Tag Archives: Squamish

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

Stawamus Chief, 18 Mar 2015

Day hike, ,

Andy G. at the Chief:
“Today’s hike celebrated ten years since I first hiked the Chief, almost to the day. Eddie joined me on a day when even the weather conditions closely matched those of a decade ago, if cloudier with the summits of the Sky Pilot group and Garibaldi shrouded in cloud all day.

The trail is dry and snow- and ice-free and was an absolute pleasure to hike today. It was also delightfully quiet, as we met only a small number of hikers. As we reached Second Peak, a lone hiker was practicing yoga on First Peak and had the space to themselves. It wasn’t long before their peace and quiet was disturbed by a dozen or so hikers and dogs.

So what’s changed in a decade? The trail has been upgraded and re-routed in a few places; the Sea-to-Sky gondola has been realized (which had just been proposed in its original Chief-topping form in 2005); the Woodfibre Mill has closed, improving the view; and the number of people attempting this hike has gone way up.

What hasn’t changed is that the views are awesome, the trail is steep (!), the chains and ladders are fun, the grouse are sounding their booming calls and the descent between Second and Third peaks is a mess of roots and rocks.

Salmonberry is out in full bloom but not much else. Watch out for the chipmunks – their begging and scrounging skills are second to none.”

Stawamus Chief, 18 Mar 2015

Mount Crumpit, 13 Dec 2014

Day hike, ,

Stephen H. on Mount Crumpit:
“Last month’s trip to Crumpit Woods in Squamish called for a follow-up. Christine, Donna, Jaime, and Sherron joined me for a delightful loop that visited Mount Crumpit, Five Point Hill, and three other hilltops in the woods. With so many mountain bike trails in the area, it’s easy to get off course. Fortunately, a map and GPS kept us from getting lost. We had the place to ourselves (except for the occasional sound of dirt bikes) and enjoyed plenty of views of the Chief. After hiking the Woodpecker trail, we even saw one of those too.”

Crumpit Woods, 28 Nov 2014

Day hike,

Stephen H. in Crumpit Woods:
“Apparently, I should have labelled this callout as “exploratory”. Matt, Mary, and Saeed set off with me to ascend the Seven Summits of Crumpit. After getting the help of a Squamish local to find the Smoke Bluffs summit, we decided to bypass the majority of the hilltops on the agenda and make a beeline for the tallest, Mount Crumpit. After a few hours of navigating the maze of mountain bike trails in this interesting area, it was clear we wouldn’t make our objective and return before sundown. So we looped back on the Summer’s Eve trail, making our trip the One Summit of Crumpit. Watch out for my Mount Crumpit callout in the future.”

Levette Lake, 9 Nov 2014

Day hike, ,

Stephen H. at Levette Lake:
“Fred, Gabriela, Seth, and I lucked out as the forecasted rain didn’t materialize on this hike. And what an enjoyable little fall hike it was. We took the Copperbush, Silver Summit, Skyline, and Fraser-Burrard trails, stopping for lunch at Levette Lake in the middle. As the clouds cleared, we feasted on Tantalus Range views as Fred recounted his adventures on Mount Fairweather and other treacherous peaks. An old Douglas-fir provided the final highlight as we neared the car.”

Seed Peak, 8 Oct 2014

Day hike, , , ,

Steve v. at Seed Peak:
“After a failed attempt last year, I learned from my mistakes and Andy, Pete, Janice, and Danielle joined me for a successful peak bag on a balmy October day.

With more confidence in our GPS tracks and an early start, we were able to guide our driver, Danielle, to the trailhead without issue. She made quick work of the obstacles and a high clearance 4×4 was required.

The trail itself has 4 distinct phases: a clearcut and wooded trailhead, a rolling ridge-like ascent, a barren rocky section with tarns, scree and glacier, and the peak view area (also a ridge). The thing about this trail is that all parts are extremely scenic (especially in fall). In fact, I would consider none of this trail to be the usual “chore” section that exists in most BC hikes.

Wayfinding was needed, but not much, and the drive is very long so do your homework, but I’d rank this as one of the top 10 in the 103 Hikes book (though know the stats under-represent the elevation gain and distance).”

Seed Peak, 8 Oct 2014

Tricouni Peak, 27 Jul 2014

Day hike, Scramble, , ,

Steve v. at Tricouni Peak:
“Did we make the peak? Almost. Did we see amazing scenery and views all around? You bet we did! This trip was one of those epic dayhikes that may have better been served as an overnight trip. The need for a good 4×4 makes this particular destination hard to reach for the average hiker but do what you can to someday come to Tricouni Meadows and Peak.

Lakes, waterfall, flowering meadows and open summits all awaited us, impressing us at every muddy step. Yes, that is right, the legendary muddiness of this trail was out in full force but really is only an issue for the first 1/4 from the trailhead. Another group of hikers told us there is a way less muddy trail on the other side of the creek and had the clean pants to show for it (someone look into this!).

The group (me, Tamara, Paul, Perry) held up a decent pace but we still found that the mud, combined with the extensive scree fields and snow patches put us way over the 7 hour time estimate listed in 103 Hikes. More like 9 hours with lunch but I can’t help but think maybe it is easier with more snow in certain parts than less.

After an exhausting hike out with an endless “last kilometre” we tried to get into the Watershed for some grub but it was packed and ended up at the Howe Sound Brew pub.

One last big thanks to Perry for getting us to the trailhead and for having a spare pair of boots to lend!”

Tricouni Peak, July 2014

Al’s Habrich Ridge Trail, 29 Jun 2014

Day hike, , , ,

Stephen H. on Al’s Habrich Ridge Trail:

“Bob, Lindsey, Mark, Markus, and Thomas joined me for another great Sea to Sky Gondola hike. From the upper terminal, this recommendable trail travels up rocky ground and forest floor, and delivers plenty of elevated views of the Stawamus Chief and Squamish. While the gondola folks peg the round trip at 11.6 km and 6-8 hours with 954 m of elevation gain, our hike to the “end of the marked trail” sign was 4.5 hours return. We lunched at a viewpoint near the final pond, before heading down to the lodge patio. A flagged route appears to continue beyond said pond (for next time!). By the way, the bugs were bad. An early start meant we had the trail to ourselves on the way up, but met several parties on the way down.”

Sea to Summit, 7 Jun 2014

Day hike, , ,

Stephen H. on the Sea to Summit trail:
“Carole, Elaine, Elisa, Ivy, Mary, and Sophie joined me for the first official Wanderung trip on the Sea to Sky Gondola’s Sea to Summit Trail. I think it’s safe to say we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It’s a great hike (no surprise considering it incorporates the once-quiet Upper Shannon Falls Trail). We parked at Shannon Falls, and took Andy’s advice in the newsletter and took the Wrinkle Rock Trail at the top. A few of us were surprised by how much we enjoyed the summit area. The views are spectacular and the lodge patio is the perfect place to relax after a good hike. It’s worth budgeting extra time; while the hike up took us four hours, we spent three hours at the top, mostly on the patio. The $10 ride down was fun too.”

Martin Peak, 11 May 2014

Day hike,

Colleen C. on Martin Peak:
“The trip got off to a rough start when it was admitted that there were no cookies, in spite of promises made.

However, after that things just kept getting better and better. We were able to drive all the way to the trailhead (16 km east of Squamish, mostly up the Mamquam FSR). The snowshoes went on within the first 30 minutes at about 950 m. The skies cleared to a glorious blue with poofy clouds flying above gleaming white mountains. The sun warmed the snow which quickly soaked our boots, but the temperature was so high our feet stayed warm (albeit wet – why have waterproof socks if I always forget them?).

We followed a deactivated logging road for a couple of hours with stunning views of Garibaldi and Mamquam then headed up towards a promising bump below Martin’s west peak. There was no evidence of other humans, but animal tracks crisscrossed our path – hares, bears, bobcats (?), chipmunks, and ravens. Our lunch spot provided beautiful views from Tantalus to Meslilloet to Pinecone. We decided to do a loop back with some fun and easy downhill bushwhacking (except for one random step into a hidden snow trap that required a rescue – note to self, make poor stuck person agree to demands before digging them out of the quicksandy snow slush!) that quickly became very easy as we discovered another old logging road that led us back to our initial route.

This is a fantastic area with so much to explore. Just for starters there’s Watersprite Lake, Dreadnought and of course Martin Peak’s two summits. Expect to see at least one more callout to the area this summer!”