The hottest day of the summer so far and we picked a long, tough hike with no lake at the end. It was a toss-up between this hike and Brunswick Lake and ironically the prospect of hiking several km of logging road turned us off that one.
Rarely have we been so glad to be done with a hike. Most of the trip felt like a slog with all the payoff at the end – there is no point doing part of this trail. However, the payoff is quite spectacular with grand in-your-face views of the Golden Ears peaks and beyond. Still, I have a hard time believing that the usually-reliable (and long-hike-in-the-trees-averse) Copelands rate this as an outstanding shoulder-season hike!
For more than half the journey the trail follows an old logging road that has a few pleasant spots and a long stretch of unpleasant ankle-turning rocks before it ends at the old-growth forest. Even that forest couldn’t cheer us up, nor could the pleasant subalpine portions. We crammed ourselves into the only patch of decent (if airless) shade at the summit and drank all of our Gatorade in one go. Then time for a few photos before making the long journey back.
Alouette Mountain was duly added to our list of peaks prefixed by a suitable four-letter epithet.
One other thing to note: there is no parking meter at Mike Lake (which we didn’t know about until we got there…), so should anyone feel the urge to do this trail, buy the parking ticket at the first meter you come to in the park and take it with you.
Distance: 22 km
Elevation gain: 1100 m
Photos on Flickr
Being. Outdoors. 