A classmate and I, both relatively low-fitness university gals having the hunger to do a backcountry hike before the end of the hiking season, planned to hike as far as we could to Coliseum Mountain via the Lynn Headwaters Regional Park entrance while being able to exit within the 7am-7pm park opening hours. To our surprise, we made it all the way up!

Timings:

1. 06:50-08:20 Park entrance to Norvan Falls. We snacked and refilled water at the creek without advancing the few hundred metres up to the falls themselves as we had already hiked to it the previous week.
2. 08:30-10:20 Norvan Falls to the creekbed crossing just before the final climb to Norvan Pass. I didn't time myself, but I estimate that we took 15-20 minutes more to complete the climb up to Norvan Pass itself.
3. 10:40-11:55 Climb from Norvan pass to the summit of Coliseum. The scrambling sections were fun!
4. 12:30-13:40 Descent from the summit to Norvan pass.
5. 13:40-16:20 Descent from Norvan pass to Norvan Falls.
6. 16:20-18:20 Norvan Falls to the park entrance.

Total time: 11h30, including a 30 minute rest at the summit.

Trail Conditions

We chose Thanksgiving Monday because the weather had been clear the past week, and would remain clear until the next morning. Expected rain on Friday had not materialized, so we hoped that the muddy sections would be passable in my low hiking shoes or my classmate's waterproofed trail runners. Generally, what mud we encountered was easily passable, and instead slippery rocks and wood were an unexpected hazard of which we needed to be more vigilent. Dew and small streams rendered many of the rock surfaces on the path frictionless even without rain. I slipped twice, one on the way up where I hit my tailbone, and one on the way down which soaked my entire left side in muddy water. My classmate had only one slip in the same spot. I was glad to be wearing quick-drying clothes that day, and carrying a first aid kit to patch minor scrapes.

Temperature-wise the air was very chilly before sunrise, such that you'd definitely want to dress very warmly, but after sunrise we could both hike comfortably in our base layer without either feeling sweaty or cold.

The summit itself was being blown by a chilling breeze, and I quickly put back on a second layer.

We noticed during our traverse of the Norvan Creek valleyside an isolated spot near a small stream where plants and some tree needles had been killed by frost, and on Coliseum we stepped through other spots with a thin crust of still-frozen mud.

Navigating the trail is straightforward when one looks well ahead for the presence of trail markers, namely orange tape and yellow reflective squares. In a few spots the orange tape has fallen or the next marker is hidden behind a tree, and having a companion pair of eyes will help greatly.

At this time of year we saw many mushrooms beside the trail, and they seem to have grown larger the higher up we saw them.

Hiker Preparation

I had attempted Coliseum once before (see reflection note), and then successfully hiked the Hanes Valley Route.

Because my classmate had not hiked in the backcountry before, one week before I had taken them into the park as far as the Hanes Junction to familiarize her with trail finding, then we met a few days before to brief the route and make sure of us bringing the Ten Essentials for backcountry hiking.

We started at the park entrance at 6:50am having walked in from an unrestricted street parking spot outside the park gates, and committed to a turnaround time of 12pm. Setting a turnaround time which left more return time than outbound time was right for us, as we had to take our descent slower than the ascent to limit knee strain and avoid slipping. Carrying a pair of hiking poles each made both problems manageable, and I strongly recommend that less fit hikers like ourselves take hiking poles also. Without them the final descent down the dirt hill to Norvan Falls would have destroyed our knees.

We were passed both on the outbound and return legs by a triplet of boys heading to Burwell without hiking poles. Mountain goats, they are.

Small streams were plentiful that day on the Norvan Creek valleyside, which makes up the first 2.5km approximately of backcountry trail. Carrying a filter water bottle will reduce your water storage capacity requirement.

Popularity

In addition to the triplet heading to Burwell, we encountered a group of four engineers who came from Seymour Valley via Paton Peak, and at minimum three hikers who came the same way as we did.

Reflection

While this hike is known to be difficult, from our experience I think it's approachable for young hikers with low strength but okay stamina so long as they carry hiking poles, give themselves maximum daylight hours, and set themselves a strictly adhered to turnaround time so that they won't be trapped in darkness.

I made the converse mistake on my first attempt before learning about hiking safety by starting too late in the day, not accounting for exhaustion in my turnaround time, and not carrying a headlamp. That night I had to call for Search and Rescue while trapped on a slippery dirt hill only hundreds of metres out from Norvan Falls (August 19 if North Shore SAR find this post). I'm satisfied to have planned and executed the hike with proper risk mitigation this time, for myself and a close friend who trusted me with their safety.

Safe travels!

Lynn canyon trail
Thursday October 15
~1300-1400

Praying to the reddit gods that someone saw it
:((((((

I have a Ford Bronco. The drive up was really exciting. Got to flex some off-roading muscles, but the Bronco made it such a smooth experience going up.

Hello!
I’m a new hiker in Vancouver and I’m looking for trail recommendations based on my level. I recently did mount fromme from st.george trail. It took me roughly 4 hours both ways. Difficulty wise I’d say it was a 6/10. A little bit steep in some spots but not too bad. What other trail should I go for to get better at hiking? I was thinking of Lynn peak or goat mountain ( with the gondola), are those reachable or too hard?

The first Crux is accessing the trailhead, Unless you are mad, I don’t understand who would bring a Corolla or something up here. You risk damaging your car and I wouldn’t recommend it. I was in a vehicle with 4wd and I had to keep manually switching between 1 and D. Possibly due to being a less experienced driver, I was averaging about 20-40km/h throughout the 21km (one-way) FSR and it took me 40 minutes. I let my father drive on the return trip he was averaging 50-90km/h and took about 24 minutes.

We saw one other person on this trail
7-8 hours (moving time)
Never posted a TR but figured to due to previous thread.

2 disclaimers..

1. You might be asked to turn around and leave when you reach the trailhead due to BC Hydro project being in that area, Along with the logging and dynamite stuff. There is nothing formally explaining this online or on their website. Get there early.

(

1. 7 days/per week, Next 5 years)
2. Please don’t be petty like us and attempt this in the format that we did. This was a one-time thing that is not reliable at all and can be potentially bad.

Due to car availability, We decided to play a dangerous game of being dropped off at the end of the FSR — Then picked up at the end of the day (That means we do not have the option to bail/turn around 😬). There is no service at the trailhead.

Once the car left our line of sight we had committed for good. Started at 8am and within 2 minutes of crossing the first yellow gate we got stopped dead in our tracks by Bc Hydro guard in a Ford explorer (Pretty sure he is also the ginger guy from the advertisements but honestly I don’t really know), He told us to leave immediately (🫪), since that isn’t an option, some negotiations later we got very lucky and buddy let us hop in his car and gave us an escort through their site + saved us 10 minutes of hiking 🐐. Super cool dude. We started the approach trail by the concrete barrier marked with “Robie”

The trail is many ups and downs that moves along the shore of Allouette Lake until you pass along the north end and its a gentle trail to reach the granite walls where the steep sections starts. My partners shoes decided to break apart, so we took a 15 minute break to do a diy fix. Past that it’s just never ending semi-eroded and weathered forest trail that has a ton of slippery blowdowns you need to climb under & over.
It was dry yesterday but the entire thing is just slippery, soft loam, so you have to walk on your toes (calves pain), instead of what you see on nicer trails like the dry (stairs-like) Brunswick mountain trail.

We reach the Tarns at 12-1pm and the weather was... really really nice 😑.. did not look like rain to me. Felt like 15-17c and visibility was very good. don’t think it will be ever be something like this until next August but I could be wrong.
We were equipped and very energized to keep going but unfortunately that would mean we would have to coordinate our ride back in the dark and very late which is extremely sketchy because I can’t think of a way to account for emergencies and stuff unless we camped. The one guy we met also mentioned ice so we didn’t bother to check out the chimney crux.
Since we decided to use IPhones as our (“emergency communication device”) we didn’t expect any communication to civilization and just relied on pre-planned times. However, the service at the tarns, and anything above 800m above SL.. was Amazing! Seriously we could use our phones just as well as they would work in maple ridge or something. Amazing service, all apps and communication worked including FaceTime, and we could call with crisp communication without encountering any transmission interference. This might not work for you depending on your cell service provider.

We were very sad that we had to turn around but we will 100% come back next year and do the whole thing, it’s a phenomenal hike! We started our descent at 3:20pm on the border between the tarns and those alpine rock slabs that allow you to move forward.

Poles recommended on the descent it’s very steep and slippery, it does not end. I would say the trail to the tarns is well marked if only you’ve done similar eroded trails, it gets confusing because you might not think this next part is the trail. But whatever is above you is the trail. It would be difficult without the use of AllTrails. AllTrails is very helpful.

There are some cool spots at the north end of Alloutte to check out if you have time, we took a 10 minutes swim break.

The final hour was spent in the dark (new moon) hiking up And down the roped sections along the shore of Alloutte and 15 minutes up the service road back to the Bc hydro gate, whole thing felt like a horror game. Our electronics and clocks started to fail and we kept hearing things and got the hell out of there. Once we were able to see the final gate at 7pm, our lamps didn’t illuminate any vehicles and my heart dropped. But three seconds later I saw 2 red taillights power on. We both arrived within 5 minutes of each other. We were saved! ❤️

Amazing hike, didn’t feel as hard as I had anticipated. Though we had quite heavy bags maybe 30-40 pounds, until next year.

Solo hike on October 11th, great weather. A bit cool but sunny and bright! Lack of rainfall made all the creek crossings a bit of a breeze. I came across some really colorful and odd-shaped mushrooms, let me know if you know what any of these are please! Please disregard my gigantic 65l bag, I'm trying to get in shape/comfortable carrying the equiptment for West Coast Trail in the future. I took a picture of an odd structure (second to last photo), it was overgrown but didn't seem to be either finished or in disrepair...any ideas as to what this was supposed to be? Some kind of lookout?

I went for the Jocelyn Hill Trail on Oct 10, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I was worried a little because I went alone, but it was easier with the help of the apps, there is reception on almost all the trail. And the scenery is definitely worth it😁

I went through Emma Dixon trail, and completed it within two and a half hours, but spent around half an hour to enjoy the view on the peak.

There are two view points, but the higher point is not really far away from the first one, it can be climbed in around 30 mins.

Thank you everyone for the answers and the guidance, I also learned that there a lot of other places to see, reason to make new plans 🙂

Have a wonderful week!

Hi all, long shot but i dropped my meta glasses case with my gold rectangular prescription glasses within. i dropped it this monday near the parking lot of mount cheam 100m away from the trail. these glasses have a specialized prescription for me and i need them to work. i’m willing to offer a $300 reward as compensation if found intact. thank you!

(VANCOUVER ISLAND AND INTERIOR BC) Looking for suggestions on locations for a 4-5 day hike thats mainly alpine mountain top rocky and sparse trees mixed with lower elevation medows and lakes both glacier lakes and normal lakes. decent difficulty but nothing insane. i have decent hiking experience so i want something that isnt super easy and the less people i see the better in a way. places i might see mountain goats and bears possibly.

(edit: ive done the juan de fuca trail several times ive also done cape scott trail, alpine hiking in the interior of BC but forget what the place was called it was in the vernon surrounding area. i know its not alot of info but i want a challege not just a basic hike but want it to be fun. )

15.5km, 1611m vert and 6h car to car. Beautiful day to be out. The trail toward Hope Mountain was a bit muddy but pretty straight forward. For Wells Peak you come back to the car and hike from there. It is quite icy once you’re out of the forest. A high clearance vehicle is preferred but I saw a Subaru Forester at the trail head too.

​

Note: this trail (20km+) is the one near Squamish, not in North Van or in Chilliwack.

Tried this trail in Sep 2023 but did not complete it due to weather. Sunday was a sunny day, so I decided to give it another go.

There were panoramic views (Sky Pilot Mountain, Co-Pilot Mountain, Mount Habrich, Mount Garibaldi, the Stawamus Chief, the Tantalus Range and North Shore mountains, etc.) on the Ridge for a couple of kms. Maybe 10 tarns - all very beautiful! People must have enjoyed the cool, clear water in the larger tarns during the summer.

An offline map (e.g., Gaia GPS) is required as there are quite a few different trail branches and no trail markers. Even with the watch trail view on Suunto and Gaia GPS on my phone, I still managed to miss a turn point around 1125 m elevation but took a short detour and rejoined the main trail.

Once you are on the ridge, pay attention to carins or blue paints on rocks for navigating (I wonder why the typical orange paint was not used). A few muddy sections with some sections with icy conditions (but not too bad; no spikes needed). Some small tarns are frozen, but the bigger ones are not.

Parked roadside, close to the Copper Dr bridge (upper) over Britannia Creek. Then followed this route: Half Whip --> BR100 (FSR) --> Pandora's Box --> BR100 (FSR) --> Disneyland --> Goat Ridge Trail. The benefit of this combination is that one can minimize the boring FSR; downside is adding more roots / slippery sections in the forest. Also Half Whip and Pandora's Box are shared with mountain bikers.

In total, I saw ~16 other people on the trail including 5 runners and two campers.

Trail stats: 20.27km (shorter than AllTrails' number; this could be due to the forest trails at the beginning), c2c - 9 hours (to be exact: 8 hr 55 min).

Ascent: around 1.5 hours to the Disneyland trail start; another 1.5 hours to the beginning of the Ridge, then 1.5 hours to the 1,752m high point. So, the ascent took roughly 4.5 hours in total (8:54 to 13:27).

Descent: ~4 hours: 13:49 to 17:40.

Hi all - I realize this is a very long shot, but I figure no harm in asking! We went to quarry rock yesterday and my daughter lost an earring somewhere in the last 10 minutes leading up to the lookout. It has sentimental value, so if you are in the area and come across it, we’d be happy to get it back!

I did this today. 7h car to car. 19km and 1950 vert. I knew the weather will be snowy cloud and icy and I came for it. I’ve done this trail many times and I had all the thing with me (layers, spikes, gloves…)

Photos from a recent overnight trip to Berg Lake on the west side of Tricouni. For a summary trip report, check out my comment below. As always, do your research in advance of any trip into the backcountry, carry the 10 essentials, and be prepared for changing weather conditions in the shoulder season.

Hi all!

I'm planning on going to manning park with my group tmr and we're going to do some activities, namely star gazing since I heard it's excellent for that. But I'm confused, I know day parking is free and it's first come first serve, but does that apply to night as well? We're not staying overnight, but fairly late (we're leaving earliest 10 pm). Also I read online that we should arrive early in the morning to get a spot, but my group doesn't want to stay for 12+ hours in the park when we don't have that many activities planned, our main activity would be stargazing. Any advice + insight would be really appreciated!!

Hi everyone!
I’m planning to hike in Garibaldi Provincial Park Monday (October 12), and I’m trying to decide whether to stick with Garibaldi Lake or go all the way to Panorama Ridge.
I recently completed the full Skyline Loop at Mount Rainier. I found the first half pretty challenging, but definitely manageable. My legs and knees were quite sore on the descent, although I felt fine again a couple of days later.
The people I’m going with want to do Panorama Ridge as a day hike, leaving Vancouver by car at around 6 AM.
I’m a little concerned about the distance, elevation gain, and whether we’ll have enough daylight, especially this time of year.
For those who’ve done both hikes, how much harder is Panorama Ridge compared to the Skyline Loop? Would you recommend attempting it, or would Garibaldi Lake be the more sensible choice?
I’d love to see Panorama Ridge, but I also don’t want to push myself too far or end up hiking back in the dark.
Thanks! :)

Edit: I ment leaving at 6 am

Hi everyone, I've been wanting to hike the Cheam Peak, but don't have any high-clearance vehicle to drive to the trail. Anyone here knows where I could rent that type of vehicle? thank you :)

Hello everyone!

I'm planning to go for an afternoon hike tomorrow. It'll be my first time visiting Vancouver Island, and I'd prefer a trail relatively close to downtown Victoria so I can spend more time hiking and less time driving.

I'm planning to hike between 1 PM and 5 or 6 PM. I've done a few hikes lasting 4–5 hours before, and I'm comfortable with steep climbs, but I'd prefer an easy to moderate trail with scenic views.

I came across Mount Douglas South Ridge and West Beaver Lake via the 10K Trail online, but I'd love to hear opinions from more experienced local hikers. Would you recommend either of these routes, or is there another trail you'd suggest? I'd particularly appreciate advice on trail conditions, elevation gain, and whether the routes are suitable for this time of year.

I'll have a car, so I'm flexible about trailheads within a reasonable driving distance of downtown Victoria. Also, if anyone would like to join, they're more than welcome! The more, the merrier. 😄

Cheers, and have a great weekend!

Post hike edit: Thank you so much for the answers and guidance. I went for the Jocelyn Hill trail and it was breathtaking. Thanks to the replies here I also learned that there are a lot of amazing trails/hikes/sceneries in the island and new plans have to be made 😁

I wish everyone a great week

My trip report is here https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhiking/s/LtaJENkAgK

Anyone have an idea how the conditions are on Mt. Robie Reid this weekend? Planning to do a one night backpacking trip

think it’s a good idea to get dropped off at the trailhead and then get picked up the next day or walk/jog/life support bike some of the fsr back. I can’t drive.

(I have an iPhone 14 - So it has satellite communication abilities)

Anyone have an idea how the conditions are on MT rohr this weekend? Planning to do a one night backpacking trip at the lake

1850m Gain, 20km round trip, 2460m max elevation.

5:20 Moving Time, 7:00 Car-Car.

Trailhead is at the Manning Park West Gate Lot just past Sunshine Valley on the Crowsnest Highway. Tons of space in the lot, a couple of outhouses, and the lot is open and visible from the highway.

I arrived at 7:30 to start just after sunrise and immediately started up. This is possibly the best built trail that I've been on for a mountain of this size making for a very gradual climb that, although long, felt quite easy. Most downed trees had been dealt with leaving just a few trees across the trail at higher altitude that were easily bypassed. From about 600m gained to 1000m the forest is dense and quite uninteresting but opens up soon after giving some great views.

You hit the sub-alpine meadow proper at around 1950m (around 1300m gained). The colours were amazing and the clear skies made for awesome views already. The meadow alone would be a decent objective and would keep the hiking to all of the easy stuff.

Continuing up, the trail steepens for the last 500m of elevation gain and after about 100m it turns to a large talus field broken by occasional short sections of dusty trail. The angle remains quite steep but the talus was generally relatively stable to walk on with some care (although my pace slowed significantly). The summit isn't seen from the meadow and is further than it appears from below. The summit ridge is relatively low angle talus to the South, and steep rock to the north making for very comfortable walking. The only required exposure in order to make the summit is a very short narrower section between two gulleys that should be very comfortable for most.

The talus felt easier to navigate on the descent, but was perhaps a little harder to descend than it was to climb. After clearing the loose rock though, the remainder of the trail is straightforward to descend. There was running water in the creek and both tarns also had plenty of water.

Overall I'm glad I went and I may return to camp here with friends.

** Sea to Summit Trail Trip Report | Squamish, BC | 9.33 km and 920 meters gain | Fall conditions **

Did the Sea to Summit Trail in Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) last weekend and it did not disappoint, but I'll say upfront: we knew it was steep going in and it was still more exhausting than expected. Come with more water and snacks than you think you need! Our group's fitness was pretty high—one of us has run a trail marathon and the rest of us are very active hikers and mountain bikers.

The two route options

There's a choice early on: the straight-up climb with ladders, ropes, and sections where you're using your hands to pull yourself up, or a longer route that's still very steep but more trail-like. My partner and I did the steep section for about the first quarter of the way up for fun, then rejoined our friends on the less steep route (who had their dog and took the longer route the whole way). After that point we all did the longer route together. Either way, pay close attention to the trail markers. In places the route is not obvious, especially on the steeper section where you're sometimes sidestepping small creeks and it's hard to tell what's established trail and what's runoff.

Fall conditions

Really nice time to go. Mostly evergreen so don't expect dramatic fall foliage, but the streams were still running well and it wasn't wet or muddy the way it can get after heavy rain. I could see how the steep section in particular would be brutal after a big storm. Shannon Falls was still going strong and absolutely worth a look.

No wildlife on a busy Saturday, but the trail more than makes up for it with cool mushrooms everywhere and trees growing directly out of cliff faces and rock walls.

The selfie tip

At roughly the quarter point of the steep climb, there's a spot where if you take a selfie and show it at the lodge at the top, you get a free hot drink. We got a hot chocolate and a chai latte. Worth knowing.

The top and the gondola down

The views from the top are some of the best I've ever seen. We had lunch at the lodge and took the gondola down, which is its own experience because the descent is so steep it feels almost vertical. The gondola down is $20 CAD per person.

Dog notes

Dogs are not allowed in the lodge or most of the gathering areas at the summit, so our friends with the dog basically had to head straight to the gondola. Dogs also cannot take the gondola up, only down. The gondola is $20 CAD for dogs. Worth planning around if your dog is coming.

Overall, 10/10 weekend day hike!