Mount MacFarlane

This is a hike 23 km east down Chilliwack Lake Rd that I did just before I left on my summer road trip. The hike is 21 km round trip with an average grade of 16.8%, but you don't have to summit to enjoy beautiful views.

Lower Pierce Lake



Indian Paintbrush

Lower Pierce Lake still covered in snow.

I love the rugged peaks. You have excellent views of the entire Cheam Range, Slesse Peak and the Border Peaks. The Peak furthest to the right is Slesse. It's amazing how different mountain peaks look from different angles.

Some snow melt cascading down the mountain.

Needle Peak, December 5 :)

On Saturday, Dave Beeke, Dave Delooff and I went hiking at Needle Peak, just before the old toll booth on the Coquihalla. The weather was amazing, some of the best winter scenery I've ever experienced! An awesome experience.


Our view from the parking lot!




The sun shining on layers of ice that encapsulated every tree on the mountain.

Dave out yonder experimenting with snowshoes.

A much needed lunch break...too bad the food was frozen solid!

These are compacted footprints with the surrounding snow blown away in the wind. The shadow effect was cool. The sun was just emerging from the horizon.

The first humpbacked obstacle. Sheer ice under teh snow. Insanely slippery conditions!

We couldn't traverse over the rocks as normal (in the summer) so we had to side track on this STEEP cliff. With each step you had to slam your foot into the snow to make a good foot hold. It was quite amusing when Dave Beeke slipped down half the slope, and had to use his hands to construct these foot holds.

Other hikers taking a lunch break. We met about 12 people on the hike. Check out the mountain chains in the background! A lifetime of exploration awaits!!!

Some sections demanded hiking on all fours :)

The needle in the background. We made it to the base of the needle, but the ice prevented us from a summit.

Awesome hike, awesome weather, awesome views!

Finally some pictures to accompany my summer update emails. I'm only posting 1 or 2 pictures from each stop.

Yoho National Park



Good views of a bull moose at Yoho NP. I was standing about 5 metres away hiding behind some trees.



A bighorn ram at Yellowstone National Park.



One of the many geysers at Yellowstone.



The view from my campsite at Grand Teton National Park. This was my favorite park, the hiking here was absolutely phenomenal!!!



The San Juan Mountains in Southern Colorado. The hiking here was amazing, many peaks are over 13,000 feet!



Ice lakes trail, Colorado. I think this is my favorite picture of the entire trip! The mountains here had amazing wildflowers! Gorgeous sub-alpine meadows!!!




The Narrows: a hike at Zion National Park. You hike through this very narrow canyon, at times the rock walls are only 10 feet apart, and you hike in the water for most of the 20 miles. I found myself trekking through water sometimes chest high trying to protect my camera gear! Awesome experience though!



Hiking at Zion National Park, Utah



Zion National Park



Arches National Park.



I spent the night on the top of half dome in Yosemite NP at watch the sunset and sunrise. Two other people who are hiking the entire pacific crest trail, stretching from the border of Mexico all the way into Manning Park, spent the night here as well.



Lassen Volcanic NP



Crater Lake NP



Mount Rainier NP

Frosty Mountain

Well I didn't post any pictures from last weekend, but I did go hiking. My friend came out from Vancouver, and we hiked Frosty Mountain in Manning park. The hike was absolutely gorgeous even though the weather was a bit cloudy. I soon discovered that my camera batteries died and was so disappointed that I couldn't take any pictures of these incredible views. Lesson learned...bring back up batteries always!!! I knew I had to do this hike again before I leave for the summer so I packed 8 extra batteries and set off on Saturday. I don't usually do repeat hikes as there are so many to choose from in the Fraser Valley, but I just couldn't resist! The weather was much more cooperative than the previous weekend, and the photos turned out awesome! I was very impressed to meet a couple from Europe, the husband was 70 and his wife 64, and they made it to the summit no problem! They walk 10km every day and hike regularly....hopefully I'm in similar health at that age! Anyhow, here are some pictures:

Lightning lakes from the parking lot



A curious fellow looking for food



Lightning lakes from about 3 km into the hike



Stands of alpine larch are found along the hike. They are needle shedding coniferous trees. This hike is definitely recommended in the fall when the needles turn bright orange/yellow, a stark contrast with the white snow.



A close up view of the budding needles.






Frosty Mountain is the highest peak in Manning park. It's the peak to the right of the photo.



This is a turnaround hike, you follow the same route for the descent....can be a bit repetitive, so I decided to follow this ridge and forge my own route back down.






The colours in the clouds were interesting, this was taken at about 2:00 in the afternoon, looks more like sunrise/sunset.



A sea of mountain chains!






A French group, from France and Quebec, with 2 leaders.


The summit!






I've never seen lichen in such vivid colours! Almost looks like splatter art!






It was a bit scary hiking this part as it was off the trail and the rock was extremely loose. Interesting rock formations.



Picture taken on 10 sec timer.



Last look at the mountain as I head back into the tree line and bushwack my way to lightning lakes.



Bushwacking wounds!