Lightning Lakes Backpacking Trip

July 11, 2026July 8, 2026 / Maria / 2 Comments

Last week I wrote about Keats Island, which was the first in a slew of backpacking trips I did in late Spring. Many people are familiar with Lightning Lakes, which is a popular location for day trippers in Manning Park. I’ve done a lot of backpacking and car camping in Manning Park and I love spending a day relaxing at the lake in the summer. At this point, I think I’ve hiked the majority of the popular trails in Manning Park, including many times hiking around Lightning Lakes, but I’ve never done the Lightning Lakes Chain Trail. I’ve been wanting to do it for years and I finally made it happen in early June.

Lightning Lakes Chain Trail starts at the main parking lot and includes hiking around the first two lakes before continuing 11km into the backcountry, passing 3 more lakes along the way. It’s a good hike for early in the season because the trail follows the river through the valley and has minimal elevation gain. So even though the hike starts at a pretty high elevation (1200m), all the snow melts at once, meaning the trail is usually completely clear by June. I first became aware of this hike in 2018 when I did the Skyline II Trail from Strawberry Flats to Mowich Camp. That trail hikes up to the top of the mountain and then follows the ridge through Despair Pass and up to Snow Camp Mountain. From there, you can see Thunder Lake, which is the final lake on the Lightning Lakes Chain Trail, located in the valley below.

On this occasion, I left my house on Saturday morning with my dog, Sadie, to meet my friend in the park. I haven’t seen very much online or on social media about this trail, so I wasn’t expecting it to be busy. We met at noon and started hiking around 1pm. It was a pretty hot day for early-June, especially in Manning Park, which can be cold. I find that you never know what you’re going to get in Manning – you’ll either get beautiful sunny weather, or it will be cloudy and absolutely freezing (more common) – but it feels like there’s no in between.

So I was thrilled to get warm weather. Even though it had been nice in the city for weeks, Lightning Lakes was my first real mountain hike of the summer and I felt a giddy anticipation for the season to come. This was enhanced by the fact that the trail was filled with wildflowers! I can’t ever recall seeing wildflowers in June before, but we saw common paintbrush, lupin, arnica, columbine, valerian sitka, spreading phlox, pentstemon, and violet (among others I couldn’t identify).

It was busy along the first Lightning Lake, but the crowds tapered off when we hit the second Lightning Lake. We stopped for a snack at the end of the second lake, before continuing along the rest of the chain trail. From that point onwards, we saw very few people, I can only recall passing one or two groups of day hikers. The trail continues to Flash Lake and Strike Lake, with the campsite located just past Strike Lake. The challenge is that this trail doesn’t see a lot of trail maintenance and there is a fair amount of blowdown, so we did a lot of crawling over and under trees and my legs got pretty scratched up.

I wanted to swim in all the new lakes I’d never been to before, but Flash Lake wasn’t particularly nice. It’s a bit scummy and I couldn’t see anywhere nice to enter the water, so I ended up skipping it. Strike Lake was a little bit better, but there’s still not a lot of good places for swimming. Close to the end of the lake, we found a decent spot and took another break. Colin had a snack while I went for a swim. The water was cold, which it always is in Manning, but surprisingly, I didn’t find it too bad. We were pretty sweaty from the humidity, so it was a nice break to cool off.

The campsite is just a few hundred metres past the lake, but what I wasn’t prepared for was how busy it was at the campsite considering the trail had been empty. It is a fairly large campsite, with several tent pads spread out along the river and through the forest, but they were all full. There was a school group that had hiked in on Friday that was taking up a large portion of the sites near the river, but even excluding them, there were still a lot of hiking groups. I do wonder if this campground is busy all summer long, or just in Spring/early Summer, since it’s a lower elevation hike. Either way, we couldn’t get a tent pad and wandered around for a while looking for empty space before squeezing in among the trees near the river. We had Sadie with us and there was another dog on the other side of the campground, so we mostly tried to avoid them. I think it ended up working out.

We arrived around 3:30pm, meaning it took us approximately 2.5 hours to hike in, including the swimming and snack breaks. I was keen to continue hiking to Thunder Lake, so once we set up camp, we packed supper with us and hiked another 3km to the final lake. Trail maintenance definitely didn’t improve after the campground. There was still a good number of trees blown across the trail, but what was more annoying was that some sections of the trail were very overgrown with shrubs, and in one area, a very prickly plant. I’m not sure what it was, but we quickly noticed it stinging us as we were walking through it, so shorts weren’t a great idea. It was probably only along 5 minutes of the trail, so we just suffered through it, but we both changed into pants on the way back.

As far as the trail goes, Thunder Lake is a bit of an anticlimactic way to end. It’s a beautiful lake, but it’s really hard to access. As you approach the lake, the trail goes through a very steep boulder field, with the river flowing along underneath. You end up getting pretty high above the lake and the area doesn’t look entirely stable, so it’s not a great place to stop. Eventually you reach the treeline at the edge of the lake and there’s a sign saying that it’s dangerous to go further. We did go a little bit past the sign and I can confirm that it’s not worth it. The trail got steeper and was very dicey with loose rock overhead, so I don’t recommend it. It’s too steep to get down to the water, so we backtracked to the sign.

It’s frustrating to be so close to the lake, but unable to access it. We did find a small side trail leading down to the edge of the water, but there’s limited space to hang out. Fortunately there weren’t many other people around because it was late in the day, so we managed to go for a quick swim and had an awkward time cooking supper along the slope. I couldn’t even set up my camp chair because there was nowhere flat enough. So if you hike all the way to the lake, don’t assume you’ll be able to get down to the water, and if you try, definitely be very careful. I think it could be easy to get into trouble here or cause a small rockslide. I did not feel comfortable when we were bumbling around in the forest trying to find a way down, which is why we came back.

Otherwise it was a pretty chill trip. We hiked back to the campsite, arriving around 8pm and hanging out for an hour before going to bed. There is an outhouse and a bear cache, though the outhouse is a bit hidden in the trees. When you arrive at the main sign, it’s up through the trees to the right. I spent some time reading before bed and slept well with the sound of the river next to my tent.

It took us another 2.5 hours to hike back to the parking lot the following day. I would have liked to go for a swim at Lightning Lake before driving home, but I had Sadie with me and she’s a lot to manage when there’s people around, so we opted to skip it. Overall, I did enjoy the trail, in spite of the blowdown. The hike is primarily in the trees and not one of the more breathtaking hikes in Manning Park, so I probably wouldn’t choose to do it in the middle of the summer, but it was a perfect early season hike! Manning is still my favourite provincial park in BC and I love any time I get to recreate there.

Keats Island Backpacking Trip

July 4, 2026June 25, 2026 / Maria / 1 Comment

Now that it’s July, we’re firmly into backpacking season, which is by far my favourite time of the year! Usually I spend most of the Spring kayaking, but I wasn’t able to do that much this year because Seth hasn’t been available on the weekends, so instead, I spent most of June exploring some new low elevation backpacking trails that I’d never done before. Keats Island was particularly special because I went there with my Girl Guide unit!

Keats Island is a small island in Howe Sound, located between Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast. In order to get there, you have to take the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, followed by a water taxi to Keats Island. Plumper Cove Marine Park is located on the north side of Keats Island, with a large campground, that we thought sounded like a promising trip for beginner, teenage backpackers. I think the campground is most popularly used by boaters in the summer, but we opted to follow the 2.5km trail from Keats Landing instead.

After a thrilling ride on the ferry and the water taxi, we arrived at the north end of the island. The water taxi leaves from a dock right next to the Langdale ferry, but they only take cash payment or coupons, which can be purchased in Horseshoe Bay. The coupons are discounted, but they can only be purchased in a pack of 10 (convenient for a group like us, but maybe not if you’re traveling solo). It was a beautiful day at the very end of May when we went on our trip.

It’s a short hike, but it’s not flat. Once you get dropped at the dock, you start by hiking uphill along the road, followed by more uphill through the forest. There are a lot of small offshoot trails that I’ve heard can be confusing if you try and follow google maps, but it is very well signed, so follow the signs or a proper trail app like Gaia. The girls were in good spirits, but they did have fairly heavy packs and were happy when we reached the halfway point, because after that the trail was all downhill. There’s not really any views along the trail, but it is at least in the shade.

Overall it took us 1 hour, as a group of 8 people, to reach the campsite. The park is gorgeous and much larger than I was expecting. There’s a large dock where boats can tie up and some people paddle ashore. There’s a large sloping green field heading down towards the beach and a central water pump. There was only one other group of campers when we arrived, so we had premium choice for our campsites and selected the two sites closest to the main beach. I was surprised at how large the campground was, there were 20 campsites and lots of room for overflow, though there is a ranger located on site, so I’m not sure if overflow camping is allowed. A few more people showed up by boat later in the day, but the campground was still less than half full.

I was keen to do a little day hike as there are lots of short trails from the campground, including a trail to a lookout, but the girl guides were not interested in hiking further and we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach. It was relatively quiet in the afternoon and the girls had fun looking for beach glass at low tide.

If you’re hiking in, rather than boating, there are a few extra things you should consider. There was a bear on the island when we visited and there is no bear cache. I assume most of the marine users store their food on their boats, but we had to do a bear hang. We brought a full pulley system with us to practice, which we put to good use! In addition, there’s no running water source, only the pump. Groundwater is not as good quality as stream water and it had a boil water order in effect, so we ended up filtering and boiling it. It was a good decision because there was quite a lot of grit in the water and filtering alone won’t remove viruses, so we boiled it too, which did require a lot of fuel.

We didn’t do a lot at the campsite, but the weather was so nice and the views so beautiful that no one minded! The girls had a lot of fun hanging out at the beach and since it was early in the season, we were able to have a campfire in the evening. You also need cash to pay the ranger for the campsite, which doesn’t have any reservations, it’s all first-come-first-serve, pay on site. We also got the firewood from the ranger, which is sold for $10 a bundle.

The final highlight of the evening was that once it got dark, we went out on the dock to drag a stick through the water and we were able to see bioluminescence! It wasn’t the strongest bioluminescence I’ve ever seen, but still a very cool experience and it should be a lot stronger later in the summer. We did see a coyote hanging around at dusk, so be cautious if you have a dog with you.

The following day we packed up all our gear to head back to the water taxi. BC Ferries does post a schedule for the water taxi, however, it only runs by request. So make sure you call them in the morning and tell them you want a pick-up, because otherwise they may not come. We returned to Langdale and had some time to kill, so we enjoyed our lunch on the beach before taking the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay. It’s an easy trip and it made for a very enjoyable weekend. I’m keen to go back and camp with my kayak one day!

Hiking Zupok Peak

February 14, 2026January 13, 2026 / Maria / 4 Comments

Zupok Peak is a little bit off the regular beaten path, located on Highway 5 in the Coquihalla Summit Rec Area. It’s often paired with other peaks, like Ottomite Peak, Llama Peak, and Alpaca Peak. Ottomite Peak is a great option for snowshoeing and snow camping in the winter because it’s fairly short and stays in simple terrain, but I wouldn’t recommend any of the other peaks in snowy conditions because they go into challenging avalanche terrain, so stick to summer and fall when visiting those.

Me and Brandon have a tradition of going on a big hike every Thanksgiving weekend, and we picked Zupok Peak for our 2025 Thanksgiving hike. It was still early October, so we thought we might need microspikes for a small amount of snow, but were surprised to discover that the peak had gotten a dump of snow the night before we hiked the trail. So despite gorgeous sunny conditions on the day we visited, there was quite a lot of fresh powder on the trail.

The trail starts at the Zopkios Rest Area in the Coquihalla Summit Rec Area. You can park at the end of the lot and walk over to the west side of the washroom to access the trailhead. It’s a fairly well established trail, but it’s not very popular. Needle Peak and Flatiron, which are located on the other side of the highway, draw most of the crowds in this area, with Zoa Peak being the next most popular trail after those.

It’s a nice walk through the forest as you head towards Ottomite Peak. There is one river crossing and the bridge is in pretty rough shape, so take your time. There was snow along the entire trail, but it wasn’t very deep at lower elevations. Our biggest problem was that it was extremely cold. Usually I don’t need to layer up too much while hiking, even in winter, but on this particular day it was very chilly!

After ~3km of hiking along relatively flat trail, you will reach a junction to Ottomite Mountain. If you go in the winter or during snowy conditions, I recommend just visiting Ottomite and skipping the other peaks due to potential avalanche hazards. There’s a nice view from Ottomite and the trail is wide and still very easy to follow. Since it was the first snowfall of the season, we continued on towards Zupok Peak.

From here, the trail became harder to follow in the snow. There was one group that had started ahead of us, so they were breaking the trail. Once you start the ascent to Zupok, there’s markers on the trees that you can follow, but if the other group hadn’t broken the trail to the base of Zupok, it would have involved a lot more route finding for us. Instead, we were able to just validate the track using GPS to make sure we were on the right track.

After the junction to Ottomite, it’s ~2km to the summit of Zupok. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but this part of the trail gets really steep and it’s a big slog to climb up to the summit. You climb ~500m of elevation in 2kms, so be prepared for a steep grade! Most of the trail is through the trees, but there is one nice viewpoint halfway up. Near the summit you pop out of the trees for an incredible view of the area. In the summer, I think the trail would be a lot easier to follow, but it was a bit of a struggle in the last 300 metres to the top. The snow was much deeper on the summit (knee deep) and it was very windy, so we were pretty cold.

When we started the day, we planned to continue to Llama and Alpaca Peak, which looked fun since you get to walk along the ridge after Zupok, but that plan was quickly abandoned when we got to the summit. We only had microspikes and it was evident that we would need snowshoes along the ridge. Plus, it was just too windy and cold, so we quickly amended the plan to eat lunch at the summit and then turn around.

If you visit on a nicer day, I’d definitely check out the other peaks, but be prepared for the hike to still be fairly strenuous. You have to climb down Zupok Peak, only to immediately climb up Llama Peak (and then repeat again for Alpaca Peak), so you do still expend a lot of energy on each ascent. Plus, you’re in the alpine the entire time, so on a hot day, be cognizant of the exposure and sun protection.

We stopped for a quick lunch and Simmer got herself in a bit of a pickle. She wanted to put on her snowpants, but she didn’t want to take off her boots because her feet were so cold. She accidentally put them on backwards and then got stuck in them trying to reverse them with her large boots on! So we had a good laugh at her before snapping a few photos and heading back down the mountain.

We didn’t spend much time on the summit and we hiked back down to the base of Zupok pretty quickly. It was like a different world down there. There was no wind and the sun was out, so we were able to take a proper break to warm up. Brandon decided to build a snowman to stand guard at the mountain base. Otherwise, it was a pretty quick hike back to the car and we continued back to Hope for a proper meal.

I thought the view from the top of Zupok was beautiful, but this is a pretty challenging hike. I don’t think I’d be in a rush to re-do it because the hike up is such a slog, but I would love to explore the ridgeline on a less snowy day. I have heard that Fall is a good time because the shrubs along the top change colour and it’s not too hot along the exposed ridge, but obviously we were a bit too late in the season on this occasion, so early September might be the sweet spot!