Pump Peak

I’ve lived in BC for over 12 years now. I started ranking my top 10 favourite hikes in the southwest part of the province in Fall 2016 and I have been creating a new list every two years since then. By 2024, I had 5 lists featuring a total of 50 hikes, so I narrowed it down to a special list of my overall top 10 hikes in the last decade. I’d like to continue the trend, so welcome to Part VI of this list, featuring my favourite hikes of the past two years.

10. Pump Peak

I’m surprised it’s taken 12 years for this hike to make the list, but there’s always a shorter hike close to home that never fails to surprise me. Despite hiking to Brockton Peak many times over the years, I only hiked to Pump Peak for the first time in 2026. It’s located very close to Vancouver in Mount Seymour Provincial Park and is a great option for a sunset/sunrise hike, or a short overnight. (8km, 400m gain)

9. Tricouni Berg Lake

Tricouni Berg Lake (not to be confused with Tricouni Lake or Iceberg Lake) is a newly popular hike past Squamish. It only came on my radar pretty recently, but it’s a fun day hike or overnight trip with a huge payoff at the lake. Turn off Highway 99 onto Chance Creek FSR and follow the Chance Mainline (~8.5km) as far as you can go. It’s a gravel road that most vehicles can handle. From there, park and hike up to a beautiful alpine lake nestled under Tricouni Peak. (10km, 500m gain)

8. Brandywine Mountain

Brandywine Meadows made my very first top 10 list in 2016, but having recently hiked closer to the mountain summit, I’m adding the mountain to this list. There are two trailheads for this hike, a lower one accessible by any vehicle, and an upper one accessible by 4×4. I really recommend the upper lot if you’re hiking to Brandywine Peak. This is a beautiful hike through the meadows and up and over the side of the mountain. Some wayfinding is required over the mountain and it is extremely steep, so only recommended for experienced hikers. I haven’t actually summited, but enjoyed hiking up the ridge. (10km, 800m gain)

7. Golden Ears Peak

This is another hike that I can’t believe had to wait 12 years to make my top 10 list. This is a beast of a trail, so despite its close proximity to Vancouver, it took me a long time to finally work up the nerve to hike it. Located in Golden Ears Park, this is an iconic trail that overlooks Pitt Lake and the surrounding mountains. There’s over 1500m of elevation to summit the mountain, so it’s very steep and should only be attempted by experienced hikers. You can complete it as a day hike, or reserve a campsite to spend the night at the scenic Panorama Campsite. (24km, 1600m gain)

6. San Josef Bay / Raft Cove

San Josef Bay and Raft Cove are both located on the far north coast of Vancouver Island in Cape Scott and Raft Cove Provincial Parks. Both hikes require a long drive on gravel road from Port Hardy (65km+), so they are not easy to access, but well worth the drive. Both hikes are short and visit iconic sandy beaches, but San Josef Bay is a fairly straightforward flat hike, while Raft Cove is fairly technical. San Josef Bay has stunning sea stacks that you can visit at low tide, but it has the downside of being much busier than Raft Cove. (San Jo: 6km, 0m gain; Raft Cove: 7km, 100m gain)

5.Windy Pass / Camel Pass (South Chilcotin)

South Chilcotin Provincial Park was featured on both my 2024 list and my overall best hikes list, so I was excited to return to the park in 2025, this time accessing it from Taylor Creek. I spent 3 days hiking and camping in the park, visiting both Windy Pass and Camel Pass. Camel Pass is accessible as a day hike, but you’d need to backpack in order to access Windy Pass. Both are stunning alpine features of the park. (20-40km, significant gain)

4. Trophy Meadows / Moul Falls (Wells Gray)

This is my last double feature, I promise. I know Wells Gray is a bit of a stretch to be considered Southwestern BC (it isn’t), but I always stretch the bounds on this list to pretty much anything east of the Rockies. I couldn’t bear to leave Wells Gray off the list, often known as the waterfall park, it’s incredibly scenic. My favourite waterfall was Moul Falls, which has the special feature of being able to walk behind the waterfall. But I also loved hiking to Trophy Meadows to see the wildflowers, so I had to include both on the list. (Trophy: 6km, 300m gain; Moul: 6km, 150m gain)

3. Cirque Lake

This hike was a surprise contender for the list. I often just scroll around Gaia for the fun of it, looking for interesting trails, which is how I stumbled upon Cirque Lake. It’s a remote lake in the Callaghan Valley, which can only be accessed by driving 10km down a gravel road with water bars, paddling across Callaghan Lake, and then hiking up a steep trail to Cirque Lake. It’s not a long paddle, nor is it a long hike, but added together, it is a bit of effort to get to the lake. Once there, enjoy the gorgeous alpine views. (4km RT paddle; 4km, 250m gain hike)

2. Cathedral Rim Trail

Cathedral Provincial Park is a stunning, some would say spiritual, park south of Princeton. It’s just far enough away from Vancouver that it’s not too busy and the long access into the park restricts visitors. You can’t do this hike as a day trip and I visited as a 4 day backpacking trip. When operating, you can take a shuttle into the core area of the park and complete the beautiful Rim Trail, which features a number of rock monuments, as a day hike. The shuttle wasn’t running when I visited due to a recent forest fire, which is why I needed more time to hike an extra 15km each way in and out of the park. (Rim Trail: 18km, 900m gain)

1. West Coast Trail

I finally hiked the West Coast Trail and it’s not surprising that this lands as my number 1 hike of the last two years. The West Coast Trail is one of the most iconic trails in BC and is famous for a reason. It’s a multi day coastal hike that features roaring waterfalls, pristine beaches, and stunning sea stacks and sea caves. I completed the trail over 7 days and I would only recommend it to experienced hikers. There are over 100 ladders on this trail and it is a very challenging multi-day trek. But if you’re up for the challenge, you will be rewarded! (75km)

Considering how long I’ve lived in Vancouver, it’s a bit shocking that this was my first time hiking to Pump Peak though it’s not been for lack of effort. Back in 2019, I tried to hike via Pump Peak on my way to Elsay Lake, but I ended up on the wrong trail and because of the time crunch to get to Elsay Lake, I ended up skipping Pump Peak entirely. I’ve also made several attempts to visit Pump Peak in the winter, but I always find myself completely exhausted by the time I reach Brockton Point and I’ve abandoned Pump Peak on more than one occasion.

I had to cancel a trip at the last minute in mid-June of this year, but I still wanted to get outside and do something, so I decided to make another attempt at Pump Peak, this time as an overnight objective. I was solo hiking with my dog, Sadie, so I thought Pump Peak would be a good option since it’s popular and so close to the city. I ended up having the best time, I can’t believe I waited so long to hike there!

I did this hike over the summer solstice and I had lots of daylight, so I didn’t end up leaving my house in Coquitlam until 5pm. Me and Sadie were ready to start hiking at 6pm and by 7:30pm, we were at the top. I knew it was a short hike, but I was still astounded at how quickly I went from my house to the summit. It’s a very achievable objective if you make a last minute decision to go backpacking.

For those who aren’t familiar. Pump Peak is located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in North Vancouver. It’s very popular in all seasons because of its proximity to the city. In the summer, you can park in the main ski resort lot, unless you’re going overnight, in which case you need to park in Lot 2. In the winter, you need to park in the lot along the road (also known as Lot 1) since the ski resort is in operation. You also need to get a day use permit from BC Parks in the winter. These release 2 days in advance of your trip, at 7am. They are free, but they sell out fast. No permits are required in the summer.

The hike involves climbing the trail along the edge of the ski resort, or in the summer, you do have the option to walk right up the ski trails. I opted to take the side trail since there is more shade. The trail goes to Brockton Point, which also has great views of the city. In the summer, it took me an hour to get to Brockton Point, but in the winter, it takes me closer to 90 minutes. It’s approximately 2.5km and 250m of elevation gain, closer to 3km in the winter since the parking lot is farther away.

After Brockton Point, the trail continues for another 1.5km and 150m in elevation gain to the top of Pump Peak, also known as 1st Peak. In the summer, this took me another 30 minutes, but I’d budget for another hour in the winter. It is the steepest part of the trail as it winds along the back of the peak. There were a lot of mosquitoes in the summer, so be prepared with fly spray and a thermacell. Please be aware that in the winter, the portion of the trail between Brockton and Pump Peak is in challenging avalanche terrain. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the crowds, you should have AST1 training and travel with the appropriate equipment in this area in the winter.

While Pump Peak is very popular for camping, please be aware that there is no campground and it is considered wild camping. This means there is no outhouse or bear cache. You should be prepared to dig a cathole if you need to poop, and you should bring a bear bin or bear bag for your food. There are not many trees, so it’s not really possible to do a bear hang. My sense was that most people camping in the area were not practicing proper bear safety and it’s important that we do, otherwise the area will become dangerous to bears and humans.

Finding somewhere to pitch your tent can be a little bit challenging because there are no established tent pads. Most likely you will be pitching your tent on bare rock. However, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be because there is so much space available to chose from. There were quite a few people camping, but everyone was very spread out and I didn’t have too much trouble finding somewhere to set up my tent that wasn’t crowded. I opted to set up near some of the trees so that I would have privacy when I needed to pee.

There is nowhere to set up on the actual summit and it will be crowded with people, so do not attempt to pitch your tent up there. Be aware that there is also no water source. There were a few small tarns around, which was helpful to Sadie, but I would not recommend trying to drink or even filter that water. Just hike up all the water you need for your trip, including for your dog.

It’s a beautiful place to camp though. There are incredible views of both the city and the backcountry. From the peak, you can enjoy a 360 degree view in all directions. We arrived well before sunset, so after setting up the tent, me and Sadie went up to the peak before looking for solitude underneath, in which to enjoy the sunset. Because it was the solstice, it was a particularly long sunset and the wind kept the mosquitoes away.

What was really annoying was that the summit is also a popular destination for sunrise enthusiasts. This would be fine, but on this particular day, a group a very noisy boys decided to hike up to the summit at 4:30am and were not shy about yelling and laughing very loudly. Sound travels really well in the alpine, so everyone on the mountain was privy to their conversation and it was very annoying. I had a similar experience when I did Golden Ears last year and it’s always men who act this way, so please try and have a little consideration that at 4:30am, most of the people in the nearby tents might be trying to sleep and they can definitely hear you.

My thermacell was definitely essential to enjoy breakfast the following morning as the mosquitoes returned in full force with the sun. A lot of people packed up their tents quickly to escape them, but me and Sadie were able to hang out for a little bit before heading back down the mountain.

What I really loved about this trip was the ability to start hiking late (I wouldn’t recommend going too early because the mosquitoes will drive you crazy) and the ability to arrive home early the following day. I felt like this trip enabled me to have a fun night outside while still leaving most of my weekend available to relax or pursue other interests. I’m used to driving so far away for my backpacking trips and having them take up the entire weekend, it was nice to still have lots of time to myself with this trip.

In conclusion, this is a really safe and convenient trip for those living in the lower mainland. I would definitely recommend it, but please respect the backcountry. Practice proper bear safety and leave no trace when wild camping. I did notice that people were also camping on Brockton Point and I’m not sure if that’s allowed. The BC Parks website says you can camp anywhere north of Brockton Point, but I’m not sure if that includes the Point itself.

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Favourite Hikes in Southwestern BC: Part VI

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