Tag Archives: Squamish

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!”

Pinecone Lake, 4 May 2013

Backpacking, Overnighter, Snowshoe, , ,

Chris M. in the Pinecone Lake area:
“With the promise of hot sunny weather, 6 of us drove in from Squamish along the Mamquam FSR. Sadly, the snow was lingering lower down than I had hoped. This meant we had to hike 6 km instead of 3 km to the end of the logging road. We had lunch then carried on. The sun had been killing us so a shady break in the trees was most welcome. Never worried about finding a trail as you just need to stay in the centre of the ridge and head upwards. Just before we reached the top of Peak 5700 the day-trippers reached their turnaround time and headed back down. Well, Danielle and Tom did. Jack couldn’t bear to leave the views that were beginning to reveal themselves and he stayed with us.

Kicked steps up the last steep parts and Jack had made a wise choice – gorgeous views in every direction! We chose our camp spots and relaxed. Then we soaked in a stunning sunset and relaxed some more. Very little wind, warm temps & great company made this a wonderful night. Gary and Tu Loan had brought tents. I just slept on a pad looking up at the stars. (Having no overnight gear Jack had gone back down to sleep in my car – extra blanket & pillow there.) Waking up and seeing the surrounding mountains again was awesome. The walk back down was simple and just under 3 hours to my vehicle. Be warned, the road isn’t that rough but your car will get scratches towards the end.”

Frozen Hiker

Mt Mulligan, 21 Apr 2013

Day hike, Snowshoe,

Chris M. on Mt Mulligan:
“Danielle joined me for a last-minute walk up both peaks of Mount Mulligan. We left Vancouver just after noon. The snow continues to melt and the logging road is now driveable to around 700 m elevation. Snowshoes went on right away and we were atop the North Summit in about 2 hours. It was a bit steep between the two peaks but we arrived there one hour later. So many mountains in all directions were visible from the South summit. My snowshoe snapped near the summit but just boots actually made the descent back to the col easier. Along with some fun bum-sliding. On the flatter terrain Danielle was a hero for trading snowshoes with me as I was sinking deeper. Even after lingering on the summit we still made it back to the car without the need for headlamps. Dinner at the Watershed was a nice way to end the day.”

Sigurd Peak, 20 Apr 2013

Day hike, Snowshoe, , ,

Pardeep on Sigurd Peak:
“For a tougher trip I was quite surprised that I was able to get five of my buddies to wake up at 5:00am for a hike. Bala ‘The Baritone Baller’ Kumar, Oudi ‘Owly’ Cherfi, Mark ‘MC Pirogi’ Bondyra, Mark ‘Dragonfly’ Jenkins, Ross ‘Ramblin’ Rose’ Polutnik, and myself P. Diddy Montaigne’ made good on our collective word to reach the summit of Sigurd Peak or Station Rose as others may know it as.

The trailhead can easily be reached with 2WD vehicle; for driving directions visit the Club Tread page for Sigurd Peak, https://www.clubtread.com/routes/Route.aspx?Route=1121. The trail initially starts out along an old road bed, but quickly it veers right off into the forest. The trees that I saw during this were awesomely huge and beautiful! If the late great Randy Stoltmann’s name is associated with an area, you can expect to view some majestic cedars.

The trail is for the most part quite steep; think of doing the Grouse Grind for about nine hours; there is no gondola! I love steep slopes, they’re something so cathartic of pushing yourself physically through an old growth forest and seeing views of the Squamish River Valley and Ossa/Pelion Mountains.

At about 1170 m elevation, the route pushes North around a bluff section, before curling back East, and then heading up the main East running ridge system. Three of the group followed that route, while three went South and then East. I was with the group that went South; it was an interesting choice. We quickly had to start veggie belaying, and eventually were cliffed out. I would recommend not going this way, haha.

The East Ridge itself is quite broad and has great views in all directions; that’s if you’re not socked in. Though the clouds pushed in and out sporadically, that which I did see was superb! The final section of the summit ridge was heavily corniced. I would suggest just sticking to the middle and avoid any complications may arise from travelling too far to the edge of the ridge.

For a group of six young opinionated males, we worked well as a collective. I really enjoyed this trip with my friends, and would like to thank them all for coming along! The next trip? Tzsil Mountain near Joffre Lakes, or something in central Cheam Range.”

Upper Shannon Falls, 29 Mar 2013

Day hike,

Stephen H. at Upper Shannon Falls:
“Ivy, John, and Rasham joined me for a pleasant hike of the Upper Shannon Falls Trail on Good Friday. We started early to beat the crowds, which we ran into on the way down the Chief trail. There was no snow on the route. We enjoyed a long lunch and great views from the final bluff.”

Upper Shannon Falls 18/11/12

Day hike, ,

Chris M. at Upper Shannon Falls:
“A little rain didn’t stop the 5 of us from having an enjoyable walk to Upper Shannon Falls. It was much less busy than normal on the stairs up towards the Chief. Colleen proved to be an effective shepherd. The bridge across Olesen Creek needs some repairs. On the way back, Daniel fell through but managed to climb back out. Chris mentioned he liked the variety of terrain along this trail. After checking out waterfalls and taking in the viewpoint above, round-trip was around 4 hours. Ellie and the rest of us chatted most of the way making the time pass quickly.”

Hole in the bridge

Petgill Lake 06/08/12

Day hike, ,

Steve at Petgill Lake:
“This trip brought me back to the early days of Wanderung. I truly enjoyed the company of my seven companions (interesting in the “good way”) as we hiked up to the this classic “two-payoff” hike. I had forgotten how the trail itself is a great part of this hike as we rose and fell through mossy sparsely-treed areas, but payoff #1 was even more of a hit: the lake. Non-glacial temperatures make this one of the best hike lakes I know (six of us swam). After the lake we went up to the viewpoint and had lunch overlooking Howe Sound. On the way down we came across more people than I recall Petgill ever having, including a guided group! (At Petgill?!) On the way down we hit a viewpoint we missed on the way up (around 1/2 way down), that had yet another great view of the Chief and Squamish from a rarely seen angle.

For those looking for a pace to hit on a warm day – Petgill is it. Tons of tree cover for shade, an awesome lake and a viewpoint where you can dry out.”