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I'd always wanted to check out the Mountain
Lake Hut so when Dave Scanlon (BCMC) put a trail
clearing trip to the hut on the calendar I decided that
I could ease some trail clearing guilt, check out the
hut, and drag Mark along with me as it's a relatively
short hike.
The Mountain Lake Hut is located in the Sky Pilot/Mt.
Sheer area. Access is via a gated & locked logging
road at the top of the hill just past the Fury Creek
golf course.
I wish I'd paid closer attention as we drove in as
the road is not straightforward. You'll need more info
than this trip report if you want to go. Since you need
to get the key from Dave anyway, ask him for directions
while you're at it!. You'll probably want a 4x4 or all
wheel drive to get here by the way.
We parked about 10km in and continued hiking along
the deactivated logging road. After about half an hour,
hang a left onto an old, VERY deactivated logging road.
The turnoff is marked with flagging tape. Don't look
for a road. It's been a long time since this was a road.
After another half hour of scrambling over logs and
through mud, the trail opens up a bit and you come to
a bend before you begin to traverse an open hill side.
Continue following the road for about another 20 minutes.
You'll come to some more flagging tape where the trail
switches back and continues to traverse the hillside
for another 15 minutes or so. Watch on your right for
more tape and then plunge into the brush along the newly
cleared (well its getting there anyway) trail which
works its way up and across a steep forested slope.
Watch your step as you work your way along, following
the flagging tape for another 20 minutes or so before
you break out into a boulder field flanked by
massive cliff faces (that look like they'd be
a lot of fun to climb I might add!). Beautiful views
of Howe Sound
can be seen from here. Rock hop along boulders following
the cairns & tape. The trail is easy to follow except
for one tricky bit through a small treed area just before
emerging at the outflow of Windy
Lake.
The rest of the trail is an enjoyable hike through
heather meadows & alpine
lakes with views of Mt.
Sheer, Sky Pilot
& Howe Sound if you go looking for it. Follow the
tape & cairns and after about 50 minutes, you'll
find the Mountain Lake Hut.
Situated under Sky Pilot & Mt. Sheer, this well
maintained cozy hut offers some of the comforts of home
in a beautiful, serene setting. There is a cooking
area & several stools downstairs, and room
for 6 to sleep very comfortably on nice cushy thick
foam upstairs.
After a short rest at the hut, most of us decided to
pay Mt. Sheer
a visit before dinner. We hiked down to the creek which
is the water supply, crossed over, past the old
mining shaft and made our way to the base of
the scree slope before heading up. At the top of the
scree, we veered left, past a couple of big boulders,
along gently rolling heather slopes and then up again.
It's a fairly easy scramble
to the top although there is one exposed section around
the East side and then one vertical
section just before the summit.
Took an hour from the hut to the summit.
Views from the top include Howe Sound, Sky
Pilot, Co-pilot, Mt.
Garibaldi, Mt. Ben Lomond,
& the Lions. We signed the summit register &
hung out for about half an hour before heading back
down.
I made dinner while watching
a beautiful sunset. The thin clouds burned orange like
a neon sign as the sun sank behind the mountains of
the sunshine coast. We kept waiting for it to cool off
but were surprised to find that it stayed pretty warm.
The stars came out one by one and I watched Mars climb
along the East ridge.
Most of us slept in the hut. Peter and Alena chose
to sleep under the stars which in hindsight might have
been a better choice as it was too hot in the hut.
There was much talk of getting up and climbing up the
ridge to watch the sunrise but at 8:00 we were all still
in bed. After a leisurely breakfast, Mark & I started
packing up as I was planning to climb Ben Lomond on
the way out.
We stopped at Utopia
Lake where I left Mark and my pack. Dave had
told me to go up the ridge & follow it along so
I started hiking up. I soon found myself part way up
a steep rock face and decided that this probably wasn't
wise given the fact that I was alone so I downclimbed
and fought my way up the side through thick brush. Emerging
from the bushes at the top I could see a much easier
route just to my left. Continued climbing up the rocky
ridge, stopping at the high
point to take some pictures. From here I could
see that I was LONG
way from Ben Lomond. It was unlikely that I
would make it in the time I had allowed myself.
I decided to go as far as I could anyway and started
downclimbing from the ridge to the gully. When I got
down I decided to explore a little to see if there might
be an easier way back. It looked like I could hike right
down to Windy Lake and unless there were some impassible
cliffs, I didn't see any reason why I couldn't get back
to Utopia from there and avoid climbing back up the
ridge. The more I looked, the more likely this seemed.
Since I wasn't going to make it to Ben Lomond anyway,
I decided to just go on a bit further and then turn
back to explore a new route back. Enjoyed scrambling
along the big slabs of rock & boulders as I continued
on towards Ben Lomond. There were cairns marking the
way now which I followed until the trail started to
dip down. Spent a few minutes enjoying the view and
scoping out Ben
Lomond before turning back.
When you take off to climb a mountain by yourself and
tell someone you love you will be back at a certain
time, you better be back by that time or sooner so I
was feeling a little anxious as I headed down towards
Windy Lake. I hoped that I would have enough time to
climb back up the ridge
and go back the way I had come if this route didn't
work out. My worries started to melt away as I realized
that the cairns
I had found were actually leading back towards Utopia
Lake. I bypassed the ridge completely and it was a very
easy hike out. I was back in no time at all. I'm glad
I did the ridge though. The views were wonderful and
it was a fun climb.
I went for a very quick dip in the icy cold lake since
I was covered in evidence of my earlier bushwhacking
escapades. We ate lunch perched on a rocky ledge at
the edge of the lake, basking in the sunshine. It was
such a beautiful day. We left Utopia after lunch and
began our decent. It was really hot on the way down
and I ran out of water but it only took about 2.5 hours
to get down. Of course the last 30 minutes along the
logging road felt more like an hour but it always does
doesn't it?
The Mountain Lake Hut is a great little hut. If you
would like to use it, email me and I can put you in
touch with the person you need to talk to. The road
in is gated and locked so you will need the key unless
you want to hike for 10 extra km along a logging road.
User charges apply if you are not a BCMC member.
Directions:
Take the Sea to Sky highway past the Furry Creek Golf
Course, up the hill and then take your first right.
At the 't' junction turn right. The red gate should
be right there. You do need a key to open the gate.
Contact me for more info. Drive for about half an hour,
keeping left until you get to a stream crossing the
road. Park here and continue hiking up the road until
you see the trail branching off on your left.
Reference:
Map: Squamish 92G/11
Trip Report | Photo
Gallery
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