Bob H. on Mt Gardner:
“I had to go to Bowen Island today, so I said, why not do a hike too! It was 14 degrees C and cloudy at the start. Deep in the forest it got down to around 10, but that’s it. It was very comfortable all day. Some mosquitoes were bothering me, but no bites – so that’s good! I had the fortune of having the car today, so we started right at the trail head (126 m). If you hike from the ferry, there is an extra 3 km and 175 m elevation gain. From the trail head, we started up the gravel road and then veered slightly left into the forest. We re-emerged onto the gravel road 1.3 km later and continued up the road for another 1.3 km. We entered the forest again and continued our climb to the summit. The trail is very peaceful, with the sounds of birds and small streams. Just before the approach to the summit, there are ropes for assistance, as it’s a pretty steep section – they help, especially going down. When we got to the top (715 m), we stopped for a break on one of the two helicopter landing pads up there. Unfortunately, there was zero visibility at the summit, so no good photos from the top! There are a number of telecommunications antennae and repeaters up there. We saw only two other people today. The round trip distance was 8 km and the total elevation gain was 690 m.”
