Check the Island Avalanche Bulletin

No matter where you are heading in the fall, winter and spring, if there is snow, there could be avalanche risk.

Always check the Island Avalanche bulletin to see what the risk and weather are.

Take an Avalanche Course

Island Alpine Guides offer excellent avalanche courses and refreshers. I recommend you always have a recent course if you are travelling in snowy terrain. It will drastically reduce the risk of an accident if you know and use the skills from these avalanche courses.

Be safe out there!

The post Avalanches on Vancouver Island first appeared on Pack & Trail.

A relatively unknown hidden gem called Mt. Becher lies about 12km SE of Mt. Washington.  It falls within the extreme western edge of a small offshoot of Strathcona Provincial Park and features plenty of snow, skiable terrain and grand 360 degree vistas of Strathcona peaks, the Comox Glacier and the mainland coastal mountains.The route to the top of Mt. Becher is about 6km (one way) with an elevation gain of 600m.  Except for some steeper sections (which get your heart pumping) the terrain is pretty easy to travel.  There are no sharp drop offs or rock scrambling required on the main route up (but if you want you can find these off to the sides of the trail if you walk a short ways).  Depending on your fitness level, trail conditions, weight of your pack and how distracted you get taking photos of the marvellous scenery, travel time to the top ranges from 2 to 4 hours and about 1.5-2 hours back down.  The route is fairly popular but if you are one of the first up after a snowfall and have to break trail be prepared to spend more time on the ascent.

The trailhead is located at the parking lot of the old Forbidden Ski hill.   From there head straight up the hill following the old ski lift.  This part of the route has some of the steeper sections you will encounter on the trail.

Once you get to the top of the old ski hill the walking is easier as you traverse a gently up sloping plateau through majestic trees.As you gain altitude you start to encounter views of Mt. Becher.

Continuing up the trail brings you to a very spectacular bowl housing Boston Falls and Boston Lake.  Local ice climbers use Boston Falls so there is a trail down to the lake. There is a very good viewpoint here so spend some time and enjoy the view.

Past Boston Lake the trail becomes steeper again as you approach the summit.

The final approach to the summit is largely open with scattered clumps of trees.If the conditions are right the trees may be covered in wind-swept snow making the whole area a winter wonderland.

The summit itself is dome shaped without a clearly defined top.  Walk around the summit and take advantage of the views.

To the North-East you will see Georgia Strait (Salish Sea) and the Coastal Mountains.To the South-East is Comox Lake.

To the South-West is the Comox Glacier and other spectacular peaks in Strathcona Park.

To the North-West you should be able to see the ski runs on Mt. Washington.

The route is popular with both snowshoers and skiers (and hikers in the warmer months). Some of the steeper sections can be a little tricky on skis so consider your level of expertise before heading up.  The summit sections and the old ski hill sections are favored by the skiers to get some turns in.  In the early part of the season when the snow pack is low the old ski hill sections can be challenging due to the growth of Alder trees on the old runs but with enough snow these become covered.

Getting There

Travel North on Highway 19 (Island Highway) from Nanaimo until you pass the first exit to Courtenay/Comox (don’t turn into Courtenay, stay on the highway).  Turn right at the lights at Piercy Road and after a few hundred meters take another right on Forbidden Plateau Road.  Follow this road all the way to where it ends in the parking lot of the old Forbidden Ski Area.  Although the road turns into gravel it is very well maintained and passable by any 2wd car.  The lower slopes of the old Forbidden Ski hill are very popular with families and they seem to keep the road well cleared in winter.

You can download a GPS track of the route here:

GPS Track

More details on the route up can be found here:

Detailed Route

Warnings

Although this location is relatively easy to get to and many families play on the lower slopes of the old ski runs, keep in mind that Mt. Becher is a backcountry location and subject to all the usual perils.  Take appropriate precautions by bring the right gear, letting someone know of your planned route and assessing the avalanche danger.  Although I have no personal experience, I have heard from others that you can get cell phone coverage from the tower on Mt. Washington.  Most of the photos I’ve posted here are of lovely sunny days but it can also be cold, blowing, foggy and offer white-out conditions (see photo below).  Check the weather forecast before you go and always be prepared for inclement weather.

Equipment

Suggested equipment will depend on time of year, local conditions and your mode of travel but some common equipment will be useful no mater how you travel.  A GPS is a very good thing to carry (with the track available above loaded).  In good weather the route up is fairly obvious but if the weather closes in landmarks can disappear making navigation difficult.  Hiking poles are useful as there is a lot of up hill travel.  I consider a camera as essential but that may just be my bias as a photographer.  It’s an excellent idea to carry some sort of communication device as well should you get into trouble (Cell phone, radio, Spot Messenger). Take clothing appropriate to the conditions.

The post Mt. Becher – Hidden Gem first appeared on Pack & Trail.

***

This trip report is for Mt. 5040 which I hiked back on July 5th.  This hike has easily been my favourite of the summer and I strongly recommend it as a medium difficulty day-hike with some spectacular views.

We headed out on July 5th at 7am from Nanaimo to conquer the 5040 peak.  The summit had previously eluded us when we called off a day-hike in white-out like conditions the previous week.  Now with clear skies we were determined to reach the top.  To find the trailhead we used the guide on SummitPost and headed for the Cobalt-lake trailhead.  After a quick stop at Tim Hortons we made our way to the Marion main line. 

As it mentioned on SummitPost, this logging road was not labelled with any signs, but it was very easy to see as we approached it.  Once on the road, we locked in the 4×4 and started heading up.  Initially the road was in pretty good condition.  Following our guide, we made our way to the bridge where the Northwest route starts.  However, we chose to do the Cobalt lake route and continued along the road.  This trail is shorter as you start at 600m elevation compared to 400m.  From here the road began to deteriorate rather quickly with lots of large, deep, washouts.  On this particular trip we were in a big F250 4×4 with plenty of clearance.  But the previous week we had been able to reach the Cobalt lake trailhead with an AWD Subaru Outback.  Although we did scrape it up a bit on the way back down.

After measuring the 3.5km from the bridge we arrived at the trailhead at about 8:30am.  Finding trailhead was a bit tricky as it was just a piece of flagging tape next to the road about 5m back from the pullout where we parked the truck.  After gearing up, we headed into the logging slash for the first part of the trail at about 8:45 am.  This part was actually very easy.  The trail is well carved into the slash with lots of flagging and not much elevation gain.  Overall it was a nice walk to start off the hike.  After about 15 minutes in the slash we reached the forest where the trail got very steep.  The hike up through the forest lasted about 45 minutes, including a brief stop on a small rock bluff halfway up.  While this is probably the most physically demanding part of the trail it was still very well-marked with no branching to get confused with.  At the top, after a final scramble up a rock bluff, we reached the sub-alpine where the snow began (~900m).

Once in the sub-alpine the trail disappeared under the snow and the flagging became much sparser.  However, the route is still easy to find as we just headed north along a ridge that follows the creek draining from Cobalt Lake.  This stretch lasted about half an hour with us reaching Cobalt Lake at about 10:30am.

At Cobalt Lake we took a break for some sandwhiches and planned out our route to the top.  Once we were ready to go, we crossed the creek and headed west along the shore of the lake and up a steep hill to another ridge.  From there, we headed north along the ridge before the final steep hill to the summit.  On Summitpost, it mentioned two possible approaches to the last hill.  Either directly up (very steep), or a traverse east and around the summit and coming up on the other side.  We took the direct approach and were able to do it with ice axes but no crampons.  On the way down we took the longer route and it was much easier but a bit longer.  It was just under an hour and a half from the lake to the summit (~1550m) and we arrived around 12:30pm.  At the top, we took in the spectacular views, ate some lunch, and signed the guestbook before sliding down the snow on our way back.

While the amazing views are the main attraction for this hike, I wanted to point out a few other benefits of this place.  For one, it would be very hard to get lost.  The flagging and trail up to the sub-alpine are very good.  Through the sub-alpine up to the lake you just follow the creek.  And anywhere above the lake you will always be able to maintain a visual of the lake which would allow you to get your bearings even without a compass or GPS.  There was also no exposure to cliffs which is nice if you are not very comfortable with heights like I am.  And finally the hike has a moderate level of difficulty that I am sure the average hiker would be able to do.  I hope this is of use to anyone considering the hike.

The post Hiking Mount 5040 first appeared on Pack & Trail.

While a very nice car with loads of power and traction, I wasn’t sure if it had the ground clearance to make it over the many small ditches that littered the approach to De Cosmos.

The second thing was that even though the weather looked promising for the next 12 hours, I couldn’t help but wonder if the weather magicians had called this one right. Rain was closing in fast on the forecast and I couldn’t shake the anxious feeling we’d get stuck out on some bluff in a foggy, snowy storm.

Valley behind De Cosmos

The third reason was that my friends and I have been trying to knock of De Cosmos for a while now and something always comes up. Gates are closed, we don’t know the way, motorcycle chains break, we run out of time. The reasons we’ve turned back already planning the next attempt a great in number.

I’m happy to say we finally accomplished what we’ve been gazing at for years from Nanaimo and Mount Benson.

Izzy, Ryan’s Impreza, handled the road and ditches wonderfully although we did put a little crack and a couple scratches into the paint coming back down. A truck or higher vehicle is highly recommended for the road that we took. That said, we were only able to make it up all the way to where we parked because Izzy was so short. A tree had fallen across the road and any taller vehicle wouldn’t have made it through. Magically on our way back, it had been sawed in half and removed from the road.

We got to within about 3 km from the peak of green on the road. Let me remind you that this was as the crow flies. We definitely couldn’t hike as the crow flies! We followed the road as for as we could go and then summited the small peak next to De Cosmos. Luckily there is a high ridge in between this secondary peak and De Cosmos. The hike would have probably take 2 additional hours if the ridge wasn’t there and we had to descend into the valley and up the other side to the peak. The ridge dropped maybe 20 meters total as we traversed and definitely saved our backsides from the otherwise steep terrain.

The snow ranged from soft and powdery letting us sink through to past our knees to solid ice. The snow that was out in the open was quite soft while that in the trees had melted more and frozen making for a tough hike over sections on the ridge. Snowshoes would have helped a great deal but we might have had to take them off for the steeper sections. I think it would have cut 10 to 15 minutes off our trip time but our legs would have thanked us!

The post Summiting Mount De Cosmos first appeared on Pack & Trail.

You see, Stephanie doesn’t train for races or sporting events.  Ever.

I don’t know how she pulls it off, but she walks into every race totally unprepared and kicks ass. Last month some friends and I decided to enter the upcoming Yeti Snowshoe Race as a team and of course Stephanie imposed the no training rule.  To my knowledge, everyone has adhered until yesterday when I broke the rule and drove up to Mount Washington for an afternoon on the trails.  I have many good reasons for doing so but still secretly hope that Stephanie never reads this.

If you know her, please don’t tell her…I’ve lived in Courtenay for a week and a half and hadn’t been to the mountain yet.  It seems like everyone around has lift tickets hanging off their jackets, ski racks on their car and sore legs.  Seeing these guys every day for 10 days was too much for me.  I knew that I had to get up there doing something.  The upcoming Yeti and the dusty snowshoes in my garage seemed like a pretty good excuse.

I left school and headed directly to the mountain; I went the back route to scope out some potential riding routes and was amazed by the beautiful farmland surrounding the Comox Valley; I was seriously tempted to turn around and get on my road bike instead.  The thick rays of sunlight streaming between the pines lining the roadside were heating the pavement and sending steam drifting off into the beautiful bluebird sky.  Tidy cedar fences ran for hundreds of meters along the road and silently grazing cows looked up carelessly as I drove past.  At one point I pulled over to admire one particularly beautiful scene.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me but noted the time and exact location so I can try and get a shot if the weather ever cooperates with me.

Once I got to the Raven Lodge at Mt Washington, I quickly got my snazzy running suit on and got out onto the trails.  I had heard reports of fresh powder this morning and was hoping to find a trail that had been used so I could avoid breaking trail.  It has been a full year since I’d been on my Atlas Snow Race’s and the bright yellow decking brought back memories of the last Yeti I raced.  It was one of those perfect alpine days: bright blue, the sun high above and no wind.  The event truly is a race everyone can and should do – participants ranged from the hardcores wearing their bright XT Wings and sponsor jerseys to first time snowshoe-ers in thick heavy winter clothing to the snow queens, all dressed up in their Sunday best (you have to see them yourself, words don’t do them justice).  There was several inches of fresh snow that race day and running through it sticks in my mind as one of the hardest things I’ve ever done – surpassed only by the Squamish MOMAR.

There’s something cool about running through the snow that makes me enjoy it more than any other running surface.  Road running to me is bland and unexciting.  Trail running is much better – twisty trails and mud puddles get me excited.  Finally, running on the snow gives off this almost romantic je ne sais pas.

I remember one particularly steep hill about 45 minutes in when everything just seemed to fall together perfectly.  Clearly defined sunbeams were flowing out of the trees beside the trail but a cold wind was biting at my cheeks, reminding me that it’s still winter.  Loose snow flung up by my snowshoes was flying all around my head; every few seconds a piece would land on my neck and send a chilling rivulet of ice water down my back.  My iPod had once again picked the perfect song to run to and I kept pace with the strong beat with my feet and my man-dance head bobs.  My heart rate was high and I could almost feel each individual heart beat throughout my body but I was breathing regularly, focusing energy to my legs and screaming calves.  A perfect mix of hot and cold, pain and calm; total sensory awareness yet total removal as well.  Sports psychologists call this moment ‘flow’ and if you’ve ever been there, you know how amazing it feels.

After two laps of one of the snowshoe specific trails and one last sprint up the final hill of Raven’s Revenge all I could think of was the sauna waiting for me in the lodge.  I jogged back up to the lodge, confident of what to expect from myself in next weekend’s Yeti.

I can’t promise that you’ll achieve this same level of consciousness if you participate in The Yeti but I do promise that you’ll enjoy it immensely and have loads of fun.

The post Training for the Yeti first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The Group

Last year when the MEC winter catalogue arrived, my girlfriend Kirsten was awed by the cover photo.  A group of friends camped out in the snow on a bluebird day surrounded by all the amenities one would have at home.  “That looks like a great idea for my birthday party!” she exclaimed excitedly in a way that made me think that things were about to get a whole lot colder.

A few weeks later, we were sitting in the snow beside Kwai Lake in Strathcona Park.  The fog was so thick it was difficult to see more than 2 meters and most of our clothing and gear was soaking wet; a far cry from the jovial scene on the catalog now unceremoniously propped upright in the snow beside us.  Five of us had made the trek and while we were all in a pretty good mood it certainly wasn’t the trip we had imagined it to be. 

Nonetheless, Kirsten decided that the event would become tradition and earlier this month publicized her plans for a bigger (including her twin brother) and better (not wearing one pair of cotton hiking pants) Twin Birthday Snow Camping Adventure.

This year we invited everyone who would listen to us and expected about 6 people to join us.  We were obviously surprised when more than 14 people expressed serious interest.  I have finally realized that people don’t need the newest and latest gear to be happy and comfortable, which is a change from my normal reaction of getting all concerned and scared about what gear and experience hiking partners have.  A couple people with little experience were to join us so I made sure they had enough stuff to be happy and left it at that.  This realization has been a long time in the making; my next outdoor related problem to overcome is convincing myself that every individual activity needs certain, specific (and usually expensive) equipment.  I suppose that after 3 years working at an outdoor gear store I’ve sold myself pretty well on most products.

Saturday morning arrived and we gathered at our favourite restaurant, Urban Beet, for a group breakfast and then we were off to the mountain.  Although it was opening day, the roads were totally empty and it took no time to get to the Raven Lodge at Mt Washington.  If you’ve never been there, the Raven Lodge is a beautiful facility that serves the nordic community at Mt Washington.  I’m moving to the Comox Valley in a month and am hoping desperately that school doesn’t get too much in the way of play and that I’ll get to spend more time there.

Our route out to the lake was non conventional to say the least.  Early on the group decided to take a slightly shorter yet steeper route but randomly drifted between that and the other option; a longer, easier route. It seemed as though every time a new person took a shift at the front we veered towards the other route.  The snow in the trees wasn’t as compact as in the open and Kirsten constantly found holes to sink into; despite her snowshoes her entire leg sank down into the snow every fifth step or so.  The combination of our reduced mobility (having snowshoes on) and her backpack made it quite a chore extricating her.  While this complicated path gave us all a great butt workout and let us enjoy incredible views of Paradise Meadows, Mt Washington and Strathcona Park, it ate up time in the already late day and just tired us out.  We quit that nonsense as soon as we reached Lake Helen McKenzie and just stuck to the standard Albert Edward approach trail; we made it around the lake and up to the ranger cabin in a new record time in the 12 slowshoers and 2 backcountry skiers category.  Kwai Lake is just a short jaunt from the ranger cabin and is almost entirely downhill.Once there we quickly set up our various forms of shelter – there were 3 and 4 season tents, snow caves, bivies and siltarps – and got started on a snow kitchen big enough for our group.  A quick probe test surprised us with a snow pack of 189cm!  As soon as the sun disappeared behind Albert Edward the temperature dropped rapidly and spirits began to sink too; there was a light misting rain beginning.  It was about this time we saw two faint lights in the distance – Kirsten’s twin brother and his wife had left late and hiked in after us, finishing by the light of their headlamps.  Their arrival brightened us up, literally and figuratively, as they had carried in a 4 hour burn fire log that we lit on a grill made of fallen branches (I know, I know – we’re not supposed to have fires in the park but the situation seemed pretty ok).  The fire (…and Crown Royal…) did wonders for our energy levels until the rain finally drove us to our tents.

Nobody believed me when I said I was going to sleep in till 10am until I poked my head out of the tent at quarter after the next morning.  Everyone else had already woken up and several people had eaten breakfast and packed their tents.  The cold had woken them early and driven them to movement, while I with my -13 sleeping bag, downmat and powerstretch pants slept warmly into the morning (or, maybe I’m just lazy?).  Half of the group left early to check out the sauna at the Raven Lodge and the other half followed shortly behind them.  The hike out was uneventful; we took the regular route the entire way, which turned out to be far easier than the route we took.  Maybe it was the ease of the route or the amount of complaining we did about how dumb we had been the day before, but the hike out flew by and soon we were back at the parking lot ready to hit the pub.  The kitchen in the Raven Lodge was about to close so we made our way to the Longwood in Nanaimo for a little more birthday cheer.

We had so much fun that we’re now picking uncommon spots for all our holiday festivities.  Next up?  An abandoned hotel out at Cape Scott for New Years!  Stay tuned for that report!

The post The 2nd Annual Twin Birthday Snow Camping Adventure first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Mount Washington has just opened so we decided to check out the snow but it would be in a different way than most. A group of friends decided to hike to Kwai Lake can camp for the night.

Unfortunately, I’ve not got the required gear for being toasty warm while camping in the snow.  My girlfriend and I would make the trip out there with them, then after some warm food and shelter building, we’d head back to a warm car and dry clothes.

We met at the Raven Lodge, Mount Washington for a later start than I had hoped.The weather report bordered on snow but we didn’t see any. The sun was trying to push its way through the greyness above but just couldn’t do it. The grey stayed dry though and I was thankful for that. I was ecstatic to be out roaming around in the snow with friends but I know some of our pack was going to be less than pleased with the conditions after several kilometers through heavy snow. Rain would definitely have put a heavy damper on the mood already made tense by anxious conversations regarding the actual whereabouts of the campsite.

Off to a great start. Loping down the valley trail, err, road, I’m suddenly veering off into the bush attempting to keep up with the rest of the pack. It doesn’t even look like they know where we’re going. After 100 meters of bushwacking we landed on a beautiful snowshoe trail, then headed off into Paradise Meadows.Our first big decision. Straight to the easier but longer way, or left and up the hill, a shorter but tougher shoe. After some deliberation, eating and layer-changing, we head left, up the bank. Little did I know we’d be in for a rough ride.

Up and down, up and down, up and down. That’s all I could feel for the next hour. Instead of taking the nice, fluffy, flat, route that was slightly longer, we took the gnarly, steep, crazy hill. Ok, it wasn’t that bad but it felt hard at the time. I’m sure those that were with me that spent half the time hauling their snowshoes out of large holes can attest to the effort that was required to get all the way through those side hills.

After some celebration, we arrive out onto a flatter area and our, ahem, guide takes half us back into the woods for some more side-hilling instead of following the first group across the flat, fluffy snow. Like a lost dog, I follow.

The clock is ticking, and by this time the sun is getting lower and my girlfriend and I need to find our way back to our car. I was a little anxious about finding our way out by a different route. The snow makes everything look completely different. Never mind that, I had never been there before! My GPS was working flawlessly and tracked us back to the lodge with no problems.

After a short break in the snow on the way back for some warm food and hot chocolate, we collapsed into the car and started the long foggy roll down the mountain.

It was terribly disappoint to go to so much effort and turn around before we got to Kwai Lake and the campsite but it was still a great time marching around in the snow. We’ll have to get out there again and actually achieve our goal of Kwai Lake. Who’s coming!?

The post Snowshoeing to Kwai Lake first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The snow started about half way up and quickly covered the trail. We didn’t get into the deeper stuff until we reached the clearing and viewpoint at about 3/4. After that it was a slog to get up through the snow. Near the top it was almost impossible to get through the thick white stuff without sliding back 2 steps first. We had to switch off lead after a bit after I quickly burnt through the last of my energy. Ryan had his dog stuffed in the top of his jacket for the last kilometer of the hike because she was cold but he still kept on trucking up the hill.

The photo above was was near the top. I took a photo of the same tree just one week ago with hardly any snow around it. It’s the first photo from our first Benson Assault.

Near the top we popped out above the clouds and basked in the sunshine. Everyone else in Nanaimo saw a grey and rainy day. Ryan, Allan and I were getting a tan on the top of Benson!

Snow Over Nanaimo

With all the fresh snow in the past few days, there were no tracks to be seen when we got to the top. The clouds that were sitting over Nanaimo gave a strange perspective from Benson at only 1028 meters.

We headed back down the other side of the summit, down the Te’tuxw’ton Trail. This is my favorite part of the trail, especially heading up. Part of the way down we veered off on a steepcut that lead down back to the other trail we came up on. I had no idea there was going to be so much snow on this part of the trail. It was more than a meter in some sections and slowed our progress considerably. Every step, we sank to our hips and then wrestled with the snow to get out of the whole. I ended up sliding down the snow face first for part of it and then just crawling along the flat sections. It’s definitely time for snowshoes!

The post Assault on Benson: Too Much Snow! first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of getting up to the top for the first time in a long time with Erik Petersen. I can’t say that it was immensely pleasurable as the wind was howling and we couldn’t see much more than 50 feet. Just over the top though we got into a couple feet of snow and slid around till we met up with our turn off the trail. Stopping for lunch under a large tree while the snow is rapidly melting off its limbs may not have been the best idea but we enjoyed our meals nonetheless.

The stream there was flowing a lot and I’m assuming it’s going even more now with all this rain.

There was a bit of snow in the clearcut about half way up. It’s not enough to entirely cover to logs yet but that will come soon enough!

The top had a fair bit of snow in some spots and next to none in others. It all depends on where the wind hits. The more sheltered areas had almost 2 feet in them while the exposed areas had none. The wind was blowing like crazy when we were up there at lunchtime.

Next Sunday is another quick jaunt up the mountain to see what kind of snow has appeared in the last week with all the rain. We’ll report back to you then!

The post Assault on Benson: Numero uno first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The trail is relatively flat and we were trucking along at a good clip. I was excited to see Landslide Lake but that had to wait until the day after. We were just going to set up camp the first day and enjoy a relaxing evening beside the river that was close to our tents. About three quarters of the way to the camp site, Ryan’s dog Daisy started acting a bit weird. She looked like she was in pain. A closer look by revealed she had a wasp in her backside and was not very happy about it. Almost immediately after, we were surrounded by wasps. One panicked look at everyone else and we got out of there quick.

I ended up a with a few stings and a few of the others did as well. Immediately popping some Benadryl to make sure I did puff up to something unrecognizable we continued on.

The rest of the trail was a bit of a daze for me after taking the meds but it sure was pretty. We stopped at a spot on the river for lunch in the sun.

After arriving at our camp and setting up our tents, we relaxed on the river. The light cut out quickly and the warmth died with it so we retired to our tents excited for the next days adventure.

Rising early with the sun the next morning, I took in the scenery by the river. The sun was lighting up the nearby peaks and it was quite the site. I was grateful for the warmth from my steaming coffee as the day sure hadn’t started to warm up.

Eyes open and bellies full we begun our trek to Landslide lake. Another 2 km from where we had camped, it was mostly uphill but at a very moderate incline. The trail steepens as we neared the lake but we were happy to be so close.

The vista does not disappoint as you climb the last steep section and emerge from the bush. The lake opens up in front of you and rises into Mount Colonel Foster in the background.

On the right of the lake there the clear evidence of the massive landslide that gave the lake it’s name. All up the valley, actually, there is evidence of the slide. The rock right down the middle is scrapped clean from the torrent of water that rushed down the valley after the slide.

After a delicious lunch on the side of the lake we started the track back down to the camp and out to the cars.  I had put a waypoint on my GPS close to where we ran into the bees nest on the way in. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and one of the girls still got stung a couple times. I was thankful that I made it through the gauntlet unscathed this time around.

Gear for this trail

Pack: Osprey Aether 70

Shoes: Salomon Wings

GPS: Garmin Colorado 300

GPS for this trail

I had the GPS for this trail to get the track so I could geocode my photos later. It is not required. The trail is very clear single track. There is one branch that cuts left and goes across the river. It is well marked but do make sure you look at a map before you leave so you have an idea of where you are going. A GPS signal was hard to come by in some parts because of the deep valley.

Extra Links

Trailpeak Track: http://trailpeak.com/trail-Elk-River-Trail-near-Campbell-River-BC-1168

Ross’ Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcthink/sets/72157607544212326/

The post Elk River Trail to Landslide Lake first appeared on Pack & Trail.