Chris N. at Needle Peak:
“My old 103 Hikes book says to park at the highway maintenance yard and cross the creek behind the large building there. However, the “No admittance” signs indicate that the authorities don’t want you to do that. Instead, park on the rough pipeline access road where there is room for about 20 cars. To find the trail, walk about 10 m west of the creek crossing. The route is easy to follow. There are many secondary trails on the ridge before the Flatiron / Needle junction but you can’t get lost. After the junction, there are only 2 scramble-y spots. The first is near the top of the first step (visible from the junction and well-flagged) where there is a bit of an overhang at waist level. The second is just before the summit in a little vertical gully with plenty of foot placements. Neither has any exposure. The summit is small and might be nerve-wracking if it’s really windy. Luckily we had no wind at all. On the way up, note the occasional landmark so that you take the correct route down. This seems to be a popular hike – we encountered about 40 people excluding the big school group. The lunch wagon at the rest area at the base closes for the season at the end of September.”
Tag Archives: Hope
Memaloose Peak, 2 Apr 2017
Colleen C. at Memaloose Peak:
“Great day to be out in the mountains! I was surprised to hear about the chaos on the Coquihalla – Highway 3 through Manning was a breeze. All day we had light flurries of teeny snowflakes that floated down even through the long periods of dazzling sunshine. Snowshoes were on from the start. Snow conditions made for easy travel most of the day, though the descent went through some wetter, looser snow sections that required some careful lines. We chose to take a different route than I had originally planned, following some old tracks immediately up to the ridge. This allowed us to explore more of the bumps along the ridge (one of which was topped with an eerily beautiful patch of dead trees due to a lightning fire) and then dropping down to the valley bottom for the straightforward hike out to make it into a nice loop. Due to gaining the ridge earlier than planned, much chatting, enjoying views and rambling, we didn’t reach the summit, so I’ll definitely be back here again soon.”
Windy Joe, 25 Feb 2017
Colleen C. on Windy Joe:
“It was a great group that joined me for a snowshoe up to the Windy Joe fire lookout. It was a pretty uneventful, straightforward drive and hike – which personally was appreciated after a few recent misadventures! Particular thanks to Lisa for driving all the way out from White Rock, Phil for bringing homemade cookies, Haiying for supplying zip ties for makeshift snowshoe repairs, and Gail for good conversation.
The trail was packed all the way and follows an obvious path up, fairly low snow levels overall and few deadfalls. Just a heads up that the start is now along the first couple of km of the Similkameen trail. Seems like this is due to a permanent loss of a bridge, so some of the info online is out-of-date and the km markers higher up are a little out. The Club Tread route info page was accurate.”
Needle Peak, 23 Aug 2016
Danica on Needle Peak:
“It was a hike of many firsts: my first time organizing a callout, taking part in a Wanderung hike, and hiking in the Coquihalla region. Mike and Bobby answered the last minute callout and after a slow start (note to future organizers: King George Station is a terrible meeting spot as there is limited all day parking nearby), we made it to the trailhead. As per other reports, the highway exit is unmarked. After you go through the tunnel, the exit is right before Yak Peak comes into view. Don’t get distracted or you’ll miss it like we did. The trail is well marked through the forest and up to the base of the summit. There are about 3 scrambling sections to reach the summit. The first required awkwardly ducking beneath an overhang. Coming down the guys did some graceful butt-sliding. We found the UBC VOC instructions to be helpful in navigating the scrambles. Overall a great first Wanderung hike!”
Yak Peak, 23 Aug 2016
Andy G. on Yak Peak:
“Four of us – Tamara, Gary, Xiru, and myself – hopped into my car bright and early, and reached the trailhead in slightly under 2 hours. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the hike but it was far more enjoyable than I’d imagined. It may have Grouse Grind-like stats but it couldn’t be further from the Grind in terms of interest. Gorgeous mid-elevation forest, views, a bit of gentle scrambling, blueberries, marmots, and more views. For sure, the trail *is* steep, and would need care in a few places if wet or snowy/icy.
Despite its imposing appearance, the summit of Yak is quite safe with plenty of space to lounge around for lunch while soaking in the awesome 360-degree vista. Be sure to venture over to a bump on the way to Nak Peak (which we called the Naklet) for a stunning view of the north face of Yak. Despite being a short hike, we took our time and we were reluctant to leave. But the Blue Moose beckoned…!
Thanks to Tamara for organizing – we all had a fantastic day out.”
Zoa Peak, 11 Jun 2015
Andy G. on Zoa Peak:
“A lovely mid-week excursion on a fine trail, this hike was nicer than I remembered. Bob and Tec joined me to meander our way up to the summit at a leisurely pace. As we got back to the car we decided to head in to Falls Lake to check it out – pleasant enough though very windy, it added less than half an hour to our trip. We were finished within 5 hours.
The trail was in good condition, though still a little wet at higher elevations where some snow remains. In places the trail is a small running stream, but perfectly manageable with hiking boots. There are a couple of excellent rocks for lunch spots with a great view of Alpaca, Vicuna and Guanaco.
Thankfully there were far fewer bugs than on my last visit a couple of years ago – I got only 3 bites compared with 120 last time! It was quite breezy, which seemed to keep them at bay.
Plenty of flowers out, but I think the best is yet to come. Glacier lilies are probably at peak bloom near the summit (a bit beyond the obvious viewpoint); they’re well past it on the open southerly slopes. Other flowers include (deep breath!): paintbrush, lupine, orange agoseris, valerian, arnica (at least 2 species), columbine, wild strawberry, buttercups, cinquefoil, thistle, marsh marigolds, globeflower, western anemone, rosy twistedstalk, queen’s cup, green bog orchid, phlox, spring beauty, meadowrue, larkspur and a columbia lily or two.
No animal sightings but we did find what we thought was mountain goat wool snagged on the heather, and saw a foot hoof-prints in the mud. The wool was incredibly soft and fine.
Thanks to Bob and Tec for a great day out. Photos from Bob and myself are up on Flickr.”
Hope Mtn 07/08/11
Steve on Hope Mountain:
“Thanks to a great response from 4×4 drivers, 8 of us tackled the trail known mostly for views of the town of Hope (from straight above). Rob and Rob managed the road and got us there safely. The trail was very “Indiana Jones” (overgrown) for much of the way and there were 2 very minor scrambles, and only patches of snow were left. The bushwhacking aspect of this really slowed us down and hike time exceed even my padded estimates. It took us close to 7 hours on trail (some books estimate 5, Club Tread says 6). It was a long day ending at the Wildcat Grill near Harrison, but the weather was great, and surrounding views impressive (though hazy). Word to the wise – never sit ON the cairns at the peak or anywhere else, you never know what the engineering skills are of the person that built it…”
Mt Outram 28/08/10
Peter A. on Mt Outram:
“Rob, Rebecca, Grazyna, Adrian, Irena, Jen, Jonathan and I braved snow, cloud cover and freezing winds to successfully ascend Mt. Outram. A fantastic adventure, that started with a fleet hike through a beautiful hemlock and Douglas fir forest. Once clear of the trees, after gaining approximately 1,000 metres, we entered a large, picturesque sub-alpine bowl, that revealed that fresh snow had blanketed the high ground, including the rest of our ascent. The snow was beautiful, but made the ascent up the steep, massive boulder field a little slippery. With a keen focus and much exertion, we gained the first summit in 3h 45m from the trailhead. After a bit of moderate scrambling, made trickier by the fresh snow covering the rocks and scree, we made it to the “true” summit. 1800 metre altitude gain. Despite the heavy cloud cover and cold winds, the cloud ceiling was high and there was plenty of blue sky to allow for magnificent 360 degree views. Very cool to see the North Cascades, Baker, and all the familiar Chilliwack mountains from this perspective. We found enough windbreaks and caught enough sun through momentary breaks through the clouds that we stayed on top about 20 minutes. Two other highlights of the hike: Adrian photographing a beautiful mountain goat in the sub alpine, and during our descent, Adrian photographing two ground squirrels overseeing the fields of blueberries where we had stopped to graze. Trail conditions and markings were excellent throughout, even on the final boulder field (just required a little more patience in spotting the red painted rocks). The descent took us 3 hours, and our knees were happy to see the parking lot. We had been on the trail a total of 8 hours. Great day, great hike, great people, finished off with a great meal at the Blue Moose Café in Hope.”
First Brigade Trail 10/09/09
Steve on the First Brigade Trail:
“Fall is the time to do this hike. Notorious for ticks in the Summer, and with the Fall foliage, best to stick to alpine areas and reserve this for when the snow levels encroach. Whether I was out of shape or the stats were off, for some reason it seemed higher and steeper than I expected. In fact, I was questioning the popularity of this trail until we hit the forest fire remnants. This was what makes this hike unique – the open area in the midst of the former burn and foliage that is sprouting up as a result. To our surprise, where this trail meets the 1858 Trail (to Gate Mountain), there was an outhouse and picnic table! What else was really unique about this hike is that it is a loop of sorts allowing you to walk one ridge on the way out, and a different ridge on the way back (the lower half is common though). Views themselves on this trail are unique, but mediocre. We hit no snow, but there was evidence it was coming, What we did see a lot of was blowdown near the higher elevations, but it was easily stepped over and looks as if some recent cleanup efforts had been made. We went for “I Fly for Pie” for post-hike eats”
Eaton Peak 12/09/09
Peter A. on Eaton Peak:
“Bahman, Michael, Eric, Thomas, Ben, Irina, Evgeny, and I tackled the tough hike and scramble up Eaton Peak’s west summit. The first 4 km of the trail is a 915 metre climb up to Eaton Lake. The trail was well-marked and generally quite wide. The 3 log “bridges” across Eaton Creek were in good shape, and because it was hot and dry, no problems with the logs being slippery. We reached the beautiful lake in approx 2 hours. From the lake, the route is a bushwhack through forest in a south-east direction to arrive at alpine just below a prominent cliff which can be seen from the lake. To start our bushwhack, we found an obvious trail behind the campsites that led uphill to a small boulder field. Across the boulder field there was a piece of flagging tape. Beyond that point, no tape was visible, and so I led our team to the east on a gradual ascent through very dense trees and bush, not wanting to cut too steeply uphill. The correct direction was to head more directly uphill (south). We eventually found Eaton Creek above the lake, and because the water flow was manageable and the rocks and moss not too slippery, we climbed up the creek to a plateau. We then followed a dry creek bed up a steep gradient and arrived at the prominent cliff face. We traversed below the face, and then climbed a steep boulder field to attain the north edge of the basin in front of Eaton Peak. Access to the west ridge was an obvious notch along the ridge. After crossing the boulder-filled basin, we scrambled up a steep ramp leading to the notch in the ridge. The start of the ridge scramble was very difficult as we crawled and climbed our way through krummholz-overgrown boulders. However, as a result, we avoided the first crux referred to in other trail reports. The second crux (the chimney) was challenging, but fun as the rock is very stable (our experienced alpinist, Bahman, assisted those who needed some suggestions for foot and hand holds. We also fixed a rope for support). Throughout the ridge ascent there were mild to moderately exposed ledges and slabs, and straddling the boulder in the “au cheval” move provided lots of laughs. The summit was beautiful, and our visibility exceptional. Baker and many other notable mountains were clear. Our time from trailhead to summit was approx. 5 hours. On our descent, after carefully down-climbing the chimney crux, we dropped down the steep gully that lies immediately to the west of the ridge and followed this almost to the notch where we had first gained the ridge. Then, during our descent of the boulder fields to the creek, we spotted a black bear feasting on berries. Thankfully, it was on the other side of the fields. We also feasted on huge blueberries and huckleberries. Since the water in the creek was relatively low, we avoided a lot of bushwhacking by descending the creek as far as we could, then bushwhacking west to the campground on Eaton Lake. We left the lake at 7:20pm, and ended up using our headlamps to arrive back at the parking lot. Total time was 11 hours. An outstanding hike with technically challenging scrambles, and a great group!”