Berg Lake Backpacking Trip: Hargreaves Lake Loop

September 28, 2025October 6, 2025 / Maria / 2 Comments

After a two day hike to the Berg Lake Campsite (see last week’s blog post), we had 2 full days at Berg Lake to do day hikes. As I mentioned in my last post, the forecast was rainy for the entire week we visited, but it was looking slightly better for our second day rather than our first. We had 2 hikes in mind: the Hargreaves Lake Loop and Snowbird Pass. Snowbird Pass is a much larger hike, so we decided to save that hike for the following day, focusing instead on the Hargreaves Lake Loop.

We still got up pretty early and it was quiet around the campsite. I feel like for every photo I’ve seen online of someone at Berg Lake, I’ve seen another photo of someone at the viewpoint looking down on the lake. There’s two trails that head north from the Berg Lake Campground: Hargreaves Lake and Mumm Basin. Both start with a steep climb up to the alpine until you eventually you reach a junction, with the Hargreaves Lake Trail heading west and descending to Marmot Campground; and the Mumm Basin Trail heading east and descending to Robson Pass Campground. At one point in time, you could do both trails as a large loop.

Unfortunately, the Mumm Basin Trail is now closed. From what I understand, this was a beautiful trail that looked down on Berg Lake, Adolphus Lake, and the Robson Glacier lake (doesn’t have a name that I’m aware of). But there was a rockslide a few years ago and the area is now very unstable, so it’s been closed by BC Parks. We did meet some people that decided to do the hike anyways because it’s more “hike at your own risk”, rather than a full closure (according to them). I don’t like this attitude because it’s only “hike at your own risk” until something goes wrong, and then you’re putting S&R volunteers at risk too. So my opinion is, skip the Mumm Basin Trail. To their credit, I talked to these hikers again later and they said that while the trail had nice views, it did feel very sketchy with all the loose rock in the area.

Before the trail closure, you could hike both trails as one big loop, but now you can only loop from Berg Lake back to Marmot, so that’s what we did. The Berg Lake viewpoint is still open, so you can still enjoy that view for yourself! The trail was completely empty when we started our hike up to the junction. The trail follows the river and you get a lovely view of Toboggan Falls on the way up. It’s steep, ascending 250m in ~1.25km, but I didn’t find it too bad early in the morning when it was still cool. We saw lots of wildflowers along the way and I had fun identifying them. There’s a bench where you can rest about halfway up the climb that has gorgeous views down to the lake! If you don’t have enough time to hike all the way up to the viewpoint or do any full day hikes, this bench is a great objective! It’s not too far from the campsite and it has amazing views. You could easily do it after dinner or early in the morning.

After a short break at the bench, we continued up to the junction. From here, your options are to continue west to Hargreaves Lake, or go up to the viewpoint, advertised on the sign as “the cave”. The trail does get steeper as you climb another 200m in less than 1km. Eventually you pop out of the trees into the alpine, which is mostly barren scree slope and rock, to an amazing view of the lake, glacier, and mountain! This is where we met the people doing the Mumm Basin Trail, and they were 1 of only 2 groups that we saw all day. This was surprising to me given how many photos I’ve seen of the viewpoint online, but it’s possible a lot of people do the trail in the evening after arriving at the campsite if they only have 1 night.

I understand there’s a large rock located up there somewhere, which is where everyone likes to take their photo. I believe it’s located east of where you pop out of the alpine and that if you just keep heading on towards the cave, you’ll find it. The views are incredible everywhere, so I wasn’t too concerned about being photographed on one specific rock, nor did “the cave” hold a lot of interest for me. It’s wide open alpine, so we decided to do a bit of random exploring instead. We didn’t end up finding the rock, but picked a goal location further up in the alpine and did some slow wandering until we got there.

There’s no trails, so if you opt to explore further, make sure to avoid the meadows and wildflowers. We stuck to bare rock and traversed through a few boulder fields in order to avoid the flowers. However, I still had a lot of fun trying to identify them! We didn’t see any large meadows of flowers, but I did spot a few of my favourites, like the western pasqueflower, alpine pussytoes, alpine speedwell, and even a globeflower, which was a first.

We ended up exploring around the alpine for the better part of two hours and I had just as much fun (probably more) as if I had gone in search of the big rock. But it’s all about what you want to do and if you really want the big rock photo, I encourage you to go for it! Not everyone has hours for random exploring and that’s totally fine too! You can see more of the back of Berg Lake’s river delta from the big rock and that’s something I didn’t see from where I adventured.

What I did instead was spend a lot of time playing around with perspective on my camera. Because you’re located high up on a steep slope, with an even bigger mountain located directly in front of you, there’s a lot of opportunity for cool perspective shots. The glacier is already huge, and with a bit of zoom, you can get some pretty funny and epic shots. I was more about the epic shots, while Brandon thought it was hilarious to mess around with the glacier. He had me imitate the shape of the glacier and pretend to lick it, and then got me to take photos of him “sitting” on it. Brandon’s photos produced a lot more laughs, so I’ve included some of each (I know I’m in both photos, but the first one was Brandon’s “funny” shot and the second was my “epic” one, although admittedly, they are both pretty epic).

We got back to the viewpoint around 12:30pm, which probably would have been a good time for lunch, but we decided to continue on to Hargreaves Lake instead. We were so lucky with the weather again. It was overcast most of the morning, but it didn’t rain and we got several sunny breaks. Because we’d been expecting such bad weather, I felt pretty high on life for most of this trip and appreciated every moment of no-rain that much more. I felt like every moment of the trip that it wasn’t raining was some kind of bonus moment, which really helped up make the most of the trip!

We hiked back down the trail to the junction and then merged onto the Hargreaves Lake Loop. The trail continues on relatively flat terrain for ~1.75km as you traverse the treeline at the base of the alpine. It’s mostly in the forest until you get to Hargreaves Lake, so we didn’t see much, but it’s still a nice hike with lots of wildflowers. Eventually you hit another junction and there’s a short, but very steep, climb up an old moraine to get to the viewpoint of the lake. You always see this hike mentioned on hiking blogs, but I’d never seen any photos of it and it seems to be overshadowed by other more epic trails. I wasn’t expecting much from the viewpoint except for a little lake in the woods.

Boy was I wrong! I think Hargreaves Lake has to be one of the most underrated hikes in the park! If you can only do one day hike, Snowbird Pass is still the way to go, but you will absolutely not be disappointed by Hargreaves Lake. It you have the time, definitely don’t overlook it. It’s not even that far from Marmot Campground, so you could easily hike up there in the morning or evening, same as with the viewpoint. And it’s not very far from the viewpoint, so it is worth tacking it on to the hike. Here, I’ll even give you a rare landscape photo, so you can really appreciate it!

Hargreaves Lake is a glacier-fed lake that is located in wide open alpine with a huge glacier sitting behind it, overshadowed by Mount Phillips. I was a little confused looking at the trail on the map, because it doesn’t show the trail actually going down to the lake. This is because the lake is shielded by an enormous moraine, so we didn’t get a glimpse of it on the approach. You climb up the moraine and then look down on the lake from the moraine. You could do a scramble down to the lake if you wanted (which I’d love to come back for), but we opted not to since we’d already done 2 hours of scrambling from the viewpoint. Plus, I was really hungry, so we sat up there and enjoyed the view while eating lunch instead.

We encountered our second group of the day at this viewpoint, but they didn’t stay too long and we eventually had it all to ourselves. The view of Berg Lake from “the cave” is great, but honestly, if you want an easier view, I think the view of Berg Lake from the top of the Hargreaves moraine is just as stunning! We had a big photoshoot up there before starting our hike down. From the viewpoint, it’s ~1.25km and ~275m of elevation loss to hike back to Marmot (compared to 450m between Berg Lake and the “big rock” viewpoint, which is why I say this is an easier option). Plus, a good chunk of this hike is in the subalpine with limited trees, so you still get really good views on the way down.

Throughout the day there was a steady stream of helicopters running in and out of the park delivering supplies. I can’t be 100% certain, but giving what it looked like they were bringing in and where they were heading, I’m almost certain it was supplies for construction of the new ACC hut at Robson Pass (which we caught a glimpse of the following day while hiking to Snowbird Pass). What was a little worrying were some very dark rain clouds that rolled in as we were hiking down. We didn’t want to get stuck in exposed terrain if there were thunderstorms, so we came down the ridge pretty fast. It did rain for ~15 minutes, but it was light and we didn’t get very wet.

We’d been planning to hang out at the Marmot Campground, but because of the rain, we opted to go straight back to Berg Lake instead. The rain ended up being short-lived and it finished before we got back. I was sweaty from a full day of exploring, so I quickly changed into my swimsuit to go for my daily swim! We ended up hanging out on the beach for a while, enjoying the view and the lack of rain. It’s so easy to just sit for hours staring at the glacier and Mount Robson, and we did!

It ended up clearing up a lot and it didn’t rain anymore that day. So the rainy forecast for the last two days had only resulted in two 15-minute sprinkles, despite showing rain for most of the day. We decided to cook supper by the lake rather than at the shelter. Seth got me the helinox chair zero for Christmas, which only weighs one pound, and I have been loving having it this year! It definitely adds a little bit of weight to my pack over my old sit-upon, but for trips where you’re eating outside or spending multiple nights at the same site – it makes it so much more comfortable! It’s not totally necessary at Berg Lake as there are lots of benches around the lakefront, but I don’t regret bringing it.

We ended up hanging out at the lake for a few hours before heading to bed. We planned to do the Snowbird Pass trail the following day, which is a 20km round trip hike, so we wanted to get an early start. When I got up to pee in the middle of the night though, I was treated to the most amazing starscape! Sometimes I like to do astrophotography, but I thought it would be cloudy our entire trip, so I didn’t bring my camera or tripod. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so even though I needed the sleep, it was worth a short walk out to the beach in the dark to admire the milky way over Mount Robson! In lieu of star photos, enjoy a photo of me kicking back relaxing on the beach… and one more epic shot from the viewpoint!

Berg Lake Backpacking Trip

September 21, 2025October 6, 2025 / Maria / 5 Comments

There are a lot of amazing hiking trails in the Rocky Mountains. Over the past few years, I’ve been lucky enough to visit a handful of the big trails – Assiniboine, Rockwall, Lake O’Hara – but this year, the real hot spot to hike in the Rockies was definitely the Berg Lake Trail.

The Berg Lake Trail is located in Mount Robson Provincial Park in BC. Mount Robson is the tallest peak in both the Canadian Rockies and the province of BC, so this has always been a popular trail. However, in 2021, there were massive floods in the park, which resulted in helicopter evacuations of park users and a subsequent 3 year closure of the park for trail repairs. BC Parks completed upgrades to the trails and campgrounds earlier this year and the entire trail re-opened to the public at the start of the summer. As a result, it seemed like everyone was desperate to visit this magical place.

Since BC Parks had been teasing the re-opening of the park, I was really determined to visit this year. I try to do one big multi-day hike a year, and I passed on obtaining permits for any of the other major hiking trails when they were released. When BC Parks finally announced the re-opening in early April, I was ready!

If you’ve ever done a popular Canadian trail that requires permits, you’re probably familiar with how challenging they are to obtain. Hiking and backpacking have become increasingly popular, among both the locals and tourists (domestic and international). The popular hikes in the Rockies usually release permits for the entire season in the Spring, and it is always a battle to obtain permits. This experience was no different and I spent the better part of an hour fighting for permits.

If you’re looking to visit, permits can be obtained from camping.bcparks.ca. Traditionally BC Parks releases their sites 4 months in advance of your visit (so it’s a rolling window), but on this occasion they released the entire season at once due to the late announcement about the re-opening of the park. I’m not sure what they will do in the future. The challenge with this hike is that you have to go in and out on the same trail, so people are booking campsites in both directions. In addition, you have to build your itinerary day by day, so you have to essentially refresh the page after you add each day. If you are unable to get what you want for a certain day, you can’t continue the booking to the following day because you can’t leave a gap in your itinerary. Due to the scarcity of sites, most parties will have multiple people online at the same time trying to book sites, which results in campsites appearing full, but later showing vacancies as groups eventually release sites. This creates more opportunities for website bugs and overcrowding to wreak havoc on your cart.

The Berg Lake Trail is a 21km trail that runs from the trailhead on Highway 16, to Robson Pass. There are 7 campgrounds, shown below, but the most popular is, of course, the Berg Lake Campground. As a result, everyone is trying to get permits to Berg Lake, usually with a campsite somewhere along the trail midpoint on the way in and out (or sometimes just on the way in). It’s really hard to get permits at Berg Lake, so my advice is not to waste your time refreshing if you can’t get Berg Lake. There are several other campsites in close proximity to Berg Lake, book one of those instead so that you can at least secure an itinerary. You can look for cancellations at Berg Lake later. There is a $6 change fee to change campsites, so it does cost a little more, but in my opinion, it’s better to secure a booking to another site quickly, rather than risk getting no permits.

The first couple hours after the permits release is chaos because people are constantly adding and releasing sites from their cart. So if you’re struggling to get what you want, keep refreshing for at least a half hour because there’s a lot of changeover of campsites. My preferred itinerary was to stay at Kinney Lake on the way in, 3 nights at Berg, and then Whitehorn on the way out. I wasn’t able to get any of those sites, except Kinney Lake, so I booked sites at Marmot and Robson Pass instead. With all the turnover, I was able to change my site at Robson Pass to Berg Lake within the hour. I wasn’t sure if I would get other cancellations, but I watched all summer and I was able to get my entire preferred itinerary (including 3 nights at Berg Lake) in advance of the trip! So it’s better to have something than nothing. Once you have a booking, sign up for cancellation notifications on Schnerp – they scan the sites and will email you as soon as one becomes available for your selected dates. I got most of my cancellations in the week leading up to the trip (with the final one a day before I left), so don’t be discouraged, most people wait until the last minute to cancel.

That’s a lot of information about the permit process, so let’s move on to the fun stuff! After getting through the reservation gauntlet, I was super excited about the trip and planned to do the trail with Brandon. We left Vancouver after work on Friday night in late July and drove halfway to Kamloops. We did the second half of the drive in the morning and arrived at the Visitor Centre around 1pm in the afternoon. We were starting our hike the same day, but it’s only ~7km along mostly flat terrain to Kinney Lake, so we weren’t worried about a later start. You’re required to stop at the visitor centre in order to pick up your permits, so plan your start time accordingly as it closes at 4pm.

Unfortunately, the weather was looking absolutely abysmal for our trip. We kept checking it every day leading up to our departure, but it consistently showed rain for the entire 6 day trip. We were optimistic it wouldn’t rain the whole time and that we would get some nice weather windows throughout the week, so we didn’t even consider cancelling. But I do think this is why I was able to get last minute cancellations at Berg Lake. It started to pour as we approached the visitor centre, so we were in no rush to start the hike. I spent some time lining my backpack with a garbage bag and then we hit up the Mount Robson cafe and gift shop to kill time.

Eventually the rain started to lighten, so we drove to the parking lot to get ready. We dressed in full waterproof gear, but the rain stopped very soon after we started hiking and we quickly got sweaty from the humidity and ditched our layers. The view up towards Mount Robson was completely clouded in, but at least we were dry, and I was optimistic that we’d see Mount Robson at some point in the next 6 days.

The hike to Kinney Lake is very chill. You mostly hike through the forest along the Robson River and you can see where they’ve reinforced the trail against flooding in some spots along the way. It’s a easy hike and there were quite a few day hikers along the trail. Eventually, you hit a bridge at the edge of Kinney Lake, which has a gorgeous view of the lake and river, with Mount Robson in the background. The trail continues along the lakeshore, but it was a bit flooded throughout, so you can take the perimeter trail if you want to avoid that.

It took us ~2 hours to reach the campsite on the east side of the lake, where we were surprised to find that more than half of the campsites were empty, despite it being 6pm. Apparently ‘no-shows’ has been a common theme in the park all summer. There was a viral tiktok of someone complaining about all the empty sites at Berg Lake. I did find this to be the case at most of the campsites, but not at Berg Lake. There were maybe 1 or 2 empty sites, but overall, in the 3 nights I spent there, that campsite seemed pretty full.

We were happy to arrive at Kinney Lake dry because most of the other campers had gotten completely soaked on the way in. The Kinney Lake Campsite is really beautiful and has several waterfront sites. We were too late to get one, but it also has a big open air shelter that is amazing on a wet or sunny day. I think this site is passed over a lot because it’s so close to the trailhead, but it’s a great place for families and it was my favourite site after Berg Lake. If you want a late start, this is a great option.

The first thing I did after arriving was go for a swim. The water is cold at Kinney Lake, but warmer than I was expecting. It’s definitely the easiest lake to swim in! We had a very chill evening and mostly hung around at the shelter after setting up our tent. Fortunately, the rain didn’t reappear and the clouds lifted. We were able to catch a glimpse of the backside of Mount Robson and we got really cool views as the fog settled over the top of the lake.

When we woke in the morning, it was cloudy, but not raining. The forecast was showing rain in the afternoon, so we figured it was a good idea to get an early start on the day. From Kinney Lake, we got an idea of the number of day hikers that visit the park in the span of a day. It’s 40km round trip to hike to Berg Lake, so I didn’t expect to see many day hikers past Kinney Lake. Was I ever wrong! There was a steady stream of visitors attempting to do the entire trail in a day. Since it’s such a long hike, they all start early, so we saw lots of people hiking into Kinney Lake as we were preparing to start our day.

The amazing thing about this hike is that pretty much the entire journey is scenic! Once you leave Kinney Lake, you hike through the forest to the end of the lake, where you come to a junction. There’s a few bike racks here because you are allowed to bike as far as Kinney Lake, which is a popular option for day users. There’s two routes at the end of the lake. There’s the Kinney Flats route, which crosses the river delta at the end of the lake, or the alternative high route, for when the Flats are inundated. It was dry, so we chose the Flats route, which is more scenic and saved us unnecessary elevation gain.

Once you reach the end of the Flats, the climb begins. It’s uphill for most of the rest of the day. It still wasn’t rainy and we were pleased about the conditions overall. At least with the clouds, we were spared from the hot sun on our climb. The next landmark is Whitehorn Campground, which is ~2km from Kinney Flats. This entire section of trail is new since the flood. The trail used to climb up the west side of the valley, but now it goes up the east side. The Robson River flooded the banks during the 2021 flood, so the new route avoids crossing it at the bottom of the Flats.

There’s ~150m of elevation gain in this section and the trail mostly switchbacks through the forest. I didn’t find it too strenuous and before we knew it, we had arrived at Whitehorn Campground! This campsite is also beautiful as it overlooks the Robson River and has an incredible view of the Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls. The name accurately captures the vibe and we had a snack break along the river while spotting all the waterfalls. There is a large open-air shelter at Whitehorn and it’s located close to the midpoint of the trail, making it a popular stop on the way to Berg Lake.

We continued hiking up the valley and the trail again diverges from the old trail. The new trail is longer than the old trail and now you cross the Robson River at Whitehorn Campground, and then again before you start heading up to Emperor Falls (with the new trail on the west side of the river rather than the east side). The trail is relatively flat for 2km after Whitehorn as you hike along the valley. There’s a huge new bridge crossing the river that provides an awesome view of the surrounding waterfalls.

After you finish the valley walk, the trail difficulty really ups the ante. For the next 3km, you’ll do the bulk of the elevation gain as you climb up towards Berg Lake. At first, it’s very steep and there are lots of warnings not to take breaks because of the risk of rockfall. There are a few landmarks though. The first is a beautiful view of White Falls, followed by the Falls of the Pool viewpoint. The clouds continued to break-up all morning and there was actually a lot of sun as we sweated our way up to Emperor Falls.

Emperor Falls is one of the larger waterfalls on the trail and involves a short detour, but it’s definitely worth it! It’s a huge waterfall and it gives off a lot of spray, so either grab your rain jacket or prepare to get wet. At this point, we were getting really hungry, so we didn’t stay too long and continued another 500m along the trail to the Emperor Falls Campground, where we planned to have lunch.

Emperor Falls is one of the smaller campgrounds on the trail and unfortunately, it doesn’t have a shelter. It does have a picnic area and some beautiful tent pads along the river. I don’t think this campsite is very popular because it’s so close to Berg Lake and people would rather stay at Berg Lake, but it’s still a nice spot. We set up on one of the tent pads and ended up taking a pretty lengthy lunch break. It started to sprinkle on us when we were getting ready to leave, but it was short lived and the sun came out again as we started the last section of our hike.

From Emperor Falls, it’s ~2km to Marmot Campground, which is located at the head of Berg Lake, and then another ~2km to the main campground at the foot of Berg Lake. The good news is there’s very little elevation gain along this stretch and it is incredibly scenic! As you leave Emperor Falls, you hike along the river at the edge of the mountain. With the sun out, we could see Mount Robson and the short arm of the Berg Lake Glacier coming down the mountain. I remember feeling so incredibly happy at this part of the hike. We weren’t sure how much of the scenery we would get to see with the poor weather forecast, yet here we were already admiring Mount Robson and the glaciers! We both had huge smiles as we continued towards the lake.

After 1km, you start hiking across the flats to the edge of the lake, where there are dozens of streams crisscrossing the terrain. It’s easy to see how this part of the trail could have flooded. I believe the trail was re-routed in this area too – you still cross the flats, but BC Parks have made a trail of stepping stones so that you can (for the most part) avoid getting your feet wet. I’m not sure how long this will last with the streams constantly changing, there was one section where I switched to my sandals because the water was coming up over the rocks and I didn’t want to risk wet shoes so early in the trip.

If you’re not able to get a campsite at Berg Lake, then I think Marmot Campground is the next best option. Marmot is also located directly on Berg Lake, just on the opposite site. You can’t see the main part of the Berg Lake Glacier from Marmot, but you can see the smaller arm and it still has incredible views. I had 2 nights at Marmot on my original booking and was only able to get the cancellation for Berg Lake right before my trip. I’m glad we ended up with 3 nights at Berg (even if only so that we didn’t have to move our tent), but I would have been very satisfied at Marmot too. Plus, Marmot has a brand new shelter and outhouse!

Despite it’s beauty, we didn’t stay long at Marmot because we were itching to get to our campsite. It’s only 2km along the lakeshore to get there, but it did feel like a bit of a slog at the end of the day. We tracked 15km on my GPS with the detour to Emperor Falls, which is a pretty big day. With our long lunch break, it took us 7.5 hours to hike from Kinney Lake to Berg Lake, so we were ready to ditch our packs. The hike along the lakeshore is in the forest, but there are breathtaking views of the lake and Berg Glacier as you get closer to the campground.

Eventually we made it and Brandon wondered off in search of a campsite (he prides himself on always finding the best site available). There’s only 1 tent pad at Berg Lake that actually has a view of the lake, so I didn’t care too much where we stayed, my main concern was going for a swim as soon as possible. So while Brandon was wandering the campground, I snuck down to the waterfront and changed into my swimsuit for a dip. Alpine Lakes are always cold and I knew Berg Lake would be no exception with the glacier draining directly into it. But I love lake swimming and I have to say, it honestly wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be. It was obviously cold, but not the immediately numbing kind of cold. I was able to stay in the water for a few minutes and it felt lovely to wash all the sweat off.

Brandon returned with 2 potential sites and we ended up picking one along the river, behind the shelter. There’s a few campsites at the edge of the campground that do have a view of Mount Robson, but I really liked being close to the shelter, which is where the main open area of the campground is, with the best view, so I was very happy with our site. We set up our tent for the next 3 nights before heading to the shelter to make supper. There’s a bunch of picnic tables with a good view of the mountain, but we weren’t sure if it might rain again, so we opted for the shelter.

Hargreaves Shelter is fully enclosed with a bunch of picnic tables inside. But the crown jewel of this shelter is the patio, which has a great view of the lake! We made some friends and enjoyed a nice night chatting and taking in the view (while stuffing our faces). Communal cooking spaces are one of my favourite things about the parks in the Rockies. You know you have at least one thing in common with everyone there, so I love hanging out and getting to know the different people visiting the park. Most of the campers we met were from BC or Alberta, whereas a lot of the day hikers were international tourists.

Eventually, we relocated to the lakefront for sunset and hung out for a while, basking in how lucky we were to actually be there. The scenery at Berg Lake is unparalleled and even though it’s a busy site, there’s so much energy and appreciation present. I was mostly thrilled that it wasn’t raining and I was full of optimism for the days ahead! Sometimes you want to just be, and this is one of those places where I wanted nothing more than to just sit in silence and stare at nature’s beauty and marvel at the height of Mount Robson. Check back next week to read about my day hike to Hargreaves Lake.

12 Fall Hikes on the West Coast

September 14, 2025August 21, 2025 / Maria / Leave a comment

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)