fall foliage

As someone who grew up on the East Coast, Fall was a very beautiful season. I love living in Vancouver and I would say that seasonally, the west coast is nicer than the east coast in almost every season (winter and spring for sure, summer less so with the forest fires), but Fall is conclusively better on the East Coast. At least, compared to Southwestern BC. If you want sweeping forests of red, yellow, and orange, you likely won’t find it here – there’s too many Douglas Firs and Cedars, but there are still some gorgeous views to explore, especially with a mountain backdrop. Here’s a few of the trails I’ve discovered over the years that really shine in the Fall:

Fall Colours near Vancouver

Mount Strachan – 8.5km, 600m gain

I wouldn’t say Mount Strachan has the most outstanding fall foliage, but it’s the closest hike to the city on this list, which makes it very accessible! The colours on this trail mostly come from the changing colours of the shrubs and it’s a great hike on a crisp Fall day. Get on the Baden-Powell Trail from Cypress Resort and hike parallel to Collins ski run. Then follow the sky chair up to the top of Mount Strachan to enjoy beautiful views of Howe Sound. From here, you can continue back the way you came, or you can make it a loop and hike down through Christmas Gully to catch up with the Howe Sound Crest Trail, checking out the views from Bowen Island Lookout on your way back. Make sure you pick up a free backcountry pass from the BC Parks lodge (at the back of the parking lot) before starting your hike. Take care on Christmas Gully when descending from Mount Strachan, it is easy to get lost or injured here. (photo taken in mid-November)

Flatiron – 11km, 800m gain

The Flatiron hike is located in the Coquihalla Summit Rec Area and shares 80% of the trail with Needle Peak. Both trails could be done in a day if you’re ambitious, but I’d avoid Needle Peak if there’s any snow or ice. It’s a very steep hike up the side of the mountain from the highway, but once you reach the branch to Needle Peak, it levels off. There’s a nice lake below the flatiron and in the Fall the shrubs all turn bright red along the mountainside. It’s relatively bare at the top, but the view of the surrounding mountains is amazing! (photo taken in early October)

Elk/Thurston Mountain – 9-15km, 1000m+ gain

This is a more traditional Fall trail and there are deciduous trees that will be changing colour as you walk through the forest toward the summit. Most of the hike is in the trees, but you eventually pop out along the ridge. It’s a steep hike near the end, but you can see all the way to Mount Baker, with bursts of colour in the forest below. I really like continuing a few kilometres along the ridge towards Thurston Mountain, but the peak itself is pretty uninspiring, so I usually turn around when I hit the forest. The hike is 9km to Elk Mountain and back, and 15km to Thurston. There’s over 1000m of elevation gain, so it’s a good workout! (photo taken in mid-October)

Illal Meadows – 16km, 750m gain

This trail is a bit of a drive and makes for a long day as a day hike, so start early! Illal Meadows is located off the highway along the Coquihalla Summit Rec Area and involves an extra half hour of driving along the Tulameen FSR. The trail starts with a 3km hike up a decommissioned road, and then it’s a steep ascent through the meadows to the alpine. There are lots of small trees and shrubs changing colour and the meadows turn yellow and red. Continue to the base of Jim Kelly Peak, where you have the option to do an additional ascent (it’s a scramble!) or head back the way you came. (photo taken in late September)

Snow Camp Mountain – 17.5km, 900m gain

This is a beautiful hike any time of year. In the summer, the meadows are filled with wildflowers, and in the Fall, the meadows turn yellow and have gorgeous views looking out over the Manning Park backcountry. The trail starts from Strawberry Flats and hikes steadily uphill for 5km. There’s a fantastic viewpoint at the top of Despair Pass, but continue on through the trees to reach the ridge going up to Snow Camp Mountain. I find this trail doesn’t get crowds in the Fall and is a really gorgeous hike. (photo taken in mid-September)

Larch Tree Hikes

If BC isn’t known for it’s Fall colours, it’s definitely known for the larch trees! Larch trees have needles like a pine or fir tree, but these needles turn yellow in the Fall and fall off. There are some really beautiful larch tree hikes on the West Coast. Most of them are located in the Rockies or Washington State, but if you’re willing to drive a little distance, you’ll be rewarded! In the interest of transparency, the only hike in this section I’ve actually done in the Fall is Mount Frosty, the other trail descriptions are based on trips I took in the summer. That’s why my photos don’t show any Fall foliage.

Frosty Mountain – 18-22km, 1000m+ gain

This is probably the most well known larch hike in the province, mostly by virtue of the fact that it’s close to Vancouver, so it attracts very large crowds. Definitely arrive early in the morning to get parking and get ahead of the mass of people (or go on a week day). The larch trees generally only turn yellow over the span of 2-3 weeks, so you can expect it to be busy during that time. Frosty Mountain itself is a really big hike, but you don’t have to go all the way to the summit to see the larch trees. After a big climb up to the campsite, you’ll eventually pop out in the larch meadow. But continue to the top of Mount Frosty for some really epic views! (photo taken in late September)

Sentinel Pass – 8-12km, 500-700m gain

The Sentinel Pass trail is a really popular trail in Banff National Park and requires a bit of advance planning to visit. The hike starts from Moraine Lake, which is one of the most popular locations in Banff. You can no longer drive to the lake, so you need to arrange to take the Parks Canada shuttle. From the lake, hike up a set of switchbacks to reach the larch meadows and continue on towards Minnestima Lakes. You don’t have to hike to the top of Sentinel Pass, but it’s a nice add on to enjoy the views looking back towards the lake and the surrounding Mount Temple area. It’s roughly 3.5km to reach the meadows, or 12km round trip if you go to the top of the pass and back. (photo taken in early August)

Floe Lake – 28km, 1000m gain

I would say that Floe Lake is the Moraine Lake of Kootenay National Park. It’s extremely popular, though much less accessible as you can’t drive all the way to the lake. This is a big hike for a single day, so I’d recommend camping one night at Floe Lake if you’re able. That said, it’s a big uphill to the lake and would likely be considerably faster with only a day pack. The larches are actually located above Floe Lake, so you’ll be rewarded with the beautiful view at the lake, but need to push another 3km uphill after the lake to be rewarded with a view of both the larch trees and Floe Lake. In total, be prepared for an almost 30km day, so leave before sunrise. (photo taken in late August)

Lake O’Hara – 7km, 200m gain

Of all the hikes on this list, Lake O’Hara is probably the most exclusive. There’s a permit lottery for bus shuttle passes up and down the 11km access road. You can hike all the way from the base if you’re prepared for an almost 30km day (like Floe Lake), otherwise, the shuttle saves you a lot of time. From the bus stop, you can do a 7km loop around the lake and up to the Opabin Prospect Lookout, which is the most renown view in the park. If there’s no ice, you could also consider hiking the famous alpine circuit, but I wouldn’t attempt it on a slippery day and you might prefer to have more time to enjoy the larches around the lake. (photo taken in early September)

Hiking Near the North Cascades

One of my favourite things to do in the Fall is cross the border and go hiking in the Mount Baker Wilderness area of Washington State. If you drive a little further into the cascades, there’s some really awesome larch hikes like Maple Pass, Blue Lake and Easy Pass. I haven’t done any of these yet, because there are so many colourful hikes to explore closer to Vancouver by Mount Baker.

As a disclaimer: I wrote this blog post at the end of last Fall season. I personally have decided not to travel to the US right now (but I really hope to feel safe doing so in the future). It’s out of my personal comfort zone right now, but no judgement either way, here are some of my favourite Fall hikes south of the border.

Chain Lakes/Ptarmigan Ridge – 12-19km, 600m gain

These two trails share a trailhead from the ski parking lot at Mount Baker. Grab a parking pass online before crossing the border, or pick one up from the visitor centre. If the road is open all the way to Artist Point, park at the top and do the Ptarmigan Ridge hike. If the road is already closed for the season, park at the base and do the Chain Lakes Trail. Both hikes go up towards Artist Point and cross a ridgeline into the backcountry. The Ptarmigan Ridge trail heads out towards the base of Mount Baker, while the Chain Lakes trail goes behind Table Mountain and climbs to the top of a saddle before heading back down to the base. Both hikes are incredibly scenic and colourful in the Fall. Chain Lakes is a 12km loop trail, while Ptarmigan Ridge is 19km out and back to the Portals viewpoint. (photo taken in mid-October)

Yellow Aster Butte – 13-15km, 700m gain

Yellow Aster Butte has gotten incredibly popular in the past few years. Pick up a parking pass online or at the visitor centre, and then drive up a gravel road to get to the trailhead. There’s limited parking, so get there early to avoid the crowds. The trail climbs up through the trees for 3km before you reach the alpine and the beautiful yellow aster meadows. It’s 3km further to get to the sub-peak, and another 1km from there to the true peak. This area can get snow early, so plan accordingly. (photo taken in early October)

Winchester Mountain – 5km, 400m gain

Winchester Mountain is the final hike on the list, and the only trail that requires 4×4 to reach the trailhead. This trail starts at the campsite for Twin Lakes and hikes up to the peak of Winchester Mountain, where there’s an old fire lookout. The trail is only 5.5km round trip and is located past the parking lot for Yellow Aster Butte. So if you don’t have 4×4, you could add on 3.5km to hike up the road each way (or try and hitch a ride on the way up). The entire trail hikes through colourful meadows while the trees change colour. It’s an easier hiking option with a huge payout. (photo taken in early October)

Since it’s Fall, I thought it would be a good time to go back and write about some of my favourite Fall hikes over the years! I grew up on the East Coast, where Fall is easily the nicest season and all of the leaves turn beautiful, vibrant colours. The West Coast is really not the same. Yes, the golden larch trees are beautiful and there are trails where you can find some nice changing foliage, but trust me, as lovely as it is, it’s a different scale than other parts of the country. I spent my first few years here being disappointed by every Fall hike I tried; I’ve since learned to get over it and appreciate what BC does have to offer. You can still find beautiful colours all through the Fall, even if not in the same abundance.

One of my favourite Fall hikes is Elk/Thurston Mountain in Chilliwack. It’s a popular one for Fall, so aim for an earlier departure, but it’s easy to get to and doesn’t require driving down Chilliwack Lake Road or any off-roading. It’s a 9km round trip hike up to Elk Mountain, but in that distance you climb over 800 metres in elevation gain, so it’s definitely a work out. It’s a steady climb the entire hike, but the first section is definitely the easier part. The trail winds through the woods and it’s a great time to keep your eyes open for changing leaves. There’s one viewpoint looking out through the trees about half way up to the top and after that the trail gets steeper and a little more challenging. It continues switchbacking through the woods until you pop out on a steep ridge. It’s pretty narrow, so take your time, but when you get up to the ridge you are rewarded with an amazing view of Mount Baker! It’s a great place to catch your breath and have a little snack before finishing the last section.

From there, it’s about another half hour to the top. The trail gets a little confusing and you can either climb up a pretty sketchy rock section, or you can follow the trail up through the woods (I usually take the woods). Shortly after, the wooded trail will reunite with the rock trail and you keep climbing up to the top. Once you hit the top, there’s a few campsites in the woods and lots of room to spread out. I find people tend to congregate at the first grassy section when you crest the mountain, but if you continue on a bit, there are lots more grassy slopes to relax on, all with amazing views of the Fraser Valley.

On my first visit to Elk Mountain in 2018, I went with Lien, Brandon, and Kerrina. We spent a lot of time hanging out at the top and taking fun pictures of ourselves with the beautiful view. I loved the view from the ridgeline and we could see the trail continuing on along the ridge to Mount Thurston. I really wanted to continue on along the trail, but we hadn’t really left early enough or come prepared for a longer hike, so we decided not to push on farther. So the next year, I was keen to go back and push all the way to Thurston. That time I went with Lien and Seth and we made good time pushing up to Elk. We decided to have lunch at Elk before continuing on and I had one of my most random lunches ever in the backcountry. Lien’s family are crab fishermen and he’d just gotten back from a trip out to Tofino, bringing with him about 20lbs of crab for me and Seth! We’d cooked it all up the previous evening and I had made crab cakes, but there was still a lot of crab left over, so we just took crab legs with us to eat for lunch! It was Fall, so they stayed pretty cold in my pack, but it made a huge mess sucking the meat out of the legs and we had a good laugh.

Hiking all the way to Thurston was an interesting experience. I liked the first part of the trail – you hike the ridge for a little while and then head back into the woods. Eventually you pop out again to crest another small peak, before continuing on to Thurston Peak. To be honest, I found Thurston Peak a little confusing. It’s a forested peak and when you reach the top, you can’t really tell you finished the hike except that there’s a trail branch heading into two narrow wooded trails. So we ended up backtracking a bit until we found a view and then took another break for some more crab legs. As far as summits go, it was a little anticlimactic and I think I’d just recommended ending your journey at the previous peak. There’s a nice view from there and I don’t think we saw anything else particularly notable after that.

It was a really nice hike back though. We took our time coming down and saw some great wildlife on the way back, most notable of which was a little owl! Seth’s a biologist, so he was thrilled and we hung out watching it for a bit. Elk Mountain gets pretty busy in the Fall, but we barely saw anyone on the Thurston Trail, so it is a good way to escape the crowds. All in all, Thurston is 16km long with about 1050 metres in elevation gain – not too bad an extension considering over 800 of those metres are on the Elk Mountain Trail.

When we got back to Elk Mountain the sun wasn’t quite setting yet, but it was getting pretty low in the sky and casting a gorgeous orange glow over everything. We decided to hang out for a bit and enjoy it, heading back down to the first viewpoint when you pop out of the woods. We stayed until the sun sunk below the mountains before taking off again, but I wish we’d stayed a little later because it ended up being a really gorgeous night, with the setting sun filling the sky with pinks and oranges.

We’d brought headlamps with us in the event we had to hike out in the dark, but it was a good lesson for me in double checking your preparedness. I had brought 2 headlamps for me and Seth, but mine was running super low and even though I thought I’d packed extra batteries, it turns out I hadn’t. Seth’s was a new headlamp and we thought it seemed fine when we checked it, it was nice and bright, but apparently it has a weird quirk where it only has one level of brightness, but when the batteries are low it will shut off after 10 seconds. So even though I’d checked it, it died soon after Seth started using it. So between the 3 of us, Lien was really the only one with a proper working headlamp. So he went in the front and we followed with our phone flashlights. Fortunately we still had that option, but it certainly would have been safer with a headlamp. So it was a good reminder for me that even when you think you’re being prepared, you still need to double check.

But I love this hike and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for fall leaves, a nice view of Mount Baker, and gorgeous views of the Fraser Valley. It’s also a great location for sunset, just be prepared!