3 Brothers Mountain Backpacking Trip

August 31, 2022August 20, 2024 / Maria / 4 Comments

The longer I live in Vancouver, the more I start repeating trips. This was my third time hiking to 3 Brothers Mountain (though each trip has been very different), but it was also probably my favourite trip! I’ve had a love affair with Manning Park for a long time. 3 Brothers Mountain was my very first hike in the park back in 2016 and while everyone else has been trying to bag every peak in Garibaldi Park, I’ve been working on bagging every trail in Manning. I day hiked the trail with Emily in 2016 and returned in 2018 with Carolyn to thru hike the Heather Trail over 3 days. On this occasion, I visited with my Girl Guide troop and we set up a base camp at Buckhorn Campsite for 3 days.

This is my first year with a Trex Unit – which is a special girl guide unit focused entirely on outdoor adventure. For our first year, we decided to do a backpacking series. Our first trip was to Viewpoint Beach in May, which had moderate success due to all the rain, so Trex was very excited about the potential nice weather for this trip!

Unfortunately, with it being summer and people going on holiday, we had a small group, with just 5 girls, but their enthusiasm more than made up for it! They are very keen to hike Panorama Ridge one day, but we decided we needed a bit more practice in the backcountry before we attempted that hike. Which was an excellent decision because with the high snow pack this year, Panorama was still buried when we attempted this hike. In addition, my friends went up to Garibaldi the same weekend and ended up getting evacuated when the water levels rose into the campsite, so all in all, we were thrilled to be at Manning Park instead!

That said, we were still up against some challenges in Manning Park as well, particularly the heat. After my companion got evacuated from Banff National Park last year with heat stroke, I’ve been very weary about hiking in hot weather. But heat waves are starting to become more and more common around here, so I’ve had a lot of learning about staying hydrated over the past year. It was calling for 28 degree temperatures on the 3 Brothers hike, so we decided to go anyways and packed in a lot of electrolytes with us.

We gave each member a 1L bottle of gatorade before we left the lower mainland and they were tasked with drinking as much as they could before we started hiking. Traffic was brutal leaving Vancouver on the August long weekend, so they had a lot of time in which to accomplish this task, though it turned them off gatorade in the process. But we were nice and hydrated when we started.

Even so, it was a bit of a slog doing the 4km to the campsite. It was around 1pm when we pulled into the parking lot on Blackwall Road, so we ate our lunch there before starting our hike. Luckily it’s all downhill on the first day, so we took our time since everyone had heavy packs. We weren’t sure if it was going to be too early for the wildflowers with the late snowpack, but fortunately the meadows were in full bloom! We stopped several times in the shade on the way to the campsite, but still made fairly good time.

When I hiked the Heather Trail, I went the full 13km to Kicking Horse Campsite on my first day, so I’d never stayed at Buckhorn. I thought it was a small site with a few tents pads, but I’d obviously never taken the time to explore it because it is a massive campground with 24 tent pads and a gorgeous sheltered cooking hut! I think it’s probably expanded since I was there in 2018 though because a lot of the tent pads looked very new.

Trex found a few tent pads next to each other that they liked, but they weren’t shaded, so the Guiders set up in a different area. We did some exploring around the campground before settling in the shelter for dinner. There were some mosquitoes around, but definitely not as bad as other campsites I’ve been to this year. For our first meal we had Mexican rice on tortilla, which was a huge hit!

On Day 2 we packed our bags for a day hike up to the First Brother Mountain. This was the unit’s first major trek and we had a few growing pains at the beginning. The girls were not happy when I insisted that they each had to bring a full 2L of water on the trail. I don’t think they realized the extent of the hike and the term “day hike” had given them the distinct impression that it would be easy. So I think they learned a lot!

We were glad to be doing the climb up to the mountains early in the morning and we were all in awe at the huge fields of wildflowers along the route! It’s pretty route, so we took short breaks in every shady spot and a few longer snack breaks. In addition to gatorade powder, we all had packets of iced tea and pink lemonade to mix into our drinks. This was really helpful in encouraging the girls to drink more as not everyone loves drinking water. Even still, it was very hot and I wasn’t sure if we would want to push all the way to the top of the mountain. We decided to continue trekking to the bottom of the First Brother to assess from there.

Because I still have some PTSD from the heat stroke incident, I didn’t want to pressure anyone to hike all the way to the top and gave the group lots of opportunities to turn around. But everyone was determined to summit, so we took a break at the base and started hiking up in groups. We stressed the importance of taking lots of breaks and that just because we were going to try for the summit, didn’t mean we couldn’t change our mind at any time. I opted to go last so that I could turn around with anyone who was having reservations (pretty much just me, lol).

Fortunately everyone did amazing! Iris hiked halfway along the ridge, but opted not to go all the way to the summit because of her fear of heights, but all the Guides went right to the top! There’s not much vegetation up there for shade, so we quickly did our best to get a tarp up with our poles so that we could have a bit of shade to eat our lunch. Even though it was my third trip to the top of the mountain, this occasion was extremely rewarding because I was so proud of the group! They were all thrilled with their success and I loved watching them get that sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes with pushing yourself to achieve something new and scary.

Just as we’d hiked up in small groups, we returned back down in small groups as well. I came last again and had a good chuckle when I caught up with the group, to find everyone sheltered under the one lonely tree that was providing shade on the ridge! We took a break here before heading back down. The lesson about packing lots of water was learned as everyone expressed their amazement that they had drank so much! We were even starting to run a little low, but we’d seen a few streams on the way up, so we decided to return to those to filter more water.

There’s a small pond on the way back and we all dipped our hats in the water to cool down. The streams were really just a trickle, but we were able to filter about 5L, which was enough water to see the group back down to the campsite. The girls really powered it on the way back and beat the Guiders by a longshot. We took river baths and had a little nap before heading to the cooking shelter for supper, where we discovered the Guides had already fed themselves and were making dessert for us!

So overall, I was super impressed with how everyone handled themselves on the hike in the heat. There was no complaining and everyone got up early the next morning so that we could try and beat the heat on the hike back uphill to the parking lot. You can see the First Brother Mountain from the parking lot and there was a real sense of accomplishment that we had hiked all the way there and back! So in conclusion, 3 Brothers Mountain remains one of my favourite hikes – I think it’s a great hike for beginners and it was a real pleasure to share this hike with the Girl Guides!

Joffre Lakes Backpacking Trip

August 24, 2022August 20, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

My first trip to Joffre Lakes was in 2015. Then I didn’t go again for 6 years, only to return twice in 2 years!

Joffre Lakes is one of the most popular and well known hikes in BC. It’s for a good reason – it’s jaw-dropingly gorgeous and easily accessible – but the crowds have definitely been a deterrent for me in visiting frequently. However, my friends from Toronto were visiting and they wanted to go there for their first ever backpacking trip, so I agreed to go with them since I’ve never actually backpacked there before.

Joffre Lakes now has a day pass system – so you can’t visit the park at all without either a day pass or an overnight pass (which are limited). This helps a lot with the stress of parking, but there is still an impressive amount of people in the park every day, even with the pass system. Overnight passes are hard to get – me and Philippa logged on at the same time to try and get them – I lucky enough to score 2 tent pads on my device, but even with 3 devices of their own, Philippa and Justin didn’t get any. Fortunately we had all we needed, but it gives you an idea of the competition for tent sites on a Saturday Night. I definitely recommend going on a week day if you’re able.

I won’t talk too much about the actual trail because I’ve written about it in my post about day hiking here. I’ll just say that as beginners, I do think this was a good trail for Philippa and Justin – it’s not too long or difficult, and it has washroom and bear cache facilities, which make things a lot easier.

Brandon joined me for the trip and drove us all up to the trailhead early on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we realized at the trailhead that Philippa and Justin had forgotten their lunch in the fridge, but I always carry a spare meal, so we decided to go anyways and they ate that. It was a gorgeous sunny day for it – definitely hotter than I prefer, but that’s how summers in Vancouver seem to be these days, so I’ve gotten pretty good at staying hydrated and no one suffered too much with the heat.

We stopped at the second lake for lunch and went for a quick dip in the freezing cold water, and then continued up to the third lake. This is where my account of the lake will diverge from my last post. When I visited last year, we just hiked to the base of the third lake, but if you’re camping overnight, you have to continue around the edge of the lake to the other side, where there are a bunch of campsites under the glacier. I’d never backpacked at Joffre before, so I was excited to check out the campground. Plus, one of the big benefits to staying overnight is that crowds are greatly reduced in the evening and you get to enjoy the view for much longer.

We chose a campsite along the edge of the lake and set up our tents. I was keen to go for another swim, so me and Brandon decided to take our thermarests out into the lake this time, since it’s so cold. We did this at Assiniboine to great success! However, I’ve since replaced my sleeping pad with a smaller one and unfortunately, it’s not really big enough anymore! I floundered around on it for a while, with lots of screaming about the cold water that kept swallowing me up, before Justin went and got his pad for me instead (which is actually my older, bigger pad that he was borrowing). So we all tried them out in the water for a bit, and while they do insulate against the cold, you have to lie perfectly still on them lest you disturb the water and cause your limbs to go numb. So maybe not our best idea!

Instead, Brandon and I had the idea to hike up towards Matier Glacier for supper. Lien did the Matier Glacier hike last year and told me you could see all three lakes once you get high enough. There was still snow at the base of the glacier, so we didn’t plant to go the entire way, but we figured if we hiked up to the top of the moraine, we might be able to catch the view for supper.

The hike to Matier Glacier is entirely a scramble up one of the old moraines. I didn’t find it too challenging, but it is pretty steep. It had cooled down, so we pushed up for about a half hour, but as it got steeper, Philippa got uneasy about having to go back down, so we pulled off to the side and found the flattest place we could to eat (not very flat at all, but we made it work)! Philippa and Justin had a mix of freeze dried meals to sample and Brandon made his legendary thai curry chicken for us. We were hoping for a sunset, but the sun goes down behind the mountains, so we just enjoyed golden hour instead.

It’s definitely worse hiking down the moraine than up, so it took us a while to go back. There’s a lot of loose rock that makes it slippery, so I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners. Philippa didn’t like the descent, but she still did a great job on it and her feedback for beginners is to go down sideways and focus on small steps! Nonetheless, they made it down and used their new skills when they went to Panorama Ridge a week later.

It was starting to get dark by the time we got back to the campsite, so we got ready for bed early. We were all super tired after the early start and I wanted to get up in the middle of the night to shoot the stars. I think I was asleep before 10pm! I had my alarm set for 1:30am, but I ended up waking up to pee just before midnight and decided to get up then. Brandon decided to join me and we spent about 45 minutes playing around with our cameras and got some lovely shots of the milky way! I brought my tripod on this trip, which always makes for a more enjoyable experience.

We managed to sleep in until after 7, but once the sun hit the tent it was time to get up. We had a lazy breakfast and then packed up the tents to start the hike back down. We had a little break again at the second lake, but decided to save our swim for the first lake. I loved this idea because I wanted to swim in all 3 lakes and liked the opportunity to wash my body at the end of the hike. All the lakes are quite cold, but they definitely get warmer the further away from the glacier you get.

So overall, a very successful trip! Even though me and Brandon have been to Joffre Lakes several times, we loved exploring it through new eyes with Philippa and Justin. I’m definitely not in a rush to go back, but I am always enthusiastic about hiking with anyone who loves adventure. I do think Joffre is a great option for beginners and wish you luck in getting permits to this beautiful location. Just remember to treat it with respect. Leave no trace and pack out all your garbage!

Tikwalus Heritage Trail Backpacking Trip

June 22, 2022August 20, 2024 / Maria / 3 Comments

Despite the high levels of snowpack hanging around in the mountains this year, I had a good start to the season and got in a second backpacking trip the first week of June. I find Spring backpacking challenging because of the limited number of trails with campsites that are snow free, so me and Carolyn have been trying to branch out to find new trails. This was made somewhat more challenging because we wanted to bring our dogs with us (and even fewer trails are dog friendly), but fortunately Tikwalus Heritage Trail fit the bill!

Tikwalus is located about a half hour north of Hope on Highway 1, just before you reach Hells Gate. As we were driving up there we realized that neither of us had done any hiking in this area and I couldn’t recall ever driving the highway since I’ve lived in BC (though I did it once as a tourist before I moved here). It’s exceptionally beautiful driving along the steep walls of the Fraser Canyon and it doesn’t seem to get that much hiking traffic. Despite not arriving at the trailhead until noon, we were only the third car in the lot! A very promising sign for me since Sadie can be reactive to people and dogs.

At 6.5km to the campsite, it’s not an overly long trail, but it is very steep and you gain almost 800m in the first 4km. We took our time going uphill and the dogs had a blast alternating between playing with one another and guiding us up the trail. Sadie is almost 2.5 years now and is an Australian Shepherd, which is a very high energy dog, so she had no problem with the hike and carries her own food and equipment in her Ruffwear pack. Jasper is still a puppy and less than a year old yet, so he was freeloading off Carolyn until he gets old enough for a pack. He got a bit tired early in the hike from the uphill, but he also has a lot of energy and bounced back very quickly once he got used to the climbing.

As the name suggests, Tikwalus is a heritage trail and covers both indigenous and colonial history. The trail has been used for many, many years by the Nlaka’pamux for hunting and gathering and there are several culturally modified cedars along the trail. In later years, the trail was used as a trade route through the Cascades by the Hudson’s Bay Company. There are several placards along the trail providing lots of information about the history of the trail, so it made for an educational hike and a nice respite from the uphill monotony on the way in. About halfway up there’s a beautiful viewpoint looking out on the surrounding mountains.

Once you get to the top of the steep section (~4km), you’ve done most of the elevation gain and the trail branches into a loop around the summit. If you do it as a day trip, it’s about 13km round trip. It’s mostly flat around the top, so we decided to take the slightly longer lake route to shorten our journey for the following day. Unfortunately there’s not a ton of views around the lake route, but there is a huge viewpoint on the other route. It was clouded over on day 2, so we never got to take advantage of the viewpoint, but it’s still quite scenic at the campsite, so it wasn’t that big a deal. Just something to note if you’re in a similar position as us with the weather. The viewpoint route does go along a narrow spine though, so if you have any issue with heights, the lake route felt a bit safer.

It took us about 3.5 hours to reach the campsite. We didn’t take any long breaks, though we did stop to get water when we crossed over a fast flowing creek on the way up. This was a really good choice because the water options near the campsite are not ideal. There are two creeks on either side of the campsite. I would say the option on the lake route is the better of the two. It’s closer to the campsite (maybe a 10 minute walk?) and it has a decent flow rate. The placard said there used to be a cabin in this area in the past because it was used as a water source. The second option is on the viewpoint route.

It’s a bit farther (maybe a 15 minute walk?) and it’s not as fast flowing as the other one. To be honest, neither are great, so make sure you bring a filter, I wouldn’t want to rely only on water tabs. I’ve read in some comments online that people get water from the first lake, but I would definitely avoid – it’s very still and a terrible water source. Just walk a bit further to use either of the creeks.

There were two other groups at the campsite when we arrived, but it’s very large and we had no trouble finding a good spot to pitch our tent away from other people. We were joined later by a few more groups, but at no point did it feel crowded. The trail seems to be used primarily for backpacking. We didn’t see a single person on the way up or down, so it seems like most people who go up there plan to stay the night. It’s a mostly forested trail and campsite, but there are some really nice views looking out over the mountains.

We had really nice weather on the way up and it threatened rain in the early evening, but mostly held off. Campfires are allowed at this campsite and there were several established rings around, so we collected wood debris from around the site and got a small fire going. I’ve done a whole post on responsible campfires, so make sure to only take dead wood and to avoid harming any natural habitat. Fires aren’t permitted in so much of the backcountry (and even when it is permitted there’s often a ban), so it was really nice to have one! We forgot a firestarter, but Carolyn worked some magic to get one going.

The rain finally moved in around 8pm and we decided to call it an early night. It was really just a bit of drizzle, but neither of us wanted to sleep with 2 wet, stinky dogs. However, it was still light, so it took the dogs a while to settle down and we did some reading before falling asleep early. Unfortunately, the dogs get up with the light, so they had us up and awake at 6am. It rained on and off throughout the night, but was mostly mist when we got up. We had a quick breakfast and then packed everything up and were back on the trail shortly after 8am. Quite early for us!

I thought it was going to be a brutal walk down based on how steep it was, but it ended up not being too bad. We saw nothing but clouds from the viewpoint on the return loop, but they lifted enough for us to get a misty view of the mountains at the halfway viewpoint. We finished the hike around noon and stopped into the General Store on the way back to Hope for lunch.

Overall, it’s a pretty understated hike. It’s mostly in the trees and it is quite steep, but we really enjoyed it. It’s very green in the Spring and we loved that it wasn’t crowded. The large campsite gave us lots of space and we liked the rare opportunity to have a campfire. It was a great choice for taking the dogs and we loved exploring a new part of the region that we’d never been to before and learning a little bit about the history of the area. Would definitely recommend if you’re looking for an early season hike and don’t mind a climb. It is tiring, but it’s not a technical trail, so I think it would be good for beginners looking to build up their stamina and abilities. It has both an outhouse and a bear cache and you can bring your furry friends!