HBC Trail Backpacking Trip Part I

August 16, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 6 Comments

This is a cautionary tale.

Let’s get that little bit of foreshadowing out of the way and talk about the Hudson’s Bay Company Heritage Trail. It’s a little known trail that traverses through the rugged wilderness north of Manning Park, between Hope and Tulameen. The trail is a remnant from the fur-trading era and was used by both First Nations and settlers alike. The trail is 74km long and traverses mostly through mountain forest, with a few passes through the sub-alpine.

I make it a bit of a hobby to spend lots of time studying maps, which means I have a long list of trails that I want to complete, including the HBC Trail. While I’m hyper organized about my trail selection, Carolyn has a more chaotic energy and appears to just stumble upon trails and become fixated on it until she completes it. I’m not sure where she heard about the HBC Trail (quite possibly it was from me), but she decided she really wanted to do it this year. This got me hyped up to do it as well and I made a few bad choices in my excitement.

I did a lot of kayaking this Spring and then I went home to Newfoundland for 2 weeks at the end of June, so all of a sudden I found myself in the middle of July and I had yet to do a single backpacking trip. In contrast, Carolyn solo hiked the West Coast Trail and the Juan de Fuca Trail back to back in late June (along with several other trips throughout the month), so she was in peak condition. We only had 3 days in which to do the trail, so I was on the fence about whether or not it was a good idea. 74km in 3 days is a lot of kms per day, and while I did hike that much when I did the Sunshine Coast Trail last year, that was at the end of my backpacking season as opposed to the start. In any case, I figured I’d just suffer through a few long days and then move on to other trails. Poor judgement on my part, but here we are.

So we decided to go for it! But we couldn’t have done it without the help of my generous husband. After work on a Friday in July, we drove my car and Carolyn’s car out to Hope. We left Carolyn’s car in Hope and then Seth proceeded to drive me and Carolyn (and our 2 dogs) all the way to Tulameen for the night. We all camped at Otter Lake and then Seth dropped us off at the trailhead in Tulameen at 7am on Saturday morning. So he basically drove us 4 hours out to Tulameen, just to drive all the way back alone with 2 dogs. He’s a keeper!

There’s a few more things you should know about the HBC Trail before I continue. Like I said, it’s a relatively unknown trail. It does have its own trail group on facebook, but it’s not a very popular trail. Most of the trail is in the woods with peek-a-boo views, with the exception of ~5km of trail around Palmer Pond. It’s 74km if you’re thru-hiking it, but there are several 4×4 access roads that are used for hikers doing day hikes or those that just want to do a 1 night backpack. Because of the extensive network of 4×4 trails, there are several rec sites that have pull in frontcountry campsites.

The most noteworthy thing about the trail right now is that it’s not in great condition. The flooding in 2021 did a lot of damage and because of the erosion, there’s a lot of trees knocked down along the trail. Volunteers have been out clearing the trails, so we knew some of the middle sections would be clear, but we knew there were other sections where we would have to contend with a lot of blowdown. Here’s my assessment of the trail sections as of July 24, 2023.

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Day 1 was our most ambitious day because we were aiming to go from Tulameen all the way to Blackeye’s Plateau, which is just over 28km and ended up tracking as 30km on my GPS. The trail starts with a river crossing. There are 3 crossings on the trail and the hardest one is Tulameen River. Fortunately for us, it’s been a very dry summer, so we got wet up to our knees, but it was a relatively easy crossing.

Right off the bat we learned that we were going to need to be vigilant with wayfinding on the trail. There’s a big sign showing where to start once you cross the river, but then it’s immediately not obvious where to go. We mostly found the trail by locating the log book, so look for that. As the slower hiker, we opted to have me hike first for most of the trail and be responsible for route finding (looking for signs and markers), while Carolyn would be keeping a close eye on the GPS to keep us on track.

Tulameen to Olivine is particularly confusing because there’s a lot of 4×4 roads running across the trail. You start on the road and we missed the first (and maybe second) turn offs to the trail because we just followed the road without thinking too much. There’s no issue with this if you would like a simpler hike – you won’t have to contend with blowdown and the incline will be more gradual, but be prepared to walk additional distance if you do. When we finally found the trail, we mistakenly went in the wrong direction and ended up back at the road where we’d just been, so we had to undo that mistake and after that we were much more diligent in checking the map.

We both use GaiaGPS for tracking, which served us pretty well, but some of the 4×4 roads are missing from Gaia, so there was definitely an advantage to also carrying a paper map. I had the HBC map, which you can get from the Hope Visitor Centre, and we used it a lot to check on some of the road crossings and water sources, so I definitely recommend getting a copy.

It’s a steady uphill climb to the first campsite at Olivine. I quickly learned that I had not done enough training for this hike and I really struggled on the uphill in the hot sun. It took us about 4 hours to go 9km to Olivine, so that gives you an idea about my pace and after only a few hours I was already severely doubting my ability to do the trail. I toyed with the idea of just doing part of the trail and then hiking back, but Carolyn astutely pointed out that our only vehicle was now in Hope, so I’d better get walking.

Olivine Camp is lovely. It’s located at the start of the sub-alpine along the ridge and it gave me really strong Manning Park vibes. There were tons of wildflowers in bloom just past the camp and it has a gorgeous view looking out over the ridgeline. In another life I’d love to stay at this campsite. But all we had time for was a visit to the water source to eat our lunch.

To give you an idea of how hot it was, I drank my entire 2L of water in the first section. Unfortunately, the water source at Olivine is 300m off the trail and it was down to the barest of trickles when we arrived. I think it must be a natural spring though, because it was actually a very clean and cold water source, it just took a while to fill our bladders. We enjoyed an hour long break to have lunch before continuing on towards Lodestone Lake.

I knew that the trail to Olivine had some of the worst blowdown along the entire trail, and it definitely slowed our pace on the way up. There were a lot of awkward sized trees at awkward heights that we had to crawl under or hop over. I was expecting more of the same going to Lodestone, but fortunately the trail was a lot flatter and there was a lot less blowdown, so we made much better time. In fact, aside from a very bad section around Sowaqua River, the section of trail between Tulameen and Olivine had probably the worst blowdown of the entire trip.

We almost lost the trail again along a logging road, but Carolyn’s funny feelings kept us on course and we were able to do some light bushwhacking to get back on track. The trail is relatively well marked, but it’s really easy to get off it and we relied a lot more on wayfinding with map and GPS than expected. The trail meanders up and down for a while before it starts a descent to the Tulameen FSR. After the FSR, you climb back up to Lodestone Lake, our second milestone for the day.

We had another setback after reaching the road. I was leading when Carolyn remarked “ewww, look at this!” It was a giant, runny pile of poo in the middle of the trail that I had walked through without realizing and now had shit all over my boots. I was trying to wipe it off on some leaves when I looked up to see a truly massive black bear about 5m away in the bushes, staring at me.

We backed up as safely as possible along the trail to the FSR where we made a lot of noise while gripping our bear spray. It was a really big bear – it didn’t seem interested in us, but it also didn’t seem like it was going to move any time soon, so Carolyn studied the map and remarked that there was an easy bypass along the road for that section of trail. So we continued up the road making lots of noise. Just as we rounded the bend to circle back, we saw the bear coming out of the bushes onto the road. Now this made me nervous because it meant the bear had followed our voices, so it was obviously interested in us. Carolyn gripped my arm tightly and started pushing us back down the road as I gripped my bear spray. The beast climbed out of the bushes, drawing itself up to full height…and…

IT WAS A COW.

Our big scary bear was a cow the whole time. I walked through cow dung and then it followed my singing through the woods. As soon as the Bear-Cow came up on the road, it was joined by about 10-15 more of its friends and they all stared at us while we started to laugh. Eventually they lost interest and returned to the woods, so I guess some farmers just let their cows roam wild in the wilderness. It was a bit jarring, but generally we were relieved it was a cow and not a bear.

It was a very slow and hot ascent up to Lodestone Lake Rec Site, but overall our pace increased (even with the bear-cow incident). It took us about 3 hours to do the 9.5km between Olivine and Lodestone and we decided to go for a quick swim in the lake before having supper. Lodestone Lake is accessible by 4×4, so it was an extremely busy campsite and it was the only place on the entire trail where we saw other people. We were the only hikers though, as everyone else had driven there. The lake looks nice, but it’s pretty shallow and muddy, so not our favourite swim on the trail, but very refreshing nonetheless.

We still had 10km more to go before we were done for the day though, so we tried to be quick leaving Lodestone. I think the only thing that kept me going was that I knew Lodestone to Blackeye’s Plateau was one of the easiest sections of the entire trail. The trail continues along the 4×4 road for 7.5km and it’s entirely flat. So it’s pretty easy walking, but it was also very boring. We passed a lot of off-roaders but didn’t really talk to anyone. Eventually you exit the road and it’s 2.5km of easy walking through meadows to Blackeye’s. By this point I was very much done and ready to crawl into bed.

The last section look us ~2.5 hours and we arrived at 7:30pm, meaning that we’d been hiking for almost 12 hours. My feet were tired and I was getting a little bit of chafing on my thighs, but overall I was relieved to have the hardest day behind me. We were very quick putting up the tent and because of the flies, quick going to bed. We hiked 30km, which is the longest I’ve ever hiked in a single day, and I did it on a backpacking trip (my previous record was 29km on a day hike). I was exhausted, but proud of myself. Sadly I didn’t know what trauma was yet to come.

Is the suspense killing you? Come back next week for Part II!

Favourite Hikes in Southwestern BC: Part IV

July 26, 2023December 17, 2024 / Maria / 4 Comments

If you’re thinking, “didn’t she just post her 10 favourite hikes last week?” You are correct, I did. But I have a severe backlog of trails to post about, so Part III featured my favourite trails from 2019-2020, while this post focuses on my 2021-2022 era. Part III was my “covid era”, so it featured a lot of trails closer to Vancouver. In my opinion, Part IV has some really scenic hikes because post-covid, all I wanted to do was hike and I discovered some real gems! Check out Part I, Part II, and Part III.

#10 Hut Lake – Let’s start off with a really obscure hike. The snow pack was insanely high in 2022, which postponed my alpine hiking season. In our desperation to find somewhere low elevation to camp, we stumbled upon Levette and Hut Lake outside Squamish. Levette is well known by the locals, but if you continue past Levette, you’ll eventually come to the much less popular Hut Lake Rec Site. It seems to be mostly used by the 4×4 community, but we had it to ourselves on a weekend in mid-July. The hike is entirely in the forest and it’s not the most memorable lake, but I still had the best time swimming in the insanely warm water and recommend it as a good Spring hike or rainy day trail. (8km, 500m elevation gain, 4 hours)

#9 Bedwell Lake – Bedwell Lake is a popular trail in Strathcona Provincial Park. It’s located at the back of the park and ease of access can depend on the current state of the road. When we visited, a normal AWD SUV would access it fine, but I’ve heard sometimes you need 4WD or high clearance. Parts of the trail are a bit technical, with some ladder sections, but you’re rewarded with beautiful views of the lake and surrounding mountains. We wanted to continue on to Cream Lake, but unfortunately we got rained out on our visit. I’m keen to return to see it in the sun! (10km, 600m elevation gain, 6 hours)

#8 Slesse Memorial Trail – There are some real gems in Chilliwack Valley. Slesse is a challenging one to get to as you definitely need 4WD and high clearance. It’s a bit of a somber hike because it’s the location of a plane crash, but it also has gorgeous views of Chilliwack Provincial Park and across the border. With over 1000m of elevation gain, it is a slog to get to the top and the views are relatively limited until the summit. But once you hit the ridgeline, there’s a glacier in front of you and a wall of mountains behind you, so you really get a pay-off. (15km, 1100m elevation gain, 9 hours)

#7 Barnet Trail – One of the things I love about living near Vancouver is that you don’t have to go way into the wilderness to hike and the Barnet Trail on Burnaby Mountain has become one of my favourite semi-urban hikes. We hike here regularly with Sadie and I love the views from Burnaby Mountain Park and through the forest. We always start at Burnaby Mountain Park, and I have to admit, the best view of the hike is at the trailhead, but it’s the perfect hike to get your body moving when you don’t want to drive anywhere or have limited time. (9km, 300m elevation, 3 hours)

#6 Myra Falls – I debated for a long time about whether to put this on this list or not. At 1.5km, it barely qualifies as a hike and is definitely more of a walk, but it’s such a beautiful waterfall! It’s also located in Strathcona Provincial Park and it’s so beautiful Brandon and I had to visit it twice! It’s an easy walk down to the Falls from the parking lot and then you can explore around the area. Definitely exercise caution as there are some steep sections, but after swimming in the waterfall, Brandon and I hiked down over the rocks to also swim in Buttle Lake. (1.5km, 50m elevation gain, 1 hour)

#5 Seed Peak – I did this trail in the late Fall of 2021 and even before I finished, I knew I’d have to return some day. There was already snow on the ground when we visited and I was having a rough day physically, so we didn’t even finish the hike, but I was still astounded by the views. Access is a bit tricky for this one as it’s way off the beaten track outside Squamish and I’d recommend 4WD and high clearance. Part of the trail is actually located in the far north end of Pinecone Burke Park (which starts in Coquitlam) and there are gorgeous views of the backcountry everywhere you look. We only made it to the base of Seed Peak, but I definitely need to return for the rest of the hike! (13km, 800m elevation gain, 8 hours)

#4 Tricouni Meadows – My apologies for including so many 4WD access hikes on this list, this is the last one, but I couldn’t leave it off! Tricouni Meadows is located way up in the wilderness north of Squamish Valley. It’s a slog to get to the trailhead and another slog to get to the lake, but you are rewarded once you get there. There are several lakes at the base of Tricouni Peak and it’s a bit technical travelling between them, but there’s space for several campsites. We visited Pendant Lake (my favourite), Spearpoint Lake, and Reflection Lake. From reflection Lake, you can continue up to the top of Tricouni Peak, which I didn’t do, but would like to return and complete as a backpacking trip. It’s a surprisingly busy campsite for such challenging access, so get there early! (8km, 500m elevation gain, 8 hours)

#3 Skywalk North – This hike is north of Whistler and better known as Iceberg Lake. It’s a popular hike, but most people only hike to the lake and back. It’s a bit longer, but I recommend turning it into a loop hike by doing with the Skywalk North or South trail. We chose the North Trail, it’s longer, but more scenic. It’s a long hike through the trees, but once you hit the lake, you continue hiking up to another summit above the lake with incredible views looking back. From there you continue through several meadows before arriving at Screaming Cat Lake and returning through the trees. Pay special attention to the trail stats though, this is a rewarding, but challenging hike. (22km, 1200m elevation gain, 10 hours)

#2 Opal Cone/Mamquam Lake – If you go back to my previous posts, you’ll find Elfin Lakes on my first list. Elfin Lakes remains one of my favourite hikes to this day, but I can finally add Opal Cone and Mamquam Lake to the list! This are both continuation hikes from Elfin Lakes and are not intended to be done in a day. Camp at the lake and do either one or both of these as a day hike. Personally, I like Opal Cone better, which is in peak alpine terrain, but it was rewarding to finally make it to Mamquam Lake after a failed attempt back in 2018. (14-22km, 1000m elevation gain, 9 hours)

#1 Sunshine Coast Trail – No other trail had any chance of the number one spot with the Sunshine Coast Trail in the mix. I hiked this entire 180km trail in 2022 and I’m in love with every inch of it! You don’t need to hike the whole thing, there are so many highlights on this trail and lots of them are accessible as day hikes or 2-3 day trips. The backcountry huts are what make this trail so special, but my favourite sections include Tin Hat, Walt Hill, Manzanita Bluff, Sarah Point, Appleton Canyon, Inland Lake, Rainy Day Lake, and Fairview Bay – basically the entire trail. (180km, 7-12 days)

Continue on to Part V.

Favourite Hikes in Southwestern BC Part III

July 19, 2023August 13, 2024 / Maria / 4 Comments

I moved to BC in 2014. In late 2016, I wrote a post sharing my top 10 favourite hiking trails in Southwest BC, which I followed up with Part II in late 2018 with 10 more of my favourite trails. I’ve been wanting to write a follow up post for a while, but I’ve hiked well over 100 more trails since my last post in 2018, so it’s a lot a trails to choose from! I decided to break it into two more posts. Part III will cover another 10 of my favourite trails that I hiked between 2019 and 2020, while Part IV will cover 2021 to 2022. Is this a bit excessive? Maybe… but my blog, my rules! I like the symmetry of a top 10 post for every 2 years I’ve been here, so I guess you’ll get Part V at the end of 2024!

Without further ado, here’s a few of my favourite hikes from the 2019-2020 era!

#10 High Falls Creek – Squamish has a few hidden gems and in my opinion, this is one of them. It’s located about 30 minutes out on Squamish Valley Road and after a quick ascent, boasts beautiful views of both High Falls Creek and the Squamish River. It’s a bit of a scramble on the way up, so I would save it for a fair weather day. The waterfall is the main highlight, but my favourite part is the viewpoint after the waterfall and the peaceful forest walking. Turn this into a loop by walking back the Forest Service Road, which has more incredible views of the Valley! (10km, 500m elevation gain, 4 hours)

#9 Mount Norman – I stumbled upon this short little hike when I kayaked around Pender Island. The formal hike starts just past the bridge to the South Island and it’s a short uphill hike to a viewpoint over Bedwell Harbour and the surrounding Gulf Islands. It’s only 3km round trip, but if you’d like to extend it, take the left branch before you get back to the road and hike down to the Beaumont Campground, which has gorgeous views out over the bluff and along Bedwell Harbour. (3-6km, 300m elevation gain, 1-2 hours)

#8 Viewpoint Beach – This hike is located in Golden Ears Park and has been gaining a lot of popularity since the pandemic as a good beginner backpacking trail. Because of it’s low elevation, it’s snow free in the Spring and is an easy 8km round trip hike along Gold Creek to Viewpoint Beach. It makes for a great day trip, or an overnight trip, though it can get busy. I’d recommend hiking in Friday night or early Saturday morning. The trail continues on to Half Moon Beach if you’d like to extend the trip, but it’s not well maintained, so be prepared for a bit of route finding. (8km, 200m elevation gain, 3 hours)

#7 Zoa Peak – I’ve attepted Zoa Peak twice now, once in the Fall (where I got smoked out by wildfires) and once in the Winter. For this reason, I’ve never made it past the sub-peak, but I still recommend it as a good all year hike. I think the Coquihalla Summit Rec Area is vastly underrated and Zoa makes for a scenic hike in the summer and a relatively safe snowshoe in the winter. Don’t go past the sub-peak in the winter without your Avalanche Safety Training, but it’s a popular area for ski touring in the winter! (10km, 700m elevation gain, 5 hours)

#6 Elk/Thurston Mountain – Elk Mountain is a popular hike in the summer and especially in the Fall when it gets a pop of colour. There’s a lot of elevation gain, but it’s a relatively simple trail until close to the top, when you pop into the woods for a steeper ascent to the summit. It’s 8km round trip to the Elk Mountain Summit, but 800m in elevation gain, so don’t underestimate it! If you have the time, I recommend continuing on another ~2km as the hike continues along the ridgeline to Thurston Peak. It’s an 16km round trip to go all the way to Thurston, but there’s no view from Thurston Peak, so if you’d like to save yourself a bit of time, just enjoy the ridge walk for a few kilometers and then turn around. From Elk Mountain onwards are beautiful views of Chilliwack Valley and Mount Baker. (8-16km, 800-1000m elevation gain, 4-8 hours)

#5 Pinecone Burke Provincial Park – Pinecone Burke was one of my best pandemic discoveries. When we weren’t allowed to leave our neighbourhood in 2020, I spent a lot of time hiking around Eagle Mountain, Minnekhada, and Pinecone Burke. Pinecone Burke is located right on the northern edge of Coquitlam (in the Burke Mountain area) and it’s BC Parks least funded park. As a result, it has no infrastructure (not even a toilet) and gets few visitors. It’s mostly frequented by mountain bikers, but there are some truly lovely trails in this park! My personal favourite is to extend the Woodland Walk up to Sawblade Falls, but the Coquitlam Lakeview Trail is also reasonably popular. The park is primarily forest views, so it’s a perfect rainy day or Spring hike. You can hike the Woodland Walk year round, but the Lakeview Trail usually has snow until June. (8-14km, up to 700m elevation gain, 2-6 hours)

#4 Brew Lake – Brew Lake is another relatively unknown trail off the Sea to Sky Highway, just before Whistler. Even I discovered this trail by accident when the Rainbow Lake trailhead was closed due to an aggressive bear. We decided to hike to Brew Lake instead and spend the night in early Fall and were rewarded with beautiful lake views and an empty trail. We didn’t know what condition the road was in, so we parked at the Whistler RV Park and hiked the full 17km round-trip trail. But if you have the proper vehicle, you can considerably shorten the trail along forestry roads. If you have time, extend the hike a little further to Brew Hut, which I still have to return for. (17km, 900m elevation gain, 9 hours)

#3 Minnekhada Regional Park – Minnekhada Park was my other pandemic discovery and remains one of my favourite places near the city for a leisurely hike. The highlight of the park is High Knoll, which is known as the “Quarry Rock of Coquitlam” and has beautiful views down to the Pitt River and Pitt-Addington Marsh. Part of the park burned down in 2022, but it recently re-opened and is great for bird watching along the lakes. (5-8km, 200m elevation gain, 2-3 hours)

#2 Cape Scott and the North Coast Trail – This is where I stretch the boundary of “Southwestern BC” just a little bit. Cape Scott and the NCT are at the far northern tip of Vancouver Island, but I feel this was one of the defining hikes I did between 2018 and 2020. We hadn’t planned to do this hike, but when our Assiniboine trip got cancelled during the pandemic, we decided to hike 85km along this intense and remote coastal trail instead. This trail is a real challenge and is not for the faint of heart. Be prepared for an incredibly slow pace and knee high mud, but boy is it a rewarding hike. One of my most memorable. (85km, 5-7 days)

#1 Howe Sound Crest Trail – This is another incredibly challenging trail that tested my endurance when I did it in 30 degree weather, but it’s a trail I think about often. It was on my bucket list for 3 years before I finally did it over the course of 2 nights and was able to soak in every inch of this scenic trail. The trail provides the opportunity to summit the West Lion, Mount Harvey, and Mount Brunswick. I didn’t summit any of them, but I camped beneath the Lions and lounged in vibrant Brunswick Lake instead. I’d like to return one day for each of these summits, but this was a trail where it was more about the journey than the summits. (30km, 1500m elevation gain, 2-3 days)

Continue to Part IV.