Su-Laine on Eagle Bluffs:
“Holy, is the summit of Black Mountain ever a good place for a nap. Six of us were treated to a day of ideal conditions for hiking up the Baden Powell trail from the highway to Eagle Bluffs. No snow, no ice, and minimal mud were encountered. We liked it so much that we continued the 45 minute trip to the top for the aforementioned siesta amongst the mountaintops and Howe Sound views.”
Tag Archives: North Shore
Mt Strachan 04/10/09
Su-Laine on Mt Strachan:
“Strachan was a delightful place to spend one of those you-have-to-get-out-there beautiful fall days. We took the advice of a fellow Wanderunger and went counterclockwise, which had the benefit of putting the more-slippery part of the trail on the uphill. We encountered about 4 cm of snow about halfway up but besides the occasional slippery rock it wasn’t a problem to walk on. As a variation on the usual route, we had lunch on the non-crowded south summit, then hiked back to the saddle and up to the north summit to take a look, and then back to the south summit to continue our counterclockwise route. Then on the way back down we cut over to the ski run which saved some time. It worked out quite nicely, giving us lots of time to take in the magnificent views at the top and the blueberries on the way down.”
Mt Seymour 27/09/09
Su-Laine on Mt Seymour:
“Beautiful day! Seymour was a lovely hike as always, and almost bug-free. There were plenty of people on the trail but it wasn’t so crowded as to be annoying. Bandidas Taqueria near 12th and Commercial is my new favourite post-hike place (https://www.bandidastaqueria.com/). Good food, and as it’s near the Broadway and Commercial meeting spot, the people who need to go somewhere else don’t have to stay for dinner.”
Coliseum Mtn 20/09/09
Rob M. on Coliseum Mountain:
“We first laid rubber an a rolling, museum grade asphalt road, biking towards an underrated jewel on the North Shore, Coliseum Mountain. After this idyllic 9 km, a 1 km Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Logging Road change-up ends at an unmarked but obvious trail. The overtaped Christmas Tree look beginning belies the rugged and unrelenting ascent festooned with small root and rock scrambles through new and old growth hemlock. The trail from the 1000 m Paton Lookout takes you down into a small valley then a grind up through a bolder field and the 1441 m summit of Coliseum. The forces of good prevailed after a dramatic struggle between sun and cloud and we were awash in warm light. Lotsa blueberries along the way and hence one bear encounter, who had better things to do than deal with humans. The Coliseum to Burwell (1521 m) hike is a must-do over a large field of smooth open granite for a modest net elevation gain. We met one intrepid hiker travelling incognito with full pack from Cathedral Mountain. The rangers here are kept busy de-taping The Needles to Cathedral Mountain corridor made by renegade hikers. There are a couple of large, deep R&R tarns before stumbling down the slicker-than-heavily-oiled-banana-peel descent. To take us out of our (dis)comfort zone, Eric led us on an off-trail bushwhack around the summit. The bike ride back was a scream! A full 10-hour day.”
Unnecessary Mountain 01/09/09
Steve on Unnecessary Mountain:
“I didn’t expect such a good response to a mid-week callout. I went with 4 other well matched hikers to Cypress Bowl where we hiked to St. Mark’s Summit, and then on to the dual summits of Mt. Unnecessary. The trail was well marked and easy to follow with 1 minor exception where we got off trail. The weather was variable but we did not get hit with rain. In fact, it was perfect as it kept us cool on the journey, and though it was socked in when we got near the Lions, just as we were leaving, it broke through and offered some moody photo ops.
I really liked this trail, though it was pretty long and the multiple ascents took its toll on my knees. The blueberry factor was phenomenal, and probably added an hour to our trip. One piece of advice I’d offer it to do this as a one way hike and visit the Lions, then descend the Binkert trail. That may actually shave some time, but more importantly allows you to see more peaks on one trip.”
Mt Seymour 30/08/09
Carollyne on Mt Seymour:
“Four of us had a great day on Mt. Seymour. Few cars were in the parking lot when we arrived at 9:45 and the trail up and peaks were quiet – for Seymour on a sunny weekend. There were a few mosquitoes in the shady spots, but no bugs bothered us elsewhere. Haze, perhaps from wildfires, somewhat obscured the views at the top. There was a distinct, if faint, smell of smoke in the air. On the return, the trail was quite busy with people going up. A highlight was watching a black bear feeding on blueberries about 30 minutes up from the parking lot. The trail took 4.5 hours round trip at a fairly leisurely pace plus a very leisurely lunch. We left a now full parking lot and had drinks and appies on Commercial Drive before heading home. Great company made the day even better.”
Mt Bishop 30/08/09
Peter B. on Mt Bishop:
“Three of us biked for one hour along the nice Seymour Valley Trail, waded through Seymour river, climbed up to Mount Bishop for 3 hours (with a 1h stop at Vicar lakes and 1h on the summit) and down for 2 hours and biked back for another hour. The trail is very steep, quite bushy but well-flagged and there is no shortage of ropes. We all liked the upper parts (the lakes and summit) much more than the first 2 hours through the forest. There were many blueberries and blueberry-loaded bear poo. We also saw a bear from a distance (probably eating blueberries or …).”
Hanes Valley 23/08/09
Andy in Hanes Valley:
“This has been on my to-do list for some time so it was great to collect a group of six and see the valley up close. We began in Lynn Headwaters and ended on Grouse Mountain. Beyond Norvan Falls (where the creek was just a trickle) the forest soon changed from devastated second growth to a much nicer unlogged forest, complete with some fabulous bright orange fungi. Crossing Lynn Creek was easy on the biggest logjam I’ve ever seen. We broke out of the trees at the helipad where we stopped for lunch before making our way up through the boulder field. The sheer cliffs of Goat and Crown Mountain were quite spectacular and the open nature of the boulder field made for rewarding rest stops with views back to Coliseum and Burwell. We contemplated tackling one of the nearby summits, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), the clouds hung around the summits of Goat and Crown mountains which dissuaded us from adding more elevation gain. So up the muck-and-chains bit we went to join the Goat Mountain trail, and were back at the gondola less than an hour later, pausing only to sample a few of the local berries. To our surprise we had no more than a 10-minute wait for the gondola ride down. The trip took 7 hours end to end. A great day out – thanks everyone!”
Hanes Valley 15/08/09
Michelle in Hanes Valley and on Crown Mountain:
“All this one mustered was a three-some, which turned into a two-some. John and I had an extended but very enjoyable day completing the full circuit of essentially Lynn Headwaters to Norvan Falls, Hanes Valley, Crown, back to Grouse via Little Goat Pass and Goat Mtn trail. From the PACKED Grind parking lot (packed BEFORE 8am!?) we shuttled to Lynn Headwaters, entering a cloud of fog that we hiked through Hanes. Good thing this quiet valley is truly well marked- little decorated cairns wrapped in glowing florescent orange flagging guided us as we hiked literally from marker to marker in pure faith through the mist in the boulder field (though the GPS agreed). Perhaps not being able to see where we were going or back behind us helped our mental disposition as the elevation gain was seemingly painless. Crown was a little more challenging – especially when you do a bunch of extra wet scrambling/searching at the base when you don’t have to (if everything is mist- follow the orange flagging and red/white bulls-eye paint markers CLOSELY by the beginning of the rock base/forest edge, skirting AROUND on a sideways approach for some time. The final scramble up the summit is minimal. But save some gusto for the stiff climb back out of Crown Pass to Little Goat Pass. I wouldn’t want to do any part of this circuit any wetter than we did on account of what nasty business it would be (too slippery!). Uncrowded valley, “mist”-ical pictures, lovely views atop, tram down, ahhhhh.”
Crown Mountain 11/07/09
Su-Laine on Crown Mountain:
“Ow, my legs hurt. Other than two sections of moderate scrambling, the statistics on this one make it look like a moderate 9 km hike from the top of the Grouse Mountain Skyride. There are several climbs and descents each way, so although the overall elevation gain is only 455 m, in total you’re probably climbing over 1000 m, and I found it a lot more tiring than another 1000+ m hike I’d done a few weeks ago (Eagle Bluffs). Maybe it was the hot sun, or maybe the fact that the trail requires so many damned deep knee bends for smaller people like me.
I’d posted this as a 5-6 hour hike but it ended up taking us about 8.5 hrs, including breaks and half an hour off-trail when some of us missed a marker. The off-trail part took us down some slippery rocks and wasn’t fun; other than that the scrambling was fun. It was good to be in a group so we could spot each other and learn from others’ techniques. The summit is snow-free but we had to cross a couple of patches of packed snow lower down where hiking poles were useful.”