Favourite Hikes in Southwestern BC: Part VI

October 17, 2026October 16, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

I’ve lived in BC for over 12 years now. I started ranking my top 10 favourite hikes in the southwest part of the province in Fall 2016 and I have been creating a new list every two years since then. By 2024, I had 5 lists featuring a total of 50 hikes, so I narrowed it down to a special list of my overall top 10 hikes in the last decade. I’d like to continue the trend, so welcome to Part VI of this list, featuring my favourite hikes of the past two years.

10. Pump Peak

I’m surprised it’s taken 12 years for this hike to make the list, but there’s always a shorter hike close to home that never fails to surprise me. Despite hiking to Brockton Peak many times over the years, I only hiked to Pump Peak for the first time in 2026. It’s located very close to Vancouver in Mount Seymour Provincial Park and is a great option for a sunset/sunrise hike, or a short overnight. (8km, 400m gain)

9. Tricouni Berg Lake

Tricouni Berg Lake (not to be confused with Tricouni Lake or Iceberg Lake) is a newly popular hike past Squamish. It only came on my radar pretty recently, but it’s a fun day hike or overnight trip with a huge payoff at the lake. Turn off Highway 99 onto Chance Creek FSR and follow the Chance Mainline (~8.5km) as far as you can go. It’s a gravel road that most vehicles can handle. From there, park and hike up to a beautiful alpine lake nestled under Tricouni Peak. (10km, 500m gain)

8. Brandywine Mountain

Brandywine Meadows made my very first top 10 list in 2016, but having recently hiked closer to the mountain summit, I’m adding the mountain to this list. There are two trailheads for this hike, a lower one accessible by any vehicle, and an upper one accessible by 4×4. I really recommend the upper lot if you’re hiking to Brandywine Peak. This is a beautiful hike through the meadows and up and over the side of the mountain. Some wayfinding is required over the mountain and it is extremely steep, so only recommended for experienced hikers. I haven’t actually summited, but enjoyed hiking up the ridge. (10km, 800m gain)

7. Golden Ears Peak

This is another hike that I can’t believe had to wait 12 years to make my top 10 list. This is a beast of a trail, so despite its close proximity to Vancouver, it took me a long time to finally work up the nerve to hike it. Located in Golden Ears Park, this is an iconic trail that overlooks Pitt Lake and the surrounding mountains. There’s over 1500m of elevation to summit the mountain, so it’s very steep and should only be attempted by experienced hikers. You can complete it as a day hike, or reserve a campsite to spend the night at the scenic Panorama Campsite. (24km, 1600m gain)

6. San Josef Bay / Raft Cove

San Josef Bay and Raft Cove are both located on the far north coast of Vancouver Island in Cape Scott and Raft Cove Provincial Parks. Both hikes require a long drive on gravel road from Port Hardy (65km+), so they are not easy to access, but well worth the drive. Both hikes are short and visit iconic sandy beaches, but San Josef Bay is a fairly straightforward flat hike, while Raft Cove is fairly technical. San Josef Bay has stunning sea stacks that you can visit at low tide, but it has the downside of being much busier than Raft Cove. (San Jo: 6km, 0m gain; Raft Cove: 7km, 100m gain)

5.Windy Pass / Camel Pass (South Chilcotin)

South Chilcotin Provincial Park was featured on both my 2024 list and my overall best hikes list, so I was excited to return to the park in 2025, this time accessing it from Taylor Creek. I spent 3 days hiking and camping in the park, visiting both Windy Pass and Camel Pass. Camel Pass is accessible as a day hike, but you’d need to backpack in order to access Windy Pass. Both are stunning alpine features of the park. (20-40km, significant gain)

4. Trophy Meadows / Moul Falls (Wells Gray)

This is my last double feature, I promise. I know Wells Gray is a bit of a stretch to be considered Southwestern BC (it isn’t), but I always stretch the bounds on this list to pretty much anything east of the Rockies. I couldn’t bear to leave Wells Gray off the list, often known as the waterfall park, it’s incredibly scenic. My favourite waterfall was Moul Falls, which has the special feature of being able to walk behind the waterfall. But I also loved hiking to Trophy Meadows to see the wildflowers, so I had to include both on the list. (Trophy: 6km, 300m gain; Moul: 6km, 150m gain)

3. Cirque Lake

This hike was a surprise contender for the list. I often just scroll around Gaia for the fun of it, looking for interesting trails, which is how I stumbled upon Cirque Lake. It’s a remote lake in the Callaghan Valley, which can only be accessed by driving 10km down a gravel road with water bars, paddling across Callaghan Lake, and then hiking up a steep trail to Cirque Lake. It’s not a long paddle, nor is it a long hike, but added together, it is a bit of effort to get to the lake. Once there, enjoy the gorgeous alpine views. (4km RT paddle; 4km, 250m gain hike)

2. Cathedral Rim Trail

Cathedral Provincial Park is a stunning, some would say spiritual, park south of Princeton. It’s just far enough away from Vancouver that it’s not too busy and the long access into the park restricts visitors. You can’t do this hike as a day trip and I visited as a 4 day backpacking trip. When operating, you can take a shuttle into the core area of the park and complete the beautiful Rim Trail, which features a number of rock monuments, as a day hike. The shuttle wasn’t running when I visited due to a recent forest fire, which is why I needed more time to hike an extra 15km each way in and out of the park. (Rim Trail: 18km, 900m gain)

1. West Coast Trail

I finally hiked the West Coast Trail and it’s not surprising that this lands as my number 1 hike of the last two years. The West Coast Trail is one of the most iconic trails in BC and is famous for a reason. It’s a multi day coastal hike that features roaring waterfalls, pristine beaches, and stunning sea stacks and sea caves. I completed the trail over 7 days and I would only recommend it to experienced hikers. There are over 100 ladders on this trail and it is a very challenging multi-day trek. But if you’re up for the challenge, you will be rewarded! (75km)

Tricouni Berg Lake Backpacking Trip

October 10, 2026September 25, 2026 / Maria / 1 Comment

To avoid confusion, there are a lot of similarly named trails in the Squamish-Whistler area. There’s Tricouni Meadows/Lake, located north of Squamish on the Squamish River FSR at Branch 200, which can only be accessed with 4×4. There’s Iceberg Lake, located in Whistler off Mountain View Drive or Alpine Way on the Skywalk North and South trails respectively. And finally, there’s Tricouni Berg Lake, which is also located north of Squamish, but further up the Sea to Sky off Chance Creek FSR and Chance Mainline.

This trail can be accessed by 2WD or 4WD, but beware of some of the road reviews online. Our understanding when we picked this trail was that if we drove all the way to the end of Chance Mainline and took C-1300, it would be a 2km hike to the lake. It was an attractive trail because most of the elevation gain is done on the Mainline. However, this road was in a much different condition than we expected, but only along the last 3km of the road. If you want to visit the lake, the rest of Chance Mainline is pretty driveable for any vehicle. It’s gravel road, but there were several 2WD sedans on it.

It’s ~2km of driving on Chance Creek FSR (right off Highway 99), followed by 6.5km on Chance Mainline. After 6.5km, the road gets very narrow. When we visited, everyone was parked on the road at the 6.5km mark (not an actual marker, so I might not be exact). It’s pretty easy to tell because there’s an area for parking and the road obviously deteriorates after that. I recommend parking here and doing a 5km hike up to the lake.

We were feeling adventurous, so we took my friend’s jeep the whole way up. I’ve done a lot of off roading with Brandon and Victoria, but I’ve never been the driver, so take my advice with a grain of salt. You definitely need 4×4 to navigate this section (there’s tons of large, loose rock), but overall, it’s not the worst 4×4 road I’ve seen. Victoria’s opinion was that overall, it was actually a decent 4×4 road. There were just two particularly challenging sections. There’s a large washout early on the road that you might not be able to cross if you have a longer wheelspan (trucks beware), and there’s a second fairly uneven section further up where the jeep listed quite a bit to one side.

What make this road brutal was how narrow it is. It’s very overgrown and the trees were pinstriping Victoria’s jeep the entire way up. She was more or less sobbing while chanting “this is why you bought the jeep” as a mantra to make herself feel better about the trees scratching up her vehicle. We did make it all the way to the top, which felt pretty badass as we were a car of 5 women. There were several groups hiking on the road at the same time and my favourite moment was when Victoria stopped to ask a hiker coming down whether there was room for more cars at the trailhead. They looked at her like she had two heads and said, “you’re the only vehicle on this road.”

So we had a good laugh and were very proud of Victoria when she made it to the top. I wouldn’t attempt it again though. It was nice to skip ~350m of elevation gain, but it was pretty sketchy. It’s a short hike, so my recommendation is to just park at the bottom. If you do go the whole way, beware that it’s almost impossible to pass other cars on the trail. We did encounter another jeep on the way out and it was an ordeal for us to pass each other (mostly because the man in the other jeep was being an asshole).

Once you reach the “trailhead”, it’s not a long hike to the lake. We hiked through the trees before popping out in some meadows and eventually landing at the base of the lake. There are nice views looking backwards towards Whistler. Tricouni Berg Lake is nestled under Tricouni Peak, which is gorgeous. I did the Tricouni Meadows hike a few years ago, which is the trail to do if you want to actually hike Tricouni Peak. It’s on the opposite side of Tricouni Berg Lake, so it was cool to see the peak from both sides. It also reminded me of Cirque Lake, which is another hike I did last year at Callaghan. So overall, some really beautiful lakes in this region.

There were a couple of groups of day hikers, but not a lot of campers. Besides our group of 5 women, there were only two other couples staying overnight. We had nice weather on the way up, since it was mid-August, but there were thunderstorms in the forecast for overnight, which I think scared a lot of people away. Please note that if you decide to camp here, it is wild camping. You’re outside of any parks and there are no facilities. You will have to dig a cathole when you poop and you should plan to store your food in a bear vault or bear bag. There are a few trees around, but they are typical alpine trees, from which is it very challenging to do a proper bear hang.

The lake is stunning. After setting up our tents, we all went for a swim. I was expecting the water to be very cold, which it was, but not the numbing kind of cold. I was able to adjust to the temperature and spent the better part of a half hour in the water with Emily and Miranda. You could explore around the alpine if you wanted, but we were mostly interested in hanging out and spent the afternoon chilling by the lake. We set up a tarp in case it rained, but it stayed dry until we were ready to go to bed.

We were all taking care of our bear vaults and bear bags when things got interesting. One of the couples had been preparing their dinner when the guy accidentally sliced open his arm with a box cutter (we don’t know why he was using a box cutter). They were only 20 years old and I’m going to use them as a cautionary tale for being prepared. They didn’t have a first aid kit, so they approached us to see if we did (we had 4). He was quite literally bleeding all over the ground and himself. It wasn’t a deadly bleed, but it was a nasty cut (he sliced parallel to his arm leaving a flap) and he needed to get the bleeding under control. We got him to sit down and Miranda applied pressure until it started to clot and we bandaged him up with a lot of gauze pads and rolls. I’ve been carrying an large abdominal gauze pad around for 10 years that I finally got to use.

Of course, it started to rain while we were helping him, so we moved him under the tarp, got the wound cleaned, and gave him some painkillers. He definitely needed stitches and we told him to go to Squamish General in the morning. We learned that he also didn’t have a rain jacket or a bear vault. Miranda was the true MVP and gave him her emergency poncho and helped them hang their food on one of the limited trees. Then we all went to bed because it was properly dark and the thunderstorm had started.

If you live in the lower mainland, you may recall a particularly impressive thunderstorm that rolled through on Aug. 22nd. There were literally thousands of lightning strikes and we were all camped in tents. Fortunately, the lightning itself didn’t seem to be that close (we counted between the thunder), but it did make for a really interesting night. I think if the lightning had been closer, I would have been scared, but because I could tell it was further away, I enjoyed lying in the tent and watching the flashes and listening to the thunder. It went on for hours and eventually I put my earplugs in so that I could fall asleep.

We slept later than normal, waiting for the rain to peter out. Eventually it did and we crawled out of our tents to see that the tarp had survived the storm. The rain had stopped, but the clouds were very low and we could barely see the lake, much less the mountains. We had a lazy morning and enjoyed breakfast before eventually packing up camp. The clouds lifted and we got a decent view on the way out.

It didn’t take long to hike out and we had fun driving back along the 4×4 road. I spotted for Victoria, running ahead to remove rogue rocks when needed and pointing on the best lines to drive. It was fun. I hope to get my own 4×4 in the next couple of years, so I try and learn what I can from Victoria and Brandon. We finally popped out of the challenging section and were cruising along the gravel road when we spotted a broken down sedan with our friends from the night before. In addition to forgetting a first aid kit and a rain jacket, they’d also knowingly driven onto the FSR with an unreliable car battery. They definitely learned a lot of lessons on this trip, but please don’t be like them.

We tried to give them a boost, but their battery was really dead and he still needed stitches, so we ended up riding all 7 of us in the jeep to get to the bottom of the FSR, where I had parked my car. Me, Emily, and Miranda jumped back in my Tucson, and Victoria and Adriana dropped the couple at the Squamish Hospital. They called for a tow, but (as I learned in Cape Scott in 2020) BCAA doesn’t cover you on FSRs. They were quoted $1500 for a tow, so he ended up calling his Dad, who drove out a new battery for him from Vancouver, which they replaced after he got stitches. So he was fine in the end, but had we not been there, it probably would have been a messy night since his backup plan was going to be to wrap a roll of toilet paper around his arm.

Anyways, we had a great time at the lake, but our main takeaway was that it always pays to be prepared!

Heather Trail Backpacking Trip: Kicking Horse

October 3, 2026September 25, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

E.C. Manning Provincial Park is my favourite park in BC, so I’ve written about it a lot. I first day hiked to 3 Brothers Mountain in 2016, after which I backpacked the entire Heather Trail from Blackwall Road to Cayuse Flats. In 2022, I camped for two nights at Buckhorn Campsite with my Girl Guides and in 2026, I returned to spend one night at Kicking Horse Campground with my friends.

These campsites used to be first-come, first-served, but the trail has gotten so popular in the last few years that BC Parks introduced a reservation system. I think this was a good decision, given how crowded it can get, but I do wish they didn’t release all the sites so far in advance. In this case, we did not pre-reserve our campsites, but when another trip got interrupted by wildfires, we were able to snag two sites at Kicking Horse Campground at the last minute.

3 Brothers Mountain is located on the first half of the Heather Trail. Most people only hike as far as 3 Brothers, but if you continue on, you’ll arrive at both Kicking Horse and Nicomen Lake. The trail officially ends at Nicomen Lake, where you can turn around and hike back, or if you have two cars, continue on to Grainger Creek and Cayuse Flats (which is what I did on my 2018 trip). The most popular option for overnight trips is to camp at Buckhorn and day hike to 3 Brothers. There’s an impressive display of wildflowers in late July and early August along this section of the trail.

The trailhead starts at the top of Blackwall Road, so hikers can skip most of the elevation gain in the car. If you just want to see the wildflowers, you can do a short loop hike on the Paintbrush Trail, or you can hike downhill to Buckhorn Camp, followed by a short uphill through the forest to reach some truly breaktaking sub-alpine meadows. Like I said, I first hiked this trail in 2016, but I keep returning every couple of years because it’s just so damn scenic!

On this visit, I hiked with my girlfriends, Adriana and Amy. We arrived at the trailhead in time to eat lunch and then started the 13km hike to Kicking Horse Camp. The first 5km are mostly in the trees, but even in the forest, there are tons of wildflowers to steal your attention. It didn’t take us long to get to Buckhorn Camp, which is a huge site with a gorgeous cooking shelter and lots of tent pads. It is a bit of a slog through the forest after Buckhorn, but it’s quickly forgotten when you reach the meadows.

The rest of the trail boasts fantastic views of the backcountry. You hike through meadow after meadow until you reach the junction for 3 Brothers Peak. The peak is the most challenging part of the hike, with a steep uphill to the ridge, after which you get to meander along the ridgeline to the summit. We opted to skip the summit on the way in, instead continuing all the way to camp, determined to return and hike to the top the following day.

It was my 4th time doing 3 Brothers, but it was only my second time continuing past the junction. In my opinion, some of the most scenic meadows on the trail are between the junction and Kicking Horse. The trail is fairly easy through this section and it was mostly downhill to camp, but it still took us a while to hike because we stopped so frequently for photos. We took a long break in one of the meadows before strolling into camp shortly after 6pm.

Compared to the rest of the hike, the campsite isn’t particularly scenic. The last time I camped there, there were no reservations and I ended up with a pretty terrible overflow campsite, so having the reservation helped a lot. We found a nice tent pad near one of the meadows to settle in for the evening. There is a small view of some of the surrounding mountains, but overall, most of the sites are in the trees. Buckhorn Campsite was definitely recently upgraded, but in my opinion, Kicking Horse could use a facelift. The outhouse was getting very full, but at least there was a bear cache. Unfortunately the water source isn’t great. It’s just a small creek and it gets fairly low in the summer. We were still able to get water, but the creek at Buckhorn is much nicer.

We had a fun evening hanging out and making dinner, but it was very buggy. I find the mosquitoes usually don’t like me that much and if I set up my thermacell they’ll usually leave me alone. But Amy was another case entirely. I’ve never seen someone attract so many mosquitoes as Amy. It felt like the thermacell wasn’t working at all, but whenever Amy would leave, the mosquitoes would too, so I think the lure of her blood was just so compelling that it overpowered the thermacell.

Amy and Adriana shared a tent, leaving me to sleep by myself. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but it did get very cold overnight and I could have used a second body in the tent, but Amy and Adriana were both cold too. When I camped at Kicking Horse overnight in 2018, our water froze, so I don’t think it matters what time of year you visit, it’s always cold there. We did experience a very weird phenomenon while camping here though. Overnight it seemed that all of the sound was reversed around the tents. When someone would get up, we would hear them on the opposite side of the tent to where they actually were. It was kind of freaky and we recently learned that Manning Park is supposedly haunted, so maybe this was related (ooo, spooky!).

We returned to summit 3 Brothers the following day. It was hot, so it was a bit of a slog getting back to the junction as there is limited shade along the trail and several uphill sections on the way back. But saving the summit for Sunday was a good idea. I think a lot of day hikers stay in the frontcountry sites on Friday and Saturday night and it felt much less busy on the trail on Sunday. We dumped a bunch of our gear at the junction to lighten our packs for the climb, but we made sure to take all of our food and smellies with us so as not to attract bears. A lot of people just leave their entire backpack at the junction. Please don’t do this as we don’t want to attract bears to the area.

It’s only ~1km to the summit, but it is steep and exposed, so it was a bit tiring. There’s a little bit of light scrambling through a few sections of rock, but it’s pretty easy and I would say it barely counts as scrambling. We had lunch at the summit, but the enjoyment was interrupted by the mosquitoes. Eventually Amy gave up and started hiking back down the ridge and me and Adriana were able to get a small respite.

The hike out was as enjoyable as the hike in. The sad aspect of the hike was that with the uninterrupted view of the mountains, we could see several wildfires burning nearby. I expected to see water bombers attending to the fires, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. When I got home, I looked up the fires to see where they were and determined that all of the fires that were visible were actually burning across the border in Washington State. At the time, Trump was going on about how Canada needs to control its wildfire smoke, so it was particularly galling to see so many fires being left to burn near the border. This was in mid-July and several of these fires did end up crossing the border where they burned through kilometres of Manning’s forest. It’s been heartbreaking for me to watch, especially since I love this park so much. I feel like I’ve been grieving trees all summer.

We returned to the car in the mid-afternoon and treated ourselves to burgers in Hope before returning home. Unfortunately, we hit the Sunday evening rush back to the city and sat for far too long on Highway 1, but it was always be worth it to explore the little piece of paradise that is the Heather Trail!