Favourite Hikes in Southwestern BC: Part VI

October 17, 2026October 16, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

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)

Wells Gray Park Waterfall Guide

October 26, 2025October 10, 2025 / Maria / 2 Comments

After a fantastic day hiking to see the wildflowers in Trophy Meadows, I spent 2 nights camping at Clearwater Lake Campsite in Wells Gray Provincial Park. As discussed in my previous post, Wells Gray is a popular park, both among locals and tourists. It’s particularly well known for its many waterfalls, as well as its paddling. The goal for our second day in the park was to see as many waterfalls as possible. Some of the waterfalls in the park are easily accessible from viewpoints off the main road, while others require hiking to visit.

Below I’ve compiled a list of all the waterfalls we visited, as well as a few other notable waterfalls. We only had one day to see as many waterfalls as possible, so you can see a lot of waterfalls in a single day trip. It’s ~1 hour to drive from Clearwater town to Clearwater Lake, which can be spread out across the day. Even though we started our trip from Clearwater Lake, I’m going to start this list from Clearwater Town, outlining all the stops you can make as you drive further into the park. That way, if you only have one day, you can turn around at any point.

Triple Decker and Candle Creek Falls

These two waterfalls are not actually located in Wells Gray, but they’re along the main road and only 5km from Clearwater town, so they’re easy to visit. Triple Decker Falls is located right off the highway and is ~1km round trip to hike down to the viewpoint. Candle Creek Falls is located 2km down the Candle Creek trail, so it does involve a bit more hiking to see this waterfall (4km round trip). I didn’t actually visit either of these waterfalls, but I included them due to their proximity to town!

Spahats Creek Falls

Spahats Creek Falls is located at the south end of Wells Gray Park, only 10km from Clearwater town. It’s one of the more popular waterfalls in the Park and very easy to visit. There’s a large parking lot with bathroom facilities and a very well developed viewing platform that allows you to see the waterfall both from alongside it, and from across the canyon (the better view). I’m pretty sure the viewing platform is wheelchair accessible. Over time, the raging waterfall has greatly eroded the canyon walls and the waterfall now plunges 60m down through the valley. I did like this waterfall, but it’s very similar to the iconic Helmcken Falls – so given the choice, prioritize that one instead.

Silvertip Falls

This is one of the more challenging waterfalls to visit because the road access is very poor. The trailhead should always be accessible by 4×4, high clearance vehicles, otherwise, check about the condition of the road at the visitor centre. To access, you drive down Spahats Creek FSR, which is located just past Spahats Creek Falls. The trailhead is located at Silvertip Falls Rec Site. It’s a 500m walk to the viewpoint, but it is all uphill. This is one of the tallest waterfalls in the park, but it’s not a continuous waterfall, it cascades down along the mountainside, so the trail can be quite wet. I haven’t actually visited this waterfall, but it is one of the notable ones in the park.

Moul Falls

This is my personal favourite waterfall in the park. It is one of the longer hikes on this list to access the falls, but the reward is well worth it! The trail is located just off the main road, 20km from Clearwater town. It’s ~6km round trip to visit the waterfall, but it’s a fairly easy trail through the forest until you get to the waterfall. There’s a viewing platform at the top of Moul Falls, but the real treat is walking down a large set of stairs to get to the base of the waterfall. From there, you can actually follow a non-official trail that goes behind the waterfall to the other side of the pool. There is definitely risk associated with this since the spray of the falls leaves the trail very wet, so exercise caution. Otherwise, it’s such a cool experience!

Dawson Falls

Dawson Falls is another fun waterfall. It’s not as memorable as Moul Falls or Helmcken Falls, as it feels like more of an extension of the Murtle River, but I still thought it was really beautiful. Park at the Dawson Falls parking lot, located 40km from Clearwater town, and then walk ~500m along an easy, flat trail to see the waterfall. There’s a preliminary viewpoint, followed by a viewing platform on top of the falls. If you follow some of the small trails along the edge of the platform, you can walk down to river level to look up at the falls. I liked this one because it’s really a series of stepped waterfalls and I thought it was unique. Plus it’s quick to visit, so definitely worth it!

Mushbowl

The Mushbowl is less of a waterfall and more of a water feature. It’s located just past Dawson Falls and can be viewed as you cross the bridge over the Murtle River. There’s no viewpoint for this one, so just drive slow and enjoy the view of the raging rapids from the car!

Helmcken Falls

Without a doubt, Helmcken Falls is the most popular waterfall in the park. It’s very well marketed by the province and it gets a lot of visitors every year. It’s the 4th tallest waterfall in BC and is often featured on “most beautiful waterfalls in Canada” lists. It’s a striking waterfall that cascades over the edge of an eroded canyon to the valley below. There’s a huge viewing platform that is located right next to the parking lot and I’m fairly certain it is wheelchair accessible. If you want more of a workout, there is an 8km round trip trail on the south side of the river that hikes to a viewpoint of the waterfall on the opposite side. It’s called the Rim Trail. We opted not to do this one because of the time commitment, but enjoyed the view from the main viewing platform.

Bailey’s Chute, Marcus Falls, and Myanth Falls

Similar to Dawson Falls and the Mushbowl, there’s a series of small waterfalls and water features located along the Clearwater River. The trailhead is located 55km from Clearwater town and if you want to visit all 3 highlights, it’s a 5km round trip hike through the forest. We visited Bailey’s Chute and Marcus Falls, which aren’t far from the trailhead, but decided to skip Myanth Falls in the interest of time. Personally, I actually quite liked Bailey’s Chute, we even saw a salmon jumping upstream while we were there, so I think this would be a fun place to visit during the salmon run. Otherwise, Marcus Falls is a smaller waterfall than most others in the park.

Osprey Falls

Osprey Falls is located at the very end of the road, at the foot of Clearwater Lake, where the campsite is located. On its own, it’s less impressive than most of the waterfalls in the park, but is still a cool experience if you want to visit the lake. There are lots of boat tours that leave from the campsite and go up Clearwater Lake, so if you have the time, I’m sure it’s a neat experience. Osprey Falls is really just where the lake meets the river. For me, the most impressive part was just looking at the speed and volume of water cascading out of the lake. It’s located 65km from Clearwater town, so check it out if you’re visiting the lake anyways, otherwise, you could probably skip it.

There are countless other waterfalls that are accessible either by other park roads or by boat, but for this list I have just focused on the waterfalls along the main road from Clearwater town to Clearwater Lake. I definitely hope to return to this park again in the future with my kayak, but if you just have a day or two, enjoy the waterfalls on this list! Finish your day with a trip to Hop and Hog, which is a delicious restaurant in Clearwater focused heavily on beer (hop) and meat (hog).

Hiking Trophy Meadows

October 19, 2025October 10, 2025 / Maria / 1 Comment

I recently posted about my experience backpacking the Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park. While that was an adventure on its own, it wasn’t the end of my trip. We had a few more holidays left after finishing Berg Lake and we decided to visit Wells Gray Provincial Park on the way back to Vancouver.

Wells Gray Provincial Park is sometimes better known as “the waterfall park” and is popular both among British Columbians and tourists. It’s a large park located north of Clearwater, which is a ~5 hour drive from Vancouver. Like I said, the park is most well known for its waterfalls, but it’s also popular for paddling, with lots of water access campgrounds located on Murtle Lake and Clearwater Lake. It also has some really nice wildflower hikes. We didn’t have the time to do any paddling, but we set goals to see waterfalls and wildflowers!

My post on waterfalls is coming next week. After spending a night in Clearwater to shower and treat ourselves to real food, our first stop in Wells Gray was to visit Trophy Meadows along the trail to the Sheila Lake Wilderness Area. It was the first week of August, so it was a little past peak time for wildflowers, but there was still lots blooming in the meadows. Access to the trail is at the south end of the park, very close to Clearwater, so you don’t have to drive too far. Take a right onto Spahats Creek FSR, right after you pass the turnoff for Spahats Falls. From there, continue on the FSR to Road 201, which will take you to the trailhead. It’s a gravel road, so it’s not in great shape, but you should be able to make it all the way to the trailhead in most vehicles.

I’ve heard this trail is really popular and can get very busy, but we visited on a Friday, so the trail was pretty much empty. The trail starts uphill through the forest for ~2km, with over 200m of elevation gain, before you reach the start of the meadows. Once you reach the meadows, you can really take your time and customize the trail to whatever length you prefer. The meadows are huge and sweeping and completely covered in wildflowers. It’s very beautiful and you can see the surrounding mountain peaks in the background. There’s limited shade though, so I recommend going early to avoid the midday heat.

The meadows continue for ~2.5km and there is an outhouse located around the midpoint. Once you reach the end of the meadows (around 4.5km into the trail), it’s not much further to hike to the Sheila Lake Wilderness Campground. You can hike up to a little plateau that looks down on Sheila Lake. There’s ~20 tent pads located around the lake and it’s a really beautiful campsite. The tent pads are all in great shape and there’s a few small open-air shelters around the lake that have been constructed for cooking. There was only 1 tent set up when we visited, but I think it gets pretty busy on the weekend and we did see a few groups hiking in on our way out later in the day. It would be a really nice place to camp and I’d like to return someday for an overnight.

If you hike all the way to the end of the meadows, I recommend adding on the loop around Sheila Lake. There’s a few small tarns up there and it makes for a nice little circuit before heading back to the trailhead. It’s ~12km round trip if take this route. If you’re looking to do a shorter hike, then just hike through the meadows. If you’re looking for a longer hike, it is possible to continue a little further. We hadn’t planned to go further, but we were feeling strong after 6 days at Berg Lake, so we decided to hike up to Long Hill.

The alpine area at Sheila Lake is all very open and you can see Trophy Mountain and the surrounding peaks from the lake. There’s not really an official trail past the lake loop, but you can follow a faint trail up to the pass at the base of Long Hill. Some people will even route-find their way up Trophy Mountain, but we decided to target Long Hill for our lunch break. It added another 3km to our day (15km in total), as well as another 150m of elevation gain.

The trail continues past some more ponds and then gets pretty steep as you hike up the mountainside to Long Hill. There’s a few boulder fields that you have to guess your way across, but overall it’s not too difficult. There’s not much trail to follow, but it’s not hard to read the terrain. We stopped at the top to enjoy our lunch and the view of the alpine, though it was pretty windy. We returned via the campsite and of course, I had to go for a little swim in one of the ponds.

We saw a marmot on the way back and enjoyed the meadows just as much on the way down. Actually, I’d say we enjoyed them a little bit more on the way back as the lighting was better. Overall it was a 6 hour hike for us, which was a bit ambitious immediately after hiking 6 days to Berg Lake, but we really enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend. We did climb 650m of elevation across the 15km trail, but it’s not very steep at any point (except for the summit to Long Hill), so I’d say it’s a pretty accessible trail for most people.

The Road Goes Ever On

Canadian Outdoor Adventure and Travel Blog

Wells Gray

Favourite Hikes in Southwestern BC: Part VI

Wells Gray Park Waterfall Guide

Hiking Trophy Meadows