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PLACE: Elfin Lakes (Click for Map) |
The view of Howe Sound from Elfin Lakes Trail
A few weeks back I received an invite from my regular hiking/brewing/photo-taking buddy Dave Herder to join him and a couple other guys from work on a hike up to Elfin Lakes. One look at the reviews of this hike on VancouverTrails.com and it was clear that this was no ordinary day in the park. The trail head begins at an elevation of 900 meters and gains another 640 meters before ending at Elfin Lakes Shelter. The average time to complete the hike (round trip) is listed as anywhere between six and eight hours and it is only deemed passable from mid-July through October depending on the conditions. Couple this with the fact that the three other hikers joining me were all serious athletes and I knew I was in for a beating.
Let me first take a moment to introduce you to the crew.
The Crew
From left to right you have Terry Field, Dave Herder and Stephen Zmetana. Terry is a marathon runner, Dave is a biker and Stephen is general good shape and an avid hiker.
Then there's me.
Your VIA UNPLUGGED Editor, Mike Tedesco
During the week I commandeer a Yorkdale model 2340 and a Macbook Pro and on the weekend I make beer, hang with my wife and daughter and take hikes around Vancouver. Which of these things is not like the other?
Anyway, I am not in that bad a shape so I took them up on their invite and man I am glad I did.
You know what is Awesome about Vancouver? The hike up to Elfin Lakes that's what!
The first portion of the hike takes you along a small loose-rock-laden logging road. It is quite easy as hikes go other than the elevation gain. The end of this portion of the hike is marked by your arrival at the Red Heather Shelter. A nice group cabin of sorts where one can pop in and get away from the horse flies, grab a snack and read about how not to get eaten by bears.
Upon leaving this milestone you head up the trail for another 5-10 minutes before seeing your first snow.
Looking back at the outhouse just past Red Heather Shelter.
Now I am told that had we waited a few more weeks we would likely not have seen any snow but this was definitely not the case last week. From this point forward it was all snow all the time and this is what really put the hurt on me. Thank goodness I invested in some MEC poles and that goofy large rimmed hat you saw in the photo above.
Snow, snow and more snow.
Terry hiking up the snow. Photo courtesy of Dave Herder.
Terry and Dave giving me a bit of a head start. Photo courtesy of Dave Herder.
Mike heading up the slope. Photo courtesy of Dave Herder.
In the end the hike in took us a total of just under four hours and culminated in our arrival at the Elfin Lake Shelter. Here we dried off, ate lunch and rested up for the return hike back. Again, had we waited a few weeks we would have been greeted by two pristine alpine lakes one for drinking and one for swimming. Unfortunately those lakes were still frozen so we were only able to pull some tasty, ice-cold drinking water out of the one to fill our bladders but that was certainly a treat.
I have to say, the views were simply stunning. At every turn you are greeted by jagged peaks, stunning valleys and mountains as far as the eye can see.
Opal Cone
The view looking north.
Looking West over the Squamish River Valley.
I am convinced that there are few places in North America where one can leave their home in the city at 6 AM, do a hike like this and be back at a brew pub in the city for dinner. What can I say other than Vancouver is indeed AWESOME!
Note: My buddy Dave Herder is one hell of a professional photographer and he kindly donated four of the pictures you see in this post, all noted below. If you want to check out his portfolio or are looking to hire a photographer for your wedding or portrait needs please visit his website, Crazycat Studios.
If you have any suggestions for an upcoming UNPLUGGED please feel free to drop me a comment below or email me at [email protected]. Also, feel free to share your thoughts on this feature or anything else (within reason and sticking to the VIA commenting policy of course).
Until next time…Happy Trails!
-mt
All images (other than those marked "courtesy of Dave Herder") copyright Michael Tedesco
