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Hi!
Are there some recent attempts and summit reported?
I looked at the usual places where we'd expect to see a trip report.
- On Alltrails, there have been 3 recent attempts but no summits and no hikers past the Upper Lake.
May 24, 2024
Looks like a beautiful trail but we’re unable to hike due to a bear that wouldn’t be scared away 5/23. Be aware and bring bear spray, bear was not aggressive towards us but was not afraid of us when we yelled waved and honked at him.
May 9, 2024
Trail was clear until 1450 meter before lower lake you need spikes, half hour past the lower lake before crossing the creek you need snowshoes to make trail. Snow was deep and sloshy. We went up on very steep section off the track 50 meter to the upper lake then decided to turnaround because it was 3pm. I one has been up this year no tracks and lots of avalanche shots. Stopped 50 meter before upper lake, very slippers and unsafe.
March 17, 2024 • Hiking
Too much snow to finish the hike got stuck and the rock slide (elevation 970m). Would wait till it gets warmer and snow melts but still a great hike!
- On Facebook, I searched the groups 'Hiking British Columbia', 'Chilliwack BC Hiking Club' and 'SWBC Peak Baggers'. I didn't see a summit of MacFarlane recently. There have been summits of Flora Peak, Mount Thurston, Mount Mercer nearby. You can ask in those groups (either as a post or in the chats), and you could get additional answers.
- On Peakbagger.com, there have been 3 summits reported in 2024 (January 10, March 10, March 24) but no text reports.
What are the current trail conditions?
The last clear satellite image is from 2 weeks ago (May 14). The Lower and Upper Pierce Lakes were snow covered. Deep snow started at 1450m all the way up to the summit of Mount MacFarlane.
From nearby snow survey stations: 126cm snow depth , 859mm water equivalent at 1620m elevation NW aspect (Chilliwack River near Spencer Peak); 80cm snow depth , 550mm water equivalent at 1155m elevation S aspect (Dickson Lake near Mount Wardrop); 620mm water equivalent at 1480m elevation S aspect (Wahleach/Jones Lake).
You can read reports for nearby mountains and look for recent photos.
Avalanche risk assessment
In the section with snow (above 1450m), there are two large stretches of the trail which are inside avalanche terrain. Definitely, this terrain seems to be 'Complex' (multiple avalanche paths, very few options available to reduce the risk).
In the Matt Gunn book 'Scrambles in the SWBC', it's mentioned that between the two lakes, there is a gully to traverse as well as a talus rock field and cliffs to go through. The ridge above the lake is described as a pleasant and easy scramble (in summer time).
- Between the Lower and Upper Pierce Lake from 1520m to 1740m, there is a steep ascent on the climber's left side of the creek in 35-45 degrees slope; part of this stretch is located below >45 degrees slope. On the summer satellite imagery, we clearly see that several avalanche paths (3-6) are located there (no trees!).
- To climb the MacFarlane ridge above the Upper Lake, from 1820m to the summit at 2060m, the trail crosses several steep slopes between 25-40 degrees. For the final ascent above 2010m, there are steep slopes (40-55 degrees) on two sides or three sides around you; a slip-and-fall needs to be avoided.
In springtime, there is no more daily avalanche bulletin from Avalanche Canada; avalanche risks can remain at high altitude where there is snow. The main avalanche problem is Wet Loose avalanches. There can be Wet Slab avalanches and Wind Slab avalanches as well.
At middle elevations, you have to be careful about springtime hazards (some examples are described in this comment ).
What you would need
It seems still a risky hike at this time of year; maybe a hike to the Lower Pierce Lake would be a safer alternative (still be aware of risks) and you could be able to achieve it with standard equipment (recommended: microspikes, gaiters, hiking poles, waterproof footwear).
For the Mount MacFarlane and Mount Pierce, the recommended equipment and skills are: ice axe and helmet + know how to self-belay and self-arrest and how to kick steps, microspikes might be sufficient but crampons could provide additional traction in steep slopes, AST1 training and avalanche gear (transceiver, probe, shovel).
It's a long, remote hike so hiking with risk-aware companions definitely will reduce the consequences of hazards.
Note: Park reservation is needed during the summer time (May 16 to Sept 2, 2024) and a free parking can be booked online at 7am one day before your visit. The Buntzen Lake parking lot gates are currently open from 8am to 8pm.
From the Buntzen Lake parking lot, the hike is 11.8km distance and 943m elevation gain.
I went four times to Eagle Mountain and beyond (Tangled Summit, Mt Beautiful) including hiking and snowshoeing. Our average pace (min/km) were 18:58, 19:51, 20:15, and 25:32. Our pace would give you a total moving time between 3h44m and 5h02m.
To get the total time, you also have to include break times between 1 and 2 hours. During our hikes, we had a ratio of total time to moving time between 130% to 140%. That corresponds exactly to between 1h10 and 2h of break time. So in total, expect the hike to last from 4h50 to 7 hours depending on the speed of your group. Start your hike before noon to finish on time.
If we are following Naismith's rule, we get a moving time of 3h55m to 4h31m, depending if we're using the 5km/h or 4km/h version.
Because the trail is quite steep and challenging, we were not much faster on the way back. At most, our moving paces were 10% to 20% faster when descending compared to when ascending. From the Little Valhalla viewpoint, it will take at least 2 hours coming down without any breaks. You can bring hiking poles to make it easier on your knees on the way down.
For the snow levels:
- There was a clear satellite image on May 9 which seems to indicate that most of the trail was clear of snow at that time. Possibly the small lakes on the North East of Eagle Mountain were still frozen and maybe a few patches of snow on the Lakes Trail (at elevation 960m) if taking the junction on the right of El Paso, instead of the Viewpoints Trail on the left that goes to Bratton Point and Little Valhalla.
- The recent reviews on Alltrails for the Spahats Rigg hike (with statistics estimated at 14km distance and 972m elevation by Alltrails) seem to indicate the same thing.
May 18, 2024 • Hiking
Still snow covered by several lakes but manageable without the spikes,
May 15, 2024 • Hiking
Amazing views! Halvor Lunden Trail up to Eagle Mountain Loop. Snow still on north aspects. Sturdy footwear strongly recommended and the ascent is a pretty consistent moderate grind through nice forest. Going west from "El Paso" you encounter stream crossing and then three view points, the last of which is a small scramble to excellent unobstructed SW views of Metro Vancouver out to Vancouver Island on a clear day. Don't need to worry about Leg Day at the gym after coming back down
May 12, 2024 • Scenic driving
A very scenic trail with almost no snow left on it. It’s quite steep all the way up, and the last stretch between Little Valhalla and Spahats Rigg is also very rocky and pretty scary as you are walking on the edge of the cliff for a bit. Also keep in mind that AllTrails wildly underestimates the length. I clocked in 17km instead of promised 10 and >1k elevation
May 9, 2024 • Hiking
Good hike. More like 15km and 1060m of total ascent, but rarely difficult. Great views from the 4 lookout points, but otherwise in the forest. No snow until 950m, and then only last remnants.
It looks like the crux would be the large gully about 300m East of Rainbow Mountain.
Once you create a GPX file for your route, you can inspect it in FatMap, CalTopo, and Google Earth.
Google Earth has very detailed imagery so it's more clear what the terrain looks like, I like to import the track to look at it in 3D in Google Earth. Fatmap has the 'avalanche' and 'aspect' shading, and Caltopo has the slope angle shading, I do a couple of rounds in those tools to refine the GPX track.
There are tracks on the Strava Global Heatmap, which means some people did that route within the last year. The tracks correspond to "All foot sports" which means they were for summer hiking and not winter sports (like ski touring).
Keep an eye on the weather as it can be cloudy or raining. I like to watch live webcams before going to know if we will have a view or not.
The Bowen Lookout and Eagleridge Bluffs in Cypress Park are good suggestions.
The Stawamus Chief first peak is great if your family is in good physical shape.
Here are some other options:
Lynn Canyon loop (6km, 151m). Located in North Vancouver, great view of the canyon over the suspension bridges. Rice Lake is a beautiful mirror lake, it can be added to extend the hike longer.
Diez Vistas #1 (7.1km 532m). Intermediate hike with several beautiful views.
Quarry Rock loop (4km, 206m). Viewpoint that is accessed by a trail in the forest, very popular trail on the weekend.
Jurassic Ridge (2.4km distance, 163m elevation gain) Visiting some interesting rock formations.
Cleveland Dam (3.5km, 179m). A nice walk in the forest with old-growth trees. It's nice to visit the Salmon Hatchery. Can be connected to a walk on Amberside Beach.
Sumas Mountain viewpoints (6.1km, 210m). It's possible to drive up an FSR and park the car quite close to the summit of Sumas Mountain. This makes an easy hike with breathtaking views of the Fraser valley. There is a possibility to pass by Chadsey Lake to make the hike more challenging and visit more varied terrain.
Lighthouse Park loop (5.5km,247m). The park has several options for trails, a good place to bring a picnic and enjoy the day hanging out on the rocks.
one I’ve been trying to work out is doing a night at Porteau Cove up the Sea and Sky
You could go to the Erin Moore trail instead (see trip report here ) and camp at one of the lookouts, another user has recommended the Southmost viewpoint (Cosmo Bluff) as it's Crown land.
Those stained glass mosaics were part of an unsanctioned art installation. One artist decided 1-2 years to install those windows at many popular local trails, there were about 14 windows installed.
Many hikers felt the windows violate the Leave No Trace principles, and many of the pieces of art were removed by BC Parks, only a few remain.
Some years ago, we had done a longer hike in the Grouse backcountry trails and we were the stragglers. For the public, the last download was at 9pm but we had arrived later (around 9:15pm).
They let us go down the gondola but they took my contact information, maybe to make sure that I don't do that every week. So verify in advance with the Guest Services which gondola you can really take.
We were fully ready to go down the BCMC trail with headlamps, but we were happy that they let us use the gondola down.
Congrats! That's an amazing loop, quite a good distance. It's impressive that you added Sugar Mountain to the hike!
This was Mount Cook and Mount Weart last weekend:
Those are lower elevation hikes. They are mostly under forested areas but most of them have some rewarding attractions at the end. They might be shorter than 10km.
- Red Heather Hut
- Cheakamus Lake
- Crooked Falls
- High Falls
- Alexander Falls
- Rainbow Falls
- Brandywine Falls
- Flank trail
- Smoke Bluffs
Yes, you have to click on the "Draw a line" tool (button on the right) of the screen.
This will allow you to upload a GPS track file. The GPS file can be in many common format, including GPX, KML (Google Earth).
The Sentinel website doesn't recognize 'waypoints', so you have to manually edit the track file (with notepad) and delete the <wpt> sections. It happens a lot with GPX files downloaded from Alltrails.
From a satellite image from May 14, we see that there is almost no more snow. There might be some patches of snow remaining at the summit, above 1150m.
You could look at those two Facebook groups:
May 14 at 3:22pm
Road report: We were up Chipmonk Creek FSR yesterday. Got to about 3Km (guess) from the top lot when we hit this slimy deep snow patch in a shaded steep area. The only track through the snow was a single from dirt bikes (maybe?). Hiked up around the corner and saw more snow so it wasn’t worth attempting since we were alone.
There are a few recent reviews from this week on the Alltrails website, there are several new photos as well in case you want to see the conditions.
May 17, 2024 • Hiking:
We hiked on May 17. Plenty of the trail still covered with snow and a bit muddy in spots.
May 14, 2024 • Hiking
nice short and easy hike to see the sunset! amazing views of mt. baker! lots of bugs though
May 14, 2024 • Hiking
Very minimial snow, and easy and short hike!
May 13, 2024 • Hiking
Still very snowy on trail. Good view at top.
May 12, 2024 • Hiking
Still hard pack snow for 3/4 of the trail.
May 11, 2024 • Hiking
Went yesterday (May 11)- great hike with gorgeous views as usual. Right now is not a good time to attempt this in your favorite Vans. Bring spikes and hikers for sure. About 25-30% of the trail is covered in snow still, and it’s melting fast. Expect to fall here and there and/or have your foot go through the snow to knee depth at some point. Slow and steady and totally doable. Just not in vans…
May 11, 2024 • Hiking
Love this hike! Still quite but of snow in some spots.
Here are a few of my personal 'hidden gems' a bit easier hikes , and this is a good list by another user .
Some of the hikes that are the 'classics' (very famous but also very beautiful):
- Stawamus Chief (Squamish)
- Garibaldi Lake and Panorama Ridge (later in the summer)
- Mount Seymour 3rd peak (later in the summer)
- Goat Mountain and Crown Mountain on Grouse (later in the summer)
- Evans Peak and Alouette Mountain (Golden Ears Park)
- Mount Harvey and Brunswick Mountain (later in the summer)
- Elk Mountain (Chilliwack)
After doing those classics, you will find out more 'hidden gems', some less famous trails but as beautiful.
Also have a look at the famous hiking bloggers , it's a good way to discover hidden gem trails!
Which area or British Columbia are you interested in?
When are you planning to hike?
What is your fitness and hiking experience?
Continue to prepare to be completely ready to make the trip. It seems you are doing good research so far. Here are a few trip reports from the subreddit that you can read, see also many informative comments inside: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 .
You can find plenty of winter camping trip reports by searching on Facebook groups or personal hiking blogs. There are plenty of winter camping YouTube videos to learn more techniques and tricks .
You have to make sure that you have a good sleeping system.
The sleeping pad is very important because it is isolating you from the snow or the cold ground. Most summer pads only offer cushion, but do not thermally insulate you from the ground. If there is no "R-value" on your pad, consider that the thermal insulation is close to zero, meaning you will quickly lose your body heat over the night. Here is a good introduction to sleeping pads with a comparison table between brands.
You can supplement your sleeping pad by adding cheap mats, 'foam roll mats' and 'closed-cell foam' camping mats, at the bottom. Those mats have R-values of 1-2 and the values are additive. You can find mats at MEC and Canadian Tire.
Your sleeping bag needs to be rated 10 degrees lower than the intended temperature. A bag with maximum rating of -10C will be comfortable around 0C; a bag rated for 0C will be comfortable at 10C. The mummy-type bags are better as they hug your body shape more snugly and your body has less space to warm up.
A 3-season tent might be good enough. A 4-season tent provides resistance to high winds and snow loading . In the case of precipitation (snow or rain), you can place a tarp on top of your tent to make it more protected.
The tent location is very important. Avoid placing it in a windy or gusty area, try to find a location that is quiet and wind-protected. Do not place your tent at the bottom of a valley, because the cold air accumulates down there. Build a wall of snow (1-2 feet) around your tent to prevent cold wind from entering the tent; this preserves your 'heat bubble' intact.
Make sure you have snow pegs or snow stakes to pitch the tent (MEC and Canadian Tire) and you can bring extra paracord. You can also use heavy rocks attached to your guylines. An ultralight collapsible shovel (like an avy shovel) can help flatten the camping area and build the wall.
You can use something called an overbag that you put outside the sleeping bag to make it warmer, as well as a bag liner that you put inside. You can bring a survival bivy, a large plastic garbage and/or emergency blanket (space blanket) to act as an emergency overbag/liner.
Try to go to sleep with an empty bladder; your body needs to produce heat to keep the liquid warm inside you, so it helps to sleep more comfortably.
Bring a change of clothes, you will need dry clothes to sleep comfortably. For sleeping, I'm using a puffy jacket, a second wool toque, merino wool socks, and insulated slippers.
Bring bear spray and be bear aware. Bear spray also work on smaller animals (cougar, ...). Read the advice in 'exploring bear country' and 'bear safety tips'. For backcountry camping, it's very important to avoid bringing food to the tent. The 3 critical areas are separated into a triangle with a lot of distance in between: a) the tent/sleeping area, b) the food storage cache (learn to do a bear hang), and c) the cooking/eating area.
Safety advice
No matter where you go, make sure you pack up a headlamp and warm clothes (+10 essential hiking items), I also always bring an extra battery pack.
Make sure that you download the offline map before going hiking: network coverage can be unreliable. Tell your final trip plan to someone reliable and let them know when you are expected to be back.
You can also bring an extra pair of dry socks and warm clothes to keep in the car for the drive back.
Finally, especially as you might be hiking alone, you need to know how to react in a wildlife encounter, mostly black bear. Read the advice in 'exploring bear country' and 'bear safety tips'.
Check the visibility in advance
On a rainy day, you will not get good visibility at mid- and high-elevations but you might have some views at low elevation below the clouds (<600m). You can have great views by visiting the shoreline (some great spots: Lighthouse Park, Stanley Park, English Bay, Granville Island, Kits Beach, ...) maybe after a great forest hike.
You can check out the local live webcams to have an idea of the cloud situation already from the airport.
Hikes on the Vancouver North Shore
The Lynn Canyon loop (6km, 151m) gives you great views of a deep canyon over two high bridges and there are natural pools formed in the Lynn River. Rice Lake is a beautiful mirror lake, it can be added to extend the hike longer. The End of the Line General Store is great and nearby.
The Cleveland Dam loop (3.5km, 179m) brings you to a viewpoint of the waterfall, a nice walk in the forest with old-growth trees, a viewpoint of Capilano Lake at the top of the dam where you see the West and East Lions and you can visit the Salmon Hatchery.
Norvan Falls (14km distance, 363m elevation gain) is a rocky path above Lynn River, with the great waterfall at the end. The trek is quite long and on a rainy day you have fewer views than usual (normally you would see peaks of the Grouse range above the Lynn River).
Kennedy Falls is also a difficult trek, there is a lot of mud and several (about 10) creeks to cross. At the 75% mark, there is a Giant cedar tree and the waterfall is impressive.
Some hikes and interesting points near Squamish
There are a lot of small interesting hikes in/around Squamish.
The Stawamus Chief is always impressive. On a zero-visibility day like tomorrow, at the summits you would be engulfed in the clouds but you still see parts of the cliff around you but not the great views below and far away. Another difficulty is that the rock and tree roots will become slippery so you have to be very careful with your footing. If you go, the first peak is enough as the other peak two require more navigation skills and will not offer any additional views on a rainy day. We hiked the 3 peaks today and it started getting cloudy for the last peak.
Shannon Falls: Very large waterfall without much hiking just next to the Stawamus Chief.
The Jurassic Ridge loop (2.4km, 163m) has several low-elevation viewpoints and a great lake just next to the highway inside Murrin Provincial Park.
Porteau Cove Provincial Park: A great shoreline viewpoint of the Howe Sound.
Mamquam Falls (2.1km, 70m). A large waterfall with less driving compared to Crooked Falls.
Mount Crumpit (4.7km, 26mm): Low elevation peak right inside Squamish city. The Smoky Bluffs cliffs are nearby.
I've never been to the Crooked Falls but it seems like a nice hike.
Half Day to Hike
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