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.