, far far FAR less than reaching many popular Chilliwack trailheads. Why? Easy to navigate quick to drive highway all the way to your destination vs never ending are-we-there-yet Chilliwack Lake Rd and service roads which turn your Chilliwack turn off of Hwy 1 into just the ‘beginning’ of your trek. However, note that upon our arrival the lovely map at the trailhead was covered with a “TRAIL ACCESS CLOSED” sign. Thanks to April for taking on the wild goose chase of tracking down details. According to Public Works, trail access is scheduled to re-open by beginning of October. However, alternate access to Campbell Lake and trail is provided via the Mount Woodside service road with a 4×4, which also passes by Stacey Lake. The area was clear of snow and the views from the outlook were the highlight. Exercise extreme caution if in the area close to the #9 (Hot Springs Rd) trailhead – apparently they are doing some periodic blasting work. Public Works Inquiries 604-796-2171.”

East Sooke Trail 03/05/09

Day hike, , , ,

Erez on the East Sooke Trail:
“On a cloudy Sunday, Phil, Iris and I took the Ferry to Vancouver Island, drove past Victoria to East Sooke to the Aylard Farm trailhead of the East Sooke coast trail. The entire trail is about 11 km, but since we had only one car we hiked only to Cabin Point, taking the interior trail back to Aylard Farm. It took us about 1.5 hours to reach Beech head (a bluff overlooking the ocean), and another 1.5 hours or so to get to Cabin Point. The interior trail from there back to Aylard Farm turned out to be rather short and after an hour we were back in the car. Although it does not have any serious elevation gain the trail is not level and goes up and down quite often. The scenery was great – thin forest, green meadows, lots of Arbutus trees, emerald-coloured ocean, little coves, all made the trail quite interesting to walk on. We saw a woodpecker, a couple of eagles, and interrupted a sleeping seal at Cabin Point. There were very few people hiking the trail with us. Our only regret was not to have two cars so we could have hiked the entire trail. Oh well, next time.”

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Shannon Falls and the Chief 03/05/09

Day hike, ,

Heather at Upper Shannon Falls and the Chief:
“Nine of us outwitted the weather report and had a great day doing a double hike to upper Shannon Falls and then the 2nd and 3rd summit of the Stawamus Chief in Squamish. The group included a nice mix – from “first hike in Canada” to our local “Mountain Meister”, plus three other Wanderungers that we bumped into along the way. After all these years, I’d forgotten how steep the Chief is, but we all got a good workout and took extended lunch breaks on the bluffs overlooking Howe Sound and then on the second peak while watching the cute chipmunks running around. The chains and ladders between 1st and 2nd summit add excitement to the way up, and the loop trail between 2nd and 3rd summits is an easier, varied way of getting down. All of us enjoyed a good early season hike and great company.”

Mt Gardner 26/04/09

Day hike, , ,

Heather on Mt Gardner:
“Nine of us ventured over to Bowen Island climb Mt. Gardner on a gloriously sunny, clear day. We picked a slightly longer route – taking the trails through Crippen Regional Park from the ferry to the trailhead. We did a circular route, on the way up we branched off the main trail to circle around the east & north side of Mt. Gardner, then came back down past the south summit back to the main trail. There are some nice views to the North from a few bluffs, and then a steep section to climb up to the North Summit. We passed a few tiny patches of snow, but almost all trails are now clear. All trails on this hike tend to be confusing, but the group managed to follow this route by combining people’s experience from previous hikes, a trail description from 103 Hikes, and a little back-tracking! The views from the top were beautiful, even though you have to circle around a bunch of radio towers and other structures – and the helicopter landing pads are great for stretching out and soaking up the sun! It was definitely busy up there – probably 40 hikers enjoying this classic early season hike. As always, this hike was also fun for the great company – from a number of first-time Wanderungers, to our ultra-marathon runner just back from Antarctica, we always had some interesting conversation going on!”

Eagle Peak 26/04/09

Day hike, , ,

Erez on Eagle Peak:
“Sadra, Lucy, Dan and I hiked to Eagle peak on a nice sunny Sunday. On the way to the the peak we climbed near Swan falls which unfortunately lacked a good point from which to seem them entirely. The trail was well marked and pretty easy to follow except near the very top where the markers where buried in the snow. At that stage, the peak was visible, though, and we also had some footprints to follow. There was less snow than expected: snow patches started around 800m, and completely covered the ground at ~950m. There was a short section which was a steep and a little icy and required careful attention not to slip. Near the top, the terrain levelled and the snow was deep and soft. Only one of us used snowshoes and mini-crampons. It took as about 5 hours to reach Eagle peak and, a little further on, Triangulation point at 1250 m. We had good views of the surrounding peaks, Indian arm, and Coquitlam Lake and some very nice sun at the top. After seeing that the ridge trail to Lindsay Lake was completely buried in snow and no markers were to be seen, we decided to return the way we came. We just barely made it out of the park before the gate closes at 20:00. All in all, a great hike with great company.”

Mt Gardner 18/04/09

Day hike, ,

Paul T. on Mt Gardner:
“There is still over a foot of snow at the North Summit of Mount Gardner (the summit with the microwave towers and the view). The group took the north approach to this summit, the Skid Trail, which has some patchy snow still but none of us felt the need to strap on extra traction in the way of Yaktraks or crampons to deal with it. There is a lot of blow-down between the South and North summits and spotting the trail markers can be tricky. Signage also is confusing. While there are a couple of new, large wooden signs for the South Summit (the highest point on the island but viewless because forested), the only sign indicating the North Summit is small, and the handwritten label so faded that it’s almost illegible. We returned by trail that leads from the North Summit down the south side of the mountain. There is more snow on this side, and the going a bit tricky, but extra traction is not required. Lots of blow-down here as well and easy to lose the trail. We took over an hour out for breaks and the round trip (ferry terminal and back) ended up taking 6 1/2 hours.”

Mt St Benedict 05/04/09

Day hike, Snowshoe,

Ahmad on Mt St Benedict:
“We were lucky to follow a well packed track for about 4/5 of the trail. It saved us a lot of time especially as we started late at noon because of an unexpected car problem. We broke trail the last 1/5 of the way. Avalanche risk was my constant concern because of high temperatures. There was debris from one big avalanche just on the shore of Mckay Lake and two smaller ones along the way. It tooks us 3:30h to summit it. The views on the top exceeded my expectations.”

Joffre Lakes 04/04/09

Day hike, Snowshoe, ,

Cara at Joffre Lakes:
“Chris, Donna and Scott joined me on an early morning trip to Joffre Lakes. The weather was sunny and crisp, above freezing at the lower elevations and at mid day, but below at the top lake. The snow was deep and varied with elevation but thankfully a path was somewhat packed down so we didn’t have to break trail. Snowshoes were definitely needed and the lakes were still crossable, though this won’t last long. Joffre was pretty quiet. A handful of backcountry skiers were in the area, and two snowshoers later in the day. We easily made it to the top lake and enjoyed the stunning panorama before heading back to extricate the car from the parking lot (this required a shovel, chains, and 3 people pushing) then headed to Squamish for a nice dinner to polish off the day.”

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Gambier Island 04/04/09

Day hike, ,

Steve on Gambier Island:
“5 hikers, 2 ferries, great weather, but too much snow.

Who would have thought that hiking the pass between West Gambier’s two mountains would be so snow laden? I had called a local logger to get a feel for the conditions and felt it was maybe a foot deep at worst, but clearly had only gone ¾ of the way. At the ¾ mark the snow started to get very deep and once we hit the highest point (500 m) and started heading down to the lake the trail turned into a raging riverbed (which resulted in many super-soakers), covered with windfall and surrounded by massive snow banks. We climbed, slid, crawled and slipped, but our progress was slowed such that it wasn’t an option to continue, but since I’ve found we might have been within 1 km of the lake, but that would not have been a fun 1 km.

Regardless, this place has serious potential! Three hikes in one area, and I suspect when the snow clears that Gambier Lake will be much faster that the estimated 6 hours, especially for fit hikers (it’s not challenging, just long). Better yet, I suspect the snow was worse in the pass than on the peak trails. Mt. Killam looks like a must do, and should be open soon and was recently laid out in 103 Hikes 6th ed.”