Rohr Lake Backpacking Trip

November 9, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

Rohr Lake has been on my hiking bucket list for years. I was hoping to visit in the middle of the summer, but I had bad timing and there was a wildfire in Pemberton, so I opted not to go, hiking the Heather Trail in Manning Park instead. I felt like doing one last backpacking trip over the Thanksgiving long weekend and convinced Adriana to come out with me for a 1-nighter.

After a beautiful September, the weather switched right before our trip and the mountains got their first dusting of snow the night before. Adriana claims that winter camping is too cold, but she was still excited about camping at Rohr Lake in -5 degrees Celsius, so her logic doesn’t check out, but I’m glad she was willing to join me! We got up early on Saturday morning and drove to the trailhead, just past Joffre Lakes, arriving shortly before lunch. Since we knew it would be cold, we both came prepared, meaning that my pack was feeling a little heavier than I prefer as I was carrying my winter sleeping bag.

It was a nice day, with no precipitation, but it was overcast. We weren’t sure of the condition of the access road and since we only had one car, we parked at the very bottom. The road is in really good condition for the first kilometre and I recommend driving up to the main lot, but it’s not a difficult walk, so we didn’t mind the slightly longer hike. If you have 4×4, you will be able to drive another kilometre, but I wouldn’t attempt it without. The middle lot is the safest route.

Even with the extra kilometre, I only tracked 4.5km from the bottom lot to the lake. It’s not a long hike, but it does have 500m of elevation gain, so be prepared for a climb. Once you finish the road, the trail meanders through the forest. It’s a nice hike through the trees and while there was a little bit of snow on the ground, the trail was pretty much bare from other hikers. Eventually you hit the junction for the Wendy Thompson Hut. If you’re going to the hut, follow the trail left, it’s much less steep, but if you’re going to Rohr Lake, follow the trail right.

The trail continues through the forest and gets quite a bit steeper until you emerge in a meadow. It was nice in the shelter of the forest, but once we hit the meadow, we were exposed to the wind and it got quite cold. The last part of the trail can be deceiving because it doesn’t look very long, but it travels up through a very steep boulder field, so be prepared to slow down the pace. This was particularly challenging with snow. There wasn’t a lot of snow, but the trail was much harder to follow through the boulder field and we got off track several times, having to course-correct. While it had snowed overnight, it was above zero degrees when we were hiking up, so it was quite muddy through the boulder field where the snow had melted.

We reached the top after about 2.5 hours of hiking. There were quite a few day hikers, but we didn’t expect to see many other backpackers. There was a group of 3 guys when we arrived, but that was it. The view from the lake is beautiful, but in early October, it was very cold and windy. Our first order of business was to eat lunch and then set up camp as soon as possible so that we could change out of our sweaty clothes.

That was probably the hardest part of the trip. I don’t regret camping in the Fall because there’s not actually a lot of space at the lake to pitch a tent and I hear it’s a popular destination in the summer, so if you’re going in July or August, I recommend starting early. We looked for a sheltered spot to pitch our tent in the trees, but didn’t find one, so we set up by the lake instead. We were both quite cold as we ate lunch and wanting to warm up, I changed as soon as we got the tent up. I felt a lot better after that, but in general it was a lot colder than we were anticipating.

We spent the afternoon taking it easy and doing a little bit of exploring, but I felt pretty stuck because of the conditions. In the summer, we’d planned to hike to Mount Rohr, but that wasn’t really an option with the snow and limited daylight hours. We were happy to discover that the lake has both a bear cache and an outhouse, neither of which we were expecting, so that was a nice surprise. In our search for the outhouse, we stumbled upon a campsite hidden in the trees and went through the effort to move our tent up there instead. It didn’t have a view, but it was 100% the right decision. It was noticeably warmer out of the wind and I think we both slept better because of it.

We made supper and figured we’d be heading to bed fairly early, but the guys had gotten a campfire going and after heating water for our nalgenes to act as a hot water bottle, we joined them. The fire was incredibly warm and the guys were pretty entertaining, so we had a fun time chatting with them. We would have gone to bed super early otherwise and I think the campfire really helped set us up for success overnight. My body temperature was already quite warm and toasty when I crawled into my sleeping bag, and thanks to my hot water bottle which had been warming my bed, I stayed comfy and warm all night. I do have a -30 degree bag, so that is probably to be expected, but Adriana had a -18 degree bag and a sleeping bag liner and she was nice and warm too.

All things considered, I slept pretty well. I got up to pee once overnight and the clouds had cleared out and the stars were really putting on a show. I would have loved to stargaze for a little while, but it was much too cold and I quickly crawled back into the tent. The weather forecast showed it getting down to -5 degrees overnight.

We had a lazy morning, enjoying breakfast before packing up the tent and our gear to head back to the car. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but it was still very cold. Where it had been very muddy along the waterfront the day before, everything was now frozen, including the edge of the lake. Honestly, I preferred the ground this way, much easier to walk on and much less messy. But again, I was glad we moved the tent to the forest because otherwise we would have been sleeping on ice all night.

Unsurprisingly, the hike down the boulder field was more challenging than the hike up. The trail was easier to follow on the way down, but now that all the mud had frozen, it was extremely slippery. There wasn’t any snow on the trail, but we wore our microspikes because otherwise it would have been very easy to take a slip on a frozen rock. There were quite a few day hikers coming in, some of which had microspikes, others that did not.

My criticism of this hike would be that I think it has become the overflow hike for Joffre Lakes. There were several large groups of people who did not seem equipped to be hiking at all. A few of them stopped to talk to us and ask for directions. They didn’t seem to have any idea where they were going and said that the park rangers at Joffre Lakes had suggested the hike. My hypothesis is that a lot of people show up to Joffre without the day pass and the rangers recommend Rohr Lake instead. I have mixed feelings about it. It’s very close, so it seems like an appropriate hike, but it’s a lot more technical than Joffre Lakes.

Once we got past the boulder field, the trail got much easier and we layered down, but it was still a bit challenging on the knees on the way out. I quite enjoyed the walk down the road though. You get a great view of Mount Matier on the way out and there’s a few deciduous trees along the road that had turned a beautiful shade of yellow. We got back to the car shortly after lunchtime and hightailed it into Pemberton to treat ourselves to burgers. I’d still love to come back and do this hike in the summer, but glad to cross it off my bucket list for now!

Hiking Chadsey Lake

November 1, 2026October 28, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

I haven’t done a lot of hiking in Abbotsford or Mission, but my friend Simmer just moved to Abbotsford and I was excited to explore the Chadsey Lake trail this Fall. The trailhead is located ~20 minutes outside of Abbotsford on Sumas Mountain Road. It’s a 10km trail with 550m of elevation gain and it took us 4 hours with a break at the lake for lunch and a swim.

The entire hike is in the forest, with a maximum elevation of 650m, so it’s a good shoulder season hike, or even a summer hike if you’re looking for shade and a nice swim. I went the first weekend in October and I thought it was a nice option for Fall because lots of the trees on the lower part of the trail change colour and it wasn’t so late in the season that I couldn’t swim. It was a gorgeous day and while the water was cold, it’s not too bad since it’s had the entire summer to heat up.

What surprised me most about this trail was how empty it was. I don’t think this is an obscure hike, but we barely passed anyone on the trail all morning. There are a lot of different trails around Sumas Mountain, so maybe people are accessing the lake from other trails. In any case, the trail was in decent condition and we followed it up from the road until we reached an old logging road. You turn right onto the road, but you quickly leave it behind to rejoin the Centennial Trail on the left, so watch closely for the trail or you could easily miss it.

From there, you hike the steepest part of the trail and the trees thin, so it’s a bit hotter in this section. Eventually you go back into the forest and the trail levels out as you hike around the backside of the mountain. This was my favourite part of the trail, there’s a few peak-a-boo views and I liked hiking along the side of the mountain. There’s one final uphill push and you arrive at the lake. There were a few people at the lake when we got there, but it still wasn’t too busy and I quickly went for my swim before having lunch.

From the lake, you can continue for another 4.5km round trip hike up to the Eastern Sumas Lookout. It includes another 250m of elevation gain, so we opted to skip it on this trip. I don’t know what the view is like from the top, but the trail continues through the forest, so we hiked back to the road instead.

It’s not one of the most memorable hikes I did throughout the summer, but like I said, it’s a great hike for shoulder season or if you just want to get outside for a good walk. I liked that it wasn’t too far away from my house in Coquitlam and that I didn’t have to give up my entire day to hike it. We got in a few hours of exercise and were able to return home mid-afternoon. The hike is dog friendly, so I brought Sadie with me and she loved the lack of people around. So overall, we all had a great time!

Hiking Skywalk South

October 27, 2026October 27, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

Iceberg Lake is a popular trail in Whistler that’s ~15km round trip with 900m of elevation gain. The trail hikes up through the forest north of Whistler, exiting to a beautiful alpine meadow and a steep climb up to the lake. It’s nestled at the base of the mountain and regularly has bergy bits floating in it, making for a cold swim and scenic photos.

The first time I hiked to Iceberg Lake was in August 2022. Rather than do the there-and-back trail to the lake, we opted to do a loop along the Skywalk North trail. This does add considerable distance to the hike, but not a lot more elevation gain. We tracked just over 1000m of gain along the entire Skywalk North trail over 21km. It’s a beautiful trail and I highly recommend adding the extra kms to avoid hiking in and out on the same trail.

Adriana wanted to hike Iceberg Lake in mid September and we opted to do the Skywalk South trail this time. It’s similar to the North trail, but I’d say it’s a little more challenging. I tracked 21.5km and over 1200m of elevation gain, so there is a bit more climbing. Both trails share the main trail to Iceberg Lake, but Skywalk North is accessed from Mountain View Drive and heads North from Iceberg Lake, whereas Skywalk South is accessed from Alpine Way and heads south from Iceberg Lake. I hiked both trails clockwise, but I think I would recommend hiking Skywalk North counterclockwise instead. The direct trail to iceberg lake is the easiest way to get there, the Skywalk trails are quite steep. I prefer to hike the steepest part uphill (I have bad knees), so I recommend hiking out on the Iceberg Lake Trail.

Both trails are beautiful and it’s hard to differentiate between them. Skywalk North is a bit steeper, but has a second, warmer lake (Screaming Cat Lake) where you can swim, whereas Skywalk South has incredible views looking down to Whistler and an optional extra summit to a small peak below Rainbow Mountain (we didn’t bother). Since I already wrote about Skywalk North, I’ll focus on Skywalk South for the rest of this post.

The trailhead to Skywalk South is on Alpine Way. There’s no parking lot and you do have to park along the street, so pay close attention to the parking signs, because it’s not allowed everywhere. Be prepared to do some road walking to the trailhead which starts with a long section of trail on an old FSR that is in good condition and easy to follow. After approximately 3km, you reach a junction where you can take a left onto the Skywalk South trail, otherwise you will continue directly to Iceberg Lake. We opted to get the hardest part of the hike done early, which is why we veered left onto the Skywalk South trail. Watch out for mountain bikers in this section as they do use part of this trail as a connector.

At first, the trail is quite flat as it traverses along the backside of the mountain, but eventually it gets steeper. It’s not a technical trail and it is nice to have the shade from the trees on a hot day. After a few kilometres, you will start to pop out into some of the alpine meadows and the trail gets less steep before a final push to the high point. Once we got to the highest point, we stopped for lunch underneath the optional trail to the summit. I’d recommend pushing just a little bit further. Past the junction, there is a small pond that looked great for swimming, and past that there are fantastic views down to Whistler. I think this would be the best place to stop for a break, but we just took some photos instead.

After that, you have to hike back down towards Iceberg Lake. It’s nestled in the side of the mountain, so you can’t see it until the very end, but there’s beautiful views of the alpine. This section is a little bit tricky and hard to follow, so pay close attention. You have to hike down a boulder field, which is steep, but not too challenging. Our problem was that we ended up getting off the trail at some point and by the time we realized, it was a bit tricky to navigate back to the trail. We managed, but my advice is to keep a close eye on the GPS track. It’s a wide open area, so it seems deceptively safe, but once you get off trail, it is not easy to get back on it. It’s easy to get cliffed out, so avoid having to backtrack.

Eventually the trail merges with the Iceberg Lake trail. There’s an outhouse at the junction and a beautiful meadow along the river. Follow the river and you’ll hike back up through one final boulder field before arriving at the lake. This is a steep section as well, but the trail isn’t hard to follow.

The sun sets early over the mountain behind the lake, so if you arrive late in the day, you may be in the shade. We arrived just in time, right before the sun dropped behind the mountain, and we were able to go for a quick swim before losing the light. We still had lots of daylight, but the temperature dropped very quickly after the sun disappeared.

The only part that sucks about the Skywalk South trail is that you have to re-do the hike back to the junction. On the Skywalk North trail, it’s one continuous loop that hikes north from the lake. We walked back to the outhouse and then had a nice walk along the Iceberg Lake trail to the car. I enjoyed the section in the forest, but once we rejoined the lower part of the trail along the old road, I quickly lost interest.

It’s a long hike and I found it pretty challenging on my knees for the last section. It’s pretty boring along the road and it felt so much longer on the way down. Me and Adriana both ended up more or less hobbling off the trail for the last 3kms because our knees were so done. Since it’s such a long trail, make sure you give yourself lots of time and daylight, especially if you’re going later in the season. It took me 9 hours to do the full Skywalk North loop in 2022 and 10 hours to do the full Skywalk South loop in 2026.

Both trails are beautiful and I think they offer a lot of extra views that you won’t get if you just do the Iceberg Lake trail. I won’t be in a rush to go back now that I’ve done both, but they did offer different enough perspectives that I didn’t mind returning for the Skywalk South trail. I highly recommend both!