Tag Archives: Red Heather

Elfin Lakes, 17 Apr 2015

Backpacking, Snowshoe, , , ,

Audrey at Elfin Lakes:
“I did a last minute callout on a Thursday when the weather forecast announced 4 days of amazing sunshine – indeed, the sun was out the whole time! I also found out about the shelter at Elfin Lakes and thought a weekday outside the summer seemed just perfect to enjoy such a popular spot. Elfin Lakes can be done in a day, but you would miss the best part: the sunset from the deck of the shelter, and the lovely chat with very nice people around your evening dinner 🙂

Stan and I started going up at about 1.30 pm Friday and reached Red Heather after 1h 30m, with snow from halfway. It took us 3 more hours on an amazing ridge with 360° views, to get to Elfin Lakes (which were of course, frozen!) Snowshoes were definitely required from Red Heather to Elfin Lakes because of the new, deep layer of snow that had fallen the week before. We saw many people the next day going up without them, but it was way easier and faster with them!

This was an amazing hike, with great views, a really slow way up (600 m in 11 km) and the shelter has everything you need: bunkbeds, stoves and even electricity (+ an outside pit toilet). Wow! It’s really worth the scramble in the snow! The landscape up there is gorgeous, especially with all the snow.

On Saturday, we took some time to explore the trails going further (unlike the winter trail to Elfin Lakes, which is very well marked and easy to find, trails going further are unmarked), but going further would require to spend one more day up there (especially with all the snow). It took us 3h 30m to go back and we ended the trip with a visit to Howe Sound Brewery in Squamish, yum!

What a fantastic trip, and also my first callout, thanks again for all the help through Facebook!”

Elfin Lakes 17-18 April

Elfin Lakes, 15 Oct 2013

Day hike, ,

Kamen at Elfin Lakes:
“They said it couldn’t be done but we slowly motored our way up to the Elfin Lakes parking lot in my 2WD 1989 Mazda 323. The road was a little bumpy in places but, as long as you take your time, you will get there just fine. We hit the trail around 11 am and enjoyed a brisk pace as stunning mountain vistas revealed themselves to us as we started the gradual ascent. After passing Red Heather and turning onto the hikers’ trail, it became quite muddy which quickly turned into solid yet crunchy snow with isolated patches of bare ground. There were very few other hikers on the trail and we mostly marched in silence. We reached Elfin Lakes after just about 2.5 hours and explored the area thoroughly as we thought it would take a good deal longer to reach than it actually had. The way down was a little tougher as the sun had melted through the top layer of snow so it was slushy on the way back and slowed us down a bit. Got back to the car almost 2.5 hrs after we left and enjoyed some well-deserved food & drink at the Howe Sound Brewery.”