Top Ten Hikes

1. West Coast Trail

Number one on my wish list of prospective hikes would have to be the West Coast Trail. It's 75 kilometres of slippery, isolated trail, peppered with flooding, paralytic shellfish poisoning, bears, cougars and wolves. "Eighty to 100 seriously injured hikers are evacuated every season," according to Parks Canada. I think I'm getting too old, but I've heard stories about people my age or older hiking the trail. I want to tackle it this summer with a girlfriend (maybe two) and we would like to bring our guys, but we don't think they want to go. I'm trying to convince Betsy to go this summer, or, failing that, next summer at the latest. It looks like we may already be too late. Hikers must now make reservations and those reservations opened January 11--longer than a month ago! Maybe we're looking at next year after all.
Photo by Big A888 creative commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

2. Stawamus Chief 

I hiked the Stawamus Chief in my early 20s and I can't remember now which of the four available trails I was on. The following information comes from B.C. Parks:

• "First Peak: 1.5-kilometre trail with an elevation gain of 540 metres.
• Second Peak: 1.7-kilometre trail with an elevation gain of 590 metres.
• Third Peak: 1.8-kilometre trail with an elevation gain of 630 metres.
• To Shannon Falls: 1.5-kilometre hike from the Stawamus Parking Lot."

3. Sea to Sky Gondola

Early last fall on our way up to Whistler, we took a ride up  the Sea to Sky Gondola to the summit plaza and walked around at the top. I wouldn't describe that as a hike, but I saw a father and son come up the trail and asked them, enviously, how long it had taken them. They said an hour and a half. Figuring that the two fit-looking men probably move faster than I do, it would probably take me two hours (less with Betsy because she pushes me). It's $10 a person to take the Gondola back down. I can even bring my dog!

4. Grouse Grind 

I think I was in my 30s when I climbed the Grouse Grind with a couple of friends. It's another ride-the-gondola-back-down kind of trail, but I can't bring my dog. Warnings on the Grouse Grind website state that other trails might better suit the average hiker. At 2.9 kilometres and 853 metres in elevation gain, it's three times the elevation gain over roughly the same distance as Teapot Hill, my regular hike. It should be possible to make it over to North Vancouver this summer.

5. Elk Mountain 

I've climbed Elk Mountain a number of times, but not for a couple of years. Elk is eight kilometres in length and 630 metres in elevation gain, making it a challenging hike, but not, apparently as challenging as Grouse, which, according to the statistics, is much steeper. The reward at the top of Elk is views all over the Fraser Valley and Chilliwack River Valley. The reason Elk is five is because I think I can reasonably do this trail this summer. It's pretty close to home. That's me in the photo standing on the peak. I'm not completely comfortable with the drop into infinity.

6. Mount Cheam

Last summer, Mt. Waddington's Outdoors organized a number of hikes up Mount Cheam. For reasons that don't seem clear to me right now, but probably relate to being too busy, I didn't go. The elevation gain is715 metres over 4.2 kilometres, according to Club Tread. This summer, it's on my list.
Photo by Tim Gage creative commons license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

 

7. Slesse Memorial Trail

The site of a 1956 plane crash, there's a propeller from the plane permanently installed as a memorial to those killed in the crash on what is now the Slesse Memorial trail.  See some great photos of the debris field on this Club Tread page.

8. Cholqthet and Pi:txel trails

They look easy, but I'd still like to try out the new trails the Chilliwack Park Society has built near my neighbourhood. Selectively logged 100 years ago and mostly forgotten until now, the 100-acre parcel could link Chilliwack communities of Popkum, Marble Hill and Ryder Lake and lead up to the Elk-Thurston trail, according to The Chilliwack Progress.

 

9. East Coast Trail

My father was born in Newfoundland and I grew up hearing stories about this place, told by relatives who all had the Newfie accent. They talked about icebergs, kitchen parties and snow up over the doorways, but they never talked about the East Coast Trail. if I ever go to Newfoundland, I want to hike this trail. It's near the bottom of my list because it feels like it won't be happening in the near future.
Photo by picknic creative commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

10. Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail is the trail I'm least likely to ever hike, but it is still a trail I want to cross off my list. I admit that I would never have even known about this trail if it were not for Cheryl Strayed and her book (haven't read it yet), which was turned into the movie Wild starring Reese Witherspoon. A trail is a great place to work out your demons and Cheryl Strayed had lots of them, Probably it would be a hard enough trail to work out all of my issues as well.