Mount Seymour is among my top hikes on Vancouver’s North Shore. Located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park, it makes a great summer hike and a beautiful winter snowshoe excursion. But my favourite season is fall. Dazzling reds, oranges and golds accentuate the subalpine meadows and add pops of colour to the craggy peaks. My trusty hiking buddy Eva and I did the trek on a glorious day in late September. Join me for big views and fall splendour on Mount Seymour.
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In my previous post, I wrote about our Berg Lake backpacking trip in British Columbia’s Mount Robson Provincial Park. This post features the Toboggan Falls-Hargreaves Lake loop, a day hike from Berg Lake that packs a huge punch over just 6.3 km (4 mi) and a manageable 348 m (1142 ft) elevation gain. From waterfalls that look like enormous waterslides to glacial lakes, lush forest and top-drawer mountain panoramas, this loop has astonishing variety and beauty. It’s hikeable in two hours but we spent over four hours exploring and photo-taking. I had a smile on my face the whole time.
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The Berg Lake Trail, in B.C.’s Mount Robson Provincial Park, showcases some of the best scenery in the Canadian Rockies. The 23 km / 14.3 mi backcountry route is a magnificent journey through deep valleys, along raging rivers, and past thundering waterfalls and glacier-studded peaks. Berg Lake, the star attraction, is a turquoise, glacier-fed lake that sits beneath towering Mount Robson. We just returned from our Berg Lake backpacking trip. There’s a lot of hype about this trail, but it exceeded our lofty expectations. What a way to celebrate the re-opening of travel in British Columbia!
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For year now, when I need an easy, no-fuss hike, I just walk out my door to a trailhead about 10-minutes away. The path immediately gets me into the deep forest above Horseshoe Bay. After 500 m of uphill grunting, there’s an intersection. I’ve always turned left. It’s like I’m on autopilot. Left is to Whyte Lake, a pretty, little lake that makes the perfect one hour, door-to-door outing—a reliable and predictable bit of fresh air and exercise. A few months ago, I bucked the routine and turned right.
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View from Panorama Ridge, Garibaldi Provincial Park—C.Helbig
Less than two hours from downtown Vancouver, Garibaldi Provincial Park epitomizes the Super, Natural British Columbia tourism tagline. Its extraordinary alpine scenery and iconic hikes to Garibaldi Lake and Black Tusk make it extremely popular with day hikers and backpackers. Despite the knowledge that we would not be alone, a couple of my hiking pals and I were lured by the beauty and proximity of this park. Our three days of backpacking took us on and off the beaten hiking path—from busy but stunning Panorama Ridge, to the overlooked gems of Mount Price and Clinker Peak.
Admiring the view along Cathedral Park’s rim trail—Caroline Helbig
Imagine a backcountry hiking trip with the comforts of a cushy air mattress, your own pillow, real food (not the dehydrated stuff), and maybe even a bottle of wine or two. Look no further than B.C.’s Cathedral Provincial Park, the Shangri-La of basecamp day hiking.
Located in B.C.’s North Cascades, the wilderness park boasts shimmering turquoise lakes, alpine meadows, jagged peaks, and stunning ridges. Its core hiking area is 16 km from a parking lot beyond which there is no private vehicle access. It’s all up hill too. So, how do you schlepp all your gear and those heavy bottles of wine? Continue reading
Monster sand dunes along Kosi Bay Trail hike—Caroline Helbig
South Africa’s gorgeous Kosi Bay is part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site that stretches 200 km along the Indian Ocean coastline. Kosi Bay is located in the remote northern reaches of the park near the Mozambique border. A great way to see the splendors of Kosi Bay’s deserted beaches, lakes, and coastal forests is via a guided, 3-day slackpacking hike—all meals are provided, and luggage is transported between lodges.
We had an awesome time on our hike with local guides Agripa and Enoch who expertly led us along beaches, a crazy network of footpaths, and a few shallow water crossings. The Kosi Bay Trail is not difficult, but it is also not well defined, nor is it signed. Without guides, we would have got hopelessly lost. Continue reading
Writes of Passage 