Christian on Zoa Peak:
“Crunch, crunch, crunch – a great Coquihalla social.
Five of us started out from Surrey, and arrived at the trail head above the Coquihalla Summit in good order. Everyone was well prepared. As soon as we started hiking from the “Falls Lake” right of way, we encountered a fresh dusting of snow. Mount Thar, beside Falls Lake, all covered in snow, looked awesome! Crunch, crunch, crunch – we could hear almost every step in the inch of snow all the way to the top. It was so quiet, nothing could be heard when we stopped moving. A true winter wonderland! Along the trail, we saw fresh footprints of squirrel, rabbit, grouse, fox and wolf. However, there was no sign of the elusive “snow snug”. 🙂 Shucks! Clouds rolled though as we reached the summit. Views kept coming and going. We were envious of the sun drenched hills right across the valley to the North. The summit wasn’t a true peak. Our views to the West were obscured. We settled in at the summit, and started cooking. Ah, lunch! We began with a sweet egg pasta curry with fresh tomato and carrot, cooked up a spiced brown rice with honey glazed beef, and had a light cous-cous dabbled with mango and pineapple. We finished off the meal with green tea and yogurt covered raisins. Fantastic! We had conversations about careers, travel, and cultural comparisons. The two architects on the trip, had lots to say! Allan cracked jokes all day. Mighty Zoltan took many pictures – a true Flickr aficionado! Our return down was quick, and full of conversation. We drove down the highway to Hope and arrived at the Home Restaurant before dark. We all ate from massive plates of great food. On the plates, the piles were so big, yam fries were falling off onto the table. We learned the new term: “Mountain money.” And we discovered the value of Gore-Tex socks. This product keeps feet dry regardless of how wet footwear becomes. An awesome product for West Coast hiking.”
