Tetrahedron Park Backpacking Trip Part I

December 6, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 6 Comments

I think I fall a little more in love with the Sunshine Coast every time I visit. This was my third trip to the coast for the year and I was really excited to explore a new provincial park. The Sunshine Coast has a pretty extensive network of huts and I was keen to check out some more after having such a great time on the Sunshine Coast Trail last year.

Tetrahedron Park is a year round destination and my friend Eddie proposed that we check out the park in late September, with the goal of doing a bit of reconnaissance to come back in the winter on skis. So I obviously said yes and we were joined on the trip by Brandon (of course) and his friend Adriana. It was a long weekend, so we set off early on Saturday morning to catch the ferry and drive up to the trailhead.

Tetrahedron Park is located on the north part of the lower Sunshine Coast, nestled between Sechelt Inlet and Howe Sound. You have to drive all the way to Sechelt and then continue up past Porpoise Bay Provincial Park towards Tuwanek. From there you get on the Grey Creek Service Road and head up towards the park. The road starts with a pretty steep climb up Suicide Hill, but I don’t think you need 4WD or high clearance for it (though winter is probably a different story).

After a few kilometres on gravel road, you hit a branch, with the left branch going up towards Richardson Lake, and the right branch continuing to the trailhead for Tetrahedron. There’s a lower parking lot, which was empty when we arrived, and then 1.7km further, the upper lot. The upper lot is definitely intended for 4WD, so just stick with the lower lot if you don’t have the right vehicle. There were a few other cars in the upper lot when we arrived, but there’s 4 huts in the Park, so we figured it wouldn’t be too busy.

The huts in Tetrahedron Provincial Park are managed and cared for by the Tetrahedron Outdoor Club. You can visit their website here and you should e-transfer them the fee for the huts before you go. It’s $15 per person to stay overnight in the huts, or $10 per person if you’re a member. Brandon got the membership, but the rest of us just paid $30 for two nights. We didn’t know there’s also a facebook group for the park, but we learned from other campers that it’s common courtesy when visiting the huts to post your details in the facebook group so that the cabins don’t get too crowded.

The park isn’t set up as a thru hike like the Sunshine Coast Trail, but more of a loop of huts extending to different points of interest around the park. We could only stay in 2 huts, but we were keen to visit all 4 and planned our trip accordingly. A few other important things to know before visiting though is that most of the park is located in the watershed. As a result, dogs are not allowed in the park and you’re not allowed to swim in the watershed either. You’re also not supposed to do any tenting in the park and all overnights should be limited to the huts. This is to minimize impacts to the natural environment and preserve the quality of the watershed.

There were some people breaking these rules (we saw some dogs), but we opted to follow them, which for me mostly meant no swimming. However, when I examined the map at McNair Cabin, it looks like McNair Lake is actually outside of the watershed, so potentially you are allowed to swim at this one, but we still refrained because we weren’t certain.

It was a gorgeous sunny day and I really wanted to stay at Mount Steele Hut, so we decided to hightail it up the mountain for our first night. On the way in you have the option to detour to Bachelor Cabin, but we opted to postpone that visit and head straight to Edwards Cabin first instead. The hike starts on an inclined gravel road and then progresses into the forest where it flattens out. It’s approximately 5km to Edwards Cabin, which is the most central hut in the park. If you’re not a fan of backpacking, this would be a great place to camp because from here, you’re ideally situated to day trip to both McNair Cabin and Mount Steele.

It’s a nice enough cabin and we stopped and ate lunch on the front deck. There’s a wasp nest there currently, so definitely exercise caution. From Edwards, we started our ascent up to Mount Steele. It’s another ~3.5km to the Mount Steele Cabin, but it’s all uphill and covers 400m in elevation gain. You pass through some meadows 1km before the top and we stopped again to fill up our water bottles from the creek. We assumed there would be a water source at the top, but I wasn’t sure how stagnant it would be, so I took advantage of the creek (but fortunately the source at the top was also a nice running creek).

In terms of reconnaissance for a winter trip, the climb up through the woods is steep, but it’s all in the trees, so I think I’d be comfortable there in the winter. The only part I didn’t really like is after the meadow there’s a steep edge section at the top of a potential terrain trap. I’m not sure I’d be quite ready to hike up on skis, though it might look different in the winter.

The hut itself is really cool though. Most of the hike is in the forest, but shortly before the top you poke out into the sub alpine and get lovely views of the surrounding mountains. The hut isn’t located at the very top of the mountain, but rather at the base of the peak, so I assume in the winter that skiers run laps up and down the peak. The hut seemed more tailored to winter use than summer use, but I also assume it gets really popular on a nice, snowy weekend.

That said, I still loved the Mount Steele Cabin! It had gorgeous views in all directions and it was totally empty when we arrived. Like most huts, all the cabins in this park had communal kitchen space and tables on the main floor and a sleeping loft above. The huts are advertised as sleeping 12 people and I thought this was very accurate. There’s a wood stove on the main floor, but they have to helicopter in the wood, so it’s only intended for winter use. Mount Steele had a brand new outhouse that was in fantastic condition and one thing I really liked is how they’ve set up the grey water.

There’s a double sink that drains into buckets in the cabin and then another sink in the outhouse that drains into the pit. So you essentially dump all your water in the outhouse, which is a pretty elegant solution to managing food bits and scents.

20230930_144006 — The view from the cabin

We were the first to arrive to the cabin, but we were joined shortly after by a mom and 3 boys. They live in the area and were super friendly and huge fans of the cabin, so it was nice to meet them. Later on in the evening 2 other guys showed up, followed by a trio very late at night. So the total number of people in the cabin was 13. 11 people slept upstairs and the 2 guys slept downstairs because they were planning to leave really early in the morning.

We hung around the cabin in the afternoon and around 5pm packed our bags to hike up to the summit. Me and Brandon have gotten in the habit of hiking up to viewpoints for supper, so we brought all our food with us and figured it would be the optimal spot for sunset. There is a clear path up the to top of the summit, but Eddie and Brandon wanted to try another route and we reluctantly followed them. For the most part it wasn’t too bad, but it did involve a little bit of bushwacking around some steeper sections, so I wouldn’t recommend. Just follow the trail.

The view from the top is incredible though! On one side, you can see the whole park out to Tetrahedron Peak, while on the other side you can see down to Sechelt Inlet. Brandon made us thai curry chicken at the top and we enjoyed the view. It was a bit windy and cold up there, so Eddie and Adriana held out until the sunset and then started to head back. Me and Brandon stayed a bit longer and started to make our way down closer to dusk. We got most of the way without headlamps, but needed them for the last 10 minutes.

Eddie taught us to play Wizard to end the night. It ended up being a lot longer than we expected and we were all very tired, so we didn’t end up finishing, but when we called it quits at 10pm I was comfortably in the lead! One nice thing about the huts is that you don’t have to bring a thermarest if you don’t want to because there are mats in the loft. I brought mine anyways because I wasn’t sure how busy it would be, and I ended up doubling up because the hut mattresses are pretty soft. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep with so many people in the loft, but it was nice and warm with all that body heat!

Check back next week for Part 2!

Yoho National Park Guide

November 29, 2023December 4, 2025 / Maria / 2 Comments

In the land of National Parks, Yoho is Banff’s equally stunning, but less popular cousin. It’s been growing a lot in popularity to be sure, and there are specific parts of the park that are very popular, but overall it is overshadowed by Banff and Jasper. I’ve only been exposed to a small part of what this park has to offer, but here’s what I learned in my limited time there.

Getting There

Yoho National Park is characterized by Highway 1 (aka the Trans Canada Highway), which runs through the entirety of the park, connecting it to both Banff and Calgary, and Golden and the rest of BC. There’s the small town of Field located in the center of the park and the rest is pretty much wilderness. If you’re coming from Calgary, the obvious option is to drive Highway 1 through Banff and on to Yoho. If you’re coming from BC, it’s a 45 minute drive from Golden to Field. No matter how you get there, there’s so much to see in the park!

Where to Stay

Where to stay depends on what kind of sleeping experience you’re looking for. If you’d like to stay in a hotel, you can choose from Field, Lake Louise, Golden, or even Banff. Field is the obvious choice since it’s already located in the park, but there are very limited options in Field, so you’d definitely want to book in advance. If you have a large budget, you could even check out the Fairmont lodge at Emerald Lake, which is incredibly beautiful (and high end). Another nearby option is Lake Louise, which is a 20 minute drive and also has limited hotel options, so I’d personally recommend Golden. It’s 45 minutes away, but there are lots of budget options available and more restaurant selection (and it’s cheaper than Banff).

If you’d like to camp, there will be a lot more options available and you may be able to stay directly in the park. But if you want to be assured a campsite, then you need to be prepared to book sites when they release around March because all of the National Parks are popular and they book up fast. See the next sections for more information on your camping options.

Frontcountry Camping

If you’re new to camping, then frontcountry camping is what you’re looking for. These are drive in sites, so you can store lots of things in your car and they’re much easier to get to than backcountry sites. There are 3 full frontcountry sites and 1 partial frontcountry site – however, only 1 of these sites can be booked through the Parks Canada reservation site, the rest are first-come, first-serve, which can be risky. Check early in the year for the date that sites will be released.

Kicking Horse Campground – This is the largest campground in the park, but it still only has 88 sites, which is small compared to Banff, Jasper, and Kootenay. It’s located near Field and is usually open from late May to early October. This is the only campground with reservable sites.

Monarch Campground – This campground is also located near Field and has 44 first-come, first-serve sites. It is usually open from May to September.

Hoodoo Creek Campground – This campground is located on the edge of the park near Golden, so it is a bit further from the main attractions. It has 30 first-come, first-serve sites and it is usually open from July to September.

Takkakaw Falls Campground – This campground is only partially frontcountry. This means you can’t drive right into your campsite. It’s ~1km walk to get to the sites, so you can still haul in more gear, especially if you want to take a wagon, but you need to practice bear safety because you can’t put all your food and smellies in your car. It has 35 sites and it is usually open from mid June to early October.

Lake Louise Campground – While not in Yoho Park, Lake Louise is a great alternative because it’s only 20 minutes from Field and it has 206 tenting sites and 189 RV sites! So it’s your best bet at securing a reservable site (I got one 2 weeks before my trip) and it has a full shower house.

Backcountry Camping

Backcountry camping is my preferred method of camping, but it is a whole different beast than frontcountry. It revolves around hiking and you have to carry everything you need on your back, so you should only attempt backcountry if you’re aiming to complete a hike.

There’s a few options for backcountry sites in Yoho, these are all reservable online when the sites release around march every year:

Laughing Falls – this campsite is probably the most easily accessible on the list. It’s located 5km from the Takkakaw Falls trailhead and travels along the Yoho River on mostly flat terrain. It’s located next to the Falls with 5 campsites and can be hiked on its own or as part of a circuit on the Iceline Trail or a stopping point on the way to Twin Falls.

Twin Falls – this campsite is located 9km from the Takkakaw Falls trailhead, or 4km from Laughing Falls. It has 5 campsites and from Twin Falls you can either explore the Iceline Trail or continue up to the Wapta Glacier on the Bow Yoho Traverse (advanced hikers only).

Yoho Lake – this campsite also involves ~5km of hiking, but it’s in much steeper terrain than Laughing Falls, so be prepared for more of a challenge. There are 5 sites located on Yoho Lake and it’s a great stopping point from which to explore parts of the Iceline Trail or to complete as a circuit.

Little Yoho Valley – this campsite is located at the midpoint of the Iceline Trail loop, so it’s approximately 10km coming from either side of the loop. It’s at the back of the valley below the Iceline Trail and is the most ideal campsite if you’re doing the full 20km loop.

McArthur Creek – this campsite is located 16km from the highway on the Great Divide Trail. I believe it’s most commonly used by thru hikers on the trail, but you could use it to connect to Helmet Falls and the Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park as well.

Lake O’Hara – by far the most popular campsite in the park. There are 30 sites located 1km from iconic Lake O’Hara and the booking includes a ride on the Parks Canada bus into and out of the park. It’s very hard to get bookings for Lake O’Hara, so be prepared as soon as the sites release. See my post on Lake O’Hara for more details on booking.

Backcountry Huts

In addition to the campgrounds, there are several backcountry huts located in the park that can be booked through the ACC. Two of these huts require glacier travel and are for advanced hikers/skiers, so I have not included them. The other two are more easily accessible!

Elizabeth Parker Hut – located near Lake O’Hara, this hut is just as popular as the campground and is one of the ACC’s most accessible huts. It’s only a 500 metre walk from the bus stop, but I’m not sure if your booking includes a seat on the bus, so you may need to book the bus separately or plan to hike 11km up along the road.

Stanley Mitchell Hut – located at the midpoint of the Iceline Trail loop, near Little Yoho Valley campsite. This is a large hut located in the meadows under the Iceline Trail. It can be accessed from 2 directions, both of which are ~10km.

Hiking

There is a lot of hiking available in Yoho National Park and my knowledge on all of these hikes remains limited. I’ve included a brief overview of some of the trails as a starting point, but recommend doing your own research.

Lake O’Hara Alpine Circuit – a 12km breathtaking trail that wraps around Lake O’Hara through the alpine. If you are lucky enough to get a pass on the bus, you can start from the official trailhead, otherwise you will need to hike an additional 11km each way on the road.

Lake McArthur – another trail that starts from Lake O’Hara and requires a bus pass. From the bus stop, it’s an 8km round trip hike up to this gorgeous alpine lake. There are lots of branches on this trail, so it is possible to turn it into a loop trail. Add 11km each way for the road if you don’t have a bus pass.

Linda Lake – a 10km trail that runs from the Lake O’Hara campground. It was recommended to me as an alternative hike to the alpine circuit on a rainy day, so I’m assuming it’s mostly forested. Add 11km each way for the road if you don’t have a bus pass.

Odaray Highline – only 4 groups per day are permitted on this trail to protect the wildlife corridor, which is managed through a self-registration system at the trailhead. It’s approximately 8km from the Lake O’Hara bus stop. Add 11km each way for the road if you don’t have a bus pass.

Iceline Trail – a 20km loop trail that leaves from Takkakaw Falls and climbs up to the alpine. Hike alongside glaciers for 6km at the top of the trail before descending down to the meadows in Yoho Valley and then continuing through the forest along the river back to the parking lot.

Twin Falls Trail – the trail varies between 16km and 20km depending on your route. Leave from the Takkakaw Falls parking lot and go directly to the falls or do a loop through the campground. Be prepared for a steep climb up to the Falls.

Emerald Basin – a customizable hike up to 9km in length and mostly flat. It leaves from the Emerald Lake parking lot. Just hike around the lake for a shorter hike or add the basin at the back of the lake to do the full loop.

Hamilton Lake – an 11km round trip hike that also leaves from Emerald Lake and hikes up a steep forested trail past Hamilton Falls and up to the lake.

Mount Stephen (Burgess Shale) – this 8km hike can only be completed on a guided tour as it travels to the protected Burgess Shale fossil quarry. It’s extremely steep, but highly recommended!

Walcott Quarry (Burgess Shale) – this 20km hike can only be completed on a guided tour as it travels to the protected Burgess Shale fossil quarry. It’s a longer hike than Mount Stephen, but a much more gentle incline.

Sherbrooke Lake – a 6km round trip hike up to Sherbrooke Lake that leaves from the parking lot at Wapta Lake. The hike starts with an uphill climb and flattens out along the lake.

Paget Lookout – a 7km round trip hike that branches off the Sherbrooke Lake trail to hike up to a viewpoint. While not a long hike, it is very steep.

Hoodoo Creek – a 5km round trip hike located near the Hoodoo campground. A short but steep hike to view the hoodoos.

Mount Hunter – this trail can be customized to either 7km or 12km round trip. It’s located just before Hoodoo Creek and is completing uphill. Stop at the first lookout for a shorter hike, or continue all the way to the top.

National Park Pass

Before visiting, make sure to get your park pass online or by stopping into the visitor centre in Field. Your other options are to pick it up at the kiosk when you enter Banff, or stop in Rogers Pass when you drive through Glacier National Park. You will need it to park everywhere inside the park. It’s $10 per person, per day, or you can get the family pass for the whole year for $145, which is applicable to all National Parks in Canada.

Lake O’Hara Backpacking Trip Part II

November 15, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

Click here to start with Part 1.

The rain held off all night and it wasn’t looking too bad when we got up on Day 2, so we decided to make a go at visiting Lake McArthur, which is the the second big hike in the area after the Alpine Circuit. We had breakfast and packed up our bags. But just as we were getting ready to start hiking, it started raining. It was pretty light at first, so we started walking up towards the junction to the Lake McArthur trail, but the rain got heavier as we went, so we decided to stop in Le Relais, which is a Parks Canada owned hut just before the lake (right at the junction to the Lake McArthur trail).

Le Relais is pretty cool. It’s a log cabin and they have some information on the history of the park and run a small cafe out of it during the day. It’s well known for its carrot cake, which is legendary inside and outside of the park. They notoriously sell out of the carrot cake every day, so we decided to see if we could score a piece and wait out the rain. We managed to get the very last slice! So we split it between the two of us and bought some hot chocolates.

Le Relais was pretty busy because of the rain, but it has a woodstove inside, so it’s toasty warm and has a really nice atmosphere. We decided to wait for the rain to let up, but we ended up killing 2-3 hours there with no reprieve! We made friends with some of the other people trying to wait out the rain and ate our lunch while trying to decide what to do.

The weather forecast was supposed to be better the next day, so we decided to hold off on Lake McArthur. I didn’t have any rain pants with me and I wanted to avoid getting totally soaked when the temperature was very low (around 3 degrees) and we still had another night at the campground. But we also didn’t want to just sit around all day, so we decided to do the hour long walk around Lake O’Hara instead to see Seven Veils Falls.

The rain never really stopped, but it didn’t lighten up a lot, so we had a fairly nice walk around the lake. Even in the rain, the area is still incredibly beautiful and we could see a fresh layer of snow sitting on the peaks of the Alpine Circuit. The water still looks like kool-aid, even on a rainy day, and we made the best of the rain. We stopped at Seven Veils Fall, which had a pretty steady flow coming down, before continuing around the lake. We returned to Le Relais just before it really started pouring again and killed another few hours warming up and drinking a second round of hot chocolate.

When we got a break in the rain again, we ran back to the campground to hang out for the rest of the evening. I love meeting people at the campground and I’m a busybody. I noticed one guy was wearing a knitted hat with the Labrador flag on it (and I happened to be wearing my NL home hat), so I quickly befriended him. He and his wife are from Ontario and met in Labrador when they were both working at Voisey’s Bay, so I had a great chat with them. They later broke out a crib game (which I also love), and I was joined by another camper named Lynn to play doubles against them. Not to brag, but we totally fleeced them! We won the first game and then Lynn pegged an incredible 3 triples in a row in the second game and we skunked them. So that was great fun!

We got a few more reprieves from the rain throughout the evening, and even saw a sliver of sun poking through the clouds. So we congregated outside at the campfire for awhile, but eventually the rain returned and sent us to bed early. We decided that we were going to make a try at Lake McArthur the next day (rain or shine) because even if we got soaked, at least we were going home after that.

Unfortunately things still didn’t work out as planned. It wasn’t raining too hard when we packed up our tent and gear in the morning. There’s a storage room at the campground, so we left everything we didn’t need in there and starting hiking back towards Le Relais. It was raining pretty hard and my pants were already soaked by the time we got to the turn-off. We continued on a little further to see the Elizabeth Parker hut, and then hiked as far as Shaffer Lake, which is the halfway point to Lake McArthur. When we hit Shaffer Lake, it started wet snowing on us and we had to re-assess. I was definitely not having a good time without rain pants and I was already soaked all the way to my underwear. I had a dry pair of pants in my bag, but they’re not really much use to you if they’re just going to get wet again. I think Brandon would have been okay to keep going since he had rain pants, but I had to do a bit of risk management.

It was below zero and we still had several more kilometres of uphill to get to the lake, so it just didn’t seem like a good idea to keep hiking. I was already cold and if I had to stop for any reason, I would freeze in wet pants and sub-zero temperatures. Plus I wasn’t having any fun, so we made the smart decision and turned around to go back.

There was still carrot cake at Le Relais and we stopped in for a slice each and some hot chocolate while I stood by the wood stove to dry off. We checked the bus schedule and decided to catch the next bus out. The weather might improve later in the day, but we still didn’t have anywhere to stay that night, so we decided to come back another year for McArthur.

We walked back to the campsite and changed into dry clothes to wait for the bus. It was definitely not the ideal trip to Lake O’Hara, between the smoke and the rain, but we still got to cram in most of the alpine circuit. Now we just have an excuse to come back again another time. It’s so exclusive, I’ll probably just try for permits every year until I get lucky again.

Our plan for the night had originally been to get one of the first-come, first-serve campsites at Takakkaw Falls in Yoho Park, but we really needed a hotel to warm up. We called around to every accommodation in Field town that could offer us two beds, but they were all booked, so instead we drove a half hour back to Golden where there were lots of budget options. We showered and then hit the hot tub, sauna, and pool at the hotel to relax before getting a celebratory dinner of more elk burgers (3rd of the trip) at the local pub.