Last Saturday afternoon, after a couple of years wanting to and not being able to, I finally made the decision to hike up some of the trails on
Hollyburn Mountain in
West Vancouver. This meant a trip by
SkyTrain into
Vancouver and then catching the #250 bus to
Park Royal Mall in
West Vancouver. The route takes you over the
Lions Gate Bridge at the
First Narrows at
Burrard Inlet, passing through
Stanley Park before getting to the bridge. The #254 bus takes you to
British Properties (the locals call it "
the Properties"). I got of at
Eyremount Drive and then walked up to
Ballantree Park from there. The photo above shows a view east-southeast from a section of
Eyremount Drive. You can see
Burnaby Mountain off in the distance. This is just one of many photos I took that day. The best ones are posted here.
I quickly realized after starting the
Ballantree Trail that I was not taking the trail I had originally planned on taking but not before I had taken enough of the trail to see a number of these burnt stumps from a previous forest fire!
Note the trail and the burnt stump. So after this short hike along the trail, I turned around and returned to the street to retrace some of my steps back to
Millstream Road.
Along the way to
Millstream Road, I found this scene looking down at the
Lions Gate Bridge, as pictured above. Below is a photo of the place where
Millstream Road meets
Eyremount Drive and its also where we can start the hike up the
Millstream Trail behind me.
Here is the trail sign at the start of the
Millstream Trail and a close-up below.
Above is a scene along the
Millstream Trail and then three photos of a section of the
Baden Powell Trail running north up the mountain.
Then before coming to the
Skyline Trail, we encounter a break in the forest cover where hydro line are found going west across the face of the mountain. The break can be seen from
Stanley Park. The photo above looks east and the one below is facing in the same direction by taken in the portrait format instead of the landscape above. I just thought the difference between the two might be appreciated.
Above the break there is a sign post as the
Baden Powell Trail continues up
Hollyburn Mountain. There is another photo of the
Baden Powell Trail below.
The
Baden Powell Trail follows
Lawson Creek which is to the west side of the trail. There is a photo of a section of the creek bed above and a signpost below. In some places there is a deep ravene, so be careful where you step as you walk the trail.
I came across an unnamed "lake" before reaching the
Blue Gentian Lake Trail further up. All the lakes, which look like ponds to me, have these yellow waterlilies, as seen in the pic below. There is a view of the break in the forest canopy above in the photo below that.
Then its off on the
Blue Gentian Lake Trail (signpost above and photo of trail below).
The last photos are of
Blue Gentian Lake, including a signpost on the east side of the lake (pond) and the picnic table found on the south side of the same lake. It seems to be an excellent place to take a break in the hike and have a snack before continuing.
Part II will have photos of the
Brothers Creek Trail coming up soon. Meantime, enjoy these!!! - V.
Before I ascended the mountain last Saturday afternoon, I checked out Brothers Creek at Millstream Road where it flows under a bridge over the creek to continue its journey further down Hollyburn Mountain to flow into English Bay. Here is a series of photos I took on the north side of the bridge. Despite the dry summer weather, there is enough water still flowing but it would be interesting to see the flow during the autumn, winter and early spring seasons when that water flow would be more significant. The elevation at the bridge is about 366 m above sea level which is a bit higher than the highest elevation at Burnaby Mountain off to the east further up Burrard Inlet. Something to compare!
Back further up Brothers Creek, before descending down Brothers Creek Trail, I checked out a section of the creek on the Lost Lake Trail. Unfortunately, the bridge over the creek was broken and in disrepair plus there were trees and such fallen over on the trail further up to prevent one continuing on to Lost Lake but I did manage to get this series of photos from the Brothers Creek bed itself. Since the water was low, this was an easy task.
From Blue Gentian Lake, I continued the hike down the mountain on the Brothers Creek Trail which follows the creek, which on descending is on the trail's left. The elevation at Blue Gentian Lake, by the way, is about 800 m in elevation. The summit of the mountain is at 1300 m, a trek I had planned for this weekend but this will have to wait until the weather improves, or in other words, is less overcast. There were no clear blue skies this weekend, not even a clearing in the cloud cover. Its been such a drastic change from the weather of last weekend when it was unbearably hot!!!
Trail markers abound, so it is easy to find your way. Below are a couple of photos showing a section of the trail down the mountain,
There is a bridge across the creek about halfway down to Millstream Road. Here is a series of photos showing the bridge and that section of the Brothers Creek.
There is even a waterfall to be seen (and heard!) on the way down. This was the best photo I could get but I'll try to get a better one next time around.
Then there is another bridge across the creek on the Crossover Trail. Here is another series of photos I took of that section.
Lastly, despite the dry summer, there is some life to be seen, such as this tree fungi. Here is a series of four photos. Blueberries can also be seen. Some bushes have solitary berries and others have all kinds. We are just getting into the season where more of them will be seen. Then again, there are also huckleberries (red) which are related and also edible! The hike down was completed using part of the Crossover Trail and then continue down using the Baden Powell and Millstream Trails to end up at Millstream Road. I hope you've enjoyed this journey up and down the mountain. I hope to have more soon as I continue to explore the trails on Hollyburn Mountain and elsewhere! I also hope you've had a great weekend!!! - V.
